it hasteneth when you shall see them all presented at once and shall no way avoid that sight when you will think you see nothing but Fire that you hear nothing but a sudden noise passing the greatest clap of horrid Thunder and shall choose Death rather if it were possible to annihilation than Life with such an object before you As it fell out to that usurping Richard after the horrible Murther committed upon his innocent Nephews he could rest no where he could be no where free a tumultuous army of Thoughts struck an Alarm to his Repose at Bed and Board Day and Night alone and in company he thought he saw and heard them when as in truth it was his Sin that was ever legally before him and his own guilty Conscience that did pursue him And to that Judg Morgan who gave Sentence upon that vertuous and innocent Lady Jane in so much that he grew Mad shortly after and still cried out Take away the Lady Jane from me and in that Horror ended his Days and wretched Life As Mr. Speed relates in the Life of Q. Mary and Mr. Clark in his Life of the Lady Jane And so it will be with you here or hereafter Tell me then is it not better to see them apart now when you may repent and be freed than to put them off unto another Day when you must see them altogether and sink under them without any hope of recovery O consider this all ye that forget God lest he tear you iâ— pieces and there be none to deliver Thirdly The use of this Point may be to instruct the Person in matter of Duty and so like a well drawn Picture looks upon all that look upon it If this be so that Sin once committed will be often presented it prompts all 1. To think thus of Sin When you are tempted remember this Text set before you here or else you will think of it after to your pain It is momentany and frothy that delighteth you in Sin but it is eternal that will vex and torment you To repent is to take a bitter though wholesome Potion and Impenitency is followed with Damnation Say you purpose and do repent yet your Sin will ever be before you either to grieve and terrifie you as it did David or to allure you to the same again as it did Augustin often Especially the sins of Blood corporal Vncleanness Apostacy after knowledg and profession of the Truth These sink Men either under sensless Sottishness or unsupportable Horror Witness Cain for the first David for the second and Francis Spira for the third because they are not only Sins but Scandals David thought he might have cover'd one Sin with another Adultery with Murther but hereby they were both augmented and seen further Not only he himself but all Posterity must know it David did that which was right in the Eyes of the Lord save only in the matter of Uriah That stuck in Memory and shall in History Not because he had never committed other Sins but because none of the rest were so scandalous none so accented none so burdensome to the Conscience as these being against so much Light of Nature of Scripture and of Humane Laws few Repenting none without difficulty and many falling into presumption or despair by them Under the guilt of any of these for the most part Men feel either too much or too little either they keep themselves out of sight always when the Conscience is seared the Heart hardened and Men are past feeling or else they are still present and staring in the face of Conscience as it were with the eyes of many Devils Think of this aforehand and beware 1. Of Apostacy in whole or in part because it is better never to know the way of Righteousness than to sin against Knowledg 2. Of Murther because Men are made after God's Image and such Blood crieth from the Earth till it have hearing So many drops of Blood so many Tongues and every drop a Voice to cry for Vengeance Give them Blood to drink for they are worthy Rev. 16.6 And it is threatned He that sheddeth Man's Blood by Man his Blood shall be shed Gen. 9.6 3. Of Adultery because it brings with it much guilt and great stain upon the Soul Hoc grande flagitium est saith Job 31.11 This is an hainous Crime a Wickedness with a witness a Fire that consumeth to destruction God will judg it who ever be slack to punish it Hear what the Scripture saith of this Sin the hainousness and danger thereof as a motive to avoid it Prov. 22.14 A Whore is a deep Ditch and he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein David moiled himself in this deep Pit and there might have stuck in the Mire had not God drawn him out by a merciful Violence and purged him with Hysop from that abhorred filth Prov. 6.32 33. Who so committeth Adultery with a Woman lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own Soul A Wound and Dishonour shall he get and his Reproach shall not be wiped away It is not therefore leve peccatum a small Sin as the Pope's Canonists call it Divine Justice doth not use to kill Flies with Beetles Briefly it is a Sin that hurts both Body and Soul it hurts Men in Goods in Name Posterity and will be ever before them to make them mourn and say How have we hated Instruction and our Hearts despised Reproof And have not obeyed the Voice of our Teachers O what length and depth of Comfort doth a Man lose for a little Folly not worth the name of Pleasure because it is brutish and brings many and heavy burdens indeed a stain upon the Soul rottenness into the Bones and a blemish indelible on the Name Who would purchase that at so dear a rate which he may have for nothing Or use Violence where he may have leave and a blessing too Run the way of Hell for that Pleasure which they may enjoy more fully in the right Path and Way of Heaven This Men consider not Had David thought of the end he would never have adventured on the beginning had he thought of ever seeing Sin he would have wished he had never seen Bathsheba or that his Eyes had gone alone and left his Heart at home then they could never have brought their Lord into such a straight Remember David and all his troubles His sweet never countervailed his bitter Sawce Bathsheba was a pleasing Object for a time but Sin is fearful and grievous for ever Lust wrestleth till it bring forth Sin but Sin groweth and laboureth till it bring forth Death And although the Combat be healed and the Wound healed yet some Scars remain A great deal of preventing Sorrow and wholsome Suffering must be undergone reade it in David The Child that was born unto him must die Thamar was defiled Ammon murdred and he himself turned out of House and Kingdom by his own Son It is a bitter
Sin was ever before them Happy are those who learn Wisdom from the harms of others Secondly The use hereof may tend to reform the Life by reproving three sorts of Misbelievers Though as Calvin said in one of his Books concerning God's Government of the World I suppose my Discourse will be unwelcome to many and that because it is a smart and sharp reprehension Men love not the taste of Wormwood of Increpation But the Diet though not so toothsome yet is wholesome this rebuke though not so pleasing yet is surely profitable and especially being seasonable and suitable And 1. It reproves such as make a mock of Sin Prov. 14.9 Fools make a mock of Sin and drink down Iniquity like Water selling themselves to work Wickedness and so heaping up Wrath against the Day of Wrath. As if Sin were but a Trick of Youth a Toy a Vapour a Bubble to be seen to day and never after as if it were as soon past as done and as short-liv'd as the Ephemora that lived but eight Hours and were no more How do such swarm amongst us Have we not our Cains that kill their Brethren with Envy and Anger Our Nimrods mighty and cunning Hunters after the Souls Bodies and Estates of Men Our Esau's that sell their Birth-right all their hope and right to Heaven for Carnal Contentment Our Achan's who commit Sacriledg and steal Coals from the Altar to burn up themselves and Posterity after them by appropriating or selling the consecrated Portion Our Ahab's that covet their Neighbours Vinyards their Places and Goods to build up their own Houses higher though it be with Blood Our Jezebel's in many proud and flanting Minions who mispend their precious time in Spotting Painting Gaudy-dressing as if they were meer lumps of Flesh or a Body without a Soul having no other Deity but Pleasure and Ambition no Idol but their conceited Beauty Have we not our ambitious Absolon's our Politick Achitophels Vain-glorious Herods whose natural inclinations proceed from them as flashing streaks from a Cloud to be instantly turned into Lightning Many a Worldly Demas who have no other God but Self to adore and therefore confound Elements and mix Stars with the Dust of the Earth bring God to submit to the Creature whereby to attain the end of their exorbitant pretentions And which is worst of all even in the Lord's House there are found Hophni and Phineas Gehazi and Simon Magus too many dark Lanterns blind deceitful Guides whose Feet cast Dirt in their Mouths and whose Lives are at Sanballat's Work when the Doctrine is or should be at Nehemiah's and make Hebrew of their Discourses reading them backward in their Practice whose Inconformity pulleth down more than they build We know the end of these Men and yet dare imitate them Te miror Antoni quorum sacta imiteris eorum exitum non perhorrescere was the Orator's saying against Antonius I wonder Anthony thou art not afraid of the end of those Men whose deeds thou dost imitate Time hasteth when such shall feel what they will not now believe When they shall see nothing but Sin hear nothing but Devils and yelling of damned Ghosts remember nothing but the vanity of Carnal Pleasures past and the eternity of present Wo. O Fools and Mad-men will they then cry out that we were to forget God hate Instruction and imitate such wild Wretches knowing their end aforehand and so delightfully to imbrace this deceitful Harlot Sin to our own Ruine c. But then it will be too late to complain 2. Such who though they do not slight Sin in it self yet they are thus conceited of it that it will never trouble them after Commission In the Act they think the best and worst is past True it is you your selves may make a shift to forget it for a time to put it out of your fight and your Neighbours who once knew may forget it for ever But God and your own Conscience cannot finally they may as soon cease to be as to forget to work according to their Nature What is not now may be hereafter Men lose not their right because they take not that time which other Men ignorantly prescribe them Nullum tempus occurit Regi The King may lay claim to his right at any â—ime forbearance is no acquittance much â—ess can any time prescribe against the King â—f Kings Because Sentence is not speedily exeâ—â—ted against an Evil-doer shall we therefore conclude that it will never be The thing â—s certain the time free Some difference â—ndeed there is between the commission of Sin â—nd the presentation of it after Sins are committed single and apart now one then another sluggish Idleness in the Morning swiâ—ish Drunkenness at Mid-day and filthy Whoredom at Night the first occasioneth â—he second and the last is a Punishment of the former but as Vapours that ascend â—nvisibly come down in Storms and plentiâ—ul Showers they are presented altogether â—These things even all these things hast thou done As it is with Stewards their disbâ—rsments are divers and at divers times â—ut the Account is brought in at once as one so it is with Sinners Item for this Item for that Which Multitudes never think of and yet this is one thing that makes Sin so heavy 3. Such as put Sin off and will not see it and deal with their Souls as others do with their Bodies who when their Beauty is deâ—aâ—ed they desire to hide it from themselves by false Glasses and from others by false Excuses If they are told these and these are your Sins they will not acknowledg them What am I a Dog that I should do such a thing When as indeed there is no Dog though he want Reason will do so much against Reason as some Natural Men that have Reason Yet a private Christian a loving Friend or Neighbour must not seem to dislike what they do so as to admonish them though wisely and lovingly done and are like the Nettle which will sting though touched never so gently Ministers must not reprove them then they personate Magistrates must not punish them for then they are Cruel others must not mind them of their Duty for their good for then they are Busie-bodies intermeddling with Matters that concern them not What have you to do with us Are you our Keepers Let us alone we must answer for our selves and every Vessel shall stand on his own bottom c. Like stray'd Asses they will not be brought Home And the more you touch them like Toads the more they swell and like Serpents the more they are meddled with the more Poison they gather to spit out Go about to cool them you shall but add to their heat as the Smith's Forg-fries when cold water is cast upon it and as hot water stirred casts up the more fume But let them know for all their anger that Sin will be presented either to humble them here or to damn them hereafter A Day is coming and
Error though not so common and that is when upon these and the like Grounds Men and Women enough opprest with the thought and burden of their former Sins will â—et be alway poring upon them till at length â—hey are either intangled with delight in them â—r almost overwhelm'd with horror for them There is an excess in this Men may look â—pon their Sins too much as upon Christ too â—ittle See and consider the Consequence â—ereby it cometh to pass that Men's Hearts â—re straightned and bound up from the due praise of God that they walk heavily and bring an evil report upon the Truth as if 〈◊〉 were indeed as desolate and uncomfortable 〈◊〉 way as the Devil and his Servants commonly esteem and declare performing Chriâ—tian Duties constantly with great unchearfulness when as we know the Lord delights in a chearful Servant and threatneth the contrary Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and gladness of Heart for the abundance of all things therefore shalt thou serve thine Enemies in Hunger Thirst and Nakedness and in want of all things Deut. 28.47 48. Let your Sins be set before you that they may humble and drive you not from God nor from the sight of God's Grace and free Mercy in Christ but more out of your selves toward Christ Endeavour to see your Sins that you may behold also at the same time your safety from them in Christ and let the frequent sight of your Sins be more and more often accompanied with Love than Fear Vse 2. The second Use may be to shew in what case they are whose Sins are never before them The Harp and the Viol the Tabret and Pipe and Wine are in their Feasts they lie upon the Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves on their Couches they eat the Lambs out of the Flock and Calves out of the Stall they chant to the sound of the Viol and drink their Wine in Bowls they anoint themselves with chief Oyntments and cast away Care Riches Pleasure and Honour with all the Gay-branches of Worldly-glory are the pleasing objects of their Eyes They eat drink and are merry driving all Objects from their Minds which may bring the least disgust and afford the Body all Pleasures which may preserve it in a flourishing Health accompanied with Grace vigour and vivacity of Senses but for their Sins they are ever behind them out of sight out of mind but what follows which one day they must hear Thou Fool this night thy Soul shall be taken from thee and then whose shall all these things be Suddenly they are cut down as the Philistines and Belshazzar were and sink into the Infernal Pit in a moment Such I mean to reprove in this Use 1. As continue in any known Sin after discovery or that sufficient means for Detection and Conviction have been afforded 2. As are busied in setting other Men's Sins before them but not their own Only Swine delight to be muzling in Dung and Dogs we know are pleased in licking Sores Flies pass over the sound parts and if there be any raw they light on them Beetles fly over sweet Flowers but creep into Dung Such for condition are those People who are always rubbing on their Neighbour's Sores and searching the Wounds of others whilst their own do bleed to Death Were it not for other Men's sins Sin would seldom be seen or spoken of by such this setteth before him the Sins of that and that the Sins of this Man The Covetous Man setteth before him as odious the Sin of the Drunkard and the Drunkard the Sin of the Covetous Man and both the Sins of a third but neither sets before him his own Sins One thing more which is worse Too many as may be feared esteem a chief part of Religion to find faults abroad and reproving others especially Superiours who are further out of their power to redress than from their Sight and Hearing whereby it cometh to pass that much precious Time is lost and mispent good Conference hindred and Christian Meetings frustrated of their main end I speak not this to shield common Corruptions and National Abominations from just Censure nor to debar Men from manifesting their dislike of that whereby God is dishonoured and Religion hindred provided Men have a Calling thereunto and power with opportunity to do Good 3. Such as cannot endure a sound plain-searching Ministry no more than Ahab could endure Micah Herodias a John Baptist or Festus a Paul Like gaul'd Horses they cannot endure the rubbing of their Sores Such blunt Fellows say they preach all of Righteousness of Temperance and of Judgment to come we cannot have a Dalilah nor an Herodias for them they will set our Sins in order before us as plainly and boldly as ever Nathan did David's or Chrysostom Eudoxia's Luxury and wanton Dancing But this know that if these kind of Men Sound Sober Godly Divines I mean be an Eye-sore to you Sin was never before you as a Burden to you nay it was not so much as once in your sight except as an object obscured from the Sense either by disproportion of Distance or distemperature of the Medium and then upon such a confused glimmering your study and endeavour hath been and is either with Gehazi to deny it or with Achan to hide it from the sight of others or with Adam and Saul to extenuate it or else to be angry with if not to plot Revenge against such as did present it like the Serpent which they say the more he is stirr'd the more he gathers up his Poison to spit at those that move him and so by degrees you labour to forget it And how soon may a Man forget that which he hath neither will nor delight to remember But in the Name of Christ let me entreat all suâ—h to know and consider First How grosly the Devil deludes them whilst for a time he hideth the ugly face of Sin from them either with variety of Presidents or some probability of deluding Promises as of Pleasure Content and Secrecy when as indeed there ever followeth abundance of bitter Discontent and an impossibility of Concealment As he did of old so he doth still he shews the Honey but hides the Gall offers the Rose but covers the Pin in it The Devil deals with Sinners as deceitful Tradesmen who shew their Chapmen the better part of the Cloth and conceal the worst as the Panther deals with Beasts who hides his deformed Head till his sweet scent hath drawn them into his danger Till Men have sinned Satan is a Parasite when they have sinned he is found a Tyrant Like a treacherous Host though he welcome us into the Inn with a smiling Countenance yet he 'l cut our Throats in the Bed Secondly How far they are yet from the truth of Grace that were never troubled with any sight of Sin or sense of it Sorrow through fear is a preparative for Grace St. Austin compares it to the Needle that
