Hee dwells in heaven by his glory yet though thou wert as low as hell in thy selfe God will come and take possession of thy heart marvellous graciously In the words so farre as they concerne my purpose the thing mainly observable is the necessitie and excellencie of this broken and humble soule It is the only receptacle of the Lord Iesus Christ If you will have Christ and grace to dwell in you you must get humble spirits Doct. So the Doctrine in generall from hence is this The soule must bee broken and humbled None but the broken heart is an house for Christ before the Lord Iesus Christ can or will dwell therein and before faith can be wrought therein There must bee contrition before there will bee an inhabitation of Christ in the soule As men specially great men will have their houses ayred before they come to lie there so this contrition is the ayring or sweeping of the soule that so it may be inhabited Foretold This was typified and foretold in the old law When the people of Israel were to goe into the Land of Canaan which shadowed the kingdome of grace here and of glory hereafter they must goe through the vast terrible troublesome and roaring wildernesse and through those streights and extreme hazzards before God brought them to the Land of Promise Whereby the Lord typified thus much unto us that before the soule can bee truely possessed of Christ it must goe through these rockie wayes of contrition and humiliation Hos 2.14 Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse Ad aperiendam spem Hieron and speake comfortably to her And in vers 15. I will give her the valley of Achor for the dore of hope and shee shall sing there as in the dayes of her youth and as in the dayes when she came out of Egypt Compare that 15. verse with Ioshua 7.25 The sloodgate of sorow a dore of hope The doore of hope is nothing else but the expectation of all good things from God which hee hath promised And here remember the story of Achor Achan had stollen the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment and therefore God departed away from the Campe. Now the Lord pursued him and caused the people to stone him with stones and they called the place The Valley of Achor to this day .i. The Valley of trouble and affliction The Lord hath reference to his former dealing As he did before in the time of Ioshua hee first subdued Achan and then hee gave them successe against all their adversaries As if he had said I will give them the Valley of contrition and humiliation for the Gate to all comfort and sweet refreshing here and hereafter So you must goe through the wildernesse to this Valley of Achor before you can come to this doore of hope to this Land of Canaan you must stone these corruptions of yours which have troubled the Spirit of God and then there is a doore of hope set open for you And as it was foretold so it was the end why the Lord Iesus Christ was sent as Isa 61.12 The Spirit of the Lord is upon mee saith Isaiah in the stead of Christ because the Lord hath annointed mee to preach glad tydings unto the meeke hee hath sent mee to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaime libertie to the captives and to comfort all that mourne Nay 2. Accomplished the Lord hath not onely sent Christ to this end and promised this but he hath done as hee did promise And this is the condition upon which he hath promised and given all comfort to his people as in Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit Hee is neere them to comfort them and to assist them and deliver them and thus the Saints of God have found it as 2 Chron. 33.12 where the Text saith that Manasses humbled himselfe mightily before the Lord and hee found peace to his soule and the Lord pardoned his sinne Hee was a mighty sinner and had mighty rebellions and mighty pride of heart and therefore the Lord laid him as low as the dust though hee were a King As hee had beene a mighty sinner so hee was now a mighty patterne of humiliation and the Lord had mercy on him Two reasons of the point The reasons and grounds of Gods dispensation this way are these two especially 1 Whether we consider the receiving of faith and Christ with it or 2 The keeping and maintaining of faith being received In both these it is plaine that God will breake our hearts before hee gives us Christ or faith I say it is necessary in the way of his providence Reas 1 1 It is an especiall meanes to make way for faith and for Christ because all the lets and impediments which hinder the entrance of faith into the soule are removed by humiliation and brokennesse of spirit Two let ts of faith removed by brokennesse of heart Now besides many other bolts and springs as in a locke there are many springs and little bolts besides the maine bolt so I say there are two maine bolts which make the soule uncapable of faith which being removed faith will come into the soule The first let which is an hinderance to the worke of faith is this 1 Lett. To seek contentment in the naturall condition there is a settled kind of contentment which the soule taketh up in its owne estate and the heart of a sinfull creature sitteth downe well apaid in that sinfull miserable condition wherein he is and hee desireth no other nay hee would have no change in this kind This is one maine bolt which stoppeth the way and keepeth faith from comming into the heart This is the frame of every mans heart naturally So we see in Deut. 29.19 And if it come to passe that when hee heareth the words of this curse that he blesse himselfe in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walke in the imagination of mine owne heart or adde drunkennesse to thirst The Lord will not spare him but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall fall upon him and the Lord shall blot his name from under heaven People blesse themselves in their condition notwithstanding all the promises of blessing and threatning of judgement If any man have such a root of bitternesse in him and shall blesse himselfe in this condition and say I will promise my felfe an happy end let Moses threaten what he can I tell thee the wrath of the Lord shall smoake against that man See that notable place in Iob 21.14 It imports so much For they said to God Depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes that is wee are as we would be When wholsome counsels and exhortations are ministred namely that
Christ will say Oh that love pleaseth me They cannot welcome the Lord better than with this love but the other love and joy pleaseth him not Canst thou say I love the Lord because hee hath loved mee then thy love is of a right mettall and know it for ever that that God which cannot but love himselfe hee cannot but like that love which came from himselfe who is the God of all love and which comes from his owne divine nature Is thy soule affected and enlarged in love to the Lord because thou hast felt and received the rellish and sweetnesse of his grace Dost thou love and joy in God upon this ground namely upon a grounded affection of Gods loue to thee setled and sealed to thy selfe so that thou canst say The Lord hath let in the glimpse of his favour and the Lord hath said it in his truth hee lookes to him that trembles at his word the Minister said it and the Spirit saith it that my mercy is registred in heaven and my desires are received and granted Oh how shall I love the Lord My sinnes are many which I have bewailed and my sighes and sobs I have put up to heaven and at last the Lord hath given mee a gracious answer O how may I love the Lord my strength dearly Lord thou hast looked downe from heaven in love and mercy upon me and therefore my soule shall ever looke up to heaven to thee in love If it be thus with thee thy love is sound and will never faile thee but if any mans love comes from himselfe and therefore loves God that love will onely bring all to himselfe and there is the end of it A man hath a love to his parts and abilities and prayer and preaching and reading and conference and understanding and policy hee loveth these and therefore he would fain be beholden to Iesus Christ to helpe him to honour and to glorifie these parts of his This love was from his parts and brought to his parts and in the meane time the Lord Iesus lay in the dust and his glory was not regarded whereas the love that is wrought by God it alwayes doth draw the love of the soule againe to God and so love from him draws love to him This is the excellencie of this love and this is love of the right kind But if the love of parts and profits draw me to honour and glorifie parts and profits then I love my profits and not Christ Thinke of this often this is certaine this will bee the mainest difference betweene all the love of carnall hypocrites and of the Saints of God I would expresse my selfe to you thus As it is with meat which a man takes downe inwardly and digests it this breeds good bloud but that meate which a man eates and spits out againe and tarries not long with him this breeds no bloud at all So it is in the heart of a poore humbled sinner truely wrought upon to receive Christ in the worth of him and with the hypocrite A heart truely wrought upon by Gods Spirit it takes downe the promise and feeds upon it and it breeds good bloud and complexion True love is like this good bloud and true joy is like this complexion Marke this the promise of God settled upon the heart nourisheth and feedeth the heart and it breeds good bloud but the foolish hypocrite that hath a kind of flattering sweetnes this tickles the heart with vaine conceits but they never goe downe And hence it is that that love which comes from hence it is but a fading love and there is no good bloud nor no good complexion comes from it but rather corruptions and overture Secondly 2. Triall as the root of this love must be from the kindling of the Spirit so if thou entertaine thy Saviour as it beseemes him True love of Christ entertains him as a King thou must entertaine him as a King and that is thus give up all to him and entertaine none with him upon termes of honour but such as retaine to him or be attendants unto him this is the manner of receiving great Princes Love all in a Christ and for a Christ but expresse thy love and thy joy to a Christ above all he is as the King and all the rest are but as retainers and all his servants are as servants to him He that loves any thing equall with a Christ it is certaine he did never love a Christ but he that sets up any thing cheeke by joll with Christ he despiseth him and never receives him It is all one as if a man did put a slave into the same chamber with the King which is all one as to drive him away So if thou dost set up any thing with Christ thou dost drive him away with such base behaviour As in Iames 4.4 O yee adulterers and adulteresses know yee not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God A man cannot retaine fellowship with Christ Iesus and with the world too upon point of honour Simile As the woman that loves her husband she loveth other men as friends and neighbours and will give them very courteous entertainment and welcome them kindly but if they come to claime the love of a wife she abhorres and detests them So a loving heart that loves Iesus Christ as the Bridegroome he loves Christ onely and all for Christ and the rest as friends c. The soule wil love honors or profits or credit or parts and priviledges that they may be friends to speake for a man and to give a man occasion to speake with a Saviour as the wife loves the husband firstly and all the rest she regards onely as they may further the match this way so the Lord Christ and his grace is chiefe to the soule but the world and ease and credit these are meerely as friends to leade him to a Saviour and make him acquainted with a Saviour The soule loves the word and prayer and all Gods ordinances to speake a good word to a Saviour for him but all the rest are despised by him and if any of them come to claime the love of a soule from a Christ it hates them deadly as Luke 14.26 If any man come to mee and hate not father and mother in comparison of me he is not worthy of mee that is if father and mother stand betweene thee and Christ and would have thy soule married to them again the soule hates them This is a plaine difference betweene a sound heart and a false heart in the receiving of Christ the sound heart receives him as a favorite receives a Prince he gives up all to him Simile and lets him have the command of all but now an Inne-keeper entertains him that comes next to him he will take any mans money and will give welcome to any man if it bee the best man
