Hell of punishment And these must needs produce very divers yea contrary effects and operations in the Soul And he who knows not how to assign them their proper duties and seasons must needs be perplexed The work of self-condemnation then which men in these depths cannot but abound with is in the disposition of the Covenant of Grace no way inconsistent with nor unsuited unto Justification and the enjoyment of Peace in the sence of it There may be a deep sence of sin on other considerations besides Hell David was never more humbled for sin than when Nathan told him it was forgiven And there may be a view of Hell as deserved which yet the Soul may know it self freed from as to the issue To evidence our intendment in this discourse I shall briefly consider what we intend by Gospel Assurance of Forgiveness that the Soul may not be solicitous and perplexed about the utter want of that which perhaps it is already in some enjoyment of Some men seem to place Gospel Assurance in an high unassaulted Confidence of Acceptance with God They think it is in none but such as if a man should go to them and ask them are you certain you shall be saved have boldness and confidence and ostentation to answer presently yea they are certain they shall be saved But as the blessed Truth of Assurance hath been reproached in the World under such a notion of it so such expressions become not them who know what it is to have to do with the Holy God who is a consuming fire Hence some conclude that there are very few Believers who have any Assurance because they have not this confidence or are more free to mention the oppasition they meet with than the supportment they enjoy And thus is it rendred a matter not greatly to be desired because it is so rarely to be obtained most of the Saints serving God and going to Heaven well enough without it But the matter is otherwise The importance of it not only as it is our life of comfort and joy but also as it is the principal means of the flourishing of our Life of Holiness hath been declared before and might be further manifested were that our present business Yea and in times of tryall which are the proper seasons for the Effectual working and manifestation of Assurance it will and doth appear that many yea that most of the Saints of God are made partakers of this Grace and Priviledge I shall then in the pursuit of the Rule laid down do these two things 1. Shew what things they are which are not only consistent with Assurance but are even necessary concomitants of it which yet if not duely weighed and considered may seem so far to impeach a mans comfortable perswasion of his condition before God as to leave him beneath the Assurance sought after And 2. I shall speak somewhat of its nature Especially as manifesting its self by its Effects 1. A deep sense of the evil of sin of the guilt of mans own sin is no way inconsistent with Gospel assurance of Acceptance with God through Christ and of Forgiveness in him By a sense of the guilt of sin I understand two things 1. A clear conviction of sin by the Holy Ghost saying unto the Soul Thou art the man and 2. A sense of the displeasure of God or the wrath due to sin according to the sentence of the Law Both these David expresseth in that complaint Psal. 31. 10. My life is spent with grief and my years with sighing my strength faileth because of mine Iniquity and my bones are consumed His Iniquity was before him and a sense of it pressed him sore But yet notwithstanding all this he had a comfortable perswasion that God was his God in Covenant v. 14. I trusted in thee O Lord I said thou art my God And the tenor of the Covenant wherein alone God is the God of any person is that he will be mercifull unto their sin and iniquity To whom he is a God he is so according to the Tenor of that Covenant so that here these two are conjoyned Saith he Lord I am pressed with the sense of the guilt of mine Iniquities and thou act my God who forgivest them And the ground hereof is that God by the Gospel hath divided the work of the Law and taken part of it out of its hand It s whole work and duty is to condemn the sin and the sinner The sinner is freed by the Gospel but its right lyes against the sin still that it condemns and that justly Now though the sinner himself be freed yet finding his sin layd hold of and condemned it fills him with a deep sense of its guilt and of the displeasure of God against it which yet hinders not but that at the same time he may have such an insight as faith gives into his personal interest in a Gospel acquitment A man then may have a deep sense of sin all his dayes walk under the sense of it continually abhorr himself for his ingratitude unbelief and rebellion against God without any impeachment of his Assurance 2. Deep sorrow for sin is consistent with Assurance of forgiveness Yea it is a great means of preservation of it Godly sorrow mourning humiliation contriteness of Spirit are no less Gospel Graces and fruits of the Holy Ghost than Faith it self and so are consistent with the highest flourishings of faith whatever It is the work of Heaven it self and not of the Assurance of it to wipe all tears from our eyes Yea these Graces have the most eminent Promises annexed to them as Isa. 57. 15. chap. 66. 2. with blessedness it self Math. 5. 4. yea they are themselves the matter of many Gracious Gospel Promises Zech. 12. 10. so that they are assuredly consistent with any other Grace or Priviledge that we may be made partakers of or are promised unto us Some finding the weight and burden of their sins and being called to mourning and bumiliation on that account are so taken up with it as to lose the sense of Forgiveness which rightly improved would promote their sorrow as their sorrow seems directly to sweeten their sense of forgiveness Sorrow absolutely exclusive of the faith of forgiveness is legall and tendeth unto death Assurance absolutely exclusive of Godly sorrow is presumption and not a perswasion from him that calleth us But Gospel Sorrow and Gospel Assurance may well dwell in the same breast at the same time Indeed as in all worldly Joyes there is a secret wound So in all Godly sorrow and mourning considered in its self there is a secret Joy and refreshment Hence it doth not wither and dry up but rather enlarge open and sweeten the heart I am perswaded that generally they mourn most who have most Assurance And all True Gospel mourners will be found to have the root of Assurance so grafted in them that in its proper season a time of trouble it
we will go and do as at other times Bones are not broken without pain nor great sins brought on the Conscience without trouble But I need not insist on these Some say that they deprive even true Believers of all their interest in the Love of God but unduly all grant that they bereave them of all comforting evidence and well grounded Assurance of it So they did David and Peter and herein lyes no small part of the depths we are searching into Secondly There are sins which though they do not rise up in the conscience with such a bloody guilt as those mentioned yet by reason of some circumstances and aggravations God takes them so unkindly as to make them a root of disquietness and trouble to the soul all its dayes He sayes of some sins of ungodly men as I live this iniquity shall not be purged from you until ye dye If you are come to this height you shall not escape I will not spare you And there are Provocations in his own People which may be so circumstantiated as that he will not let them pass before he have cast them into depths and made them cry out for deliverance Let us consider some of them First Miscarriages under signal Enjoyments of love and kindness from God are of this sort When God hath given unto any one expressive manifestations of his Love convinced him of it made him say in the inmost parts of his heart this is undeserved love and kindess then for him to be negligent in his walking with God it carrieth an unkindness with it that shall not be forgotten It is a remark upon the miscarriages of Solomon that he fell into them after God had appeared unto him twice And all sins under or after especial mercies will meet at one time or other especial rebukes Nothing doth more distress the conscience of a sinner then the remembrance in darkness of abused light in desertions of neglected love This God will make them sensible of Though I have redeemed them saith God yet they have spoken lyes against me Hos. 7. 15. So Chap. 13. 4 5 6 7. When God hath in his Providence dealt graciously with a Person it may be delivered him from straights and troubles set him in a large place prevented him with many fruits and effects of his goodness blessed him in his Person Relations and Employments dealt well with his soul in giving him a gracious sense of his love in Christ for such a one to fall under sinful miscarriages it goes to the heart of God and shall not be passed over Undervaluations of Love are great provocations Hath Nabal thus requited my kindness saith David I cannot bear it And the clearer the convictions of any in this kind were the more severe will their reflections be upon themselves Secondly Sins under or after great Afflictions are of this importance also God doth not afflict willingly or chasten us meerly for his pleasure He doth it to make us partakers of his Holiness To take so little notice of his hand herein as under it or after it not to watch against the workings and surprizals of sin it hath unkindness in it I smote him saith God and he went on frowardly in the wayes of his own heart These provocations of his Sons and Daughters he cannot bear with Hath God brought thee into the Furnace so that thou hast melted under his hand and in pity and compassion hath given thee enlargement if thou hast soon forgotten his dealings with thee is it any wonder if he mind thee again by troubles in thy soul Thirdly Breaking off from under strong convictions and dawnings of Love before Conversion are oftentimes remembred upon the conscience afterwards When the Lord by his Spirit shall mightily convince the heart of sin and make withal some discoveries of his Love and the Excellencies of Christ unto it so that it begins to yield and be overpowred being almost perswaded to be a Christian if then through the strength of lust or unbelief it goes back to the world or self righteousness its folly hath unkindness with it that sometimes shall not be passed by God can and often doth put forth the greatness of his power for the recovery of such a soul but yet he will deal with him about this contempt of his Love and the Excellency of his Son in the dawnings of them revealed unto him Fourthly Suddain forgetfulness of endearing manifestations of special Love This God cautions his people against as knowing their proneness thereunto Psal. 85. 8. God the Lord will speak peace to his People and his Saints but let them not turn again to solly Let them take heed of their aptness to forget endearing manifestations of special Love When God at any time draws nigh to a soul by his Spirit in his Word with gracious words of peace and love giving a sense of his kindness upon the heart by the Holy Ghost so that it is filled with joy unspeakable and glorious thereon for this soul upon a temptation a diversion or by meer carelesness and neglect which oftentimes falls out to suffer this sense of Love to be as it were obliterated and so to lose that influencing efficacy unto obedience which it is accompanied withal this also is full of unkindness An account hereof we have Cant. 5. 1 2 3 4 5 6. In the first Verse the Lord Jesus draws nigh with full provision of Gospel Mercies for his Beloved I am come unto thee saith he O my Sister I have brought myrrh and spice honey and Wine with me What ever is spiritually sweet and delightful Mercy Grace Peace Consolation Joy Assurance they are all here in a readiness for thee v. 2. The Spouse in her drowsie indisposition takes little notice of this gracious visit she is diverted by other matters and knows not how to attend fully and wholly to the blessed Communion offered unto her but excuseth her self as otherwise engaged But what is the issue Christ withdraws leaves her in the dark in the midst of many disconsolations and long it is before she obtain any recovery Fifthly Great opportunities for service neglected and great gifts not improved are oftentimes the occasion of plunging the soul into great depths Gifts are given to trade withal for God Opportunities are the market dayes for that trade To napkin up the one and to let slip the other will end in trouble and disconsolation Disquietments and perplexities of heart are worms that will certainly breed in the rust of unexercised Gifts God looseth a revenue of glory and honour by such slothful souls and he will make them sensible of it I know some at this day whom omissions of opportunities for service are ready to sink into the grave Sixthly Sins after especial warnings are usually thus issued In all that variety of special warnings which God is pleased to use towards sinning Saints I shall single out one only When a soul is wrastling with some Lust or Temptation God by his