my weak Abilities Not doubting but your Noble Disposition will be satisfied with such ordinary Acknowledgments I commend you to the Blessing of Heaven and remain Your Servant in Christ W. CROMPTON ADVERTISEMENT The Author being very remote from the Press and not having seen the Sheets 't is likely some Errata's have escaped which the Reader is entreated to Correct or Pardon HOSEA 2.14 Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness and speak comfortably unto her THis with the rest of the Chapter is no National History limited to the Body as some temporal Felicity conveyed in a Promise to that People but an Evangelical Prophecy extended to the Soul discovering the means and assuring everlasting Beatitude to the Church as under Grace True it is and from the Letter of the Text we may gather that God was good and bountiful to Israel but ungrateful Israel abused God's bounty As the fed Hawk forgets his Master and as the Full Moon gets farthest from the Sun so they forgat God and wickedly departed from him like ill Grounds they cast up Thorns where Roses were planted they printed the steps of Sin upon Divine Clemency Which moved the Lord to deprive her of his Blessings and to send her into Captivity by absence to learn the worth of his Presence and to take good leave and leisure to bewail her own Folly What can he do less than forget them so they may remember him Where being oppress'd and disconsolate as a mourning Widow bereft of Friends and means to relieve her she returns upon her self and complains unto God who saw her Tears heard her Cries and brought her from Babylon to Canaan turned all her sighing into singing and made her rejoice on that Bed which had soaked in Tears and made to swim again like David Psal 6.6 Repentance can turn Crosses into Comforts and like the Philosophers stone make Golden Afflictions But all this was for a further intent and purpose even to set forth their Sin spiritual Bondage and the manner of Conversion Under that this was meant And so the words are to be taken with the best Interpreters of the manner of God's dealing in the dispensation of his Grace to all in Covenant with him The ordinary Method which he observeth in bestowing Grace upon Men converted after actual Sins is here fully discovered First He convinceth all those of their Sins that distinctly and throughly whom he intends to convert as the skilful Chirurgeon searcheth that Wound to the bottom which he labours to heal This may be gathered from the 2 4 5 vers Plead with your Mother plead for she is not my Wife neither am I her Husband Let her therefore put away her Whoredoms out of her Sight c. As if the Lord should take a Prodigal aside and say These and these O Man are thy Sins thy Wantonness and Uncleanness thy Oaths and Lies thy Pride and Covetousness thus it is with thee thou art the Man that hast abused my Blessings profaned my Ordinances and mis-pent thy time and which is worst of all hast often refused Grace so seriously offered stay now and consider it what will be the end hereof God's Word is not like a Shadow which representeth obscurely and confusedly but as a Glass or rather a Picture which setteth forth things in their distinct Lineaments Which Conviction is begun and finished in part by the Law and in part by the Gospel as in the Sequel will appear Secondly He threatneth and denounceth deserved Judgments if they still persist and go on in their sinful Practices in vers 6 9 10 11 12 13. Therefore behold I will hedge up thy Way with Thorns and make a Wall that she shall not find her Paths Therefore will I return and take away my Câ—rn in the time thereof c. i. e. Except thou accept of Grace now in this thy day except thou repent and turn to me I will pursue thee with variety of Rods both privative and positive and will never leave thee till thou be amended or confounded It is Sin and Obstinacy that putteth Thunderbolts into God's hand and provoketh him to do his Work his strange Work and to bring to pass his Act his strange Act. Thirdly He proceedeth to some melting Promises in the 14 vers and others following like Sun-shine after a boisterous Storm or some purling Dew after a wasting heat or refreshing Spring after a nipping Winter The Sun of Righteousness never loves to set in a Cloud I will give her the Valley of Achor for a Door of Hope I will make a Covenant for them with the Beasts of the Field c. The meaning whereof is thus much If both the former ways viz. of Conviction and Affliction shall prove ineffectual as indeed they would if the Lord should leave them there and go no further if neither prevail to bring thee home unto me rather than thou shouldest remain still in the State of Nature or in the Wilderness of Legal Terror but almost converted or else after thy Confirmation of a League and Covenant with me should'st totally and finally apostatize I will take the whole Business into my own hand and go one step further with thee using such means as work infallibly and never fail I will allure her into the Wilderness c. Wherein are three things to be explained all tending to the Confirmation of the Proposition laid down in the beginning viz. I. The Certainty of the Work here intended I will allure her and I will speak to her The Lord is serious in his Offer of Grace and infallible in working it at one time or other for the Conversion of all those in Covenant with him Though it be full of difficulty yet it is certain for success It is difficult therefore the Lord undertakes it when no other means is able to do it and certainly it shall be done in his time and way Therefore he promiseth and annexeth certain binding Particles the more to assure it in our apprehension 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore behold which Particles are diversly construed by divers great Divines not unskilful in the holy Tongue causing some obscurity about the meaning but more touching the Connection of these with the former words what dependance they have and what Grammatical Construction they may admit Some take and understand them here casually only as if their profaneness and stubborness in Idolatry had been the moving cause to this Evangelical Work but then it would follow Let us sin that Grace may abound Which Devils Logic the Apostle confuteth Rom. 6. Others take them illatively thus Seeing she is grown to that height of Wickedness so vile and so proud that there is no hope nor possibility of her thinking or willing by any strength of her own to return therefore I will make her mindful and willing to come home O the never enough adored Depth of God's free Grace and super-abundant Love to his People I will heal them and
a sweet smell there shall be a stink instead of a Girdle a Rent and Baldness instead of well-set Hair c. Crux salutare remediun est ad tollendam cordis duritiem non naturâ suâ c. i. e. The Cross is a wholsom Medicine to humble and soften the hard Heart not in it self as the Pool of Bethsaida did not at any time give healing but when the Angel descended into it but by a Spiritual Power using that Instrument to bow us Now stand and lay all these together then you may say This is the Wilderness or thus is a Soul prepared for Christ The whole may be comprised in one Thesis or Theological Conclusion Viz. Doct. That it is Christ alone who in the use of means brings his chosen Ones into such Trouble for their good In which Proposition are to be observed the Author Subject Means and End First The Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ego I even I the first and the last with whom the new Covenant was established having power to offer Grace in Promises I that have satisfied Justice and overcome all the Enemies of Mankind I that do prevail and am accepted in a real tender of my own Merits to the Father in behalf of my Church It is I even Jesus Christ that will do it He it was that spoke to the Patriarchs and by the Prophets he it was that made known the secret Will and good pleasure of God to Man he it is who made the Body and prepares the Soul to erect a Spiritual Frame and Government in the Heart supporting the bruised Reed and blowing the smoaking Flax till he turn the one into a brazen Pillar and the other into a triumphant Flame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I considerable either as God simply or Man really and truly or as Mediator God and Man jointly As God so he is a principle Efficient in this Work His Names whereby he is described in both Testaments do say so much viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All which do signify Being independent Authority Strength and All-sufficiency for his undertaken Charge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two Greek Names much magnified by Damascen and Aquinas the one being a Name of Nature and signifieth absolute and perfect Being even the chiefest Good the other being a Name of Authority and Power imports the extent of Divine Providence compassing disposing and working all in all See for this purpose especially two places of Scripture Exod. 34.6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord the Lord merciful Rev. 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending saith the Lord c. As Man so he is the principal Instrument by and through his Humanity to convey Life into all his Members once called effectually and united Joh. 1.14 16. The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us c. Full of Grace and Truth And Of his Fulness we receive Grace for Grace Joh. 5.21 26. As the Father raiseth up the Dead and quickneth them even so the Son quickneth whom he will c. As God-Man the Mediator so he is the Meritorious Cause procuring and preserving Life for and in all his How and why this should be appropriated to the Son when as there is but one Nature and so one Principle of Action common to all the Persons in that sacred and ever blessed Trinity is somewhat difficult to believe but more hard to conceive and express possibly the following Reasons may give some light unto it Thus it is 1. Because such was the Will of God according to his infinite Wisdom so to order it that the second Person only should undertake the Office of Mediation fulfil the Law satisfy Justice and dispense Grace 2. Because it is a mixt Work neither simply Opus ad extra wholly outward for so it is common the Father and the Holy Ghost do cooperate with the Son in this Dispensation nor altogether Opus ad intra an inward Work for then there were no doubt nor scruple but it might be personal limited to any of the three as it was in the Incarnation all the three Persons were Joint-workers in a preparative Inchoation yet in the end and complement of it we see it was terminated in and upon the Person of the Son The Divine Nature was incarnate as relatively contracted with due reverence and submission be it spoken to a certain manner of subsistence in the Person of the Son Quomodo tota Filii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sit incarnata non tamen Pater cùm sint una 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credo licet ad exprimendum non intelligo Zanch. So it is in the Dispensation of Grace the thing is willed and the Subject prepared by a Joint Work of all the Persons in Trinity but the execution of that purpose and the actual fruition of Grace is in and by the Son first elected to that Hypostatical Union between the two Natures to the Office of Mediation then given as Head unto the Church whence Life and Motion is derived to his Mystical Body elect in and after him 2dly Here is the Subject to be observed whereon this Work passeth Her No one particular Person is here meant but a select Company to be gathered from divers Families Countries Kingdoms tho here more restrictly as limited to the People of the Jews and so to be knit into one Body The Church malignant the Whore of Babylon Rev. 17.1 3. called Antichrist is called and compared to a Woman a Whorish Woman for seeming Beauty Bravery Suâ—tilty and Impudency not any one but a Company that exceed in Wickedness and increase in it So the Church Militant the Spouse of Christ is likened to a Woman for flexibility and fertility not any one single Person but a chosen Company gathered together in one Vna Ecclesia quia ex una Fide per unum Spiritum nascitur Epiphan some of all sorts Men Women Jews Gentiles Greeks Barbarians not all of any sort Choice admits not of Universality The singular Number here and elsewhere used imports a Paucity or at least a Singularity of Persons Quare hunc trahit non illum noli judicare si non vis errare S. Aug. in Joh. Causa occulta esse potest injusta esse non potest Ibid. Epist 59. ad Paulin. Choice was made of Her not for the Multitude much less for any Merit See her Condition Ezek. 16. and her Behaviour before in the former part of the Chapter The Promise was of his own free Grace and good Will without any merit of preceding Will or Work in her Works of Nature might be foreseen either as future or possible but could not of congruity merit his Favour being so evil Works of Grace could not be foreseen because they were not nor could be indeed till Grace were first bestowed Good Works are an Effect no moving Cause much less meritorious for the procuring of Grace About
tell him what he should do And those of whom mention is made Acts 2.37.16.30 with many other such of our own observation were brought into great distress through fear and desire fear of Sin desire of God's Love and Favour not able to resist any where Men and Brethren what shall we do Comforts they refuse Threatnings they apply with hand and heart witty and ready they are to hurt themselves as if their vital and animal Spirits were stopp'd in their Passage by some Disease they are often near sinking such affinity and agreement there is between the Mind and the Body Observe such troubled Spirits you may to look heavily sigh deeply as if the Heart would break and at last to cry out Wo and alas if this and that be so as I fear it is and do believe how can I be saved If the spots of a Leopard can be wiped out if the hue of an Indian can be changed if a Camel can go through the eye of a Needle then may I be cleansed renewed and saved But Lord how can that be is there any Balm any Blood any Mercy for such an one as I Tell me O my Friends speak thou Man of God was there ever such an one read or heard of a presumptuous Sinner a beastly Wretch a close Lover of Wickedness an Hater of Holiness To look upon I am afraid of my self what shall I do whither shall I fly say do not you loath me and blush to behold and hear me was there ever such an one as I accepted This is that narrow Way that leads many to Life that great Strait whereinto the right dearly beloved of the Lord are often brought to learn how that is possible to God which is impossible with Men. As the Woman by God's appointment is to bring forth in pangs and travail so must the Heart of Man ordinarily labour till Christ be formed in it 2. How and after what manner doth the Lord effect this It is either by removing Impediments or by presenting to the Eye of the Conscience 1. The many deceitful Grounds there are whereon Men naturally rest and boast of as if their Estate at worst were well enough And till these deceitful Props be removed they will not in earnest seek after Christ much less accept him to rest upon him These the Lord removes by shewing unto Men their weakness and insufficiency to yeeld them any comfort And they are either inward or outward Inward as Knowledg without Love Invention without Judgment and a Memory without any practical delight in the Notions retained all which a Man may have and yet be no better than a Devil the sufficiency of Baptismal Regeneration without any care or thought to perform Conditions These being without the power of Godliness are only as a dead Corps strewed and adorned with Flowers as a gouty Foot covered with a Crimson Shoo or a Statue of Earth and Dirt with some glorious colouring and old Sepulchers with new painting over them The Lord convinceth them that this Ark is not sure enough to keep them in the deluge of many Waters yea that all things without Grace will prove an Aggravation of their Condemnation As in some Countries when their Malefactorâ— were to be burn'd in the Fire they poured Oil and Pitch to encrease their Torments so will every Privilege make Hell the hotter for such as these In the day when the fiery Trial shall be all their painting will melt away Outward as Riches Honour Health Learning meer Civility and Formality all commendable in their kind but not sufficient These Men may have and yet come short of Grace and Life in Glory Few rich Men shall be saved 1 Cor. 1.26 Corpulent Birds seldom fly high These many things cumber them And If your Righteousness exceed not the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God The best of these are but Weeds in God's Garden Tares in his Wheat Chaff in his Floor Therefore the Lord doth wisely and timely remove these Impediments 2. He presenteth Sin and the Consequents thereof in their true Colours pulleth off the Skin of that Viper washes off the paint and shews its Face in full deformity And this he doth ordinarily four ways viz. 1. By corporal Calamities and temporal Rods occasionally opening that Eye which Prosperity and Security had fast closed As in Joseph's Brethren and the Prodigal Son we have an Instance The former Gen. 42.21 declare the force of Conscience and fruit of Affliction Old Sins are brought to a new reckoning We are very guilty concerning our Brother in that we saw the Anguish of his Soul when he besought us and we would not hear therefore is this Evil come upon us The latter came to himself when he was under want his Affliction like Eye-bright Water had a strange and great Influence on his bedulled Sight now he resolves to go to his Father Yea many now living can say I doubt not It is good for them that they have been afflicted They had been undone had they not been undone that they might go weeping towards Heaven while others go laughing towards Hell Poverty may be so ordered as to prove a Preparative to Spiritual Riches Imprisonment antecedent to Evangelical Liberty Sickness and weakness of Body often tendeth to the strength and health of the Inner Man This brings to mind that Story in Bromiardus concerning an Apprentice that had served an hard Master by whom he had been sore beaten These Blows the Lord had made a means of the Man's Conversion Whereupon lying on his Death-bed and his Master standing by he catched hold fast on his hands and kissed them saying Hae manus perduxerunt me ad Paradisum These hands have helped to bring me to Paradise And Beza tells us of himself that God was pleased to lay the Foundation of his Spiritual Health in a violent Sickness which befell him at Paris Morbus iste verae Sanitatis principium Ep. praefix Confess What is it that God cannot make the Channel to bring in the Ship the Cistern-pipes to convey the Water whose Spring is in Heaven Ezekiel's Wheels shall move if the Spirit drive them and the Pool of Bethesda communicate Health if the Angel descend and stir the Waters Blessed is the Man whom thou correctest and teachest 2. By Spiritual Combats raised by the Spirit of Bondage between Fear and Desire Hope and Distrust continued and encreased by the unregenerate Will going one way and the Light of natural Conscience going another way so that their very Constitution is in discord there is no more agreement than between Fire and Water by reason of which the Soul is brought into great Anguish much Fear because of Sin and the great Danger it apprehends as the Consequents of both these Conflicts being like the Opposition of Planets in the Superiour Orb fore-runners of great Evils 3. Usually it is by the Ministry of the Law that School-master whose Lash makes Sinners Backs