cannot be granted for Christ is so farre from being unwilling that he desires to come in for he hath knockt at many a proud heart Behold I stand at the doore and knock if any man heare my voyce and open unto me I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me Rev. 3.20 And in other places he saith Forsake thy sins and corruptions and receive thy owne salvation and be not under the rule of sinne and those base lusts Cant. 5.2 Open my love my dove my undefiled Surely if the doore were open he would come in nay himselfe saith so professedly as in that place aforenamed Oh hee hath knocked many a time at the heart of a poore wretch and said If any man will open to me I will come in If any He that promiseth to come in if the doore were open there is no unwillingnesse on his part but in the humbled soule there are no more lets for he hath thrown away sin in himselfe and said I love you not I regard you not let the Lord Iesus come and rule in this same broken heart of mine Thus gather up all If it be the end of God the Fathers sending Christ and the scope of Christs comming and if the glory of his grace bee much more advanced this way and if there be no hinderances then immediately expect him hee commeth suddenly Vse 1 Great comfort to each humbled soule Vse 1. The uses are manifold First it is a ground of marvellous comfort to every humbled soule let not stubborne and rebellious wretches that say Wee will not have this man rule over us let not such I say meddle with this comfort To you I have nothing to say now hereafter I shall say something to you to your cost But all you soules that are willing to give way to Christ Iesus and to breake open doore for Christ and all you that have any evidence of this work I say all you broken hearts goe your way with comfort Christ will comfort you nay hee will meet you at home Me thinks this is enough to comfort the heart of any in the world Then let what can befall us the Lord Christ will come suddenly But some will say Quest. Many are my sins that lie hard upon me and my aâ—ominations come in like troups and all the old train band of loosenesse and vanity they are come in against me and all the sins that I have committed the guilt of them yet remaines and I cannot get strength against them but still they prevaile for my conscience is not quieted but my old sins flie in my face Answ But are your hearts thus perplexed with the sight of sin and with the expectation of the misery of them as in truth there is much cause to lament Art thou thus broken hearted and thus perplexed And canst thou say Were my heart rid of my sinnes I should bee comforted Then I say notwithstanding all thy sins if the Lord see thee humbled he seeth not thy sinnes hee will come and comfort thee let all thy sinnes come and rise up in armes against thee the Lord Christ will come suddenly and then mercy will come to pardon and grace will come to succour thee against thy sin Quest But what will the Lord come into this wretched vile corrupt heart of mine What will Iesus Christ come into this Temple Indeed he may come to such a man that is humbled but he will never come to such a wretch as I am I have sinned thus and thus Answ See what the Text saith Apoc. 3.2 Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man will heare and open he doth not say I stand at the doore of a Nobleman but at every base adultererer and drunken wretch If the drunkard and the adulterer will open the Lord will come in and sanctifie him and take possession of him and rule in him and cleanse him from all his lusts and corruptions Though thy lusts and abominations be many that will not hinder him And as there is admirable comfort against sin so there is admirable comfort against all misery He knowes nothing that knowes not that all the Christian world is in an uprore and that the enemy doth worke abroad But though you doe not see these you may see the world opposing and the Divell temptting and the wicked casting reproach upon all hands and your hearts begin to bee daunted and say I would professe Religion but my father would be discontented and shame and disgrace will come in amaine and misery and persecution will come notwithstanding the Lord Iesus Christ is comming into those soules of â—ours For if you bee soundly humbled Christ comes suddenly and then come what can come in all troubles Christ will comfort you and in all weaknesses Christ will strengthen you yea he will let the spirit of glory rest upon you here and glorifie you with himselfe for ever hereafter In all wants there is comfort though friends and meanes and all go yet Christ comes and the further thy friends go from thee the nearer will Christ come to thee Eccles 10.19 Let your soules be herein refreshed for ever Mony as the Proverb is answers all A man will change honour and leave his place for money and we use to say Money will doe it If you want honour money will buy it and whatsoever the world can doe money can doe And hereupon it is that the rich man saith I have it by me if he wants a house hee hath money that will buy it You that are humbled goe your wayes and eat your meat with glad hearts the Lord accept of you the God of comfort refresh your hearts yet more against these troublesome times Luke 12.32 It is the speach of Christ to his disciples Feare not little flocke it is your fathers will to give you a kingdome If a broken and humbled soule goe into prison Christ wil goe to all the prisons in Christendome but he will find him out and there he will comfort him If the humbled soule goe into the Indies Christ will bee there with him nay if it were possible for the humbled soule to goe downe to hell the Lord Christ would come into him for wheresoever he is Christ will be Feare not be not dismaied Christ is thine you have not onely a Kingdome but a Christ and he answers to all Christ is the God of all comfort and the father of all mercy thou hast many wants and weaknesses and Christ is the God of all mercies from him comes every good and perfect gift and he will comfort thee Wheresoever thou art Christ will looke in if thou art banished he will wander up and downe all wildernesses but hee will find thee and save thee for ever If we be not comforted it is a shame for us considering what wonderful priviledges we have in Christ Vse 2 Vse 2. The second use is for examination and triall They are of a
thou the hope of Israel why dost thou depart In Gen. 19.2 when the two Angels came to Lot in Sodome the one was Christ Lot compelled them to go in Christ is not now unwilling but hee knockes and calls and saith Open to me my love my dove my undefiled he entreats the loose person to forsake his base practises and the covetous person to leave his oppression and to receive mercy but you suffer Christ to lye in the street and despise that word of his and will bee at your owne carving This especially falls foule upon two sorts of persons The first sort is all carnal profane opposers of the Lord Iesus The carnall Gospeller is content that Christ should undertake for him and bee his Protectort to defend him from the plague of sin but he is not content that Christ should rule in him He doth as the Inne-keeeper that receives a guest into his house to make an advantage of him for as the Inne-keeper will come to his guest and pretend great matters to him not because he would have his guest to possesse him but because hee would bee possessor of his money so the carnall Gospeller would have Christ for his owne turne hee would dispose of Christ and mercy for his owne purpose and hence come all those speeches God is mercifull and Hath the Lord Christ created men to damne them Oh but mercy is sweet and pardon is good This is thus much you would have Christ to pardon sinne that you might commit it with lesse feare and more freedome If you did see no Saviour but that you must needs be damned for it you would startle at it But you would have Christ to stand by you that you might sinne the more freely Oh be not deceived doe you thinke that Christ will come to be an underling to your lusts and a drudge to your base distempers whose condemnation is iust saith the Apostle No you are deceived you shall not have Christ a servant to carry your lusts and pleasures to heaven with you The truth is the Lord Iesus will never bring comfort nor consolation to thee that wilt not bee possessed of him either haue both or neither chuse whether you will The second sort to be reproved are a company of slie hypocrites that would part stakes with Christ and part houses with him they could bee content that hee should have some roome in the house but they will dispose of all themselues as a man that lets some roomes in his house Simile upon this condition that he may have them when he lists You willl pray against sinne provided that now and then Christ will give you leaue to practise it and you will cry out against it provided that you may have a privy seale or some secret licence for it and you will professe bitterly against base courses so you may haue some backe doore and inward lust still The Lord Iesus doth not share with any man can he have a part and the Divell a part nay hee will have either all or none It was the tricke of an adulterous heart for when there was contention for the children the harlot said 1 King 3.26 Let it be neither thine nor mine but divide it Nay saith the mother let her have all Shee was the harlot that would have the child devided So it is with an adulterous and dissembling heart that saith Let Christ have a part and the world a part let lusts and pompe have a part and Christ a part this is dissimulation with GOD and shall receive condemnation there must bee no sharing If your hearts be guilty of this I charge you in the name of the Lord Iesus consider it the Lord never came into your soules you must resigne all to him and then he will saue all he will pardon all sin and give power against it What a fearfull thing were it if the Lord should deale with you as you deale with him Suppose thou couldst be halfe damned wouldst thou be content to have thy heart go to hell and thine eye to heaven or thy body to hell and thy soule to heaven therefore that thy body and soule may both be saved resigne up up all into the hands of thy Saviour and let him dispose of all here in the kingdome of grace and then he will take all to himselfe in glory for ever Vse 2. If the Lord Iesus be the possessor of all the house then let every one haue his owne Give all to Christ whose it is doe not with draw from Christ that which is his Whose image and superscription hath the soule Christ Iesus hath the protection of it therefore let him have all Let thine eye see his works and wonder and admire at them let thy minde know Iesus Christ whom to know is eternal life but do not withdraw any thing from the true owner therof that hath purchased it full deare 1 Cor. 5.15 Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot God forbid Thine eye and thy tongue and thy hand and thy heart they are all Christs members he hath bought all with his blood and thou hast nothing to do with that which Christ hath bought therefore whensoever thy corruptions stirre and Satan tempts and begges for the use of thy mind or heart make answer and say Shall I take that heart that is Christs and thinke basely God forbid Shall I take the hand of Christ and worke wickednesse with it The holy Apostle is marvellous peremptory in this case as 1 Cor. 6.19 Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods and hee hath bought you with a price your bodies and soules are the Lords hee undertakes for both therefore glorifie God in both If a man did come to your house and take the meat and drinke that you have provided and rob you of your money you would take it very hardly and say It is my owne So you are not your owne Therefore if the Divell or the world would prevaile with you and enter into the use of your heart or minde tell him they are not thy owne they are the Lords IESVS CHRIST hath come into thy heart and minde in mercy and therefore say it is the Lords let him doe what hee will with it â‚ SPIRITVALL LOVE AND IOY Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is love ioy goodnes faith c. THE sure mercies of David which faith beleeveth love embraceth And who so getteth this field and treasure must needs go away rejoycing in so good a bargain All this and all other graces and comforts worketh one and the same Spirit directing the heart to God uniting it unto Christ and thereby comforting it abundantly All is his fruit in us At this time of loue and joy The point of Doctrine is this Love and joy by the spirit wrought in a broken heart for embracing mercy as it deserves Doct. The Spirit of the Father kindles in the soule of