the thoughts expressed in this third Verse and fixes the conclusion in his mind discoursed of before He finds now that he hath the Law afresh to deal withal Thence ariseth that sense and acknowledgement of sin that self-condemnation in the Justification of God whereof we now speak He grows not sullen stubborn displeased and so runs away from God he doth not utterly saint despond and give over he pleads not any thing in his own Justification or for the extenuation of his sin and guilt he quarrelleth not with he repineth not against the Holiness Severity and Righteousness of the Law of God but reflects wholly on himself his own unworthiness guilt and desert and in a sence of them lyes down at the foot of God in expectation of his word and sentence Three things in this condition we ascribe unto such a soul. First A sincere sense of sin There is a twofold sense of sin The one is general and notional whereby a man knows what sin is that himself is a sinner that he is guilty of this or that these or those sins only his heart is not affected proportionably to that discovery and knowledge which he hath of these things The other is active and efficacious The soul being acquainted with the nature of sin with its own guilt in reference unto sin in general as also to this or that sin is universally influenced by that apprehension unto suitable Affections and Operations Of both these we have an instance in the same person David before Nathans coming to him had the former afterwards he had the latter also It cannot be imagined but that before the coming of the Prophet he had a general knowledge and sense not only absolutely of the nature of sin but also that himself was a sinner and guilty of those very sins which afterwards he was reproved for To think otherwise is to suppose not only that he was un-sainted but un-manned also and turned into a Beast But yet this wrought not in him any one Affection suitable to his condition And the like may be said of most sinners in the world But now when Nathan comes to him and gives him the latter efficacious sense whereof we speak we know what effects it did produce It is the latter only that is under consideration and that also is twofold 1. Legal or Antecedaneous unto conversion 2 Evangelical and previous to the recovery from depths whereof we treat How these two differ and how they may be discerned one from the other being both of them in their kind sincere is not my business to declare Now this tast which we assign as the first duty work or acting of a returning soul is a deep and practical apprehension wrought in the mind and heart of a believing sinner by the Holy Ghost of sin and its evils in reference unto the Law and Love of God the Cross and blood of Christ the communion and consolation of the Spirit and all the fruits of Love Mercy or Grace that it hath been made partaker of or on Gospel grounds hoped for First The principal efficient cause of it is the Holy Ghost He it is who convinceth of sin John 16. 8. He works indeed by means He wrought it in David by the Ministry of Nathan and he wrought it in Peter by the look of Christ. But his work it is No man can work it upon his own soul. It will not spring out of mens rational considerations Though men may exercise their thoughts about such things as one would think were enough to break the hearts of stones yet if the Holy Ghost put not forth a peculiar efficacy of his own this sense of sin will not be wrought or produced As the waters at the Pool of Bethesda were not troubled but when an Angel descended and moved them no more will the Heart for sin without a saving elapse of the Holy Ghost Secondly It is a deep Apprehension of sin and the evils of it Sleight transient thoughts about them amount not to the sense of which we speak My sorrow saith David is continually before me Psal. 38. 17. It pressed him alwayes and greatly Hence he compares this sense of sin wrought by the Holy Ghost to arrows that stick in the flesh v. 2. They pain sorely and are alwayes perplexing Sin in this sense of it layes hold on the soul so that the sinner cannot look up Psal. 40. 12. And it abides with him making his sore run in the night without ceasing Psal. 77. 2. and depriveth the soul of rest my soul saith he refused to be comforted This Apprehension of sin lyes down and rises with him in whom it is Transient thoughts attended with infrequent sighs and ejaculations little become a returning soul. And Thirdly It is Practical It is not seated only in the speculative part of the mind hovering in general notions but it dwel's in the practical understanding which effectually influenceth the Will and Affections Such an Apprehension as from which sorrow and humiliation are inseparable The acts of the practical understanding do so necessarily produce together with them suitable acts of the Will and Affections that some have concluded that those are indeed proper acts of the Will which are usually ascribed to the Understanding It is so in the mind as that the whole soul is cast into the mould and likeness of it humiliation sorrow self-abhorrency do live and dye with it Fourthly It hath in the first place respect unto the Law of God There can be no due consideration of sin wherein the Law hath not its place The Law calls for the sinner and he willingly gives up his sin to be judged by it There he sees it to be exceeding sinful Rom. 7. 17. Though a Believer be less under the power of the Law than others yet he knows more of the Authority and nature of it than others He sees more of its spirituality and holiness And the more a man sees of the excellency of the Law the more he sees of the vileness of sin This is done by a soul in its first endeavour for a recovery from the entanglements of sin He labours throughly to know his disease that he may be cured It will do him no good he knows to be ignorant of his distemper or his danger He knows that if his wounds be not searched to the bottom they will stink and be corrupt To the Law then he brings himself and his sin By that he sees the vileness of the one and the danger of the other Most men lye still in their depths because they would willingly escape the first step of their rising From the bottom of their misery they would fain at once be at the top of their felicity The soul managed in this work by the Holy Ghost doth not so He converseth with the Law brings his sin unto it and fully hears the sentence of it When the sin is throughly condemned then he farther takes care of the sinner
As ever you desire to come to rest avoid not this entrance of your passage unto it Weigh well and attend unto what the Law speaks of your sin and its desert or you will never make a due application to God for forgiveness As ever you would have your souls justified by Grace take care to have your sins judged by the Law Secondly There is a respect in it to the Love of God And this breaks the heart of the poor returning sinner Sorrow from the Law shuts it self up in the soul and strangleth it Sorrow from the thoughts of the Love of God opens it and causseth it to flow forth Thoughts of sinning against the Love of God managed by the Holy Ghost what shall I say their effects in the heart are not to be expressed This made Ezra cry out O my God I blush and am ashamed to lift up my face to thee Chap. 9. 6. and v. 10. What shall we say after this After what why all the fruits of love and kindness they had been made partakers of Thoughts of love and sin laid together make the soul blush mourn be ashamed and confounded in its self So Ezek. 36. 31. Then shall you remember your own evil wayes and your doings that were not good When shall they do so when thoughts and apprehensions of love shall be brought home to them and saith he then shall you loath your selves in your own sight The soul now calls to mind what Love what kindness what mercy what grace what patience hath been exercised towards it and whereof it hath been made partaker The thoughts of all these now come in upon him as streams of water Such Mercy such Communion such Priviledges such hopes of Glory such tastes of Heaven such Peace such Consolation such Joy such Communications of the Spirit all to a poor wretched cursed lost forlorn sinner and all this despised neglected the God of them all provoked forsaken Ah saith the soul Whither shall I cause my sorrow to go This fills him with shame and confusion of face makes him mourn in secret and sigh to the breaking of the loyns and then Thirdly The blood and Cross of Christ is also brought to remembrance by the Holy Ghost Ah saith the soul have I thus requited the wonderful astonishing Love of my Redeemer Is this the return the requital I have made unto him Are not Heaven and Earth astonished at the despising of that Love at which they are astonished This brake Peters heart upon the look of Christ. Such words as these from Christ will in this condition sound in the ears of the soul. Did I love thee and leave my glory to become a scorn and reproach for thy sake Did I not think my life and all that was dear unto me too good for thee to save thee from the wrath to come Have I been a Wilderness unto thee or a land of darkness What could I have done more for thee when I had nothing left but my life blood and soul they went all for thee that thou mightest live by my death be washed in my blood and be saved through my souls being made an offering for thee And hast thou thus requited my love to prefer a lust before me the world before me or by meer sloth and folly to be turned away from me go unkind and unthankful soul and see if thou canst find another Redeemer This overwhelms the soul and even drowns it in tears and sorrow And then the bitterness also of the sufferings of Christ are brought to mind They look on him whom they have pierced and mourn Zech. 12. 10. They remember his gall and wormwood his cryes and tears his agony and sweat his desertion and anguish his blood and death the sharpness of the Sword that was in his soul and the bitterness of the Cup that was put into his hand Such a soul now looks on Christ bleeding dying wrestling with wrath and curse for him and seeth his sin in the streams of blood that issued from his side And all this encreaseth that sense of sin whereof we speak Also Fourthly It relates to the communion and consolations of the Holy Ghost with all the priviledges and fruits of Love we are by him made partakers of The Spirit is given to Believers upon the promise of Christ to dwell in them He takes up their hearts to be his dwelling place to what ends and purposes that he may purifie and sanctifie them make them holy and dedicate them to God to furnish them with Graces and gifts to interest them in priviledges to guide lead direct comfort them to seal them unto the day of Redemption Now this Spirit is grieved by sin Ephes. 4. 30. and his dwelling place defiled thereby 1 Cor. 6. 19. and 3. 17. Thoughts hereof greatly sharpen the spiritual sense of sin in a recovering soul. He considers what Light what Love what Joy what Consolation what Priviledges it hath by him been made partaker of what motions warnings workings to keep it from sin it hath found from him and sayes within it self What have I done whom have I grieved whom have I provoked what if the Lord should now for my folly and ingratitude utterly take his holy Spirit from me What if I should have so grieved him that he will dwell in me no more delight in me no more What dismal darkness and disconsolation yea what utter ruine should I be left unto However what shame and confusion of face belongs to me for my wretched disingenuity and ingratitude towards him This is the first thing that appears in the returning souls actings and frame a sincere sense of sin on the accounts mentioned wrought in it by the Holy Ghost And this a soul in the depths described must come unto if ever it expect or look for deliverance and a recovery Let not such persons expect to have a renewed sense of mercy without a revived sense of sin Secondly From hence proceedeth an ingenious free gracious Acknowledgement of sin Men may have a sense of sin and yet suffer it to lye burning as a fire shut up in their bones to their continual disquietment and not be able to come off unto a free soul opening acknowledgement Yea confession may be made in general and mention therein of that very sin wherewith the soul is most intangled and yet the soul come short of a due performance of this Duty Consider how the case stood with David Psal. 32. 3. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long How could David keep silence and yet roar all the day long What is that silence which is consistent with roaring It is a meer negation of that duty which is expressed v. 5. that is intended I acknowledge my sins unto thee and mine iniquities I have not hid It was not a silence of submission and waiting on God that he intends That would not have produced a wasting of his spiritual strength as he complains