judgment While Men are Drunk with Pleasures and besotted with delightful Objects commonly they are not sensible of any danger but being once brought into the Wilderness of fear and solitary Silence they have leasure to consider and ability to discern that Sin is treacherous as a Jesuit bitter as Gall Ugly more ugly than the Devil And then they loath and fly it then they cry out Lord what wouldst thou have us to do When before they would not be ruled nor persuaded by any reason The Jews will not part with their Idols till they bring them into Captivity nor Sampson with Dalilah till she betray him into the hands of the Philistines then away Idols and let Dalilah be burned alone Sampson repenteth The Viper beaten casteth up her Poyson The Traytor on the Rack will confess and forsake all The burnt Child dreads the fire and the Wormwood upon the Brest weans the Child from it Secondly It is to humble the Soul and cause her to set a right Estimate upon Christ hitherto undervalued Christ would not be so sweet if Sin were not so bitter The Man upon whom the Law hath not passed Sentence will not say Gramercy for a Pardon Besides it is necessity that endears any thing to us Extremity of pain makes us to prize a little ease and extremity of want to admire a little plenty Darius being vanquished by Alexander and in flight being in extremity of Thirst drank Water out of a Puddle mingled with much Blood of slain Souldiers and said It was the sweetest Drink that ever he tasted in his Life The Prodigal that disregarded all the Dainties of his Father's House did highly value the Servants Bread there when he was reduced to feed upon Husks in the Wilderness As it is with a weary Swimmer floating in the restless Sea ready to sink every moment how welcome is a bough to him when as if he had been upon the shoar he would not have regarded it So it is with such a wearied Man brought into the Wilderness of great distress and danger he is so humble and gentle that a Child may lead him He cried out and looked about him but few hear none can help him O how welcome then is the Thought the Sight the Presence of Christ that Tree of Life He will part with all Sins Goods Liberty Life or any thing if he may but touch the hem of his Garment Only then and to all such he is a Jesus indeed Thirdly It is that they may be the better ever after More zealous and serviceable to God who hath some great Work commonly for such to do and therefore their preparation is answerable A high Building must have a low Foundation Luther observed of himself that when God was about to set him upon any special Service he either laid some fit of Sickness upon him before-hand or turned Satan loose upon him For he was much exercised and beaten from his tender years with Spiritual Conflicts as Melancthon testifieth in his Life And this was in all likelihood to fit him for the great Work the Lord had cut out unto him There is no whole Heart to the broken None so sound to hold Grace as that and the more it is broken the more it contains A Paradox in Nature but not in Grace Besides they are hereby made more compassionate and helpful unto others Hence it was that God gave Luther such a Grace that in his Sermons all that heard him thought every one his own Temptations had been toucht and noted by him and when signification thereof was made to him by his Friends and being demanded how it could be answered Mine own Temptation and Experience are the cause thereof As a Physician that trieth the virtue of some sovereign composition upon his own Body he is the better able to Cure another with that Receipt It is a great invitation to Mercy to see one in the same condition that we our selves have been in As he said Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco As a Woman that hath had a Child can more pity such as are in Travel because she hath suffered the like pain When Christians by their own experience know the Way like old Travellers they can lead others and bring them into and guide them through this Spiritual Trouble saying Thus and thus were I brought in and so came I off this course I took and this success I found c. Experienced Learners are the best Teachers These are some of many Reasons which might be given of the Lord 's proceeding in this manner towards his People The Sum of all is for their good He casteth them down very low that he might lift them up the higher he leads them through a Wilderness to convey them into Canaan As hereafter will appear So much by way of Doctrine The Application follows which is a principal part of this Discourse And Vse 1. It condemneth such first as are frequently in the Wilderness of Sin and wanton Prodigality but never in the Wilderness of sorrow and saving Fear much under Worldly but never under Spiritual Trouble How far are such from Grace who have not past this Preparation How far from Christ from Comfort from true Happiness As far as the East is from the West Darkness from Light Belial from Christ in point of Communion Such have cause to fear that Sin sits like a Queen in her Regency that the strong Man keeps Possession and that they are slaves to Satan subjects of the Kingdom of Darkness A Man may have some Trouble and yet not be Converted but he cannot be Converted without some Trouble The Heart cannot be broken for Sin without the sight of Sin The Sun looketh upon the Earth thence draweth up Vapours and distilleth them down again so doth the Sun of the Understanding which till it be Convicted the Heart cannot be Compuncted Sight of Sin must necessarily precede sorrow for Sin An Infant in the Womb cries not because it seeth not but as soon as it comes into the Light sets up its note The blind Eye and the hard Heart go together as unseparable Companions Men will never loath themselves till there be a remembring of their ways and doings that have not been good Ezek. 36.31 Quest It may be demanded who are they and how they are kept out Answ Who they are that were never yet in this Wilderness may easily be known by what hath been spoken already in the description of this preparative Work let any one bring himself and compare his present estate with it and the truth will readily be discovered especially if he consider and impartially answer to such like demands 1. Whether he doth not retain in his Heart the love of some Sin which either he knoweth or might know to be a Sin Though he do many things yet hath he not an Herodias that he will not part with Though with the Vintner he pull down the Bush yet hath he not as much Heart to his Sin
as ever Though he pull down the Shop-window reform outward Sins yet doth he not follow his Trade within door Doth he not sit brooding upon his Sin It is hypocritical repentance when Men leave some Sins only and not others also They can part with some kind of Corruptions it may be they are angry with them but then there are others of which it may be said as was of Goliah's Sword none like to that For as Repentance takes revenge upon every Sin so more especially upon that the Sinner took most delight in As Cranmer who subscribed with his right Hand what was against his Conscience afterward with revenge put that first into the Flame so doth the truly humbled Soul take revenge on that Sin by which he hath most dishonoured God In a word such actions of the Soul which admit of private reservations and indulgences and are not general as to this matter will be found a Meteor of the Brain not an affection of the Heart 2. Whether the injoyments of the World are not more precious in his esteem than the Love and Favour of God For this is certain the Man that hath been under this Preparative Work cannot but prefer the apprehensions of God's Love to all the World Therefore David prayed that God would remember him with the Favour which he beareth to his People Psal 16.4 5. this he accounted his chiefest good And Luther protested he would not be put off with the things of this Life Left-hand Blessings To whom may be added that Noble Italian Marquess who accounted not that Man worthy the name of a Christian who preferred not one Day 's communion with God to all the splendour of the whole Earth Now answer to this demand How stand your affections to Christ and other things below him Are they to Christ as a Spark to other things as a Flame The Unregenerate Man's joy is diffused to Earthly things but limited to Spiritual things Say are you not more chearful in Sinning than in the performance of holy Duties As it is with those Fishes that breed your Orient Pearls those Pearls are the torment of the Fish but when they are put upon a Man they are an Ornament to him so those Sins which are the Disease the Burden the Sorrow of a good Man are they not a matter of delight to you 3. Whether he doth not rest upon somewhat Creature or Action more than upon Christ or doth not prize something above him or equal with him As Augustine said That Marcellina hung Christ's Picture and the Picture of Pythagoras together Dost not thou O Man set Christ and the World or Christ and thy Duties together A Man may magnifie Christ as willing to have him in the end but part with nothing for him in the mean while he may prize his Blood but not his Grace his Promises but not his Precepts Jesus but not Christ If thine own Conscience answer Affirmatively it is an evident sign thou hast never been in this Wilderness Quest But how are they kept out seeing there is so much means to drive them into it many Sons of Thunder who heartily long after their Peoples safety how are they hindred Answ I conceive it is from these and the like Reasons First By the Multitude who run so merrily in the broad-way of Carnal Pleasures and draw multitudes after them How ordinary is it for Men to follow a multitude to do evil Few consider that the way to Heaven is a narrow Way and that they should be wise with a few Few are of the mind of Liberius an Othodox Bishop of the Second Primitive Times who when he was prest by the Emperour Constantius to forsake the Truth and vote for Arrianism by this Argument Art thou wiser than all the World Very honestly replied The Truth is no whit prejudiced by my aloneness in standing out for of old there were but three that withstood the wicked Edict of the King of Babel Most are of this Principle It is safe to do as the most do Like dead Fish they swim down the Stream whithersoever it runs or like Water that takes the figure of the Vessel into which it is cast They set their Dyal by the Town-Clock not by the Sun The Voice of the People is with them the Voice of God They infer that way to be truest which is the largest Secondly By delay and putting off serious thoughts about Death and their Account being afraid to hear of much more to dive into their Estate lest they should find that which would trouble them The Cup is in the Sack Thus the story goes of Galba who having received a very great sum of Money from the state of Rome and not being able to give account for it took more care to avoid giving account than to do it Thus Men keep their Consciences from considering their Conditions because it is so bad with them Like bad Debtors who are loth to come to account lest they should find their Estates low Or as Hereticks that are Lucifugae Scripturarum such Owls that cannot abide the Day they are afraid of discovering their Conditions and so content themselves in generals deceiving their own Souls Thirdly By fair promises of future amendment the thing they will do but in their own time as if the Clock of Mercy would strike at their beck Like those spoken of Hag. 1.2 The time is not yet come 1. The time of rebuilding the Second Temple it might be done hereafter Such is the guife of graceless Men to future and fool away their Salvation hereafter may be time enough and what need of such haste to build the Spiritual Temple In space comes Grace say they God is more merciful than so At what time soever a sinner repents God will put away all his Wickedness and thus they stand trifling with God and their own Souls being always about to do that which if not done they are undone for ever Fools and blind Men As our Saviour calls the Pharisees Mat. 23.17 Hence it is when they are prest to a speedy meeting of God by Repentance they answer as Antipater King of Macedon did when one presented him a Book treating of Happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am not at leasure Or as Archias the Theban when warn'd of a Conspiracy against him cast the Letters by saying In crastinum seria and was slain ere the Morrow came So these Men will amend hereafter when they have neither Time nor Grace to command They promise a time of Healing but a time of Terrour and Torment may come Jer. 14.19 Et jam ex Jesu factus est damnator salutem consequi non possum as Father John said when exhorted to believe in Christ Jesus and to lay hold on his Merits Cham. Epist Jesuit pag. 124. Fourthly Others are kept off from a consideration of the troublesomness of the Way and lothness to leave their Sins Luther said while he was leaven'd with Popish Principles of Contritions and their