and come to the Court and importune him for pardon it is likely that he may be pardoned nay it shall be so Marry saith he that I will with all my heart and so hee sets forward and comes to the Court his desire carries him thither Thus it is I say with a poore sinner hee is brought home to the Court and about the Court hee attends and askes for every man that comes forth Did you not heare the King speake of me and What doe you thinke of my case At last some of the bed-chamber say to him The King heareth that you are mightily humbled and earnestly desire his favour you shall heare more from him ere long At last the King himselfe lookes out at a window and saith Is this the Traytor Yes this is he that hath beene humbled and lyes at your mercy Then the King calls out and saith His pardon is drawing and it is comming by and by and so the King smiles on him Oh then his heart leapes in his breast and hee saith The Lord preserve your Grace I thinke there was never such a mercifull Prince knowne in the world This is the love and delight that is stirred up Now when the Pardon is sealed and granted then you shall see the worke of faith A poore humbled sinner is this malefactor that hath committed high Treason against the God of heaven for every sinner hath rebelled against the God of grace The stubborne rebellious heart hath stood out against the Lord God which is high Treason though you little thinke it when you goe on wilfully and say This man shall not rule over me Well bee humbled now in time while you have mercy offered for if you bee not humbled the Lord shall send a â—aylor to take and throw you downe to Hell and therefore you had better heare of it now than hereafter when there is no remedie Perhaps the Lord now pursueth a man with his heavie indignation and le ts flye at him and sets conscience on worke to follow him and to dogge him saying This is thy sinne and hell is thy portion to hell thou must Now the soule being beset with Gods wrath in conclusion seeth hee cannot escape the Lords hands and how to purchase mercy he knowes not nor is it possible otherwise for him to escape and yet hee hath nothing to purchase mercy withall therefore hee is content to lye downe before God saying I confesse I have sinned Oh Lord bee thou glorified though I be damned for ever my sinnes are so many and so vile I cannot almost desire mercy but if the Lord will who can let him Now when the heart is thus humbled then there comes a noise a great way off in the Ministery of the Gospell and that saith Thy sinnes are all pardonable so he lookes up and hope saith Lord it may bee a damned creature may bee recovered a dead dogge may be restored to life and a Traytor may be pardoned receiued Then the Lord sends another comfortable message namely That if thou canst but see a need of mercy and looke out and waite for him thou shalt be pardoned hereupon the penitent goes to the Court gate that is hee comes mourning to the Word and saith Oh yee faithfull Ministers of God you are of the bed-chamber and you know Gods minde I pray what doth God intend towards me Hereupon we that are the Ministers of God we tell him your case is right and happely if you attend upon God you may heare more of him hereafter for the Lord heares that you lye at the Court gate and that you are exceedingly humbled and thus farre desire goes At last the Lord Iesus Christ shewes and presents himselfe to the sinner and speakes with him in the Ministery of the Word and saith That fainting weary loaden heart of thine shall bee refreshed and then giveth him a looke of mercy so that his heart danceth within him Still you must understand that the Lord alwayes speaketh by the Ministery of the Word and therefore looke for no strange dreames and visions while the Lord saith Thou art hee that longs for my salvation goe thy way I have heard thy prayers thy pardon is granted and drawne it shall be delivered to thee afterward Now when a poore sinner findes some chearing of heart he may say The Lord spake to me it s done in heaven mercie is comming towards mee the pardon is now granted and is in drawing and shall be delivered to me in due time now againe his heart leapeth within him and hee saith Blesse the Lord O my soule who ever heard of such mercy what my sinnes be pardoned and is the pardon granted and drawne if I never heare more of it and if I goe downe to hell it is enough that God hath once smiled upon mee in his love it is enough though I have the paines of hell upon me for ever for it Esa 40.12 Comfort yee comfort yee my people saith your God Speake yee comfortably to Ierusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned So the Lord saith to poore sinners after they have waited long enough and God hath seene their desires to be sound the Lord I say saith Tell that poore man from heaven and from the Lord Christ and under the hand of the Spirit that his sinnes are pardoned and he shall bee received to mercy Esa 66.1 2 3. The Lord lookes to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit and trembles at his word The poore creature comes and trembles at every truth and when hee heares of mercy hee saith Oh that is sweet mercy indeed but it is not mine and he shakes in the consideration of mercy that he should heare of it and not receive it The Lord lookes to him that is he casts a sweet looke upon him and lets in some sweet intimation of mercy and saith to the poore creature I have an eye to thee and my love is unto thee in the Lord Iesus Christ and with that his heart leapes in his bosome Of this kind I take that to be Ier. 31.18 19 20. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning and lamenting himselfe thus there is a heart humbled broken and thirsting thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullocke unaccustomed to the yoke turne thou me and I shall bee turned thou art the Lord my God Surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did beare the reproach of my youth Here you see Ephraim bemoaning himselfe as if hee had said I am the man that have enjoyed all the meanes in abundant plenty and yet never profited the Lord hath corrected mee and I was not humbled Oh turne thou me then O Lord for there is no abilitie in mee Now I see the sinnes that before I could not see and the basenesse of my evill courses and I am even
thing so there must be a beam of Gods love to fall upon the soule before it can love God againe as in Hosea 11.4 I drew them with the cords of a man even with the bands of love God lets in the cords of love into the soule and that drawes love againe to God But above all that place Cant. 2.4 marke the manner how Gods Spirit expresseth himselfe to the soule He brought me into the banquetting house Cant. 2.4 opened and his banner over me was love stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of love And so when the banner of Christs love is spread over the soule the soule comes to be sicke in love to Christ As it is in war when the Commander displayes the banner these three things are signified by it First that there is the presence of the Commander Secondly the displaying of the banner commands all to come to it Thirdly while it is held out all keepe to it Now see the excellencie of the Spirit of God in the Scripture The Church was then in some trouble but the Lord Christ brings the Spouse into his chamber nay into the wine-celler and the banner that was displayed over her was love and first Christ came as a Commander to redeeme her and to save her from all troubles and afflictions Secondly it commands the soule to come to the banner Thirdly when God displayes his love in the beautie of it in any measure then all the company of poore sinners come in unto it and so they love the Lord because the Lord hath loved them This love of God doth beget our loves in three particulars First Gods love to us begets love in us towards him and how there is a sweetnesse and a relish which Gods love le ts into the soule and warmes the heart with you shall see how the fire is kindled by and by As when a man is fainting we give him Aqua-vitae so a fainting sinner is cold at the heart and therefore the lets in a drop of his loving kindnesse and this warmes the heart and the soule is even filled with the sappinesse of the mercy of God as Cant. 1.1 2. where the Spouse saith Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better than wine The poore soule though hee drinke water yet he drinkes better wine than any carnall man under Heaven the kisses of his mouth are the comforts of his Word and Spirit The soule saith Oh let the Lord refresh me with the kisses of his mouth that is of his Word and Spirit let the Lord speak comfort to the heart and this is better than wine For the Lord must doe it before hee can be apprehensive of his love yea let the Lord expresse the comfort of his precious promises in Iesus Christ to me And againe in the second verse Because of the savour of thy garments thy name is as an ointment poured forth therefore the virgins love thee Christ was the oyntment Christs oyntment is his graces and the savour or the communication of this is the expression of his love to the soule the virgins are the soules truly humbled that love the Lord. Secondly as this warmes the heart so the freenesse of the love of God thus let in and thus intimated begins even to kindle this love in the soule that it sparkles againe Rom. 5 8. see how God sets out his love to us Seeing saith the Apostle that while wee were sinners Christ died for us This commends the love of God the Lord sends to poore miserable sinfull broken-hearted sinners and saith Commend my mercie to such a one and tell him that though hee hath beene an enemy to me yet I am a friend to him and though hee have beene rebellious against me yet I am a God and a Father to him and let him not thinke that because he hath offended me therefore hee shall not receive mercie from me but here is my love and it is worth the commendation Christ died for poore sinners when they were enemies therefore if God so loved us as to dye for us when wee were sinners and enemies how ought we then to love one another But much more how ought wee to love the Lord What was it that kindled that frozen and vile and stubborne and wicked heart of wretched Saul who had a heart as hard as ice 1 Sam. 24.19 when David had him upon the hippe and might have slaine him but would not even this wrought upon the heart of Saul and kindled a fire of affections of love towards him and made him say Come againe my son David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evill And thou hast shewed mee this day how that thou hast dealt well with mee forasmuch as when the Lord hath delivered me into thine hand thou killedst me not For who ever slew not his enemie when he found him at such an advantage wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that which thou hast done unto mee this day Sauls heart is all on fire with this kindnesse So when the poore sinner considers this with himselfe and saith Is the Lord so mercifull to mee who ever thus found his enemie and slew him not I that loved my sins and continued in them had it not beene just that I should have perished in them But will the Lord not only not slay his enemie but give his Sonne for mee Oh let my soule for ever rejoyce in this unconceivable goodnesse of God! Bee thy heart neuer so hard if it have but the sense of this it cannot but stirre thee to humiliation Lastly the greatnesse of the freenesse of this mercie of God being setled upon the heart enflames it This sweetnesse warmes the heart this freenesse kindles the fire and when the greatnesse of the sweetnesse comes to be valued this sets the heart all upon a fire In Eph. 3.17 18. the Apostle desires that Christ might dwell in their hearts and that they might be rooted in love but how shall we come to this that we may bee able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of God in Christ As if the Apostle had said If I once come to see the unmeasurablenesse of Gods mercy this will blow up the soule and enflame the heart with admirable love againe to the Lord and make the soule say I that have done all that I could against the good God it breakes my heart to thinke it there was no name under Heaven that I did more blaspheme and teare in peeces more than this I have despised no command so much as the command of God and of Christ and I have grieved no spirit so much as the good Spirit of the Lord against those sweet motions that God hath let into my soule and struggled with me to plucke me from my company and to contend with me