unto Christ as our head because it consists in a vital effectual influence from him and his fulness And this kind of Relation unto Christ all Grace that is or may be in unregenerate men is incapable of Thirdly The Grace of Regeneration and the fruits of it are administred in and by the Covenant This is the promise of the Covenant That God will write his Law in our hearts and put his fear in our inward parts that we shall not depart from him Jer. 32. This is that Grace whereof we speak whatever it be or of what kind soever It is bestowed on none but those who are taken into Covenant with God for unto them alone it is promised and by virtue thereof is it wrought in and upon their souls Now all Unregenerate men are strangers from the Covenant and are not made partakers of that Grace which is peculiarly and only promised thereby and exhibited therein Fourthly the least spark of saving Regenerating Grace is wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost as given unto men to dwell in them and to abide with them He is the water given by Jesus Christ unto Believers which is in them a well of water springing up to everlasting life John 4. 14. First they receive the water the spring it self that is the Holy Spirit and from thence living waters do arise up in them they are wrought effected produced by the Spirit which is given unto them Now although the common Gifts and Graces of men Unregenerate are effects of the power of the Holy Ghost wrought in them and bestowed on them as are all other works of Gods Providence yet it doth not work in them as received by them to dwell in them and abide with them as a Never-failing spring of spiritual life For so our Saviour sayes expresly that the World or Unbelievers do not know the Spirit nor can receive him or have him abiding in them All which in a contradistinction unto all Unregenerate persons are affirmed of all them that do believe Fifthly The least of saving Grace such as is peculiar unto them that are Regenerate is Spirit Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Whatever it is that is so born it is Spirit it hath a spiritual being and it is not educible by any means out of the principles of Nature So it is said to be a new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. Be it never so little or so great however it may differ in degrees in one and in another yet the nature of it is the same in all It is a new Creature As the least Worm of the Earth in the order of the old Creation is no less a creature than the Sun yea or the most glorious Angel in Heaven So in the order of the new Creation the least spark or dram of true grace that is from the sanctifying Spirit is a new Creature no less than the highest Faith or Love that ever were in the chiefest of the Apostles Now that which is Spirit and that which is not Spirit that which hath a new spiritual being and that which hath none whatever appearance of agreement there may be among them do yet differ specifically from one another And thus it is with the saving Grace that is in a Regenerate and those common Graces that are in others which are not so So that as these are divers States so they are eminently different and distinct the one from the other and this answers the second thing laid down in the Objections taken from the Uncertainty of these States and of Regeneration it self and the real difference of it from the contrary State which is exclusive of an interest in forgiveness Thirdly This is laid down in the Enquiry whether this State may be known unto him who is really partaker of it or translated into it or unto others that may be concerned therein to which I say the difference that is between these two States and the constitutive causes of them as it is real so it is discernable It may be known by themselves who are in those states and others It may be known who are born of God and who are yet Children of the Devil who are quickned by Christ and who are yet dead in Trespasses and Sin But here also Observe 1. That I do not say This is alwayes known to the persons themselves concerned in this distribution Many cry peace peace when suddain destruction is at hand These either think themselves regenerate when they are not or else wilfully despise the consideration of what is required in them that they may have peace and so delude their own souls unto their ruine And many that are truly born of God yet know it not They may for a season walk in darkness and have no light Nor 2. That this is alwayes known to others It is not known unto Unregenerate men in respect of them that are so For they know not really and substantially what it is to be so Natural men perceive not the things of God that is spiritually in their own light and nature 2 Cor. 2. And as they cannot aright discern the things which put men into that condition for they are foolishness unto them so they cannot Judge aright of their persons in whom they are And if they do at any time Judge aright nationally concerning any things or Persons Yet they do not Judge so upon right grounds nor with any Evidence in or unto themselves of what they do Judge Wherefore Generally they Judge amiss of such persons And because they make profession of somewhat which they find not in themselves they Judge them Hypocrites and false pretenders unto what is not For those things which evince their Union with Christ and which evidence their being born of God they savour them not nor can receive them Nor is this alwayes known unto or discerned by them that are Regenerate They may sometime with Peter think a Symon Magus to be a true believer or with Eli an Hannah to be a daughter of Belial Many Hypocrites are so set forth with gifts common Graces Light and profession that they pass amongst all believers for such as are born of God And many poor Saints may be so disguised under Darkness Temptation Sin as to be looked on as strangers from that family whereunto indeed they do belong The Judgement of man may fail but the Judgement of God is according unto Righteousness wherefore 3. This is that we say it may be known in the Sedulous use of means appointed for that end to a man's self and others which of the Conditions mentioned he doth belong unto that is whether he be regenerate or no so far as his or their concernment lies therein This I say may be known and that infallibly and assuredly with reference unto any duty wherein from hence we are concerned The discharge of some duties in our selves and toward others depends on this knowledge and therefore we may attain it so far
this silence did My bones waxed old nor yet was it a sullen stubborn and contumacious frame that was upon him but he notes saith Calvin and he sayes well affectum qui medius est inter tolerantiam contumaciam vitio vertuti affinis An affection between patience and stubborness bordering on the one and other That is he had a deep sense of sin this disquieted and perplexed him all the day long which he calls his roaring It weakned and wearied him making his bones wax old or his strength decay yet was he not able to bring his heart to that ingenious gracious acknowledgement which like the launcing of a festered wound would have given at least some ease to his soul. Gods children are oft-times in this matter like ours Though they are convinced of a fault and are really troubled at it yet they will hardly acknowledge it So do they They will go up and down sigh and mourn roar all the day long but an evil and untoward frame of spirit under the power of unbelief and fear keeps them from this duty Now that this acknowledgement may be acceptable unto God it is required First that it be free then that it be full First It must be free and spiritually ingenious Cain Pharaoh Ahab Judas came all to an acknowledgement of sin but it was whether they would or no. It was pressed out of them it did not flow from them The confession of a person under the convincing terrors of the Law or dread of imminent Judgements is like that of Malefactors on the rack who speak out that for which themselves and friends must dye What they say though it be the truth is a fruit of force and torture not of any ingenuity of mind So is it with meerly convinced persons They come not to the acknowledgment of sin with any more freedom And the Reason is because all sin hath shame and for men to be free unto shame is naturally impossible shame being natures shrinking from it self and the posture it would appear in But now the returning soul hath never more freedom liberty and amplitude of spirit than when he is in the acknowledgement of those things whereof he is most ashamed And this is no small evidence that it proceeds from that spirit which is attended with liberty for where the Spirit of God is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. When David was delivered from his silence he expresseth this frame in the performance of this Duty Psal. 32. 5. I acknowledged my sin and mine iniquities I have not hid I said I will confess my transgression His mouth is now open and his heart inlarged And he multiplies one expression upon another to manifest his enlargement So doth a soul rising out of its depths in this beginning of his address unto God Having the sense of sin before described wrought in him by the Holy Ghost his heart is made free and inlarged unto an ingenious acknowledgement of his sin before the Lord. Herein he pours out his soul unto God and hath not more freedom in any thing than in dealing about that whereof he is most ashamed Secondly Full also it must be Reserves ruine confession If the soul have any secret thought of rolling a sweet morsel under its tongue of a bow in the house of Rimmon it is like part of the price kept back which makes the whole robbery instead of an offering If there be remaining a bitter root of favouring any one lust or sin of any occasion of or temptation unto sin let a man be as open free and earnest as can be imagined in the acknowledgement of all other sins and evils the whole duty is rendered abominable Some persons when they are brought into depths and anguish about any sin and are thereon forced to the acknowledgement of it at the same time they are little concerned with their other follies and iniquities that it may be are no less provoking unto God than that is from whence their present trouble doth arise Let not as James speaks in another case such a man think that he shall receive any thing from God It must be full and comprehensive as well as free and ingenious And of such importance is the right performance of this duty that the promise of pardon is oft-times peculiarly annexed unto it as that which certainly carries along with it the other duties which make up a full returnal unto God Prov. 28. 