Penance there was not a more bitter word in all the Scripture than Repent but when he understood the Gospel nothing was more precious and welcom Thus while the Duties of Religion are looked upon as clothed with Irksomness and burdensome Men are ready to reject them saying O the Way of the Wilderness is tedious They will not crucifie the Flesh cut off the Right-hand and pull out the Right-eye Men will do any thing to avoid it The Jews would bring multitudes of Sacrifices kill many Bullocks and Rams rather than any one Lust they would Sacrifice their First-born when they would not leave their sins It is an Hell to Unregenerate Men. Hasen Mullerus reports of one Franciscus Turrianus who wrote against the Augustine's Confession but upon some Conviction wished he had never read it nor the Answer of Anthony Sadeel against him for it had made him somewhat doubtful what to hold or which way to go and concludeth thus God's Word promiseth me comfort if I forsake Rome Sed ego senex hinc exire non possum But I am old and cannot depart hence He could not submit to the Trouble as for the Comforts of Heaven to depart from Rome So many Men are wedded to their Sins they can upon no terms part with them They love not Trouble Christianus est perpetua Naturae violentia Christianity is a perpetual violence against Nature and therefore few are brought to it These and many other shifts Natural Men have to hide themselves from the Light and Stroke of the Word so that they are not broken benefited and brought by it into this Wilderness Vse 2. Secondly This Doctrine condemneth those that think themselves to be in this Wilderness before they are indeed and so sitting down under that misconceit never come there Mistaking every Sermon-sick-passion every sleight sight of Sin every inward Trouble every Tear for sound Contrition and unfeigned Humiliation Let such consider there may be much glistering where is no true Gold First How far many have gone and yet come short Some like a Ship have sunk in the mouth of the Harbour Esau sought the Blessing carefully and with Tears Ahab humbled himself even to the renting of his Clothes and putting on of Sack-cloth Judas confessed his sin and made restitution and both doubtless with abundance of trouble and yet all came short It 's plain there were great troubles and fears about Sin as if some excellent and beautiful Child of Grace had been to be born but after all the troubles pangs and fears there came forth a great nothing they are as loathsome and abominable as before You have heard of and known many to cry out in the agony of their Souls We have sinned grievously what shall we do that we may be saved And yet for all this Cry this Travel the Soul brings forth nothing but wind and emptiness Secondly Others that have entred upon it but have too quickly withdrawn themselves again as Cain and Herod did The former cried out My sins are greater than I can bear and therefore to ease himself builds Cities and useth all means to divert his fear and trouble The latter with Felix the Governour puts it off to a more convenient time he will consider it another Season So many among us when the Minister is plain and downright with them the Word flasheth in their Faces like Lightning then they see their Sins distinctly and are indeed afraid of Hell the Voice sounds still in their Ears and their Sins like so many Furies follow them till they betake themselves to some diverting imployment or merry Company to drive away such melancholy dumps as many use to speak like the wounded Hart that labours to eat out the Arrow they labour to put away Sin that it may not alway be before them and then all is lost as if they had never been there at all They quench the Fire that was kindled and bolt out the Light that shined on them Such Tears as tâ—ese are but like the Waters of standing Pools that breed Toads and other Vermin Thirdly A third sort may be deep and long in this legal Terrour so that they harden under it and after a sort grow proud of it they can bewail their Sins and cry out for inward fear and trouble as if they were truly penitent and yet live in them all the while doing that with secret delight which they pretend to fear and hate O horrible deceit so bleering the Eyes of Men while they bathe Sin but are unwilling to drown it Resting upon this That once they were humbled and therefore they need not now fear or care Fourthly Another sort are such who counterfeit Trouble and complain of distress of Mind when in truth there is no such matter Like your common Beggars who use to complain of such Griefs and Troubles which they never felt so these they complain and weep only because they see and hear that such Sorrow is usual among the Saints and that such are most approved who pass this way by the Wilderness of Legal Fear into the Canaan of Evangelical Comforts and therefore they would be thought to have what they should have in truth The Devil is God's Ape and imitates him in all his Methods and ordinary ways of Grace that if possible by his Delusions he may gain some into his own Condemnation But to clear this a little further there may be proposed two Questions of moment viz. First How far a wicked Man may go under this Preparative Work and yet come short of Grace Secondly Wherein and how far those which are called according to purpose go beyond all others in this Trouble Answ To the first may be replied That they are often brought into this Wilderness at least for some Degrees is certain how far only is questioned Therefore to answer directly First They may be brought to Illumination of Mind By the Glass of the Law they may see what the Law requires and how far short they come in their Obedience not without some trouble and it may be great disquiet And this not only confusedly in Generals as Pharaoh but distinctly for Particulars as Ahab and Judas did Of one it is said he repented and confessed I have sinned in betraying Innocent Blood Mat. 27.3 And for the other Ahab's Humiliation is so great 1 Kings 21.27 that the Lord takes notice of it See how Ahab humbleth himself And so the Israelites How often were they in their Humiliations for sin But those Land-floods were dried up again in so much as Gregory compares them to the Grass-hoppers which make sudden Leaps from the Earth as if they would flie to Heaven but presently fall down to the Earth again Secondly They may be and are often brought to Conviction of the Will that they may have nothing to say for themselves against the Light of Divine Truth in flashes closing with the Light of Conscience When that unprepared Guest Mat. 22.12 was questioned why he presumed to
and Power unto it for this end To know how the Law doth this may give some Light to Ministers in the use thereof And that may be 1. By way of Illumination of the Understanding to see Sin as it is sin which no word nor means in the World can do beside because God hath imparted to it the brightness of his own Purity so much as he pleased and thought to be needful for this end with a searching faculty undeniably to charge Conscience with all and every Sin this supernatural splendor closing with the innate light of Conscience proceeding in this manner viz. First to discover Actual Sins beginning often with some of the most hainous and going on by degrees to the rest for number and nature how many how foul and to that end the Law presenteth to the Soul First With her Soveraignty for Constitution and Commission being made and ordained by him who is infinite in every Attribute and hath an absolute dominion over our Bodies and Spirits and sent abroad with a large Commission to show all Sins unto all sorts impartially whether they be high or low rich or poor prophane or holy the Law hath a soveraign power and exerciseth it after a regal manner sparing none Secondly With her Integrity and Extent In this Wilderness the Law sheweth Conscience her Spiritual Authority her Aggravating Faculties her exact Purity and that mutual Dependency one Law and one Member of the Law hath upon another Her Spiritual Authority to go into the inward Rooms yea into every corner of those Rooms and every crevice of those Corners where Sin lieth hid and to search and bring out all Sins great and small of Omission and Commission Like a two-edged Sword it pierceth to the very Marrow to the very intents of the Hearts Her Aggravating Faculty to set forth particular Sins to the Eye as the Glass doth the spots of the Face in the most odious Colours that so Sin may appear exceeding sinful Her Exact Purity to discover such practices of our Life to be sinful which we never dreamt of nor before took notice of so much as to suspect I had not known Sin i. e. some Sins to be Sins but by the Law this discovers that to be a Mountain which before the Sinner judged to be a Mote and that to be Sin which before he esteemed Righteousness and like a Light exposed to view those Corruptions which lay hid and unseen in their due proportion Her Mutual Dependency one Branch doth so hang upon another that whosoever breaketh one is guilty of all James 2.10 The whole Law is but one Copulative and this dependance of one Precept with another and all upon the Law-Maker whose Authority is violated and contemned in the breach of one as well as of all occasioneth even one Sin to be so infinitly weighty Secondly The Law proceeds to discover Original Sin in the Root and Branches how we participate in the first sinful Act of Adam how that Guilt is imputed and how Habitual Corruption is propagated from immediate Parents to all their Posterity proceeding from them by an ordinary way of Generation as Poyson is carried from the Fountain to the Cistern all herent in the Nature or redounding on the Person by virtue of the Covenant and this the Law doth either by way of Comparison or else by way of positive Description comparing and preferring it for the evil thereof to Actual Sin as the Root or Cause thereof Et quod efficit tale est magis tale is said in Philosophy and is true in Divinity Then describing it either by Names or Properties By Names first calling it the Old Man the Body of Death as if Death were nothing without this Sin a Weight that presseth down c. By Properties next and they are especially four viz. Eminency Predominancy Insensibility and Perpetuity For Eminency the Law saith it is a Transcendent Evil and the worst of all Evils Predominancy strangely to rule and oversway like a second Nature which Men often confess while they say It is their Nature to do this or that is to be furious to swear and curse a little now and then they cannot help it 't is their Nature when indeed it is the corruption of Nature reigning Insensibility to keep all the parts in a sleepy peace that Men are not aware of their danger till they be awakened and brought into this Wilderness Perpetuity to cleave fast unto our Nature even to the end of our Life While Blood is in our Veins Sin is in our Nature like the Jebusites this remains as a Thorn in the side in the Flesh even when Victory is obtained by Grace over all Actual Sin in a competent measure that is still living and stirring gathering new Forces and breaking into Rebellion ever and anon Thus the Law bringeth Men into the Wilderness by the work of Illumination 2. By the work of Conviction whereby the Conscience is brought to this Spiritual assent that the former Testimony of the Law is true both for Crime Object and Curse denounced and the Person to a particular application both of the Sins to be personal and of the sentence against such Sins and Sinners to be Legal The sum of which Work may be comprised in this practical Syllogism viz. Whosoever is thus Sinful and Cursed according to the Law is fully miserable but I saith the assuming Conscience am thus sinful and cursed therefore I am fully miserable What shall I do miserable Man that I am who shall deliver me in this vast Wilderness O help help me for the Lord's sake I am ready to faint to sink to die with fear and grief The Spirit by the Ministry of the Law worketh this distinct and sound Conviction divers ways 1. By removing all Impediments which are usually observed to hinder this Conviction One is natural Deadness and penal Hardness caused by Love and Custom in some one or many Sins which while it is interposed between the Law and Conscience will not suffer them to close and so nothing is done till that be in part removed Another is Spiritual Sloth which is a prevailing Backwardness and a precipitating Carelesness to consider what the Law discovereth and concludeth against Sin Men naturally love their ease and quiet they would not be disturbed A third is carnal Craft to pretend Religion and to perform all outward Duties and yet all the while to keep Sin in the Heart untouch'd to remain as habitually and delightfully unclean as ever This Soul-destroying Subtilty appears 1. In a readiness to shift off Sin and Reproofs from our selves to others The Minister met with such an one to day there was a Lesson for him indeed c. 2. In loathing a sound plain-searching Ministry as sore Eyes do the Sun which goes about to answer all the Objections of a natural Heart against the Goodness of Divine Truth Thus the Law removes Impediments 2. It worketh Conviction by applying unto the Soul and Conscience 1.
Gentle Expostulations frequently and movingly here and there as unto Adam and Gehazi Gen. 3.9 2 Kin. 5.26 Tell me poor Soul was it not â—ven so hast not thou done thus and thus went not my Spirit with thee and was not mine Eye over thee Confess thy Sin ease thy self and give glory to God O how loving is the Lord even in his Terrors and Enditements In the midst of Judgment he remembreth Mercy Tho his Robes be red they are not without some streamings of white and if he be compelled to pronounce Judgment as it was said of Augustus he doth it even with Tears in his Eyes 2. Instances very pertinent and those either direct as Psal 50.18 c. or Parabolical As Nathan dealt with David so the Lord deals with those whom he intends to restrain and renew You are the Men saith he that have been so much addicted to and delighted with Idleness Wantonness Luxury Pride Covetousness Slandring Drunkenness Swearing Lying and the like 3. Threatnings are added where the former avail not Cursed is every one that doth not all which is written in the Law He shall be pursued with Judgments of divers Natures to one end sometimes with prosperity on the right and anon with adversity on the left hand and last of all which is the worst of all dying impenitently he must needs be damned Thus the Lord thundereth in his Law against some whom nevertheless he intends to sanctify and save as a Father may threaten and terrify that Child whom he intends to make his Heir But withal you must know that he doth inwardly and secretly support them that they dash not upon Presumption nor sink under final Despair So that at length being driven from all their hiding Places they are brought into this Wilderness and forced freely to take upon themselves all those Sins discovered by the Law to fall down before God and to acknowledg their Guilt and Desert before the Throne of his Majesty resolving there to lie prostrate till he raise them in Mercy Now say they we see we feel we know how true the Word of God is how faithfully such Ministers dealt with us while we slighted and laughed them to scorn and how deceitful Sin is that appears at first small sweet and clean when as it is weighty bitter and filthy They cry who will take this Dagger out of my Heart this Mill-stone off my Back this Fire out of my Loins this Sting out of my Conscience Now the seeming sweetnesâ— of Sin is turned to Gall. O Sin how grievous is thy remembrance Away ye wicked we will henceforth endeavour to keep thâ— Commandments of our God No morâ— Swearing much less Perjury no Drunkenness no more Uncleanness When thesâ— knock at the door the answer is O thesâ— are they that cost us dear at such a time wâ— yet feel the sad Impressions of our former Afflictions for them we find a Pardon no easy Enterprize nor Repentance so pleasing a Potion we would not for all the World bâ— under that Anger of God nor feel one drop of his scalding Indignation which we have perceived for those Offences Thus the biâ—â—â—â— Child dreads the Fire And this with submission is the Course that Ministers musâ— take in opening and pressing the Law firsâ— which is God's Instrument effectually to charge the Conscience with Sin and to bring a Person into this Wilderness 2dly The People may learn to join with the Lord in his Ambassadors so to furtheâ— this Work of the Law when and where iâ— is once begun and to follow the Lord undeâ— his Cloud and after this Fire into this Wiâ—derness And that 1. By a serious Meditation of these many Impediments which keep Men out of it oâ— hinder them much in the way towards it when the Lord is about to bring them into it Eye them that you may avoid them For instance to esteem of the Law as a strange thing as not appertaining to them or wherein they are little or nothing concerned to interpose some beloved Sin between these two Lights of the Law and Conscience that they cannot join This alone hindered Herod's Conversion under John's piercing Ministry the interposition of his Herodias caused a fearful and final Eclipse So likewise to go away unthankfully and carelesly from a good Discourse doth hinder the Work and quench the Sparks which might have bred a Flame 2. By frequent Meditation on divers good Subjects moving this way as 1. Upon the Mercies of God bestowed upon you in particular from time to time This Course the Lord took to humble David 2 Sam. 12.7 8 9. And whosoever hath tried will say It is a very piercing way to bring the Heart into a through and kindly grief I have read of one who reading a Pardon sent him from the King fell a weeping and burst out into these Words A Pardon hath done that which Death could not do it hath made my Heart to relent As the Sugar-Loaf is dissolved and weeps it self away when it is dipp'd in Wine so will Penitents dissolve and melt themselves away in the sweet sence of Divine Love and their neglect or abuse of it Without doubt the very Behaviour of the Prodigal's Father brake his Heart with more thawings and kindly mourning than ever his former Hardship and Misery did O this that ever he should run to meet him that he should fall upon his Neck and kiss him This kindness of his Lips wounded his Heart with the deeper sence and judging of his own unkindness When the Surface of the Water is glazed with Ice the Sun-beams dissolve it such operation hath the Grace of Christ upon frozen Hearts which are never truly melted into Contrition but by Evangelical Beams Surely when a Sinner shall consider the great Love the sweetest Kindness the freest Pardons offered the choicest Mercies bestowed his Heart cannot but melt into a River What all these to and for me Lord yea for thee What after such deep Rebellions and Refusals yea after all and that most freely and willingly Good Lord how can the Soul but weep and mourn now 2. Meditate for that purpose upon the Justice and Power of God able to revenge the Quarrel of his Covenant and to bruise all his proud and stout Enemies with a Rod of Iron He is not only a Rock of Refuge to the Godly but also a Rock of Destruction to dash the Impenitent in pieces The strength of the Rock is seen as in upholding the House that is built upon it so in breaking the Ships that dash against it The force of Fire is manifested as in refining the Gold so in consuming the Dross There is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy Name is great who would not fear thee thou King of Nations Jer. 10.6 And It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Heb. 10.31 As a Lion he tears in pieces the Adversaries Psal 50.22 There is no standing before him if his Wrath