Most in the Church love not Christ First most that are in the world yea that live in the bosome of the Church have not their hearts carried in love to God but in a hatred and desperate opposition to the Lord Jesus as in Joh. 1.3 4. In him was life and the life was the light of the world The Lord Jesus was the life and light of the promise and that promise of life was a way to lead men on to eternall happinesse this light shineth to the dark world but they comprehend it not as it is in vers 11. Hee came unto his owne and his owne received him not His owne by reason of their priviledges and the badge of the ordinances his owne because they by profession took his name upon them as the Churches of the Gentiles are Gods owne by the outward not the inward covenant of Sanctification or in the aime of Election We take up the profession of his Gospel and yet we will not take up the Lord Jesus Christ that he may make us Christians His owne received him not those that were baptized and had received the Sacrament The Lord Jesus comes and knockes at each mans doore but few entertaine him Nay I would not outspeake the truth for they are the words of sobriety and it grieveth me to speake it The most men upon earth hate Christ more than sinne I had almost said it and yet I had almost thought it unfit to be spoken though they are the words of our Saviour Wicked men hate the Lord Jesus more than either sinne or the Divel himselfe Good Lord be mercifull to us what a misery is this that ever any man should be created by him and receive mercy from him and yet love the Divel and sinne more than him But some will say as Hazael did to the Prophet 2 King 8.12 Doe you thinke we are such dogges that having received such mercy from the Lord Jesus we should doe so Yes for so saith Elisha to him I know the evill that thou wilt doe to the children of Israel their strong holds wilt thou set on fire and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword and wilt dash their children and rip up their women with child So I say and the Spirit knowes it is so in the hearts of most men this day You know it not you thinke it not but your hearts are more vile than you can imagine Wee know the greatest evill of all is sinne for the Divell himselfe is not to be loathed but for sinne and for it onely This is the condemnation saith our Saviour in John 3.19 that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather than light because their deeds were evill That men loved darknesse more than light and more than Christ nay more than mercy and grace that was tendered the case is cleare it was so and is so will be so I say it is most certaine that they love their lusts and corruptions more then Christ and the temptations and delusions of Satan more than the good motions of the Spirit Now we have laid the indictment therefore in the second place let us plead it And the severall sorts of them 2. Secondly who are they that hate Christ We must name the men therfore we refer them to three rankes First all open enemies to Christ Secondly all glozing Neuters of the world Thirdly all fawning hypocrites 1. First the open enemies of Christ and they are many such as Saint Steven spake of Act. 7.51 saying Yee stiffe-necked and uncircumcised in heart and cares ye doe alwaies resist the holy Ghost as your fathers did so doe yee They that set their mouthes against heaven and stand in open defiance against the Lord Jesus and the power of his grace may be referred to two heads First those whom our Saviour mentions Mat. 21.34 speaking of the Vineyard Open enemies of Christs two sorts When the time of the fruit drew neere he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it And the husbandmen tooke his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another But last of all he sent unto them his son saying They will reverence my sonne But when the husbandmen saw the sonne they said among themselves This is the heire come let us kill him This is an intimation of the Scribes and Pharisees The Church was the vineyard the servants sent out were the Ministers and Prophets and the Sonne is Christ Jesus now when Christ came they said with one consent and voice This is the heire come let us kill him Doe you thinke that these kind of men are all dead that have such a kind of spirit Surely no there are many Leaders of the Divels camp aswell Ministers as others But if you aske me what entertainement their lusts have I say they have all the welcome that can be occasions come not corruptions within their hearts stirre not and the Divels temptations allure not so soone but these miserable sinfull wretches give all the kinde welcome that can be unto them nay they invite their villanies they provide for them yea and seeke for all occasions that they may sinne the Adulterer loves the twilight and the coveteous man his money their mindes are ever puffing and their affections labouring to contrive all occasions that may give all possible contentment to their vile corruptions and it is no marvell though they have so long continued in their sins seeing they give such good entertainment to them But if you aske mee how they entertaine Christ Enmity against Christ shewed three wayes let me shew it by two things you shall see them up in armes and at deadly hate with him For first they oppose the word of God the ministry of the word is the ministery of the truth it would open the eyes and come home to the conscience and take away their sinnes but they contemne it and marke upon this what an uproare there is they take up armes striving to put out the light that would shew them their sinnes beating backe the truth and labouring that it may not rule their lives They are such as our Saviour speaks of Luk. 19.27 Bring hither those mine enemies that would not have me rule over them and slay them before my face They oppose themselves against that truth that would plucke the cup from the Drunkards mouth and the whore from the Adulterers armes their hearts swell for anger and they scorne to bee under the power thereof Nay they not onely withdraw themselves from yeelding obedience to the holinesse of the word but they will not so much as acknowledge the truth of it which the Divels themselves did Act. 16.16 17. when Paul and Silas were preaching the word of truth the Divels sayd These men are the servants of the most high God which shew unto us the way of salvation The Divels could doe all this yet these men will neither be informed
can be transplanted from the old Olive into the true Olive God must first cut us off from our old sinnes by contrition and secondly pare us and fit us by humiliation and then wee are fit to be ingrafted into Christ Where these two graces are wrought the soule cannot be void of faith and as surely as God is in heaven hee will undoubtedly poure faith into the soule So the substance is this If by this brokennesse of heart and this contrition and humiliation of spirit the two maine barres and lets of faith are removed then it is necessary that God worke this in the soule But the first part is cleered and marvellous plaine and therefore the other cannot be denied If you will be in your sinnes and in yoâ—rselves you cannot be in Christ you cannot bee in your selves and in Christ too This is enough for the first argument and it is the life of the point 2. This brokennesse of heart is marvellous necessary Reas 2 because by this meanes faith is preserved For when the heart is truly broken there followes this thing The soule prizeth faith and Christ and is thankfull for the least mercy God giveth Hee that stands in need will be thankfull for any mercy or favour as in Psal 35.10 All my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee Me thinkes I see David in his distresse besieged with many miseries and when the Lord had eased him and freed him see how hee reasons with himselfe O Lord the heart that thou hast healed this broken spirit that thou hast bound up nay all these bones which were once shattered all to pieces thou hast set them againe and they shall say Lord who is like unto thee As if hee had said Here is mercy indeed for mine heart hath found it and mine eye hath seene it and mine hands and all my bones can say Lord who is like unto thee Before he was burthened with his sins and now he prizeth mercy wonderfully One dramme of faith is worth a hundred thousand worlds to a weary burthened soule As it was with the Iewes they had a yeare of Iubilee wherein every servant was set free and every bondman and every debtour set at libertie this is nothing else but the yeare of the Gospell The acceptable yeare of the Lord Esa 91 2. and the glad tydings of Salvation that is offered to all in the same The Master or hee that lent the money cared not for this yerre but the servant and the borrowers they only longed for that yeare and for that day that they might be delivered So it is here with a poore soule he that never felt the burthen nor the bondage of sinne cares not for the glad tydings of the Gospell but the poore oppressed creature that hath beene in the house of bondage by Satan tempting and his owne sinfull heart plaguing him when the day of salvation is offered he receives it thankfully And as the soule prizeth grace so it will hardly part with it when it hath it because it was got with so much difficulty We use to say Lightly come lightly goe but when the soule hath gotten faith with so much difficulty and had many troubles of soule before ever God gave an assured evidence of his love and favour hee will not suffer sinne or Satan to plucke it away Oh it cost him many a heavie heart and many a troublesome day before he got a little mercy and shall hee now part with it for a little pleasure or profit that he will never doe Then it is very reasonable that God should wound a man and breake his heart to make him taste his meat and to relish mercy Thus you see the heart must bee broken and humbled before the Lord Christ will come to dwell therein Now what 's the Use Vse 1 The first Use is for reproofe Of reproofe to them that would have comfort without brokennesse of heart and it checks the opinion and practice of two sorts of people If this be Gods way that before he will come into the soule he must have the heart fitted and prepared the house must bee ayred then I say it confutes the conceits of a company of carnall persons that bee in the world 1. The meere civill Professour that would sleepe in a whole skinne hee could be content to have heaven and mercy and hee hopeth he is in the right way but this melting of the soule and this bruising of the heart is more than God requireth or more than God looketh for onely he hath invented a new way and a shorter cut to heaven than ever God revealed Hee thinkes some melancholy man only may bee troubled and perplexed but otherwise it is not that which God requireth at the hands of men And therefore after a sleepie kind of profession without any life or power or soundnesse he goes on Iob 21.13 They spend their dayes in ease saith the Text and in a moment goe downe to hell There are a world of poore sinners that are thus deluded and because God hath given them some restraining grace to keepe them within compasse therefore they goe on in a kind of chearfull contentednesse and thinke that all is well And when they come to their sicke-beds In sicknesse false comfort fayleth they have nothing to say for themselves nay we cannot force comfort upon them for then they flie out and say it is not for them And if wee tell them of what they have done and that they have made a faire profession and have prayed and done many duties and beene well accounted of and so forth see what they answer It is true I have done this or that but this is onely the outside but oh this heart of mine was never broken truely onely I reformed my selfe outwardly and made a profession indeed but the bottome was never truly laid As it is in sailing so it is in living Though a man have a faire calme day and see the Sunne yet this will not bring him to the haven he must have a wind to drive the ship So it is with many a sinfull creature in the world hee puts forth to Sea and he will needes goe to heaven and taketh a sweet kinde of sleepie lazie course and will reforme himselfe outwardly but his heart was never broken nor humbled hee will never be landed before hee was never tossed Tossed hee must bee and that with some violence too but this man that was never troubled shall never bee comforted I have observed it as it was in the materiall Temple which Solomon built all the stones were hewed and polished before they were put in the building so here Christ is the Temple and every true Christian is a stone for it as the Apostle Peter saith 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye also as liuely stones be made a spiritual house Will the stones come close together in any building except first they be hewed and fitted or wil the heart ever come to close with God