13. 1 John 1. 9. and that place in Job is remarkable Chap. 33. 27 28. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not He will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light He shall not only be made partaker of pardon but of consolation also and joy in the light of Gods countenance Thirdly There yet remains self-condemnation with the Justification of God which lyes expresly in the words of the Verse under consideration and hereof are two parts First Self-abhorrency or dislike The soul is now wholly displeased with it self and reflects upon it self with all affections of regret and trouble So the Apostle declares it to have been with the Corinthians when their godly sorrow was working in them 2 Cor. 7. 11. among other things it wrought in them indignation and revenge or a reflection on themselves with all manner of dislike and abhorrency In the winding up of the Controversie between God and Job this is the point he rests in As he had come in general to a free full ingenious acknowledgement of sin Chap. 40. 4 5. So in particular he gives up his whole contest in this abhorrency of himself Chap. 42. 6. I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes What a vile wretched creature have I been saith the soul I blush and am ashamed to think of my folly baseness and ingratitude is it possible that I should deal thus with the Lord I abhorr I loath my self I would fly any where from my self I am so vile and loathsome a thing to be despised of God Angels and Men and Secondly There is self-judging in it also This the Apostle invites the Corinthians unto 1 Ep. Chap. 11. 31. If we would judge our selves we should not be judged This is a persons pronouncing sentence on himself according to the tenor of the Law The soul brings not only its sin but it self also to the Law It puts it self as to merit and desert under the stroke and severity of it Hence ariseth a full justification of God in what sentence soever he shall be pleased to pronounce in the case before him And these three things which we have passed through compose the frame and first actings of a gracious soul rising from its depths They are all of them signally expressed in that place where we have a signal recovery exemplified Hos. 14. 1 2 3 4. And this makes way for the exaltation of grace the great thing
in all this dispensation aimed at by God Ephes. 1. 6. That which he is now doing is to bring the soul to glory in him 1 Cor. 1. 31. which is all the return he hath from his large and infinitely bountiful expence of Grace and Mercy Now nothing can render Grace conspicuous and glorious until the soul come to this frame Grace will not seem high until the soul be laid very low And this also suits or prepares the soul for the receiving of mercy in a sense of pardon the great thing aimed at on the part of the sinner And it prepares it for every duty that is incumbent on him in that condition wherein he is This brings the soul to waiting with diligence and patience If things presently answer not our expectation we are ready to think we have done what we can if it will be no better we must bear it as we are able which frame God abhors The soul in this frame is contented to wait the pleasure of God as we shall see in the close of the Psalm Oh saith such an one if ever I obtain a sense of Love if ever I enjoy one smile of his countenance more it is of unspeakable Grace Let him take his own time his own season it is good for me quietly to wait and to hope for his salvation And it puts the soul on prayer yea a soul alwayes in this frame prayes alwayes And there is nothing more evident than that want of a through engagement into the performance of these duties is the great cause why so few come clear off from their entanglements all their dayes Men heal their wounds slightly and therefore after a new painful festering they are brought into the same condition of restlesness and trouble which they were in before Grounds of miscarriages when persons are convinced of sin and humbled Resting in that state Resting on it The soul is not to be left in the state before described There is other work for it to apply it self unto if it intend to come unto Rest and peace It hath obtained an eminent advantage for the discovery of Forgiveness But to rest in that state wherein it is or to rest upon it will not bring it into its harbour Three things we discovered before in the souls first serious address unto God for deliverance sense of sin acknowledgement of it and self-condemnation Two evils there are which attend men oftentimes when they are brought into that state Some rest in it and press no farther some rest upon it and suppose that it is all which is required of them The Psalmist avoids both these and notwithstanding all his pressures reacheth out towards forgiveness as we shall see in the next verse I shall briefly unfold these two evils and shew the necessity of their avoidance First By resting or staying in it I mean the souls desponding through discouraging thoughts that deliverance is not to be obtained Being made deeply sensible of sin it is so overwhelmed with thoughts of its own vileness and unworthiness as to sink under the burden Such a soul is afflicted and tossed with tempests and not comforted Isa. 54. 11. until it is quite weary As a Ship in a storm at Sea when all means of contending are gone men give up themselves to be driven and tossed by the Winds and Seas at their pleasure This brought Israel to that state wherein he cryed out My way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over from my God Isa. 40. 27. and Zion The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Chap. 49. 14. The soul begins secretly to think there is no hope God regardeth it not it shall one day perish relief is far away and trouble nigh at hand These thoughts do so oppress them that though they forsake not God utterly to their destruction yet they draw not nigh unto him effectually to their consolation This is the first evil that the soul in this condition is enabled to avoid We know how God rebukes it in Sion Sion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Isaiah 49. 14. But how foolish is Sion how froward how unbelieving in this matter what ground hath she for such sinful despondencies such discouraging conclusions Can a woman saith the Lord forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget but I will not forget thee The like reproof he gives to Jacob upon the like complaint Chap. 40. 28 29 30. There is nothing that is more provoking to the Lord nor more disadvantagious unto the soul than such sinful despondency For First It insensibly weakens the soul and disenables it both for present duties and future endeavours Hence some poor creatures mourn and even pine away in this condition never getting one step beyond a perplexing sense of sin all their dayes Some have dwelt so long upon it and have so intangled themselves with a multitude of perplexed thoughts that at length their natural faculties have been weakned and rendred utterly useless so that they have lost both sense of sin and every thing else Against some Satan hath taken advantage to cast in so many intangling objections into their minds that their whole time hath been taken up in proposing doubts and objections against themselves with these they have gone up and down to one and another and being never able to come unto a consistency in their own thoughts they have spent all their dayes in a fruitless sapless withering comfortless condition Some with whom things come to a better issue are yet for a season brought to that discomposure of Spirit or are so filled with their own apprehensions that when the things which are most proper to their condition are spoken to them they take no impression in the least upon them Thus the soul is weakned by dwelling too long on these considerations until some cry with those in Ezek. 33. 10. Our sins are upon us we pine away in them and how should we then live Secondly This frame if it abides by its self will insensibly give countenance unto hard thoughts of God and so to repining and weariness in waiting on him At first the soul neither apprehends nor fears any such issue It supposeth that it shall condemn and abhorr it self and justifie God and that for ever But when relief comes not in this resolution begins to weaken Secret thoughts arise in the heart that God is austere inexorable and not to be dealt withall This sometimes casts forth such complaints as will bring the soul unto new complaints before it comes to have an issue of its tryals Here in humiliations antecedaneous to conversion many a convinced person perisheth They cannot wait Gods season and perish under their impatience And what the Saints of God themselves have been overtaken withal in their depths and tryals we have many examples and instances Delight and Expectation are the grounds of
external thing whereof a soul can have no inward sense or relish Notions there are many about it and endless contentions but what more why let a gracious soul in simplicity and sincerity of Spirit give up himself to walk with Christ according to his Appointment and he shall quickly find such a taste and relish in the fellowship of the Gospel in the Communion of Saints and of Christ amongst them as that he shall come up to such Riches of Assurance in the Understanding and Acknowledgement of the wayes of the Lord as others by their disputing can never attain unto What is so High Glorious and Mysterious as the Doctrine of the ever blessed Trinity Some wise men have thought meet to keep it veiled from ordinary Christians And some have delivered it in such terms as that they can understand nothing by them But take a Believer who hath tasted how gracious the Lord is in the Eternal Love of the Father the great Undertaking of the Son in the work of Mediation and Redemption with the Almighty work of the Spirit creating Grace and comfort in the soul and hath had an experience of the Love Holiness and Power of God in them all and he will with more firm confidence adhere to this mysterious Truth being lead into it and confirmed in it by some few plain Testimonies of the Word than a thousand Disputers shall do who only have the notion of it in their minds Let a real Tryal come and this will appear Few will be found to sacrifice their lives on bare speculations Experience will give Assurance and Stability We have thus cleared the credit of the Testimony now to be improved It is evident on these grounds that there is a great certainty in those Truths whereof Believers have experience Where they communicate their power unto the heart they give an unquestionable Assurance of their Truths And when that is once realized in the soul all disputes about it are put to silence These things being so let us enquire into the faith and experience of the Saints on the Earth as to what they know of the Truth proposed unto confirmation namely that there is forgiveness with God Let us go to some poor soul that now walks comfortably under the Light of Gods countenance and say unto him Did we not know you some while since to be full of sadness and great anxiety of Spirit yea sorrowful almost to death and bitter in soul Answ. Yes saith he so it was indeed my dayes were consumed with mourning and my life with sorrow and I walked heavily in fear and bitterness of Spirit all the day long Why what ayled you what was the matter with you seeing as to the outward things you were in Peace Answ. The Law of God had laid hold upon me and slain me I found my self thereby a woful sinner yea overwhelmed with the guilt of sin Every moment I expected Tribulation and wrath from the hand of God My sore ran in the night and ceased not and my soul refused comfort How is it then that you are thus delivered that you are no more sad Where have you found ease and peace have you been by any means delivered or did your trouble wear off and depart of its own accord Answ. Alas no had I not met with an effectual Remedy I had sunk and everlastingly perished What course did you take Answ. I went unto him