Wrath of the Almighty presented to a solitary Soul no Friend in sight but all apprehended Enemies to him this is a lamentable Case Yet here is comfort for all this if the Eye be once opened as Hagar's was or the Servants of the Prophet to see a Fountain near us opened for Sin and Vncleanness to see the Mountains covered with armed Souldiers and Chariots of Fire on our side if we once look up and consider the end which the Lord proposeth in so doing it will never after be so doleful he can lead you through the Sea feed you in the Wilderness and easily limit and destroy all your Enemies Nay in time he will do it And if the Lord be on our side we need not fear ten Thousands homming us in on every side Many there be in the World to whom this Comfort belongs who will not take it and they run into two Extremes either such who have drunken so deep of this Cup of Legal Terror that they judg themselves hated of God as if none of his Beloved had ever been in that Case when as his own dear Son was so far brought into this Wilderness as to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And here it is a merciful Promise made unto a beloved People an ordinary Course which he doth take with those that are dear unto him through many Tribulations to bring them into possession of a Kingdom Let not Satan nor your own slavish Fears so far prepossess you as to deny audience unto God when he shall be pleased to speak unto our Hearts Or else they are such who have had either none or so little of it in their apprehensions that they deem themselves still in the State of Nature because they were never humbled enough as such and such they were never in this Wilderness and so consequently never yet in the ready way to Heaven Therefore they refuse Christ and all Comfort offered no Promise they say belongs to them To such I would say True it is that all ordinary Converts are humbled all are brought into this Wilderness and all taste more or less at one time or other of this Cup of Legal Terrour The Soul that is so prone to Sin must be stayed Conscience must be charged with the guilt and weight of Sin and pursued with deserved Anger from one place to another till the Soul be weary of Sin and the Party oft-times so afraid that he dares not be alone and yet finds little ease in Company But then you must know withal that the Lord is a free Agent he hath not limited himself to one degree or measure so neither can any Man set a stint to say Whosoever shall be saved must be humbled to this and this degree God cannot be tract in his goings none can find out his Footsteps His ways are past finding out they are like the way of an Eagle in the Air. Besides all need it not alike and he works it diversly upon most according to the number nature and continuance of their Sins and with reference to that Emploiment he intends them for after as hath been formerly noted A familiar Instance may serve to bring the meaning hereof to every Capacity Of Locks some are new and easily opened others old and rusty and must with violence be broken open of Stones some are harder than others So of Persons some are more glued unto and faster riveted in Sin than others Paul was knock'd down while Lydia had her Heart gently opened Zaccheus a Publican and Extortioner is not stricken from the Tree which he climbs by any Rays of Divine Majesty shining upon him but is like ripe Fruit gathered by the Hand not shaken off by the tempestuous Winds If an old Adulterer or a deboist lewd Companion be once brought into this Wilderness he is dreadfully handled his foul Sins pursue him like Acteon's Hounds Hell-fire seems to flie in his Eyes and he fears sinking every moment Such as have taken much delight in Sin are made for their health to vomit up their sweet Morsels with much bitterness O my Drunkenness crieth out one in such a place and with such Company O my Fornication and Adultery with such and such saith another Once pleasant now bitter as Gall and Wormwood Wo unto us that ever we were born to go on so long in Sin c. So that by this time all the Town and Country hear and speak of them such a Change cannot escape wonder Thus the Case is difficult with some As a Disease come to a Paroxism is hardly cured And as where the Enemy is stronger there the Victory is more difficult Now for others who have been by careful Parents more restrainedly brought up and religiously educated they may be brought into it softly and by degrees not knowing when or how thus far they are come they hate Sin all in all sorts they love Grace and good Company God's favour they prize above all Contentments loving and cleaving unto Jesus Christ with sincere Hearts good Duties they perform and dare not often omit them in private or in public and a good Conscience they desire to keep towards God and Man they are the same in words and deeds to the exactest of their care and sincere intention charitable to the Poor doing good to all especially to the Houshold of Faith This they know but that they were ever in this Wilderness they remember not Many times and unto many Persons the Lord hideth the violence of this Terror knowing their weak and tender disposition and affords them a saving Proportion by continuance it is long upon them that have least and of shorter continuance in them that have most Let none measure themselves by others A wise Physician proportioneth his Receit to the Constitution of the Patient else he might sooner kill than cure Who will say his Potion can do him no good because he had not so many drams as another had when as his Body would not bear it neither doth his Disease require it The Lord knoweth best what he hath to do and how Leave it to him and look rather to the Quality than to the Quantity that you be utterly driven out of your selves to rest effectually on Christ as your Lord and Saviour and then fear not Quest But how may a Man know whether he have been at any time brought into this Wilderness in truth Answ By the Manner of working it and by the Nature of his Sorrow 1. By the manner of working as hath been formerly described When a Person is so far humbled by the Law as that he acknowledgeth both Crime and Curse and hath nothing to say for himself but to cry out with Tears I am unclean I am unclean When his Plea is an Appeal and his Suit is deeply set and closely followed for Mercy and Grace it is a good sign 2. By the nature of this Sorrow and Grief which if it be only to restrain him it is shallow and
ready at hand always good and kind to Man but then especially when Man stands in most need of him as all the Saints have found and testified Manasses in Prison Hagar in the Wilderness Daniel in the Lions Den and they in the fiery Furnace Job David Hezekiah in great distress and anguish of Spirit When the Bottle is dipped under Water he saveth it from drowning The more grievous their Oppression the more gracious hath been his Redemption And the reason hereof is good First Because none else can do it Not Men or Angels much less the Gilded Toys of the World or all that exteriour Lustre which charmeth the Eyes of so many esteemed by a troubled Mind but as a Cloud in painting a petty vapour of Water or as Chaff driven of the Wind. The Jews have a saying common among them viz. It is he that openeth our Heart in his Law i. e. By his Spirit he enableth the Heart to understand and effect Spiritual things it is a branch of his Prerogative Luke 24.45 He opened their Vnderstandings by removing Impediments by breathing into them the Holy Ghost and bestowing further Functional Graces As S. Ambrose expounds and explains that Text by some passages of S. Paul 1 Cor. 12.8 9. God toucheth the Heart as the Musician doth the strings of his Instrument and it soundeth what he pleaseth Secondly He hath Undertaken and Promised it by Himself to our First Parents and by his Prophets unto the Church in every Age successively It is the sum and end of the New Covenant to accept those who deny themselves to raise up them that are cast down to inrich those that are poor in Spirit and to speak comfortably to those who will not be comforted any other way He brings them into this Wilderness for this end that he may speak and not speak in vain unto them Till then commonly Man is like an untamed Heifer or wild Asses Colt that runs and revels here and there that breaks all Bonds and will hear no Advice When Sin is discovered and Conscience awakened one syllable of the Gospel one word of Comfort is as good News out of a far Country In every natural Man there is a three-fold Bar hindering the entrance of Spiritual Light and Life Ignorance in the understanding it is covered with Ignorance as the Deep was at first with Darkness there is a very Chaos Hardness in the Heart like that of Nabal's which became like a Stone and a malitious pravity in the Will which is like a noisom Sepulchre so that as such he can neither understand receive nor affect this Supernatural Work till the Lord hath removed them by his Spirit Cooperating with the Law and Gospel It is said of Lydia that the Lord opened her Heart i. e. effectually called her as Calvin saith He gave her Divine Light and Grace without which special Concurrence of his Paul's labour had been fruitless In effect it is all one with this I will speak unto her Heart i. e. I will speak Friendly Plainly and Effectually Conceive this Evangelical Work to go on in this Order First The Lord revealeth himself to such a Heart so dejected and troubled as a Wise and Loving Father not willing nor suffering any such to perish As St. Ambrose told Monica Filius tantaram lachrimarum c. A Son of so many Tears as she shed for her Augustine cannot perish Now these brought by a Voice into the Wilderness are all Sons of Sorrow many Tears are shed by them as a living Fountain sends forth plentiful Streams and often many Tears are shed for them therefore they cannot Perish And this the Lord doth in three degrees 1. He makes it evident that there is a possibility of Ease Purity and Peace And to that end he brings many presidents to their Mind of old hard rusty Hearts renewed softned and opened For they are recorded in Scriptures for that purpose Paul saith he obtained Mercy for this cause 1 Tim. 1.16 For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe The Lord speaks to some as bad as might be compared to Sodom and Gomorrah Isa 1.9 Yet in the 18. ver there is Come let us reason together though your sins be as Scarlet c. Others are bespatter'd with Idolatrous filthiness yet I will cleanse you from all your filthiness is God's Promise Ezek. 36.25 Besides many others with the Apostles black Roll 1 Cor. 6.10 11. Such were some of you but ye are washed and sanctified These and the like Instances are here brought to mind as evidences of Divine Favour and incouragements to Faith 2. He discovereth Christ and acquaints them with the New-Covenant as the only Remedy to make up the breach of the First-conditions Behold saith the Lord my Son a Lamb slain from the beginning to take away the Sins of the World Behold him in Union with your Nature and in Unction to the Office of Mediatorship Behold him in his Obedience Active and Passive assuming the Crime and Curse of your Nature undergoing the penalty and fulfilling the Precept of the Law in his own Person but in your stead and room Behold him in his Meritorious Viatory Office by way of Purchase and Conquest as also in his Applicatory-Intercession for all burdened Souls who seeing you are truly weary of Sin behold the Mediator by a real tender of his own Merits prevailing for you among the rest 3. He offereth Christ unto all such upon condition of Faith and Repentance to the performance of which Condition he enableth in his Offer So that they will to do what they are required saying often with grief and fear O that we could Repent and Believe O that we could take the Lord's offer c. Although Actual Faith be not yet in the Heart as some are of Opinion tho Mr. Perkins judgeth the contrary yet it is very near and shall infallibly follow Hagar had her Eyes opened to see the Well before she went to it and stooped down to take and taste it Faith comes in by exercise to manifest it self by certain steps and degrees And let all those who find themselves past any of them thankfully acknowledg God's Work and be humbly constant in the use of Means for the Lord will speak again Phil. 1.6 He which hath begun a good Work in you will perform it c. And pray as Luther wonted to do Confirm O Lord in us what thou hast wrought and perfect the Work that thou hast begun in us to thy Glory As Queen Elizabeth prayed Look upon the Wounds of thine Hands and dispise not the Work of thine Hands thou hast written me down in the Book of Preservation with thine own Hand O read thine own Hand-writing and save me Secondly He openeth the Heart towards himself and that in three Degrees 1. He persuadeth it of the truth of those Passages formerly revealed and discovered and that the Lord doth seriously intend them to all in this condition 2. He raiseth up in it an
earnest longing after them as the only good to be desired with which they may be happy and without them they must be everlastingly miserable The wise Spiritual Merchant having once found this Treasure hideth it and makes haste for joy that there is some possibility of enjoying it he selleth all that he hath and resolveth to purchase it whatever he pay whatever the conditions be As the hunted Hart longs after the running Stream so these Men do now cry out Give us Christ or else we die They Hear Reade Fast and Confer O they will part with all they will do any thing for Christ A Sight a Touch a Taste of him is more worth than the World 3. After many Conflicts Doubts and Fears the Heart is wrought upon not only willing to receive Christ for so it was before but actually to cast it self upon Christ to rest on him and to resign it self wholly to his dispose O the sweet Repose which a fainting Soul finds in a Promise rightly applied after a storm of Spiritual Trouble The Heart is ever with him the Eye is alway upon him and the Tongue is delighted often to mention him Sweet Jesus hast thou done and suffered so much for me Was thy Heart pierced was thy Head bowed was thy Body nailed to the Cross for my Redemption How unworthy am I such a wretched Creature such a rebellious Prodigal such an impure lump of Sin to hear of such Mercy much more to taste thereof But seeing it was thy great Love to do it and thy Bounty to prevent me by offering it 't is my duty to receive it with all readiness of Mind and thankfulness of Heart Tho thou should'st kill me yet will I trust in thee tho thou should'st after cast me into Hell by me merited yet would I come unto thee Lo Lord Jesus lo a dumb deaf and lame Leper before thee if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and whole and if thou wilt not none else can do it I resolve to sink at thy Feet and if it were possible to perish in thine Arms. Thirdly The Lord speaks again to this same Heart thus far wrought upon three times he spake unto Samuel before he knew what and to whom to answer and the end and effect of it is three-fold 1. By the power of his Word he turneth out the old Inhabitant for intus existens probibet alienum Satan who did reign there by Sin and brings another into possession even Christ by his Spirit and Graces 2. He changeth the natural Disposition of the Heart truly for Parts though not perfectly for Degrees There is no part but is bespangled with Grace As Air in respect of Light so is the Heart in respect of Grace of a double he makes one single a hard and stony Heart he softeneth Understand not this of any Natural Moral or Legal yielding all which are presupposed but of an Evangelical softness a tenderness following upon serious deliberation and consideration of God's infinite Love Christ's bitter Sufferings and the odious nature of Sin And lastly Of an impure deceitful hypocritical Heart he makes an honest clean sincere Heart Ego non sum ego It is not what it was Such power and healing Vertue there is in the Word of God 3. By his Divine Breath and Power this Marriage between Christ and the Soul is consummate the Spiritual Bond apprehended and the Mystical Union manifested as it followeth in this very Chapter I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in Righteousness Judgment Loving-kindness and in Mercies i. e. In him in whom Mercy and Justice meet and are reconciled I will do it truly and firmly so that all his Benefits shall be made over by way of Joynture or Dower thy Poverty and Deformity shall be accounted his his Riches and Beauty thine This is that the Lord speaks to the Heart finally for this he allured her into the Wilderness that he might win her to himself and thus is this Work finished The manner of Conversion as for the present we apprehend it to be ordinary thus far concluded and briefly in the Heads only unfolded we may for further satisfaction light and benefit require Quest First When is the Lord said to speak unto the Heart Answ I answer 1. When he overcomes the natural hardness of the Heart and begins to let out that Spiritual Impostume or mass of Impurity which lieth hid in every one by Nature This is a Work to which neither Men or Angels are able to set their Hands The Heart-maker is the only Heart-breaker and he alone that knows the Heart can purifie or purge it When Rocks are turn'd into streams of Water and the Mountains melt like Wax and clods of Earth are made like Stars of Heaven surely then God putteth forth his Power then he speaketh to the Heart 2. When he raiseth any comfort in distressed Minds by closing with them in some promises of Pardon or power over Sin This is the Voice of God for he only can prepare a Door of Hope in every Valley of Trouble provide Manna in the Wilderness Water in every dry Rock and Light in every Dungeon There is no precious Electuary for sick Souls but by his Prescription and Administration 3. When he answereth the desire of the Heart against such and such a Sin or in a timely supply of such a Grace either in truth where it is not or for degrees where it was in a little measure before All Grace is originally from Heaven it comes from above James 3.17 i. e. from God the first and second preventing and assisting God bids the Soul to mortifie such a Lust and the Soul complains as Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 20.12 I have no might against this great Army then the Lord comes in with Auxiliary Forces and his Grace hath been sufficient God bids him to pray for such a Mercy and he finds himself very unfit his Heart at first was dead and flat but on a sudden he is carried above his own strength his Tears drop his Love flames God hath then spoken then he came in with assisting Grace If the Heart burn in Prayer God hath struck the Fire the Spirit hath been tuning the Heart therefore it maketh sweet melody 4. When there is a close concurrence and an orderly subordination between God's Word and the Heart When the Word is not only delivered to the Heart but the Heart also is deliver'd up unto the Word By the closing of these two our Wills are wholly taken up in God's Will So that the Heart ever saith after as Christ did not my Will in any thing but thy Will be done in all O Lord This is one reason alledged by St. Augustin why he would have all sorts to reade the Scriptures and frequently to hear them Quia in illis loquitur Deus ad Cor indoctorum atque doctorum Because therein God speaks unto the Heart of the Learned and Unlearned Aug. Epist 3.