naughty spirit who endure not broken spirits Doth Christ come suddenly into the heart truely humbled and prepared Let us trie then and take a taste of the spirits of such men that are not able to beare nor endure the presence of poore broken hearted sinners If the servant will not lie for the masters advantage and if the child leaue his base courses and will not give a carnall father content according to his mind marke how their spirits rise against such men their hearts rise with marvellous desperate indignation against such men they cannot thinke of them with any quiet they cannot brook the sight of them if it be a servant never so loose and vile hee is regarded but the humble child is trampled upon and they say to him You had best goe to your holy brethren and to the company of such and such precise ones This is the undoubted argument of a gracelesse spirit either Christ erres or else thou art out of the way either Christ is to be blamed for his practice or thou Doth he come to such as are humbled and art thou weary of them Thou art a gracelesse soule and an enemy to the Lord of life When the people of Israel began to speake of going into the wildernesse to sacrifice to the Lord their God they did stinke and were abominable in the eyes of Pharaoh and the Egyptians indeed the Egyptians did alwayes dislike them Exod. 5.21 but now they were an abomination to them This was nothing else but a type Pharaoh is the Devill and this Egyptian servitude is our spirituall bondage under sinne How doth thy heart stand towards these poore soules Art thou carried with indignation against them It is an argument of a heart void of grace and that thou art an Egyptian to this day therefore the Lord will requite thee in thy owne kind and that thou art now weary of their society and art not able to live with them and art loath to be seene amongst them and darest not shew thy selfe to come within the compasse of a broken heart lest thy drunkken companions revile thee for the same and say art turned a Puritan now will you bee of their company and then thou swearest thou knowest them not This is a shrewd signe thou shalt never enioy the company of those poore Saints in glory Vse 3 The third use is a ground of instruction and we hence learne how to make choice of our companions Chuse the broken-hearted for companions Learne of our Saviour the broken hearted sinners are the best for society in the world and therefore reioyce thou in their company Let us not thinke much to come to such as Christ comes to let us not thinke that the basenesse of their persons or the meannesse of their estates will be any cause for us why we should discard or disdaine their company Be sure that thy soule bee farre from this carnall distemper Happily thy carnall friend will say Thou wilt disgrace thy person to keepe company with such as those are Make answer for thy selfe and against their face and say They are my betters yea the Lord Iesus Christ blessed for ever keeps company with them and shall not I doe it too The Lord Iesus desires no better company and shall I goe any further If he bee a sound broken hearted sinner it s no matter what his condition be As the Apostle Saint Iohn saith That you also may have fellowship with us 1 Iohn 1.3 Why may some say what great matter is that The Apostle saith our fellowship is no small matter for it is with God the Father and with Iesus Christ There is never a poore soule though hee goe barely and fare meanely but if his heart bee truely humbled his fellowship is with Iesus Christ which is no little matter Zech. 8.23 when the Lord had honoured the Iewes there came many citizens to them and took hold of the skirt of a Iew and said We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you So doe thou Dost thou see a broken hearted man lay hold on his skirts dwell in that house if thou canst and say I will liue with thee for ever God is with thee nay the Lord is in thee yea the company of an humbled soule is even a corner of heaven here upon earth It is so in truth and therefore let it be so in your judgements What is it to be in heaven Wee shall be ever with the Lord this is to be in heaven 1 Thes 4.17 Is this to be in heaven Then wheresoever thou art thou art with Christ thou art in heaven Whensoever thou art in the company of a broken hearted sinner thou art with Christ and therefore in heaven and whensoever thou commest into their company Christ Iesus will give thee the meeting Your fashionmungers count it a matter of credit to have Court fashions this is the Court fashion and the Court is where Christ our Lord and King is Christ dwels in such a house and in such a heart and therefore as thou dost hope to be with Christ for ever rejoyce to be with such persons this is the onely way that a man must take to chuse his company Doe good to all neighbours and all Christians and hope well of all but reioyce especially in those whose hearts are truely broken in the sight and presence of the Lord. Vse 4 4. It is a ground of thankfulnesse to all that are truely humbled before God Be thankfull for this great respect of Christ to thy poore soule Thus you ought to have your hearts stored with thankfulnesse nay to stand and wonder at the goodnesse and kindnesse of God I would have a man spend all his time this way When the Lord Iesus hath gone through many Countries and passed by many rich and honourable and great ones of the world and that he should looke in at a poore family and knocke at a poore mans doore and that hee should looke in at a poore wretched heart of a wife or of a child this is marvellous mercy If a great person especially a Prince or Monarch did looke into a poore mans house or come to visit a man in prison what would the world say Oh the like was never heard of the King himselfe in his owne person lighted there and staid there and went into the dungeon and conferred with him a great while Men would bee besides themselves if they had this favour from the King In Luke 1.43 when Mary was with child of the Lord and came to visit Elizabeth shee said to Mary Whence is this to mee that the mother of my Lord should come to mee I see no ground nor reason for this there is no worth on my part that I should looke for such favour Now if shee were so ravished with the presence of Mary the mother of Christ what maist thou bee then in regard of the presence of Christ himselfe that is come to lodge in thy
his distempers and wil not looke to a Saviour the Son of righteousnesse is come and shines and hee perceiues it not And as Phillip said Iohn 14.8 Shew us the Father and it sufficeth Then Iesus saith unto him have I beene so long a-time with you and yet hast thou not knowne me he that hath seene me hath seene the Father he desireth to see the Father and yet when hee seeth Christ he seeth the Father So it is with this blessed frame of soule for when a poore soule mourns under the burthen of sin and desires that the word of God may prevaile with it and take all away then he desireth to see Christ this is the Spirit of Christ humbling and breaking and waking it is the Spirit of Christ that makes you willing to part with sinne Hath Christ beene so long with you and do you not know him The third is because we judge Christs presence by our owne sense and by some extraordinary sweetnesse that the soule imagins should be with him if Christ were there This is the nature of every poore creature he sets up a kind of imagination in his owne head and thinkes if Christ were come once there would bee extraordinary sweetnesse and joy Now setting up this imagination in his owne conceit hee will heare no other evidence if he cannot find this and so mis-judgeth the presence of Christ This was the failing of Gideon for the spirit of Christ came to him and said The Lord is with hee thou mighty man of valour And Gideon said Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us and where be all his miracles that our Fathers told us of saying Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites Iudges 6.12.13 The Angell knew what he said but marke what he replies And hee would not be perswaded that the Lord was there because the enemy had the upper hand he thought God was not present with them because the enemies were vexing them and prevayling against them but the argument was naught for the Angell was certaine of that which he spake Iust so it is for all the world with the poore broken-hearted sinner that now is oppressed with many corruptions Sometimes when the faithfull ministers speake to them and say Goe in peace you broken-hearted sinners the Lord is with you Oh say they if the Lord were with us why doth all this befall us Why are our minds so ignorant and our hearts so vile and sinfull and why are our corruptions so violent Can the Lord be here and so many weaknesses too The Lord hath done great matters for them that he hath done good too and they have rejoyced with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious the Saints of God haue been more then conquerours through him that loved them and have subdued their corruptions but yet we are under the power of our sinfull poysonfull venemous hearts still Can the Lord bee with us and all these abominations not onely presse in upon us but even captive us Yes you mistake the presence of Christ he is as well with you in the opposing of sin as in the over-comming thereof therefore the argument is false The same Apostle that was sometimes more then a conquerour was sometimes led captive as Rom. 7.23 and hee that did walke after the spirit of Christ had the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 This is your imagination that if once the King come to your house and keepe court no Traitour must come there yes Traitours are ever where the court is they follow the court for there they thinke to accomplish their villany And you thinke if the King come to your house he must hug you in his arms and presently promote you to all honors so the soule saith If Christ were with me I should have abilitie to doe my duty and I should have more power against corruption Though wheresoever Christ is there is sight of sin yet this extraordinary sweetnesse doth not follow but because they have not this they thinke they have not Christ It is just with the soule in this case as if some Gentleman should receive the King into his house Simile and yet he would not be perswaded the King was come because he did not presently send for him into the presence chamber and advance him to some great place of honour he is there though he will not presently send for you This was the fault of Thomas Iohn 20.25 hee would haue tied the certainty of Christs resurrection to his owne sense and if hee could not doe this and that he would not beleeue that Christ was risen for so the Text saith the Disciples all saw it and did witnesse it but he confines all to the compasse of his owne sense except he could see in his hands the print of the nailes and thrust his hand into his side he would not beleeue Iust so it is for all the world with the poore humbled broken soule When a man depends upon sense and some stirring apprehension Oh saith he if I could see that evidence of Gods love and had that assurance and if my heart could thus breake for my sin and if I had this ability with all care and cheerefulnesse to all holy duties then I could beleeue that Christ were come this I told you before you will not beleeue that the King is come to your house except he will send for you presently into his privy chamber and make you the favorite of the Kingdome And therefore it befalls the soule of a poore sinner as it did good old Iacob Gen. 45.26 his sonnes told him that his sonne Ioseph was alive but his heart did faint for he could not beleeue it but when hee saw the Chariots that his son had sent for him his spirit revived within him and he said It is enough Ioseph my son is yet alive c. Thus it is with us we have the messengers of God and the testimony of Scripture to confirme the presence of Christ but we will not beleeue except wee be charioted with that power and ability and that feeling and except you have your hearts fully satisfied according to your owne imaginations you will not be perswaded that Christ is come into your hearts The fourth also is on our part Bee it so that either we have abilitie to know a Christ and that we see his comming in and that we doe not mis-judge the presence of Christ and doe not account of his comming by our owne sense yea though wee were in the chamber of presence and have had much experience of Christs presence with us yet there is another hinderance which keeps off the poore soule and that is when our eyes bee hindred that wee cannot see Christ though he were before us when the sting of conscience remaines and the fiercenesse of some temptaion presseth in