by Jesus Christ against whom I have sinned and have found him better unto me than I could expect or ever should have believed had not he overpowred my heart by his Spirit Instead of wrath which I feared and that justly because I had deserved it he said unto me in Christ fury is not in me For a long time I could not believe it I thought it impossible that there should be mercy and pardon for me or such a one as I. But he still supported me sometimes by one means sometimes by another untill taking my soul near to himself he caused me to see the folly of my unbelieving heart and the vileness of the hard thoughts I had of him and that indeed there is with him forgiveness and plenteous Redemption This hath taken away all my sorrows and given me quietness with Rest and Assurance But are you sure now that this is so may you not possibly be deceived Answ. Sayes the soul I have not the least suspicion of any such matter and if at any time ought doth arise to that purpose it is quickly overcome But how are you confirmed in this perswasion Answ. That sense of it which I have in my heart that sweetness and rest which I have experience of that influence it hath upon my soul that Obligation I find laid upon me by it unto all thankful Obedience that Relief Supportment and Consolation that it hath afforded me in tryals and troubles in the mouth of the Grave and Entrances of Eternity all answering what is declared concerning these things in the Word will not suffer me to be deceived I could not indeed receive it untill God was pleased to speak it unto me But now let Satan do his utmost I shall never cease to bear this Testimony that there is mercy and forgiveness with him How many thousands may we find of these in the world who have had such a seal of this Truth in their hearts as they cannot only securely lay down their lives in the confirmation of it if called thereunto but also do chearfully and triumphantly venture their Eternal Concernments upon it Yea this is the rise of all that peace serenity of mind and strong consolation which in this world they are made partakers of Now this is to me on the principles before laid down an evidence great and important God hath not manifested this Truth unto the Saints thus copied it out of his word and exemplified it in their souls to leave them under any possibility of being deceived Institution of Religious Worship an Evidence of Forgiveness 6. Gods Institution of Religious Worship and Honor therein to be rendred unto him by sinners is another Evidence that there is forgivenesswith him I have instanced before in one particular of Worship to this purpose namely in that of Sacrifices But therein we intended only their particular nature and signification how they declared and manifested Reconciliation Attonement and Pardon That now aimed at is to shew how all the Worship that God hath appointed unto us and all the Honour which we give unto his holy Majesty thereby is built upon the same foundation namely a supposition of forgiveness and is appointed to teach it and to ascertain us of it which shall briefly be declared To this end observe 1. That the General End of all Divine and Religious Worship is to raise unto God a Revenue of glory out of the creation Such is Gods infinite natural self-sufficiency that he stands in need of no such Glory and Honour He was in himself no less infinitely and eternally
prayer Hence he teacheth and enjoyns us to pray or plead for the forgiveness of our debts to God that is our sins or trespasses against him which make us debtors to his Law and Justice even as we forgive them that so trespass or offend against us as to stand in need of our forgiveness Matth. 6. 12. Many are ready to devour such as are not satisfied that the Words of that Rule of Prayer which he hath prescribed unto us are to be precisely read or repeated every day I wish they would as heedfully mind that prescription which is given us herein for that frame of heart and spirit which ought to be in all our supplications It might possibly abate of their wrath in that and other things But here is a Rule for all prayer as all acknowledge as also of the things that are requisite to make it acceptable This in particular is required that before the searcher of all hearts and in our addresses unto him in our greatest concernments we profess our sincerity in the discharge of this duty and do put our obtaining of what we desire upon that issue This a great Crown that is put upon the head of this duty that which makes it very eminent and evidenceth the great concern of the Glory of God and our own souls therein 2. We may observe that no other duty whatever is expresly placed in the same series order or rank with it which makes it evident that it is singled out to be professed as a token and pledge of our sincerity in all other parts of our Obedience unto God It is by Christ himself made the instance for the tryal of our sincerity in our Universal Obedience which gives no small honour unto it The Apostle puts great weight on the Fifth Commandment Honour thy Father and Mother because it is the first Commandment with promise Ephes. 6. 2. All the Commandments indeed had a promise Do this and live life was promised to the observance of them all But this is the first that had a peculiar promise annexed unto it and accompanying of it And it was such a Promise as had a peculiar foundation through Gods Ordinance in the thing it self It is that the Parents should prolong the lives of their Children that were obedient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 20. 11. They shall prolong thy dayes that is by praying for their prosperity blessing them in the name of God and directing them in those wayes of Obedience whereby they might live and possess the Land And this Promise is now translated from the Covenant of Canaan into the Covenant of Grace The blessing of Parents going far towards the interesting their Children in the Promise thereof and so prolonging their dayes unto eternity though their dayes in this world should be of little continuance So it is said of our Saviour that he should see his seed and prolong his dayes Isa. 53. 10. Which hath carried over that Word and that which is signified by it unto eternal things But this by the way As the singular Promise made to that Command renders it singular so doth this especial instancing in this duty in our prayer render it also For though as all the Commandments had a Promise so we are to carry a Testimony with us of our sincerity in Universal Obedience in our addresses unto God yet the singling out of this instance renders it exceeding remarkable and shewes what a value God puts upon it and how well he is pleased with it 3. That God requires this forgiveness in us upon the account of the forgiveness we receive from him which is to put the greatest obligation upon us unto it that we are capable of and to give the strongest and most powerful motive possible unto its performance See Ephes. 4. 32. 4. That this duty is more directly and expresly required in the New Testament than in the Old Required then it was but not so openly so plainly so expresly as now Hence we find a different frame of Spirit between them under that dispensation and those under that of the New Testament There are found amongst them some such Reflections upon their enemies their Oppressors Persecutors and the like as although they were warranted by some actings of the Spirit of God in them yet being suited unto the Dispensation they were under do no way become us now who by Jesus Christ receive grace for grace So Zechariah when he dyed cryed the Lord look on and require but Stephen dying in the same cause and manner said Lord lay not this sin to their charge Elijah called for fire from Heaven But our Saviour reproves the least inclination in his Disciples to imitate him therein And the reason of this difference is because forgiveness in God is under the New Testament far more clearly especially in the nature and cause of it discovered in the Gospel which hath brought life and immortality to light than it was under the Law For all our Obedience both in matter and manner is to be suited unto the discoveries and Revelation of God unto us 5. This Forgiveness of others is made an express Condition of our obtaining Pardon and Forgiveness from God Mat 6. 14 15. And the nature hereof is expresly declared Chap. 18. 24. Such Evangelical Conditions we have not many I confess they have no causal influence into the accomplishment of the Promise but the non-performance of them is a sufficient barr against our pretending to the Promise a sufficient evidence that we have no pleadable interest in it Our forgiving of others will not procure forgiveness for our selves But our not forgiving of others proves that we our selves are not forgiven And all these things do shew what weight God himself layes on this duty Secondly Observe that this Duty is such as that there is nothing more comely useful or honourable unto or praise worthy in any than a due performance of it To be morose implacable inexorable revengeful is one of the greatest degeneracies of humane nature And no men are commonly even in this world more branded with real infamy and dishonour amongst Wise and Good men than those who are of such a frame and do act accordingly To remember Injuries to retain a sense of Wrongs to watch for Opportunities of Revenge to hate and be malitiously perverse is to represent the Image of the Devil unto the world in its proper colours He is the great Enemy and self avenger On the other side no Grace no Vertue no Duty no Ornament of the mind or Conversation of man is in it self so lovely so comely so praise worthy or so useful unto mankind as are Meekness Readiness to forgive and pardon This is that principally which renders a man a good man for whom one would even dare to dye And I am sorry to add that this Grace or duty is recommended by its raritie It is little found amongst the Children of men The consideration of the defect of men herein as
will undoubtedly flourish 3. A deep sense of the indwelling power of sin is consistent with Gospel Assurance Sense of indwelling sin will cause manifold perplexities in the Soul Trouble disquietments sorrow and anguish of heart expressing themselves in sighs mourning groaning for deliverance alwayes attend it To what purpose do you speak to a Soul highly sensible of the restless power of indwelling sin concerning Assurance Alas saith he I am ready to perish every moment my lusts are strong active restless yea outragious they give me no rest no liberty and but little success do I obtain Assurance is for Conquerours for them that live at rest and peace I lie groveling on the ground all my dayes and must needs be uncertain what will be the issue But when such an one hath done all he can he will not be able to make more wofull complaints of this matter than Paul hath done before him Rom. 7. and yet he closeth the discourse of it with as high an expression of assurance as any person needs to seek after v. last and chap. 8. 