that are meanest in their own apprehensions Such shall understand this secret and partake in it to sit on Thrones as crowned Kings and Queens for evermore Vse 3. Lastly What transcending Comfort doth this Truth and Text afford to all troubled Minds Such I mean as have been stayed by Divine Power when they were running towards Hell in all sorts of Vanity and Prodigality and had been there ere this had not God in Christ been more merciful to them than they were careful about their own safety If the King should vouchsafe to speak to a mean Person before many what an honour would it be what ravishing thoughts would arise and what applause would it procure How much more should it be so here when the King of Kings speaks and that unto the Heart of a forlorn Creature comfortably I have heard thy Prayer I have seen thy Tears behold I will heal thee c. so the Lord spake unto the Heart of Hezekiah 2 Kings 20.5 Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a memorial before God c. so the Lord spake unto the Heart of Cornelius Acts 10.4 And how often did our blessed Lord and compassionate Saviour Jesus Christ raise up disconsolate Souls with such words as these Son be of good chear thy Sins be forgiven thee Daughter great is thy Faith go in peace thy Faith hath made thee whole Yea all the precious Promises are such Cordials See Prov. 28.13 Who so confesseth and forsaketh his Sins shall find Mercy Job 33.27 28. He looketh upon Man and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right and it profiteth me not he will deliver his Soul from going into the Pit c. Isa 1.18 Come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow c. Chap. 55. ver 7. Let the Wicked forsake his way and the Righteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have Mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Mich. 7.19 He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our Iniquities and cast all their Sins into the bottom of the Sea Hos 14.4 5. I will heal their Back-slidings I will love them freely Mal. 4.2 To them that fear my Name shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his Wings Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Rom. 8.1 Now therefore there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ c. 1 John 1.9 Rev. 21.6 So almost in every Book of that holy Volume may be found such Stars of Light such pieces of Treasure such Bezar-stones to keep sick Souls from fainting under their Sins and Sorrows Promises wherein the Lord speaks something to the Hearts of believing Penitents to this effect The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpent's Head Whatsoever Christ did or suffered was for you by his satisfaction God is reconciled to you all your Sins are pardoned and your Souls shall be saved This is to speak to the Heart of a poor Sinner Now as some Artificers after long poring upon a piece of Black Work and finding a dimness in their Eyes are wont to refresh themselves with the beholding the Verdure of Meadows or lustre of Emeralds so let poor Penitents wearied and heavy laden with the consideration of their Sins for their refreshment make use of those Gospel-Cordials the Promises they will be chearing to the Eye of Faith But 't is sufficiently known that those to whom this Comfort belongs are most ready to put it from them as none of their Portion The troubled Spirit makes Darts of every thing it can to fight against Reason and kill it self not suspecting its own Poyson The conclusion therefore of this subject shall endeavour to prevent that mischief by proposing and answering some Cases which may contain the complaints of such troubled Spirits Object 1. My Sins have been so many and great that I fear to apply any Promise Answ Nay therefore you should be the more ready and willing to apply this Lord come unto me for I am a sinful Man and have most need of help Save me Lord or I perish Greater Sins should hasten all to the Mercy Seat the greater Wounds to the Physician No Man flies his Counsel because his Cause is great and intricate but plies him the more Especially while you consider the extent of his Power and Love who speaketh His Power passeth the nature and number of your Sins whatever they be Christ is a great Saviour He is called a Mighty Saviour and the Salvation in him is called Great Salvation and the Redemption in him Great Redemption 1 John 2.1 If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And for his Love that extends to all sorts of Penitents to Manasses Mary Magdalen to the Romans and Corinthians to foul Sinners griping Oppressors sharp Persecutors Sinners in the highest form 1 John 2.2 And he is the Propitiation for our Sins c. In the Levitical Law there were Sacrifices for all sorts of Sins and what did they prefigure but the ample efficacy in Christ's Death which was an Atonement for Sins of all kinds and was as the daily Sacrifice for the Expiation of the continued and augmented number of Transgressions Even where Sin hath abounded there Grace hath after much more abounded So if you consider the nature of those Promises made unto distressed Souls both for Constitution and Condition For Constitution they are absolutely free no Foreign Power to enforce them from him that made them nor any Natural Abilities in Man to reserve them And for Condition they are Evangelical bringing with them what they require of you Be of good comfort when he calleth you fear not refuse not to receive what he offereth Say rather Speak Lord and speak home for thy Servant desireth to hear Object 2. But alas it is pleaded my Corâ—â—ptions have been and are strong and abominaâ—â—â—â— that I know not what to do Answ The sense of Sin 's strength is no â— hopeful symptom nor prejudice to Faith â—f all tempers the hardned is most dangeâ—â—us and Sin hath the greatest strength â—here there is the least sense When a Patiâ—â—t is deadly sick he saith and thinks he is â—ell and feels no pain but when he is reâ—â—vering he is full of sense and complains â—s Head is weak his Stomach sick his Bones â—me all is amiss every thing is too hard â—â— him There is more hope of one sensible â—â—nner than of a thousand presumptuous â—â—rdned Wretches Sense of Sin doth ever â—â— before sense of Christ Besides the powâ—â— of God's Voice will weaken them and â—â—e Efficacy of his Spirit mortifie and subâ—â—e them Here it may be said as it was of â—â—thage a little before it was taken Moriâ—â—ium bestiarum violentiores esse morsus dying â—asts
the Mount will the Lord be seen FINIS A CANAAN OF COMFORT DISCOVERING That a true sight of Sin is an infallible sign of Grace â—rom that Expression of Holy and Penitent David Psal 51.3 My Sin is ever before me By W. C. London Printed in the Year 1679. A Consolatory Preface to poor Christians dejected under the sense of their Sins GOd's Ministers are commanded by the Voice of that Evangelical Prophet Isaiah to comfort to speak to the Lord's People to comfort Jerusalem and cry unto her that her Warfare is accomplished and that her Iniquity is pardoned In obedience to this Command I have presumed to publish this Word in season for your Benefit in the following plain Discourse and the plainer because such a dress doth best become Divinity Affected terms may please the Fancy but will never feed the Vnderstanding they Court but not Comfort In these Points Experience is more than Reading Both ways all praise be to the Author of Grace you have learn'd how the Lord by degrees allureth and draws Men and Women out of the pleasing Fields of Prodigality into the Wilderness of Spiritual Trouble that he might there speak unto their Hearts and work them to a gracicious Temper wherein afterwards he keeps them partly by presenting Sin to the Eye and Conscience as he did to David Which you must know is not to sink nor drive them to Dispair but to nourish and increase in them an hatred of Sin and a longing love after Christ seeing the one daily to loath it and feeling the want of the other more to desire him It was an excellent Speech of that eminent Martyr Mr. Lambert who lifting up his Hands flaming with Fire as his Heart did with Love and Zeal cried aloud to the People out of the Fire Christ and none but Christ Which I designedly put you in mind of and commend to you whereby to encourage you in your dejected Condition and to propound as a pattern for your Practice For an adequate object of Faith to accept and rest upon as the only Mediator of Justification and Salvation Christ and none but Christ In the exercise of Repentance for a term to which we must trust and by whom we have access to the Father Christ and none but Christ In the duty of Prayer for an Intercessor to give weight and worth unto them Christ and none but Christ For a compleat Saviour both to redeem by Purchase â—nd Conquest in regard of Man's twoâ—old Bondage and to adorn the Soul with Righteousness Christ and none but Christ As Sin is so let Christ be ever â—efore you in his Incarnation Death Resurrection Ascension and Intercessiâ—n In his Natures and Offices in the excellency of his Merit and Efficacy of â—is Spirit in his Beauty and Innocenâ—y in his Power and Pity in his hidden Treasure and Riches unsearchâ—ble believe it there is no such Image â—o look upon no such Picture to pray â—efore as the Promises present in him â—o every believing Eye in your Chamber â—nd at Church Alone and in Company â—n Health and Sickness in Life and Death look upon him love him and say Christ and none but Christ Then may you be assured that God hath brought you the best way out of Egypt into Canaan that he hath spoken unto your Heart indeed and that Christ's Blood is and shall be effectually applied to put Sin both out of Affection and Memory and in due time to cleanse your Nature from the power and being of Sin In a word be of good Courage keep on in your way your Labour will not be in vain in the Lord. Heaven or rather Christ will pay for all If then you would have Sin pardon'd Hardness and Dulness removed Grace bestowed in the Habit Acts or Degrees Doubts answered Weakness strengthened Prayers and Tears with Christ will do it Children of many Tears cannot perish Farewel A Canaan of Comfort DISCOVERING That a true sight of Sin is an infallible sign of Grace Psal 51.3 My Sin is ever before me OF Books the Scripture of Scripture the Psalms of Psalms the Penitentials of Penitentials this hath worthily obtained the place of Eminency Basil Hom. 12 in Psal and for Use and Comfort were it meet to compare things which are in their own nature Superlative of Super-excellency in the Church of God And that justly whether we regard the Author the Occasion the Subject or the End of it The Author was David a King a Prophet a Penitent Sinner every way great great in his Gifts great in his Person and Place and greatly Beloved great in his Fall and great in his Recovery and all to draw transgressing Greatness unto imitation either by Watchfulness to prevent or by Penitency to recover themselves out of Satan's snares The Occasion was his too too-long departure from God in that great and presumptuous Sin against the Lord in the matter of Vriah being at the Leaguer of Rabbah David violated the Chastity of Bathsheba his Wife whosoever dareth the Devil by Idleness shall surely be tempted by him to some forbidden Employment Ocium est principium malè faciendi Basil Hex She conceived he labours to hide it as fast as she by growth did discover it by sending for Vriah home that so he might be deem'd the Father of that Adulterous Issue This not succeeding altho he had added the strength of Wine to his command to make him at once forgetful and inordinate he gives way to another bloody Project For commonly Sin goeth not without company being like the Sea the end of one Wave is the beginning of another or like the Circles in a Pond one begets another And as in a case of Stairs one is a step to another so every Sin is a Stair to help up to higher and worse Sins And that was to send him back with Letters drawn by David s Pen to the General Joab that he might under some Warlike Adventure place him in the way of Death so to free David as he deceitfully thought both from Vriah's presence and his Blood while he was taken out of the way by the Sword of the Children of Ammon Not I but they have done it Which being done David married Bathsheba thinking that way to cloak his Sin and so all was husht and quiet on David's side But the Thunder-clap is yet behind The thing that David had done displeased the Lord. God loved David and therefore hated his Sin and would not suffer it by concealment like a dangerous Sore to fester but sends Nathan to take away the evil that blinded him and to allure him by a borrowed speech into the Wilderness that there he might speak unto his Heart to open what Sin had shut to cleanse what Sin had defiled to soften what Sin had hardened and to bring him to some satisfaction and that by way of publick Confession and as it were to do open Penance in a white Sheet The Subject is an expression of Evangelical Sorrow or the
language of a melting Heart breathing out a compassionate Lamentation after Pardon desired obtained and sealed The cause of fear was past Nathan had declaratively removed it upon his acknowledgment The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die God had put away his Sin from before him because he loved David but David could not forget his Sin because he loved the Lord. Love maketh God forget it and the Sinner to remember it David's love to God so freely forgiving such hainous Sins did increase daily and with this love his sorrow grew that he should so ill requite the Lord the thought of it carried him more and more into God's Presence whose Purity and Brightness meeting with the light of David s Conscience represented his Sin more clearly as ever before him When he considered what God had done for him and what he had now done against the Lord moving common Enemies to blaspheme he was even ashamed and confounded so Planet-struck he was that he could not durst not lift up his Face Tacita sudant praecordia culpâ Juven he is at the Meridian Zenith Vertical Point of Shame he could not mount higher The End why it was penn'd and published was partly in respect of himself to get further assurance of God's re-promised Favour in his own apprehension and partly with reference to others to leave a ground of encouragement for poor Souls that fall after Baptism against that Spirit-quenching Doctrine of the Novatians who leave no room for pardon of Sin after Baptism or Repentance to assure them it is possible they may be forgiven and received into Favour as also to leave a pattern of Penitency to all Posterity After grievous falls even into â—resumptuous Sins it is possible Men may â—e raised return'd and entertain'd but it â—ust be done thus after the pattern shewed â—s in this Mount such Sins will be ever beâ—ore them in Memory and Detestation and â—he burden will be intollerable so that they â—ill often cry out with David My Sins are â—er before me The meaning may be thus unfolded as â—f David had said and enlarged himself after â—his manner First I am mindful of my Fault as if it â—ere written upon every Wall God hath â—orgiven the Guilt that it should not redound â—o Condemnation but my Conscience cannot â—et go the Memory of that I have done in â—he Day-time I think of it and in the Night 〈◊〉 dream of it as my Book it is when I reade â—nd as an Image when I pray ever before â—e while I am alone it doth accompany me and when I am in Company the thought â—f it doth not forsake me Whither-soever 〈◊〉 go that woful Story is still presented with all the aggravating Circumstances Bathsheba defiled Vriah slain a harmless Sacrifice and both by David a Man called from the Sheepâ—ook to the Scepter raised to highest Digâ—ity out of deep Obscurity and honoured with such a Style as never any Man had Oh Ingratitude Shall not all Men in all Ages cry out upon David that he should so far forget God as to leave his own many of his own and to take his poor Neighbour's Lamb to dress for his Stranger Oh fearful These or the like are my thoughts by Day and no other are my conceits by Night in Company I am alone and while I am alone I have these Companions My Sins are ever before me Secondly I am wonderfully troubled about it For me-thinks mine Eyes and Ears have no other Object I see my Sins in that order as they were acted Idleness first but followed with Adultery first of the Eye next of the Mind and lastly of the Body Adultery is attended by Drunkenness-active he made Uriah drunk and that Drunkenness by Murther See the Bead-roll viz. Idleness Adultery Drunkenness and Murther and hearken to the cry of them one answering another but all are against David one was occasioned by another and the former still punished in the latter Many and fearful they are more hideous than Hell pursuing me like so many Furies into every place as of the whole Army accusing me of Negligence and Security of Bathsheba bewailing the stain of her own Body and her Husband's Bed of Vriah's Blood calling from the Ground for vengeance of all my Subjects brought in danger by their Prince's Folly yea of all the Birds in the Air whistling David's Crime on every Tree of Heaven and Earth groaning under the burden of such a Report That David a Man after God's own Heart so beloved and advanced should be thus fouly overtaken and lastly of Jesus Christ shewing his Wounds rub'd up afresh by these Abominations of mine What Ear â—an endure or Heart hold to see and hear his â—ins thus set in order before him Thirdly I am horribly afraid not so much â—f Damnation God hath graciously put away my Sin I know I shall not die as of the ugly face of Sin at first it was not apprehended by me I little thought of what I how feel but now it is presented to me in true Colours black as Hell bitter as Gall and more heavy than Mountains the pleasure was small and past but the bitterness â—s present and doth far exceed it was momentany that delighted me but lasting that â—exeth me I am ashamed of every passage that I knowing so much and professing the contrary should be so foolish and forgetful â—irst to perpetrate the Act then to cover it with Fig leaves as if any Person Thing or Act could be hid by any means from this bright Eye of the Word Well may God be hid from me but I can never be hid from God All things are naked and open to him Sin deceiveth most when it promiseth most and bringeth a Curse with its sweetest Morsels being like that Gold which ever brought destruction to the Owners of it Aurum Tholosanum Or like that Horse which had all perfections that could be named belonging to an Horse Of Cn. Cejus for stature feature colour strength limbs comliness but withal the Owner of him was sure to die an unhappy death This is the misery of Sin how pleasant profitable or advantagious soever it may seem to be unto Flesh and Blood it hath always Calamity in the end it ever expires in Trouble Fourthly I acknowledg all not confusedly as before through the light of Conscience but distinctly and feelingly by the Light of God's Word closing with the light of Conscience All this while I went about to please my self but now I find by woful experience that the things which I have done displease the Lord and therefore now I desire my Repentance may be answerable to my Sin i. e. multiplied and ever before me that others may hear and learn by my example how deceitful Sin is taking away from Men what it promiseth to bring viz. Pleasure and Contentment and for one pleasing sight or touch it presents it presents an ugly face for ever after O that Men were Wise