upon us or some worldly inconvenience sits hard upon us and that our thoughts are wholly taken up with them and the strength of our imagination is wholly bestowed vpon those how to prevent them so that wee cannot see Christ when a mans mind is thus wholly imployed and all his thoughts thus busied partly about the guilt of sin how his conscience may be quieted and partly about temptation how it may be removed so that hee hath no leisure to see Christ though he knew him well if he were but in the calmnesse of his heart It befalls a poor soule in this case as it did the Disciples that were going to Emmaus Luke 24.16 for when Christ came and joyned sides with them in their travels and went with them the Text saith that their eyes were holden that they should not know him See the ground of the holding of their eyes Christ presented himselfe in his owne proportion therefore the fault was not in the substance that they did see The fault was not in the eare for that was not hindered in any measure neither did Christ blind their eyes any way for their eyes were thus farre opened as to see the way and walke cheerfully in it What did hold their eyes then leaving extraordinary things to God it was this their thoughts were so busied about the death of Christ and his resurrection that they did not know Christ though he were with them and therefore Christ asked them this question Luke 24.17 c. What maner of communication is this that you have one to another and are thus sad And the one of them said to him Art thou only a stranger in Ierusalem and hast not knowne the things which are come to passe there in these daies And hee said unto them What things And they sayd unto him Concerning Iesus of Nazereth which was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people We trusted that it had been hee which should have redeemed Israel and beside all this to day is the third day since these things were done and whether hee be risen againe we know not Wee find this by common experience a man that hath his mind possessed with some sad meditation though his familiar friend be neere him yet he discernes him not so the Disciples saw not a Saviour though he were in their presence therefore in the 32. verse when Christ had opened the Scripture and revealed himselfe to them see what they said Did not our hearts burne within us when hee talked with us As if they should say Wee had pregnant testimonie enough of the divine presence but we had no eyes to see it the burning of our hearts was argument enough that it was Christ that spake to us So when the soule of a poore broken-hearted sinner is taken up partly with the hurry of imaginations partly with the violence of some temptation and partly in regard of some worldly miserie that falls upon it it is so taken up with it that it cannot see the Lord Iesus Christ though hee hath sensible experience of Christ and the heart burnes in love to Christ This is the reason why many a poore soule when Sathan lets flie at him and some heavy temptation presseth in upon him reveale never so many comfortable promises yet by reason thereof we find it by experience that alwayes those distressed spirits forget whatsoever is spoken all their mind and talk is upon the evill and the violence of the temptation and they attend not to the comfort and to the promises revealed to them their eyes are held in this manner that though they are neere to Christ and even in the privie chamber yet they will not take notice of Christ because their hearts are thus held off from the apprehension of his presence In Psalme 73.23 when the Prophet David was fallen into a desperate perplexitie because of the prosperitie of the wicked so that he began to question his owne condition at last hee said Neverthelesse I am continually with thee thou hast holden mee by my right hand He could not see Gods providence over him and his presence with him because his mind was so taken up with the prosperitie of the ungodly he saw all their pompe and their glory and how their eyes stood out with fatnesse and that he was beaten every night by reason hereof I say hee saw not God upholding of him and going with him So gather up the former passages partly through ignorance because wee know not Christ when we see him and partly through carelesnesse because wee attend not to him when he is come and partly because we mis-judge the presence of Christ upon false grounds and partly the eyes are hid by the hurry of some temptation or some wordly extremity that we cannot see Christ though he be with us these be the first hinderances on our parts And as it is thus with us And for three reasons in Christ so there are other hinderances which let us that we cannot apprehend a Christ and they are these First in generall as we deprive our selves of consolation in Christ so the Lord Iesus through our just deserving doth withdraw himselfe from us As in Esay 18.7 I will waite upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Iacob and I will looke for him And in Psalme 31.22 I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes neverthelesse thou heardest the voyce of my supplication when I cried unto thee Both these places doe make it cleere that many times though the Lord Iesus is neere the soule yet he apprehends it not Now the Lord Iesus hides himselfe upon three causes especially 1. When the Saints of God fall into some grosse sinne and some scandalous offence or else tamper with some bosome corruption and are at truce with it though it be but some infirmitie then the Lord Iesus justly hides himselfe and withdrawes the apprehension of his presence from such a soule For these are the termes whereupon the Lord hath promised to reveale himselfe to wit so farre as wee labour to walke with him If the Saints of God fall off from him and breake off themselves it is no wonder though the Lord Iesus hide himselfe from them he is with them while they are with him No longer no further doth Christ engage himselfe to bee with us but upon these termes Iohn 14.21 Hee that hath my Commandements keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall bee loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my selfe to him The Lord will manifest himselfe to us upon what grounds If wee will love him and keepe his Commandements But if we breake the condition on our parts and falsifie that wee have promised to doe no wonder though the Lord withdraw himselfe from us You see it is the tenour upon which he promiseth his presence Now if the Saints of God fall scandalously and be
overtaken with some grosse sin this builds up the partition wall that Christ cannot be discerned as it was with David Psal 51.10 where hee saith Create in mee a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me hee was even to begin the world new againe And it is Gods wise dealing with his owne servants for God will not brooke sinne in his owne servants and they must know if they will have him to dwell in them they must not give way to any base sinne if they doe hee will withdraw himselfe from them not that God forsakes finally whom hee loved once but hee will take away the sense and apprehension of his presence that though he is there yet the soule shall not see it And also when they give way to some secret distemper and are at truce with some infirmitie and they will be parlying with it and meddle too much with it it is just with the Lord and ordinary to withdraw the presence of his grace from such a mans soule If a Christian be overtaken somewhat more than ordinary with a peevish spirit or if he be something too eager for the world so that hee grow cold in holy duties and is in danger to lie and dissemble for his gaine it is just with God that this man should scramble for his comfort and welter up and downe without any evidence of Gods love And also though a Christian commit not sinne outwardly yet if hee give leave to any sinne and beat truce with it though they seeme to hate it and yet let their meditations runne upon it and parley with some secret imagination c. it is just with God to hide himselfe from them And others there are that live with men and see their evils and yet will not reprove them I have knowne many of those to have gone out all their dayes without any comfort And it is no marvell though they cannot see Christ because they themselves build up the partition-wall betweene Christ and them the Lord Iesus Christ is not able to brooke it that hee is thus sleighted and neglected and that any sinfull base distemper should bee attended to to keepe company with it rather than with Christ Christ Iesus distastes it infinitely and therefore withdrawes the apprehension of his presence from such a person The second cause why the Lord hides himselfe is when the faithfull servants of God begin to grow carelesse and luskish to holy duties and because God hath made knowne his good will to them therefore they begin to grow carelesse and secure When the Lord seeth this that they doe abuse his favour so that now they begin to grow secure and heartlesse and to slag and to grow sluggish it is just with the Lord to eâ—strange himselfe from that soule and it is just that that soule should find himselfe lost that hee may quicken up himselfe When Christians grow cold in prayer and carelesse in holy duties the Lord taketh away the light of his favour and hee leaves those sluggish hearts to themselves nay God is forced even against his will and mind even for the good of those Christians to take away the comfort of his presence so that now they begin to thinke they never had grace If the Lord did not thus they would never mend their pace nor quicken up themselves to any holy duties And this is the reason why many lie downe in sorrow and thinke they never had any grace at all the Lord seeth it and perceives it that unlesse he should bring them to this extreme hazzard they would never be drawne out from that desperate securitie but by this meanes in the end God makes them find their hearts and tongues againe and makes them consider from whence they are fallen Oh saith the Lord mercy is as good when you have it as when you want it the time was when you filled heaven and earth with your prayers and you could pray earnestly and you could give the Lord no rest you prized opportunities and now you have many opportunities and slight them It is just with God when we begin to be thus tongue-tied and to be secure and to thinke all is wel now the Lord hath humbled our soules and pardoned our sinnes and shewed us his favour for a time to leave those soules of yours though he save you in the end to send you a hell upon earth that so you may strive to receive that mercy and comfort which formerly you had and now have sleighted Thus hee dealt with the Church in Cant. 5.2 3. when Christ knocked at the doore and said Open to mee my sister