1. It is not Assurance but Enjoyment that excludes this sense and trouble But if men will think they can have no Assurance because they have that without which it is impossible they should have any it is hard to give them relief A little Cruse of Salt of the Gospel cast into these bitter waters will make them sweet and wholsom Sense of the guilt of sin may consist with faith of its pardon and forgiveness in the blood of Christ. Godly sorrow may dwell in the same heart at the same time with Joy in the Holy Ghost and groaning after deliverance from the power of sin with a Gracious perswasion that sin shall not have dominion over us because we are not under the Law but Grace 4. Doubtings Fears Temptations if not ordinarily prevailing are consistent with Gospel Assurance Though the Devils power he limited in reference unto the Saints yet his hands are not tyed Though he cannot prevail against them yet he can assault them And although there be not an evil heart of unbelief in Believers yet there will still be unbelief in their hearts Such an evidence conviction and perswasion of Acceptance with God as are exclusive of all contrary reasonings that suffer the Soul to hear nothing of Objections that free and quiet it from all assaults are neither mentioned in the Scripture nor consistent with that state wherein we walk before God nor possible on the account of Sathans will and ability to tempt or of our own remaining unbelief Assurance encourageth us in our Combate it delivereth us not from it We may have peace with God when we have none from the assaults of Sathan Now unless a man do duly consider the tenor of the Covenant wherein we walk with God and the nature of that Gospel Obedience which he requires at our hands with the state and Condition which is our Lot and portion whilest we live in this World the dayly sense of these things with the trouble that must be undergone on their account may keep him in the dark unto himself and hinder him from that establishment in believing which otherwise he might attain unto On this account some as holy persons as any in this World being wholly taken up with the consideration of these home bred perplexities and not clearly acquainted with the way and tenor of assuring their Souls before God according to the Rule of the Covenant of Grace have passed away their dayes in a bondage frame of spirit and unacquaintance with that strong consolation which God is abundantly willing that all the Heirs of promise should receive 5. Evangelical Assurance is not a thing that consisteth in any point and so incapable of variation It may be higher or lower greater or less obscure or attended with more Evidence It is not quite lost when it is not quite at its highest God sometimes marvellously raiseth the Souls of his Saints with some close and neer approaches unto them gives them a sense of his Eternal Love a taste of the embraces of his Son and the inhabitation of the Spirit without the least intervening disturbance then this is their Assurance But this life is not a season to be alwayes taking wages in our work is not yet done we are not alwayes to abide in this Mount we must down again into the battle fight again cry again complain again Shall the Soul be thought now to have lost its assurance Not at all it had before assurance with Joy Triumph and Exultation it hath it now or may have with wrestling cryes tears and supplications And a mans Assurance may be as Good as true when he lyes on the earth with a sense of sin as when he is carryed up to the third Heaven with a sense of Love and foretaste of Glory In brief this Assurance of Salvation is such a Gracious Evangelical perswasion of Acceptance with God in Christ and of an interest in the promises of preservation unto the End wrought in Believers by the Holy Ghost in and through the exercise of Faith as for the most part produceth these effects following 1. It gives delight in obedience and draws out Love in the duties that unto God we do perform So much Assurance of a Comfortable Issue of their Obedience of a blessed End of their labours and duties of their purifying their hearts and pressing after universal Renovation of mind and life as may make them Chearfull in them as may give Love and Delight in the pursuit of what they are engaged in is needfull for the Saints and they they do not often go without it and where this is there is Gospel Assurance To run as men uncertain to fight as those that beat the Air to travel as not any way perswaded of a comfortable entertainment or refreshment at the Journeys End is a state and condition that God doth not frequently leave his people unto And when he doth it is a season wherein he receives very little of Glory from them and they very little increase of grace in themselves Many things as hath been shewed do interpose many doubts arise and intangling perplexities but still there is a Comfortable perswasion kept alive that there is a Rest provided which makes them willing unto and chearfull in their most difficult duties This prevaileth in them that their labour in the Lord their watchings praying suffering alms mortification fighting against temptation crucifying the flesh with the lusts thereof shall not be in vain This gives them such a delight in their most difficult duties as men have in a hard Journey towards a desirable home or a place of Rest. 2. It casts out fear tormenting fear such as fills the soul with perplexing uncertainties hard thoughts of God and dreadfull apprehensions of wrath to come There are three things spoken concerning that fear which is inconsistent with the Assurance of forgiveness First With respect unto
its principle it is from a spirit of bondage Rom. 18. 15. We have not again received the spirit of bondage unto fear It is not such a fear as makes an occasional incursion upon the mind or soul such as I se xcited and occasioned by incident darkness and Temptation such as the best and persons of the highest assurance are liable and obnoxious unto but it is such as hath a compleat abiding principle in the soul even a spirit of bondage a prevailing frame constantly inclining it to fear or dreadful apprehensions of God and its own condition Secondly That it tends to bondage it brings the soul into bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. He dyed to deliver them who by fear of death were in bondage all their daies Fear of death as penal as it lyes in the curse which is that fear that proceeds from a spirit of bondage brings the persons in whom it is into bondage that is it adds weariness trouble and anxiety of mind unto fear and puts them upon all waies and means imaginable unduly and disorderly to seek for a remedy or relief Thirdly It hath torment fear hath torment 1 Joh. 4. 18. It gives no rest no quietness unto the mind now this is so cast out by Gospel Assurance of forgiveness that though it may assault the soul it shall not possess it though it make incursions upon it it shall not dwell abide and prevail in it 3. It gives the soul an hope and expectation of the Glory that shall be revealed and secretly stirs it up and enlivens it unto a supportment in sufferings tryals and Temptations This is the hope which makes not ashamed Rom. 5. 5. and that because it will never expose the soul unto disappointment Where ever there is the root of Assurance there will be this fruit of hope The proper object of it is things absent invisible eternal the promised reward in all the notions respects and concernments of it This hope goes out unto in distresses temptations failings and under a sense of the guilt and power of sin Hence ariseth a spring of secret relief in the soul something that calms the heart and quiets the spirit in the midst of many a storm Now as where ever Assurance is there will be this hope so where ever this secret relieving hope is it grows on no other root but a living perswasion of a personal interest in the things hoped for 4. As it will do many other things so that I may give one comprehensive instance it will carry them out in whom it is to dye for Christ. Death unto men who saw not one step beyond it was esteemed of all things most terrible The way and means of its approach add unto its terrour But this is nothing in comparison of what it is unto them who look through it as a passage into ensuing Eternity For a man then to chuse death rather than life in the most terrible manner of its approach expecting an Eternity to ensue it argues a comfortable perswasion of a Good State and Condition after death Now I am perswaded that there are hundreds who upon Gospel saving accounts would embrace a stake for the Testimony of Jesus who yet know not at all that they have the Assurance we speak of and yet nothing else would enable them thereunto But these things being besides the main of my Intendment I shall pursue them no further only the Rule is of use Let the soul be sure to be well acquainted with the nature of that which it seeks after and confesseth a sense of the want of RULE III. Continuance in waiting necessary unto Peace and Consolation The fourth Rule Remove the Hinderances of Believing by a searching out of sin Rules and Directions for that Duty Whatever your Condition be and your Apprehension of it yet continue waiting for a better issue and give not over through weariness or impatience This Rule contains the summ of the Great Example given us in this Psalm Forgiveness in God being discovered though no sense of a particular interest therein as yet obtained that which the soul applies it self unto is diligent carefull constant persevering waiting which is variously expressed in the 5 and 6 verses The Holy Ghost tells us that light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Psal. 97. 11. Light and Gladness are the things now enquired after Deliverance from darkness misapprehensions of God hard and misgiving thoughts of his own condition is that which a soul in its depths reacheth towards Now saith the Holy Ghost These things are sown for the Righteous Doth the Husbandman after he casts his seed into the Earth immediately the next day the next week expect that it will be harvest doth he think to reap so soon as he hath sown or doth he immediately say I have laboured in vain here is no return I will pull up the hedge of this field and lay it waste or I see a little grass in the blade but no corn I will give it to the beasts to devour it No his God as the Prophet speaks instructs him unto discretion and teacheth him namely what he must do and how he must look for things in their season And shall not we be instructed by him behold the Husbandman saith James waiteth for the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain Jam. 5. 7. And is Light sown for them that are in darkness and shall they stifle the seed under the clods or spoil the tender blade that is springing up or refuse to wait for the watering and dews of the Spirit that may bring it forth to perfection Waiting is the only way to Establishment and Assurance we cannot speed by our haste yea nothing puts the end so far away as making too much haste and speed in our Journey The ground hereof is that a sense of a special interest in forgiveness and acceptance is given into the soul by a meer act of Soveraignty It is not it will not be obtained by or upon any rational conclusions or deductions that we can make All that we can do is but to apply our selves to the removal of hinderances For the Peace and Rest sought for come from meer prerogative When he giveth quietness who can give trouble and when he hideth his face who can behold him Job 34. 29. Now what is the way to receive that which comes from meer Soveraignty and prerogative doth not the nature of the thing require humble waiting If then either Impatience cast the soul into frowardness or weariness make it slothfull which are the two waies whereby waiting is ruined Let not such an one expect any comfortable Islue of his contending for deliverance out of his depths And let not any think to make out their difficulties any other way their own Reasonings will not bring them to any establishing conclusions for they may lay down propositions and have no