their Joy and Happiness encreased thereby were this remembred it would prove a comfort to those whose Religious Friends do often end their Days in such distress For by coming so immediately from the sight of such an ugly Objâ—ct to the Intuition and Fruition of such Beauty as is in Christ the Vision is more beatifical To pass from the presence of Sin into the presence of God doth more ravish the Soul with Coelestial Joy God in Christ will excel in Beauty and Glory to that Man's Eye and Apprehension who hath lately seen the sinfulness of Sin As the Sin is never more glorious than when it breaks out of a black Cloud so the Glory of Heaven will certainly be more admirable and lovely to those unto whom Sin hath appeared exceeding sinful Now if it pass unseen these two Days and if it be not presented to be seen and loathed in one of those Hours then it will be presented at the Great-Day which is emphatically called the Day of Discovery 1 Cor. 3.13 in fulness of Horror and inevitable Fury When the Curtain shall be drawn aside and all the secrets of the World discovered and every Man see the actions of his Life as upon a piece of Tapestry spread before his Eyes appearing as so many Thorns and Venemous Beasts and no Mercy to be shewed no Grace to be offer'd when no Petitions will be received nor any Voice heard but Go ye Cursed into everlasting Fire As may be gather'd from divers passages of sacred Scripture viz. Psal 50.21 Matth. 7.22 23 25 41. Hodie hodie poenitentiae locus saith St. Augustin To day there is room for Repentance you must repent now or perish then If the Tap be not now thaw'd it may be frozen for ever Hell vomiteth up our highest desires and will afford no felicities Happy is he whose Sins are ever before him here in a grieved memory they shall never be set before him there if they vex thee now as a loathed burden they shall not torment thee then The Sins which ye have seen to Day ye shall see them again no more for ever Secondly The Grounds whereupon this truth resteth are such as follow viz. 1. That inviolable dependency which all effects and conclusions have upon their own Causes and Principles whence they flow Acts Powers and Habits are unseparable from the Person as they are one from another Every Agent is and shall be attended with its own Works the Dead in the Lord are blessed and their Works follow them The Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib Sin lieth at the Sinner's door and will acknowledg no other Master What is once done cannot be undone No Power can recal it from being Only a penitent sight of Sin may hide it from the sight of Justice and Mercy can recal it from being imputed An act contracting Guilt may pass from a Person and yet not redound upon the Person by a supernatural interposition of satisfying Merit Christ must come between and stay his Course or else Sin would not only be set before us but even upon us in full Guilt and Weight and that for ever 2. The nature of the Soul in her retaining Faculties is another Ground whereby she is necessarily enabled by reflexion to recal to see and judg all her own past Actions This is essential and therefore it is that such Power and Impressions do remain inseparated either to punish or chear them by the remembrance of things past To which you may adjoyn the office of Conscience which is to bear witness and accuse or excuse according to Demerit A guilty Conscience we use to say and more say than some are aware of what they say is as a thousand Witnesses It will tell us all that we have done for many Years ago and present us with all the Follies of our Youth This is the Book wherein Men may read their own History and Doom both what they have done and what they have deserved There are two Rules the one is God's Word which pointeth out both Estates and the other is every Man's Conscience which is privy to the frame and standing of his Heart and which of these Estates is his As long then as there is such a Soul with us endowed with such admirable Faculties viz. Understanding Memory and Conscience so long will Sin be before us if we once do evil we shall hear of it ever after till Sanctification be perfect and Grace be crowned with Glory 3. The Order of Divine Justice requiring some proportion between the pleasure taken in Sin and the vexation for it after Beautiful it appeared in coming but ugly and deformed in going sweet it was in the offer and act but bitter in the close like Hony which is very sweet but begets most bitter Choller Or as Claudius his Mushrom which was pleasant but poysonful How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her Rev. 18.7 As it shall appear hereafter with the Impenitents in Hell suffering by way of Satisfaction so it is here on Earth with Penitents suffering by way of Correction Intention of delight in the act of sinning is justly recompensed with extension of continued Grief It will vex you long because it did affect you much Sin was before you when it should not and now it must be before you when you would not Justice being refused in the first will be heard in the latter Thirdly The Ends of all this wherefore a single Commission is followed with frequent Presentations we may conceive to be such as these 1. To keep the Heart of God's People in a spiritual frame of Self-denial and Humility and that the habitual grace of Repentance may be upheld and more lively in exercise Hereupon I am apt to think that Mr. Fox that industrious preserver of the Honour of many of God's Servants was observed to say That nothing did him more hurt than his Graces nothing more good than his Sins being ever before him His Graces through the prevailing power of Corruption remaining were ready to puff him up and to set him in God's room by self-seeking whilst his Sins kept him down and kept him humble and meek Few know the benefit of this Combat It is one of the best remedies against spiritual Pride and Security to keep the Mind upon Sin and Sin in the Mind Hence that confident speech of renowned Austin I dare be bold to say that it is good for proud Persons to fall into some Sin Vnde sibi displiceant qui jam sibi placendo ceciderunt Salubrius enim Petrus displicuit quando flevit quà m sibi placuit quando presumpsit Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 14. That they may be humbled as Peter was and so saved 2. To terrifie his Adversaries and so to leave them inexcusable when the full weight of Sin falls upon them If the memory of Sin do so follow them which have repented and are pardoned how will it be
with the Impenitent And what shall be the end of those who obey not the Gospel Cain had his Sin presented in the Morning and Judas in the evening of his Day to assure all Men that they are sure to hear of Sin again either sooner or later 3. It is to admonish all sorts to be Wise and Watchful lest Sin deceive them It cometh masked and goeth away smoothly as if it would never return and say it were so minded indeed yet Justice will recal it and cause it to be unvail'd at such a time when you shall have best leisure to attend it and look upon it As it is with a Serjeant who hath a Warrant to Arrest a Debtor but seeing him in the company of many of his Friends who are to stand up for him passeth by as if he saw him not or meant no such matter against him till after winding about he meets him alone and carrieth him away So it is here Sin hath authority the strength of Sin is the Law to attach every Son of Adam but seeing them in the height of Carnal Content and Jollity Eating Drinking Playing and fearing nothing while they are in such delightful and Sin-pleasing Company nothing is done Sin is not seen Conscience is not discharged all is at rest and quiet till after some time they are found alone withdrawn from their wild Companions into a Sick-bed or before the Judgment-seat of Christ then Sin comes suddenly and irresistably like the Philistines upon Sampson then account must be given of old Scores and every one must bear his own burden there is no way to escape no Bail to be taken 4. We may conceive it is to perfect Mortification and to prevent the dangerous violence of Enemies from without Satan tempteth the World allureth Company entice and bad examples would draw us powerfully after them did not this Image past terrifie and withhold us by continual Alarms Take heed and yield not for your lives remember my Wormwood and my Gall and like the burnt Child dread the fire c. This Sin doth not directly and by it self but accidentally and as it is over-ruled and ordered by an higher Hand occasionally to humble and drive us out of our selves that we may fetch daily more mortifying Virtue from Christ Thus Light is brought out of Darkness and Good extracted out of Evil. The Vse of this Point may be three-fold First To inform the Judgment of two things 1. About the deceitfulness of Sin It cometh at first pleasantly as Judeth to Holophernes dazling his Eyes with the splendor of Visage and charming his Ear with the sweetness of Discourse clad with smiling circumstances of Pleasure Profit and much Content and after it seems to go away presently as if it would never return And may be resembled not unfitly to a certain Serpent that hath a shining Skin and a pleasant smell but is a Serpent still and makes use of both only to ensnare and kill Or to the Indian Beast which hath the Face of a Man and the body of a Lion who counterfeits the sound of Flutes to charm Passengers and then entraps and kills them with a tail of the Scorpion Thus under the smiling brows of Sin may be discovered an hundred snares who strangle while they seem to embrace The cup of Hony will end in Gall even the gall of Asps Job 20.12 13. Of which Pliny writeth that it is their Poison and to this Poison is Sin there compared for when an Asp stingeth a Man it hath a provoking faculty first to make him laugh but then casteth him into a sleep till the Poison by little and little gets to the Heart after which it paineth him more than ever it delighted him so doth Sin It is a bitter sweet Bernard compareth it to the Itch which first yieldeth pleasure and afterwards smart And St. Austin saith Many devour that on Earrh which they must digest in Hell where they shall have Punishment without Pity Misery without Mercy Sorrow without Succour Torments without End Thus as the Ancients that have delighted to make Medals caused the Faces of them to be quite different and contrary on the one side they graved an Achilles on the other they figured a Thersites if on one side an Absolon on the other an Aesop if on one side a Rose on the other an Onion The same may be observed in the Medal of Sin if you look on the one side you shall see a Figure infinitly charming on the other an hideous Fury When therefore thou art making a covenant with Sin say O Man to thy Soul as Boaz said to his Kinsman Ruth 4.4 What time thou buyest it thou must have Ruth with it So if thou wilt have the sweet of Sin thou must have the Curse with it and let thy Soul answer as he doth No I may not do it I shall spoil a better Inheritance Follow Aristotle's advice to look upon Pleasure going and not coming Principium dulce est sed finis amoris amarus Laeta venire Venus tristis abire solet They leave Horror and Terror behind them As the Head of the Polypus which is sweet to the Palat but after causeth troublesome Sleep and frightful Dreams as Plutarch reporteth At present you only see the pleasure not the torment of Sin Look upon Cain and Judas and they will tell thee what a Scorpion it will be in thy side one time or other That with Orphean Ayrs and dextrous Warbles it will lead thee to the flames of Hell 2. About the folly of Man to think otherwise of Sin either that God will forget it or that they shall never see it again Hence it is that there are so many flie and hypocritical Persons in the World that labour to carry all things in the Clouds and dark Contrivances that think to dance in a Net as we say and not be seen and are still very desperate Wretches close Drunkards Cheaters despisers of that which is Good Well let them look to it and remember the words of Moses to the Tribes of Israel Reuben and Gad Numb 32.23 Be sure your Sin will find you out God is Justice and Memory it self he cannot forget nor things as they now stand forgive without satisfaction made and applied Man is the unhappy Parent of Sin and must acknowledg his own issue As sure then as there is an ever-living God above and an everlasting Light within a Man a Soul with retaining Faculties and reflecting Power enobled with that branch of Eternity Immortality so sure will Sin return and the Soul shall see and acknowledg her own Actions either here to begin and continue Evangelical sorrow or hereafter to beget and increase Infernal Horrors and Terrors inexpressible It is great weakness to think otherwise Believe those that have had and given experience of this Truth who have felt the burden of Sin and have been hunted with it from place to place and could find no peace nor rest a long time and all because