my love my dove my undefiled for my head is filled with dew and my lockes with the drops of the night she made answer in this manner I have put off my coat how shall I put it on I have washed my feet how shall I defile them Now when Christ withdrew himselfe then shee found her feet againe and followed Christ with much labour from place to place and could not be content till she had found him And so it was with the holy Prophet Psal 30.6 I said in my prosperitie I shal never be removed but when he saw God going away from him see how he bestirres himselfe 2 Sam. 22.7 Oh saith hee I cried to thee O Lord in the time of my trouble Then he could pray and heare againe and recount Gods former goodnesse and performe his former duties Simile I have seene the father deale so with the child when the father is going on in his journey if the child will not go on but stands gaping upon vanitie and when the father calls he comes not the onely way is this the father steps aside behind a bush and then the child runnes and cries and if he gets his father againe hee forsakes all his trifles and walkes on faster and more cheerefully with his father than ever So when the Lord Iesus Christ sometimes makes knowne himselfe to us and would carry us on in a Christian course cheerefully we are playing with trifles and grow carelesse and cold and worldly and remisse in prayer and dead-hearted the onely way to quicken us up is to hide himselfe and to make us give our selves for lost and then they that could scarcely pray once a weeke now will pray three or foure times aday Thirdly and lastly the Lord doth hide himselfe in his infinite wisedome and fatherly care by way of prevention that his servants and children might not fall into some evill Hee will not bestow the sense and sweetnesse of his favour upon them lest they should bee proud thereof and pranke up themselves in regard of their priviledges and bee carried with contempt of the weaknesse of their fellow brethren nay if they had that which they desired there were no living with them therefore the Lord in his care and goodnesse is faine to hold them to hard-meat and to keepe them to a spare diet Hee seeth it
a sinner truly humbled and inlightned love and joy to entertaine and rejoyce in the riches of his mercy so as beseemes the worth of it There are three passages considerable that wee may know the meaning of this Doctrine First this love and joy is no where to be found nor seene but onely in a heart humbled and inlightned For unlesse the heart be humbled it seeth no need of this grace and mercy and therefore despiseth it and is rather carried with a hatred against that grace and mercy that would purge him and troubled with a kind of wearinesse of the power of that grace that would reforme his life and conversation And though hee were humbled yet if he were not enlightned to see this mercy and goodnesse of God he cannot delight in it I know there is wilde love and joy enough in the world as there is wilde Thyme and other herbes but wee would have garden-love and garden-joy of Gods owne planting for such hypocriticall love and joy we will not meddle with here Secondly this love and joy is kindled by the Spirit of the Father for the Father learnes us the lecture and as I told you before of the mind inlightned kindles this holy fire which is rightly compared to the fire of the Sanctuary as in Lev. 9.24 There came a fire from before the Lord and consumed upon the Altar the burnt offering even those sparkes of the pillar of fire which did typifie Christ to them But whether this bee so or no I will not now dispute for as the Lord provided the sacrifice so the Lord caused the fire to come downe from heaven and hence it was that when Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire the Lord consumed them Lev. 10.1 2. so it is in this holy fire of love and joy wee may strike and endevour but our steele and our flint will not worke this indevour nor strike this fire of love and joy It is Iesus Christ from whence all spirituall sparkes of grace doe come and amongst the rest these of love and joy all other love and joy that is not wrought by the Spirit of the Father must be casheered and abandoned it cannot reach to God nor be pleasing unto him It is that which the Apostle inferres in the generall Rom. 8.8 They that are in the flesh cannot please God but it must be joy of the spirit which must please him Now though the soule truely humbled and broken that heretofore hath felt the weight and burden of his sinnes and is now separated from them so that hee dares not meddle with them hee dares as well take a Beare by the tooth and fall quicke into hell as take up those courses againe yet hee hath not power of himselfe to bee enlarged in any love to entertaine Christ or spiritually to joy in him further than the power of the Lord Iesus in the promise shall inable him thereto Suffer me to inlarge my selfe thus The soule is like an empty vessell it stands not at the dispose of sinne or it selfe but it is at the Lords disposition if the Lord will kindle any love and joy so it is for of himselfe hee cannot doe it As it is with some Gentleman in the Countrey Simile he will be content to let the King have the use of his house for a while but he is not able to provide necessaries for him because hee is a meane man therefore the King sends his provision before and then comes himselfe Iust so it is here with a poore humble broken-hearted sinner the poore soule is marvellous well content that the Lord should come and dwell in him and dispose of him but hee is not able to give him any entertainment he hath not any heat of holy affections or love or desire to welcome the Lord as becomes so great a Majestie therefore the Lord is faine to infuse love and joy that by them he may bee welcommed into the soule of the humbled sinner Now when the soule is come to this degree of sanctification then it can worke by it selfe Or thus Simile It is with a broken-hearted sinner as with a burning glasse take such a glasse it will burne any thing by the heat of the Sunne yet it hath no heat in it selfe but receives it from the Sun-beames by vertue whereof it burnes whatsoever is before it Iust so it is with a broken-hearted sinner But all stubborne sinners are like water that will not burne at all I will goe no further than the worke of preparation It is neither sinne nor selfe shall have power over mee sinne shall not and selfe cannot rule me therefore I will wait till the Sunne of righteousnesse will shine forth from heaven from the beavtie of his sanctuary and having received the beames of Gods love and favour effectually upon my soule and being warmed by the Sunne of righteousnesse I shall be able to returne the heat of love to God againe Thus the Spirit of the Father kindles love and joy in a heart humbled and inlightned Thirdly the Doctrine saith that loue and joy are kindled that they may entertaine and rejoyce in the riches of Gods mercy in the worth of it This last clause is added to discover the distinct nature of this love and joy from all the fained love and joy that all carnall and hypocriticall wretches pretend to have to Iesus Christ there is a kind of loving and joying in the hearts of hypocrites as afterward you shall heare So sayes Iudas Haile Master so the Pharisees and the people cut downe branches of the trees to welcome Christ and crid Hosanna Blessed is hee that commeth in the name of the Lord. And in Matth. 8.19 A certaine Scribe came and said unto him Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest And so the stony ground Matth. 13.20 did heare the Word with joy and so love and joy goe together But it is not that kind of love which came downe from Heaven nor that which will ever carrie your selves as beseeming the mercie of God in Christ for hee that said Haile Master betrayed his Master with a kisse and Christ might have said Is this thy love and joy wherewith thou welcommest me And the Scribes and Pharisees follow Christ a while and then forsake him and so they that before cried Hosanna Blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord within a while after they cry Crucifie crucifie him and the stony ground received the Word with joy and a while after came to nothing This is wild-fire and foolish fire as the Philosopher saith it is bred and hammered out by our owne ends and aimes but they doe not carrie themselves beseeming the riches of Gods free grace in Iesus Christ that is thus An heart thus kindled bestowes the best love and joy upon the Lord Iesus Christ because hee is the best good This is the meaning of that phrase so often intimated Whosoever loveth father or mother more than mee is
that comes he cares not he loves gaine in and aboue all So a good heart resignes up all to a Christ and whatsoever is pleasing to a Christ he will doe it and whatsoever comes from a Christ is welcome but if any man be an enemy against his Majestie and would doe any violence against him he cannot endure it But the hypocrite receives Christ as the Inne-keeper doth his guest if the world come it shall be served and if honour come it is welcome if he may have gain from them they are all welcome and therefore all is welcome because hee may haue gaine by all and so he loves himselfe in all and not Christ 3. Triall It avoydes matter of griefe and displeasure Thirdly the soule that thus entertaines Christ and studies wholly to give contentment to him he is marvellous warie and watchfull that he may not sad that good spirit of God and grieve him and cause him to goe away as displeased or to take away the sweetnesse of it for the present the penitent feares lest there be any thing that may cause this because he entertains him as a marvellous loving friend and therefore if hee should doe any thing to grieve him it would vexe him to the heart See this Cant. 3.4.5 the Spouse sought long for her beloved and at last brought him home and when she had welcomed him she gives charge to all the house not to stirre nor awaken her love till he please When a Prince comes into the house of a great man what charge is there given to make no noise in the night lest such or such a man bee awakened before his time And were it not a basenesse in us if wee should have our hearts more in love with any thing than the service of Christ The soul also when it hath received the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ gives a peremptory charge to keepe watch and ward and gives a charge to hope and desire and love and joy and the minde and all not to grieve nor molest the good spirit of the Lord let there bee no motion but entertaine it no advice but receive it and doe nothing that may worke the least kinde of dislike In Gen. 19.5 6 7 8. when Lot had received the 2 Angels into his house the cursed Sodomites came about the house to abuse them but see how Lot pleadeth with those base wicked people I pray you my brethren doe not so wickedly Behold now I have two daughters which have not known man them will I bring forth unto you and doe unto them as seemeth good unto you onely to these men doe nothing for therefore are they come under the shadow of my roofe This is kinde and honourable entertainement indeed he would rather suffer himselfe than they so a loving heart will doe with Christ he saith Let my soule bee wounded and my honour lye in the dust that Gods name may be honoured let persecution and shame disgrace and any thing come to mee I am willing to endure all but I will doe nothing against Jesus Christ nor against the credit of the Gospel nor speake evill of Gods name no nor dishonour the worke of his grace whatsoever befall me Simile As one that loves a friend will aske his servants what doth your Master like best and what doth hee desire to eat because he would prevent him with kindnesse so marvellous carefull is he to avoid whatsoever may displease him So a soule truly humbled is not content unless God may have his will and therefore it comes to the faithfull Ministers of God and saith How may I please God better and how may I come to entertaine the motions of his spirit better shew me what duties must be done and what sinnes must be avoided You know Christs will and what will please him I beseech you advise me that I may heare and pray and walke and approve my heart so to him that nothing may displease him This I take to bee the maine difference betweene a good heart and a false hypocriticall one