as it is necessary for the discharge of such duties unto the Glory of God Now because it is not directly in our way yet having been mentioned I shall briefly in our passage touch upon the latter or what duties do depend upon our Judging of others to be regenerate and the way or Principles whereby such a Judgement may be made 1. There are many duties incumbent on us to be performed with and towards Professors which without admitting a Judgement to be made of their State and Condition cannot be performed in faith And in reference unto these duties alone it is that we are called to Judge the State of others For we are not giving Countenance unto a rash uncharitable censuring of mens spiritual conditions nor unto any Judging of any men any other than what our own duty towards them doth indispensably require Thus if we are to lay down our lives for the Brethren it is very meet we should so far know them so to be as that we may hazard our lives in faith when we are called thereunto We are also to Joyn with them in those Ordinances wherein we make a Solemn profession that we are members of the same body with them that we have the same head the same Spirit faith and love We must love them because they are begotten of God Children of our heavenly Father and therefore must on some good ground believe them so to be In a word the due performance of all principal mutual Gospel Duties to the Glory of God and our own Edification depends on this supposition that we may have such a satisfying perswasion concerning the spiritual condition of others as that from thence we may take our ayme in what we do 2. For the grounds hereof I shall mention one only which all others do lean upon This is pressed 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so is Christ. For by one Spirit we are all Baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one Spirit They are all united unto and hold of one head For as are the members of the body natural under one head So is Christ mystical that is all believers under Christ their head And this Union they have by the inhabitation of the same quickning Spirit which is in Christ their head and by him they are brought all into the same spiritual state and frame they are made to drink into one and the same Spirit for this same Spirit produceth the same Effects in them all the same in kind though differing in degrees as the Apostle fully declares Ephes. 4. 3 4 5 6. And this Spirit is in them and not in the world John 16. And as this gives them a naturalness in their duties one towards another or in mutual caring for rejoycing and sorrowing with one another as members one of another 1 Cor. 12. 25 26. So it reveals and discovers them to each other so far as is necessary for the performance of the Duties mentioned in such a manner as becomes members of the same body There is on this account a spiritually natural Answering of one to another as face answereth face in the Water They can see and discern that in others whereof they have Experience in themselves they can tast and relish that in others which they feed upon in themselves and wherein the lives of their souls do consist the same spirit of life being in them they have the same spiritual tast and Savour And unless their pallats are distempered by Temptations or false opinions or prejudices they can in their Communion tast of that Spirit in each other which they are all made to drink into This gives them the same likeness and Image in the Inward man the same heavenly light in their minds the same affections and being thus prepared and enabled to Judge and discern of the State of each other in reference unto their mutual duties they have moreover the true Rule of the Word to Judge of all Spirits and Spiritual effects by And this is the ground of all that love without dissimulation and real Communion that is among the Saints of God in this World But here two Cautions must be allowed 1. That we would not Judge the State and Condition of any men in the world no further than we are called thereunto in a way of Duty and we are so called only with reference unto the Duties that we are to perform towards them What have we to do to Judge them that are without that is any one that we have not a call to consider in reference unto our own Duty Herein that great Rule takes place Judge not that ye be not Judged Let us leave all men the worst of men unless where evident duty requires other actings to the Judgement seat of God They are the Servants of another and they stand or fall unto their own Master There have been great miscarriages amongst us in this matter some have been ready to condemn all that go not along with them in every principle yea opinion or practice And every day slight occasions and provocations are made the grounds and reasons of severe censures But nothing is more contrary to the conduct of the meek and holy Spirit of Christ. This is our Rule are we called to Act towards any as Saints as living Members of the body of Christ and that in such Duties as we cannot perform in faith unless we are perswaded that so they are then are we on the grounds and by the wayes before mentioned to satisfie our selves in one another 2. Do we endeavour mutually to discern the condition of one another in reference unto such Ends Let us be sure to look unto and pursue those ends when we have attained our Satisfaction What these ends are hath been shewed It is that we may love them without dissimulation as members of the same mystical body with us that we may naturally take care of them and for them that we may delight sincerely in them that we may minister unto their wants Temporal and Spiritual that we may watch over them with pitty and compassion These and the like are the only ends for which we are at any time called to the consideration of the spiritual condition of one another if these be neglected the other is useless And here lyes a great aggravation of that neglect in that such a way is made for the avoidance of it Here lyes the life or death of all Church Society All Church Society and Relation is built on this supposition that the members of it are all Regenerate some lay this foundation in Baptism only professing that all that are baptized are Regenerate Others require a farther Satisfaction in the real work it self But all build on the same foundation that all Church members are to be Regenerate And
are is known Prayer Meditation Reading Hearing of the Word Dispensation of the Sacraments they are all appointed to this purpose they are all means of communicating Love and Grace to the soul. Be not then heartless or slothfull up and be doing attend with diligence to the Word of Grace be fervent in prayer assiduous in the use of all Ordinances of the Church in one or other of thern at one time or other thou wilt meet with him whom thy soul loveth and God through him will speak peace unto thee Thirdly There is Expectation in it which lyes in a direct opposition to all the actings of unbelief in this matter and is the very life and soul of the duty under consideration So the Psalmist declares it Psal. 62. 5. My soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is only from him The soul will not cannot in a due manner wait on God unless it hath Expectations from him unless as James speaks he looks to receive somewhat from him chap. 1. 7. The soul in this condition regards forgiveness not only as by its self it is desired but principally as it is by God promised Thence they expect it This is expressed in the fourth Proposition before laid down namely that sin-distressed souls wait for God with earnestness intention of mind and expectation As this ariseth from the redoubling of the Expression so principally from the nature of the Comparison that he makes of himself in his waiting with them that watch for the morning Those that watch for the morning do not only desire it and prepare for it but they expect it and know assuredly that it will come Though darkness may for a time be troublesome and continue longer than they would desire yet they know that the morning hath its appointed time of return beyond which it will not tarry and therefore they look out for its Appearance on all occasions so it is with the soul in this matter So sayes David Psal. 5. 3. I will direct my prayer unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and look up So we the words before are defective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the morning or rather every morning I will order unto thee We restrain this unto prayer I will direct my peayer unto thee But this was expressed directly in the words foregoing In the morning thou shalt hear my voice that is the voice of my prayer and supplications as it is often supplied And although the Psalmist doth sometime repeat the same thing in different Expressions yet here he seemeth not so to do but rather proceeds to declare the general frame of his spirit in walking with God I will saith he order all things towards God so as that I may wait upon him in the waies of his appoinment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will look up It seems in our Translation to express his posture in his prayer But the Word is of another importance It is diligently to look out after that which is coming towards us a looking out after the Accomplishment of our Expectation This is a part of our waiting for God yea as was said the life of it that which is principally intended in it The Prophet calls it his standing upon his watch tower and watching to see what God would speak unto him Hab. 2. 3. namely in answer unto that prayer which he put up in his trouble He is now waiting in Expectation of an answer from God And this is that which poor weak trembling sinners are so encouraged unto Isa. 53. 3 4. Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees say unto them that are of a fearfull heart be strong fear not behold your God will come Weakness and discouragements are the effects of Unbelief These he would have removed with an Expectation of the coming of God unto the soul according to the Promise And this I say belongs unto the waiting of the soul in the condition described Such a one doth expect and hope that God will in his season manifest himself and his Love unto him and give him an experimental sense of a blessed interest in forgiveness And the accomplishment of this purpose and promise of God it looks out after continually It will not despond and be heartless but stir up and strengthen it self unto a full expectation to have the desires of his soul satisfied in due time as we find David doing in places almost innumerable This is the duty that in the first place is recommended unto the soul who is perswaded that there is forgiveness with God but sees not its own interest therein Wait on or for the Lord. And it hath two properties when it is performed in a due manner namely patience and perseverance By the one men are kept to the length of Gods time by the other they are preserved in a due length of their own duty And this is that which was laid down in the first Proposition drawn from the words namely that continuance in watching until God appears unto the soul is necessary as that without which we cannot attain what we look after and prevailing as that wherein we shall never fail God is not to be limited nor his times prescribed unto him We know our way and the end of our Journey but our stations of especial rest we must wait for at his mouth as the people did in the wilderness When David comes to deal with God in his great distress he sayes unto him O Lord thou art my God my times are in thine hand Psal. 31. 14 15. His times of trouble and of peace of darkness and of light he acknowledged to be in the hand and at the disposal of God so that it was his duty to wait his time and season for his share and portion in them During this state the soul meets with many Oppositions difficulties and perplexities especially if its darkness be of long continuance as with some it abides many years with some all the daies of their lives Their hope being hereby deferred makes their hearts sick and their spirit oftentimes to faint and this fainting is a defect in waiting for want of perseverance and continuance which frustrates the End of it So David Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord. Had I not received supportment by faith I had fainted And wherein doth that consist what was the fainting which he had been overtaken withall without the supportment mentioned it was a relinquishment of waiting on God as he manifests by the Exhortation which he gives to himself and others v. 14. Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart wait I say on the Lord. Wait with courage and resolution that thou faint not And the Apostle puts the blessed Event of Faith and Obedience upon the avoidance of this evil Gal. 6. 9. We shall reap if we faint not Hence we have both encouragements given against it and promises that in the