I hear and that all others should hear Husbands accusing me of Wrong and Injustice Virgins and Wives complaining of a Stain brought by me to their Beds and Bodies my Neighbours muttering out my breach of Wedlock band yea all my Folly and Prodigality What shall I say Or whither shall I go My Sins are ever before me Speak no word of comfort raise me not up but rather trample me under Feet as unsavoury Salt cast me out of Company as unworthy to live or breath O ye Heavens why do ye shine upon me O thou Air why do'st thou refresh me O thou Earth why do'st thou bare me up It is I that have rebelled against our Soveraign Lord it is I that have playâ—d the Beast it is I that have been so ungrateful and forgetful My Sins are ever before me Droop O my Soul and weep abundantly hang down the Head and weep and mourn in deep bitterness It is better to lose the sence of Seeing by weeping than always to see Sin Resolve never to look chearfully much less to entertain a thought of Joy till thou hearest Christ saying to thee Son be of good cheer thy Sins are forgiven thee No more of this here the second Point comâ—s to hand viz. 2. Doct. That whosoever is thus mindful of Sin and troubled about it to him it is a good sign of the pardon of it and of his being in the state of Grace Multitudes of Scriptures may be produced proving this Conclusion by just Consequence and easie Deduction Some are noted in the Margin * 2 Chron. 33.12 Job 13.26 Psal 32.5 Rom. 7.24 Examples to illustrate you have in all the Saints of God of whose Conversion and being in a â—tate of Grace we ought to be assured evidenced to our Faith by the Word recording it and to our knowledg â—y this following trouble for and about Sin As in David here and in many other Psalms * Ps 25.7 32.5 38.4 Isa 38.17 Luk. 7.38 Mat. â—6 ult 1 Tim. 1.13 Act. 2.43 16.30 In Hezekiah Mary Magdalen St. Peter and S. Paul the two great Apostles the latter of which was a furious Persecutor of Christianity till subdued by the Spirit of God and of a Ravening Wolf was made a Lamb of the Fold with those mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and many others of our own Knowledg who have and do speak out of experience and most comfortable assurance that it was good for them that ever they were thus troubled and I believe never any read or heard of any that miscarried who once came to this kindly sight of Sin And there are two Grounds of this truth Reason 1. The First is God's Order which he observes in the Conversion of a Person and Sanctification of our Natures by discovering the Maladies and setting Sin before the Eye of that Sinner whose safety he desires and intends Partly to stay him from running on further towards Hell partly to prepare him for the receipt and exercise of Regenerating Grace and partly to keep him humble and weaned from an immoderate love of Worldly Glory as from the former Discourse will more fully appear Reason 2. Secondly The other Reason is God's free Promises annext to the second Covenant and presupposing this Condition Only Faith is the condition of the Covenant but this trouble of Mind is the condition and companion of Faith As legally considered it is a condition Preparative and preceding Faith as Evangelically it is an unseparable Companion ever following Behold this self-same thing that ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you c. 2 Cor. 7.10 11. Faith is in us first in order of Nature at least though Godly sorrow is apt first to appear as sap and life are first in the Root yet Buds Leaves and Fruits first discover themselves in the Branches They shall look upon me whom they have pierced there is Faith for Christ crucified can be beheld with no other Eye and they shall mourn for him c. Zech. 12.10 There is brokenness of Spirit Spiritual trouble resulting from it It is an hard question in Divinity Whether Faith be no part of Repentance Which some resolve thus * Synops purio Theolog. Disp 32. §. 40. If Repentance of which this Trouble is a branch be consider'd largely for the whole work of Conversion so Faith is comprised in it if strictly so it is the cause thereof However it is apparent they are nearly allied they are Sister-Graces where the former is there is the latter also Reason 3. To which a third Ground may be added When Man approacheth near unto God he seeth both himself and Sin better Sin appears to be greater and himself lesser The Divine Light and Purity represents both as they are in deed and not as Satan's-Jesuits Pleasure and Profit do misreport As it is with the Moon the further off it is from the Sun the greater it is but by near approaching it appears lesser It is St. Austin's allusion in one of his Epistles Thus it is with Man in respect of God Quò propius ad Deum aceedit Homo eò melius sentit quà m miserae sit abjectae conditionis saith Rivet The nearer Man cometh to God the better he seeth his own miserable Condition According to that of Gregory in his Morals Quanto magis internae Divinitatis conspiciunt omnes Sancti tantò magis se nihil esse cognoscunt When the Saints by Faith come to apprehend Spiritual Mysteries then they clearly see their own nothingness that glorious Sun discovers all their Dust they are ashamed of their droppings when they stand before that Ocean As the great Doctor of the Gentiles who was immediately inspired by the Holy Spirit and of great Sanctity no less then a Cherubim scorched with Celestial Ardours and who pitched his Feet upon the front of the Sun became most vile in his own Eyes when he was carried up nearest to God Such poverty of Spirit such trouble of Mind such a sight of Sin is an infallible sign of our Conversion to God and of obtained Pardon Object It may be objected May not a Natural Vnregenerate Man such as have no renewing Grace have a sight of Sin May not they be troubled about Sin and yet never return to amend and procure Pardon Answ Doubtless they may not only see Sin with some trouble and distaste but also leave the exercise thereof they may see Sin and be brought I say to some trouble about it by the inward light of Natural Conscience by the use of outward means while they live within the bounds of a Visible Church by the fear and force of Humane Laws or by some heavy Judgment falling upon them in their Bodies and Estates all or any of which may force open their Eyes to see and acknowledg their own evil ways as it fell out with Pharaoh who sighed at every Plague and seemed to be willing to turn to God And so did
or less it continueth during Life and rather increaseth than decayeth as Love doth It is not sufficient to see Sin once a Year and yet it would be better for some then it is did they go so far as our Adversaries require Confession nor once in our Life only at Death to cast an eye upon it and bid it adieu with an O Lord Lord be merciful and open unto me which good words and seasonable too are not blamed but the delaying of so main a Duty till then Heaven is not to be had usually at so cheap a rate Satan ordinarily is not so soon vanquished nor Sin so easily put off Whosoever thinks it so easie a matter to repent and believe as that he hath seen and sorrowed enough for Sin now he may desist from both did never see nor sorrow for it at all What David here said of himself is true of every renewed Heart more or less during Life My Sin is ever before me Vse 1. The use hereof may be 1. To discover to you a two-fold Error to be carefully avoided because common and dangerous First Of the Romanists who in their Doctrine and Practice do place Sin rather before the Ear of the Confessor than before the Eye of the Committer That the one must hear it is absolutely necessary without which there is no Salvation that the other should see it is not so at least not so much prest by them Auricular Confession is more insisted on than inward Contrition And Penance is too far sever'd by them from Repentance We hear much and often of the one but of the other there is too deep a silence Confession and Satisfaction are strictly lookt unto by such as profess their Religion in earnest to give them their due that nothing may be blamed in them but what is blame-worthy But Contrition and Sanctification this personal sight of Sin and Evangelical sorrow for it are not so much urged neither in their Writings nor Practice for ought I can learn However I dislike not Confession it is a Duty very comfortable and useful the abuse set aside I could wish it more frequent among us but never used in publick or private without Contrition Let the Heart accompany the Tongue else it is the most unsavoury piece of Formality that can be Secondly Of our common People who deem the worst of such as are thus troubled condemning rash judgment in others do yet pass the bounds of Charity towards them As if poor Souls they only were curst of God and hated of others because they are thus pursued by Sin and baited by Satan especially if it be on their Sick-bed Strange it is to hear them cry out upon profession of Religion as if Religion were the worse for it because her followers are thus affrighted for their good They will not profess Religion no not they nor be tied to frequent the Church to perform Duties in private because such and such are distracted by it Sure they are out of their Wits this Book-learning hath made them Mad else they would never complain and cry out so that their Sins are ever before them Why say they are not we all Sinners as well as they and yet our Sins never trouble us More is the pity and greater is their Misery Poor Souls you cannot distinguish between trouble for Sin and senslessness under Sin between the desperate pangs of Despair and the genuine thâ—ows of a troubled Mind Miâ—ht you not as truly have said the same of David St. Paul and all the rest of God's Saints in every Age who have passed through this Wilderness to Canaan But in so doing know you dishonour God lay a blemish on his Work and often condemn the Generation of the Righteous This trouble of Mind being one of the most infallible marks of true Penitency the Road-way to Heaven for adult Persons and one of the best signs of this Nature that any one can see in himself or desire in his Friend Let my Sins good Lord be always before me as David 's were Let all thine be so disquieted here that so all our Sins may never come in sight at that Day but be buried in everlasting forgetfulness True it is some Men may superstitiously endeavour to make the Way to Heave narrower than indeed it is but far more there are who voluptuously endeavour to enlarge it and make it more broad and easie than God hath made it without any such sight of Sin or trouble about it crying out To what end serveth this waste What needeth all this ado Cannot Men be saved without this sight of Sin and sorrow for it Whether they can or no I will not stand to determine sure I am ordinarily they will not Till they be brought into the Wilderness they are intractable indocible therefore the Lord troubleth them that they may be willing to be saved To all such as think otherwise I should commend these following passages of holy Scripture to be considered in their most retired Thoughts Numb 32.23 Gen. 4.7 Psal 50.21 22. Mat. 7.13 14. Phil. 3.11 1 Pet. 4.18 The Righteous shall scarcely be saved ad praesentis Vitae difficultates debet referri c. saith a judicious Interpreter on that place Our Race or Warfare here in this World is like a Voyage by Sea beset and encountred with many Difficulties Rocks Tempests Pirats open Enemies and false Brethren Ardua prima via est which made St. Paul say If by any means I may attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead A phrase importing difficulty without doubtting he was perswaded he should attain it but not without the use of such means and after much strugling What else is meant by the Wrestling of Jacob the Praying and Fasting of David the Running of Paul the Scruples and Cases of Conscience proposed by the Saints of God frequently and in great variety when once they begin to benefit by the Word Men and Brethren what shall we do Sirs What must I do to be saved And the like Complaints are very frequent where the Word hath awakened them The Pains and bitter Sufferings of all our renowned Martyrs both of the Primitive Times and in the late Marian-Days do preach unto us the Straight-way The difficulty of obtaining and keeping a grounded persuasion of God's Favour in the free pardon of all our Sins through the Satisfaction and Intercession of Christ The Church Militant is a Lilly among Thorns having Enemies ever about her and her Sins always before her Non est ad astra mollis è terris via We may not expect to be carried to Heaven on Beds of Down but through many Tribulations not to go to Paradise through Paradise a Way â—â—rowed with Roses The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence few arrive in this Harbour without danger and difficulty It is not so easie a thing to work out Salvation as most deem and yet through Christ it is easie to all them that receive him Thirdly Hereunto may be added another
the rebellion of Absolon and the death of Ammon with the occasion thereof yet it is not said that these were before him he was comforted concerning them but his Sin was ever before him All the Sufferings and Evils in the World could not so much affect him St. Paul went through many Tribulations endured great Sufferings as may be read 2 Cor. 11.23 24. at large yet all these Scourges Prisons and Persecutions went not so near his Heart as Sin even the presence though not the power of Sin Though he suffered much yet we reade not that ever he cried Oh! for all and yet he doth for Sin O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Sin And we reade of Chrysostom when he was threatned Banishment by Eudoxia said Go tell her Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but Sin To such a one there is more evil in a drop of Corruption than in a sea of Affliction Say then are all your Burdens nothing to the burden of Sin It is a good sign Fourthly If you can think somewhat comfortably of Death and be content and desirous to Die chiefly for this end to be freed from Sin with those combats and destractions in Duty following it That this ever may be turned into never that Christ might be as Sin is now ever before you It is a very good sign and blessed are they which are in this condition They may be assured in the Name of Christ Jesus and by the Authority committed to his Ministers to absolve and heal sin-sick-Sin-sick-souls that all their Sins are done away by Faith in the Blood of Christ they shall not die He that caused your Sins to be set before your Face hath cast them behind his own Back When Israel see their own Sins the Lord seeth no Sin in Israel When the Church complains that she is Black the Lord proclaimeth her the fairest among Women Thus would I comfort all those who are in this Condition that I my self might partake with them in their Consolation It is my judgment all the Promises belong to them and they ought to apply them So that they may say with the Apostle It is good to be here and build Tabernacles to shield us from the roaring Lion and our own Fears pursuing us Vse 3. To close up all in the last place by way of Instruction From what hath been said you may learn some Duties most needful to be practised by you viz. First To draw back Sin which else will keep out of sight and memory till the day of Death or Judgment as Joab did Abner to kill him even all your Sins for the kinds of them spare none from the first that was imputed to the last that was committed by you and set them in order before you either by your Memory or the help of a Note-book so far forth as God shall enable you particularly to recall and give them their Deaths-wound by the application of Christ's Death It is conceived Job did so when he said He could not answer for one of a thousand It is manifest in David and reported of that holy Martyr Mr. Bradford that he kept a Diarie or a Debt-book of Receipts and Expences between God and his own Soul It is a course full of Comfort and Profit Hereby it will come to pass that when a Man draweth nigh to his Journeys-end he shall have nothing to do but to give good Counsel to pray and die Now that you may so do know this to be one main difference between Nature and Grace the one seeth Sin ever the other seeth it never or to no purpose Nature is ever boasting of Innocency of good Deeds and of good assurance of Salvation without any doubting O God I thank thee I am not as other Men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or as this Publican I fast twice a Week c. Luke 18.11 Non vulnera sed munera ostendit He shews not his Want but his Worth While Grace most complains of Sin of defects and imperfections in the best Duties Even the Righteousness of gracious Souls appears in their sight like the Moon full of spots A penitent Publican dares not lift up his Eyes towards Heaven but beats his Breast and crys O God be merciful to me a Sinner even the chief of Sinners Though he is high in his Priviledges yet how low is he in his Affections Lord I am Hell thou art Heaven said that holy Man Secondly Be thankful for this sight of Sin and testifie this your thankfulness by a timely use of the Means to finish what is begun Means I say of Inspection Meditation and Prayer Of Inspection into the Glass of the Law This is that Light which discovers those Corruptions which lie unknown in the darkness of Ignorance and makes them appear in their due shape and proportion That which seemed but as a Mote will now be judged as a Mountain and that to be Sin which before look'd as Righteousness Hereby you will see much to bemoan to confess and be ashamed of nothing to boast and glory in Of Meditation after every Exercise and therein be frequent and constant Reading and Hearing without Meditation is like weak Physick which will not work It is not taking in of Food but the Stomach concocting it which makes it turn into Blood and Spirits so it is not the taking in of any Truth at the Ear but the meditating it which is the concoction thereof in the Mind makes it nourish Be frequent in Meditation Press your Conscience with Particulars saying with deep Sorrow These are my Oaths my Carnal Sports and unlawful Pastimes which now terrifie more than ever they delighted me This is my Luxury my Pride and Impurity This is my Blindness and Hardness Hypocrisy and Sacrilegious Vain-glory which is so much struck at from Press and Pulpit I am the Man and my sins are ever before me Unto this effect let your Meditation be raised and continued And lastly Use the exercise of frequent and fervent Prayer in private to your offended God that he would not only put away your Sins but also wash you throughly and restore you the joy of his Salvation Be instant and the Lord will not deny You shall reap if you faint not Thirdly Your duty is to set the Mediator always before you at the same time To see Sin without Christ will drive you to despair and to see Christ without Sin may cast you upon Presumption or at least occasion you to undervalue Christ and not prize him so highly as he deserves Labour to see both together Set Sin on one hand and Christ on the other as a King a Priest and a Prophet as a King to rule you as a Prophet to teach and as a Priest to sacrifice and satisfie for you and all yours under Covenant Then by an appropriating Act of Faith receive and apply all his Doctrine to inform you his Government to subdue and bring you unto Self