they taught to value all the fruits of the blood of Jesus Christ of the enjoyment of many whereof they are at present cut short and deprived All which with other things of the like nature and importance make them very sensible of their concernments Secondly They remember what it cost them formerly to deal with God about sin and hence they know it is no ordinary matter they have in hand They must again to their old work take the old cup into their hands again A recovery from depths is as a new conversion Oft-times in it the whole work as to the souls apprehension is gone over afresh This the soul knows to have been a work of dread terror and trouble and trembles in it self at its new tryals And Thirdly The Holy Ghost gives unto such poor souls a fresh sense of their deep concernments on purpose that it may be a means to stir them up unto these earnest Applications unto God The whole work is his and he carries it on by means suited to the compassing of the end he aimeth at And by these means is a gracious soul brought into the frame mentioned Now there are sundry things that concur in and unto this frame First There is a continual thoughtfulness about the sad condition wherein the soul is in its depths Being deeply affected with their condition they are continually ruminating upon it and pondering it in their minds So David declares the case to have been with him Psal. 38. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sins for mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness I am troubled I am bowed down I go mourning all the day long I am feeble and sore broken I have roared for the disquietness of my heart Restlestness deep-thoughtfulness disquietness of heart continual heaviness of soul sorrow and anxiety of mind lye at the bottom of the Applications we speak of From these Principles their prayers flow out as David adds v. 9. Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee This way all his trouble wrought He prayed out of the abundance of his meditation and grief Thoughts of their state and condition lye down with such Persons and rise with them and accompany them all the day long As Reuben cryed The child is not and I whither shall I go So doth such a soul the Love of God is not Christ is not and I whither shall I cause my sorrow to go God is provoked death is nigh at hand relief is far away darkness is about me I have lost my peace my joy my Song in the night what do I think of duties Can two walk together unless they be agreed Can I walk with God in them whilst I have thus made him mine enemy What do I think of Ordinances Will it do me any good to be at Jerusalem and not see the face of the King to live under Ordinances and not to meet in them with the King of Saints May I not justly fear that the Lord will take his holy Spirit from me until I be left without remedy With such thoughts as these are sin-entangled souls exercised and they lye rolling in their minds in all their applications unto God Secondly We see the Application it self consists in and is made by the prayer of Faith or crying unto God now this is done with intenseness of mind which hath a twofold fruit or property 1. Importunity and 2. Constancy It is said of our blessed Saviour that when he was in his depths about our sins that he offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryes and tears Heb. 5. 7. Strong cryes and tears express the utmost intension of Spirit And David expresseth it by roaring as we have seen before as also by sighing groaning and panting A soul in such a condition lyes down before the Lord with sighs groans mourning cryes tears and roaring according to the various working of his heart and its being affected with the things that it hath to do and this produceth First Importunity The power of the importunity of Faith our Saviour hath marvelously set out Luke 11. 8 9 10. as also Chap. 18. 1. Importunate prayer is certainly prevailing And importunity is as it were made up of these two things frequency of interposition and variety of arguings You shall have a man that is importunate come unto you seven times a day about the same business and after all if any new thought come into his mind though he had resolved to the contrary he will come again And there is nothing that can be imagined to relate unto the business he hath in hand but he will make use of it and turn it to the furtherance of his plea. So is it in this case Men will use both frequency of interposition and variety of arguings Psal. 86. 1. I cry unto thee daily or rather all the day He had but that one business and he attended it to the purpose By this means we give God no rest Isa. 62. 7. which is the very character of importunity Such souls go to God and they are not satisfied with what they have done and they go again and somewhat abideth still with them and they go to him again and the heart is not yet emptied they 'l go again to him that he may have no rest What variety of arguments are pleaded with God in this case I could also manifest in the same David But it is known to all there is not any thing almost that he makes not a plea of the Faithfulness Righteousness Name Mercy Goodness and kindness of God in Jesus Christ the concernment of others in him both the friends and foes of God his own weakness and helplesness yea the greatness of sin it self Be merciful to my sin saith he for it is great Sometimes he begins with some Arguments of this kind and then being a little diverted by other considerations some new plea is suggested unto him by the Spirit ane he returns immediately to his first employment and design all arguing great intension of mind and spirit Secondly Constancy also flows from intenseness Such a soul will not give over untill it obtain what it aims at and looks for as we shall see in our process in opening this Psalm And this is in general the deportment of a gracious soul in the condition here represented unto us As poor creatures love their peace as they love their souls as they tender the glory of God they are not to be wanting in this duty What is the reason that controversies hang so long between God and your souls that it may be you scarce see a good day all your lives Is it not for the most part
from your sloth and despondency of spirit you will not gird up the loyns of your minds in dealing with God to put them to a speedy issue in the blood of Christ. You go on and off begin and cease try and give over and for the most part though your case be extraordinary content your selves with ordinary and customary Applications unto God This makes you wither become useless and pine away in and under your perplexities David did not so but after many and many a breach made by sin yet through quick vigorous restless actings of Faith all was repaired so that he lived peaceably and dyed triumphantly Up then and be doing let not your wounds corrupt because of your folly make through work of that which lyes before you be it long or difficult it is all one it must be done and is attended with safety What you are like to meet withal in the first place shall nextly be declared Verse 3. The words of the Verse explained and their meaning opened THE general frame of a gracious soul in its perplexities about sin hath been declared It s particular actings what it doth what it meets withal are nextly represented unto us First Then in particular it cryes out If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand There is in the words a Supposition and an Inference on that Supposition In the Supposition there is first the Name of God that is fixed on as suited unto it And Secondly The thing it self supposed In the Inference there is expressed the matter of it to stand and the manner of its proposal Wherein two things occur 1. That it is expressed by way of Interrogation 2. The Indefiniteness of that Interrogation Who shall stand If thou Lord He here fixes on another name of God which is Jah A name though from the same root with the former yet seldom used but to intimate and express the terrible Majesty of God He rideth on the Heavens and is extolled by his name Jah Psal. 68. 4. He is to deal now with God about the guilt of sin and God is represented to the soul as great and terrible that he may know what to expect and look for if the matter must be tryed out according to the demerit of sin What then saith he to J A H 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou shouldst mark iniquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to observe and keep as in safe custody To keep preserve and watch diligently So to remark and observe as to retain that which is observed to ponder it and lay it up in the heart Gen. 37. 11. Jacob observed Josephs dream that is he retained the memory of it and pondered it in his heart The marking of Iniquities then here intended is Gods so far considering and observing of them as to reserve them for punishment and vengeance In opposition unto this marking he is said not to see sin to overlook it to cover it to forget it or remember it no more that is to forgive it as the next Verse declares I need not shew that God so far marks all sins in all persons as to see them know them disallow them and to be displeased with them This cannot be denyed without taking away of all grounds of his fear and Worship To deny it is all one as to deny the very Being of God deny his Holiness and Righteousness and you deny his Existence But there is a day appointed wherein all the men of the world shall know that God knew and took notice of all and every one of their most secret sins There is then a double marking of sin in God neither of which can be denyed in reference unto any sins in any persons The first is Physical consisting in his omniscience whereunto all things are open and naked Thus no sin is hid from him the secretest are before the light of his countenance All are marked by him Secondly Moral in a displicency with or displeasure against every sin which is inseparable from the nature of God upon the account of his Holiness And this is declared in the sentence of the Law and that equally to all men in the world But the marking here intended is that which is in a tendency to Animadversion and punishment according to the tenor of the Law Not only the sentence of the Law but a Will of punishing according to it is included in it If saith the Psalmist thou the great and dreadful God who art extolled by thy glorious name Jah shouldst take notice of iniquities so as to recompence them unto sinners that come unto thee according to the severity and exigence of thy holy Law What then It is answered by the matter of the Proposal who can stand That is none can so do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes Chrysostom This WHO is NONE No man not one in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quis stabit or consistet who can stand or abide and endure the tryal Every one on this supposition must perish and that eternally This the desert of sin and the Curse of the Law which is the Rule of this marking of their iniquity doth require And there is a notable emphasis in the interragation which contains the manner of the Inference Who can stand is more than if he had said none can abide the tryal and escape without everlasting ruine For the Interrogation is indefinite not how can I but who can stand When the Holy Ghost would set out the certainty and dreadfulness of the perishing of ungodly men he doth it by such a kind of expression wherein there is a deeper sense intimated into the minds of men than any words can well cloath or declare 1 Pet. 4. 17. What shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel and v. 18. Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear So here Who can stand there is a deep insinuation of a dreadful ruine as unto all with whom God shall so deal as to mark their iniquities See Psal. 1. 5. The Psalmist then addressing himself to deal with God about sin layes down in the first place in the general how things must go not with himself only but with all the world upon the supposition he had fixed This is not my case only but it is so with all mankind every one who is partaker of flesh and blood whether their guilt answer that which I am oppressed withal or no all is one guilty they are all and all must perish How much more must that needs be my condition who have contracted so great a guilt as I have done Here then he layes a great Argument against himself on the supposition before laid down If none the Holiest the humblest the most believing soul can abide the tryal can endure how much less can I who am the chiefest of sinners the least of Saints who come unspeakably behind them in holiness and have equally gone beyond them in sin This is the sense and importance