Simile For looke what difference there is between a man that takes a servant into his family and a Noble-man that receives a Prince so much difference there is between a good heart a false hypocriticall heart Now a man entertaines a servāt into his house to the end he may serve please himselfe and that the servant may give contentment to him because hee is wise and able to dispatch his occasions and likewise diligent to looke throughly to all and therefore it is that the servant is entertained not for the servants sake but that hee may content his master But he that doth receive a Noble-man into his house he labours to give him all the content that may be he layes by all and attends onely upon him and though hee be a man of great state and hath many to attend on him yet all the servants are charged to see that nothing bee wanting to his guest nay he will rather discontent himself than him because he comes out of an honorable respect to visite him therefore he wil receive him as beseemes his state and person Just so it is with a faithfull soule that receives Christ in the worth of him and one that receives him for gaine onely the one receives Christ as a servant into his family and so all the while that the Gospel and the profession of it and the Lord Jesus may promote his ease and honour and credit then welcome Gospel but if his profits and honour and credit and the Gospel cannot agree together he turnes all out of doores and of a professor hee proves a loather of Jesus Christ because he received him to content himselfe withall But hee that receives Christ in the worth of him will not please himselfe and his lusts and his pride and vaine-glory but though they that are his nearest friends call him and say they must have his company and his attendance yet hee replies No hee cannot the Lord Jesus Christ must be attended and when the old haunts of heart and old lewd courses that have had inward league with the poore sinner come and crave and plead for acceptance hee regards them not nay an humbled soule will rather displease all the great men in the world yea the neerest man that he depends upon and all that glory and pompe than Jesus Christ 4 Triall It rejoyceth most to see Christ honoured 4 Fourthly he that loves any thing in the worth of it it is his good and happinesse to see the good and happinesse of that thing which he loves this is an undoubted argument of sound affection that that which he loves should have all good though hee misse it If any good befall that thing which hee loves hee thinkes himselfe happy and had rather see that honoured than himself this is true love a marvellous sweet passage of a loving heart yea it is the very picture of true love 1
Sam. 23.17 When Saul had made a cunning search for David and he was fled Jonathan comes to him and chears him saying I know that my father shall not prevaile against thee but that thou shalt be King over Israel and I shall be next thee Jonathan was Sauls Sonne and he might have said I am my fathers heire and why may not I bee his successor in the kingdome but he loved David and rejoiced in his good and therefore he said Thou shalt be King over Israel and I shall bee next unto thee As if hee should say I am more glad that the Crowne shall be set upon thy head than if it were set upon mine owne for my soule is thereby comforted and refreshed So it is with a good heart that loves Jesus Christ and his grace and his Gospel in truth the happinesse glory and the honour of the Lord Jesus is the greatest good that can befall him wherefore he saith If the Lord may be honoured though I am disgraced I care not it is enough to me if may stand to behold and see it Ioh. 3.26.29 When the Lord Christ began to set forth the frame and glory of the Gospel and to baptize the Disciples of John came to their Master and said Rabbi he that was with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou barest witnesse behold the same baptizeth and all men come to him they began to be troubled because the Lord Jesus baptized and the praise went from them as if they had said There is one come that carrieth the hearts of all men after him Now mark what John answered He that hath the Bride is the Bride-groome as if he should say The Lord Christ is the Bride-groome and I am onely the friend of the Bride-groome all my care was to prepare hearts for him and hath he now gotten those hearts and hath he prosperitie then have I enough if I heare that the case goes well with him I have enough let the Lord have the praise that is due to him and let me have whatsoever is due to me 2 Sam. 19.30 when Mephibosheth had been wrongfully accused to David and David had taken away the inheritance from him and was returned in safety so that he saw the Kings face againe David began to comfort him saying Thou and Siba divide the land but marke how he replies Yea saith he let him take all for as much as my Lord the King is come againe in peace It matters not for the inheritance and for my selfe and my life I passe not fith the King is returned in peace it is enough that I enjoy thy presence which is better to me than goods life and liberty So it is with a kinde-loving heart when hee is not able to indure to see Christs honour and glory lye in the dust but if his praise be advanced then he is glad this is a good and loving heart indeed which saith Lord I have enough that Christ is mine and that his honour and glory is magnified Let the world take all if I may have Christ and see him praised and magnified Labour to bring thy soule to this pitch a minister in his place and the master in his place and every Christian in his place let it be all our care not onely to honour God our selves but let it be our comfort if God may be better honoured by others than by our selves This is our basenesse of spirit we can bee content to lift up Christ upon our shoulders that we may lift up our selves by it this too much prevailes amongst all men But be content to lye in the dust that the Lord may be praised though thou be disgraced And though every mans heart goe opposite against thee yet let this content thee if the Lord Jesus may thrive and prosper yea if any of Gods people thrive and prosper more than thou let that be thy onely joy 5. Triall More more it desires union with Christ Lastly it is the nature of sound love to covet a neere union with the thing that is loved and to have a kinde of impatiency and to be restlesse till it doe attaine the greatest measure thereof This flowes directly from the nature of love especially of this love to Christ who is the greatest good love is of a linking and glewing nature will carry the soule with some kind of strength earnestness to injoy full possession and fellowship of the thing that is loved it cannot have enough of it and it is not satisfied with it upon any occasion As it is in reason with a childe Simile happely when the father entertaines him at the table hee gives him a little sweet-meat as some Conserve or the like which is so sweet that he can tast nothing but that and his minde is still upon it that he may receive more of it the father commends this and that and praiseth a third and extols a fourth dish but yet the childe cryes More of this because hee felt the sweetenesse of it So it is with a soule that truly loves Christ when it hath tasted how good the Lord is and hath had a good looke from heaven it covets union not so much with any thing as with that riches honours profits seeme as irksome as may be in regard of that the soul desires nothing so much as this and craves more of Christ more of that mercy and holinesse and grace and love that is in him let the wicked talke what they will of the world if he have that he hath enough Psal 73.25 when David had been doating upon the world and the vanities of it see what he sayth Whom have I in heaven but thee and whom on earth in comparison of thee and then see what followes hee bids adieu to the world and sayth in the last verse It is good for me to draw neere unto God as if he had said Let the ambitious belly-gods have their pleasure drinke and swill and goe downe to hell But oh let mee have that mercy and that good which God hath provided for and will bestow upon those that love him You shall observe it Joh. 20.15 16 17. Mary was a marvellous loving woman and therefore when Christ said to her Woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou she supposing him to be the Gardiner saith unto him Sir if thou hast borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him I will take him away She would be content to have the dead body of her Saviour rather than none at all But when the Lord Jesus had revealed himselfe to her in the 16 verse shee said Rabboni and when she saw it was he she flies upon him and with marvellous violence embraceth him for so the text is to be conceived though hee forbad her to touch him because hee was not yet ascended saying Doe I once possesse thee againe I will never part with thee any more thus she held him by the feet till he checked her because shee
depended too much upon his outward presence Touch mee not saith the Text for I am not yet ascended thou shalt enjoy my presence before I part with thee but as yet be not so earnest so it is expressed 1 Cor. 7.1 This is a lively expression of that love and joy which many poore soules are possessed withall after they have waited long for mercie and God is pleased to refresh them therewith many times they begin to lose their sleepe and meat and begin to be lightened by it because they are ever holding of it till they almost overthrow themselves with it Simile As it is with parties that have lived long together in one house whose affections are linked together in the way of marriage they will ever desire to be talking together and ever to be drawing on to the marriage So it is with the soule that loves the Lord Jesus hath this holy affection kindled and his spirit enlarged therein when the Lord hath let in some glimpse of his love he thinks the houre sweet when hee prayeth to the Lord Christ and hath a great deale of sweet conference with his Saviour he thinks that Lords day marvellous sweet wherein God revealeth by the power of his holy ordinance any of that rich grace and mercy of his It is admirable to see how the heart will be delighted to reckon the time and place and meanes when and where the Lord did reveale it and the soule saith Oh this is good oh that I might ever be thus cheared and refreshed it cannot have enough of this if it might have what it would but as David Ps 84.2 3. saith My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God Yea the sparrow hath found an house and the swallow a nest for her selfe where she may lay her young even thine Altars O Lord of Hosts my King and my God as if hee had said Goe you blessed birds you may build your nests by the Altar of my God and come into his house Lord am not I as good as birds His heart was marvellously inflamed with the want of that which he loved Nay in Luke 2.29 good old Simeon had his heart so enlarged to Christ that hee could have been content to depart this life so hee might have his fill of Christ The spouse that is contracted thinkes every day a yeare till she enjoy her beloved Oh sayth she would that day were come that I might injoy him and take full satisfaction to my soule in him so it is with a loving soul that hath been truly humbled and enlightned is now contracted to Jesus Christ how it longs after him Oh when will that day be saith it that I shall ever bee with him who is best of all it takes hold of every word it heares every promise that reveales any thing of Christ but oh when will that day bee that I shall ever bee with Christ This is the highest pitch of Saint Pauls speech Phil. 1.23 For I am in a straight betweene two having a desire to depart and to bee with Christ which is best of all as if hee had said that I may ever be with that mercy and grace and spirit that is in Christ and be filled with his fulnesse for ever and ever This is the frame of the soule that is in love with Christ yea this is the strong and glewing nature of love that it will make a man desire to be with the thing loved though hee must undergoe never so great misery to obtaine it as Gen. 37.35 when Jacobs sonnes brought the party-coloured coat to their father he sayd It is my sonnes coat an evill beast hath devoured him and he rent his cloaths and put sack-cloth upon his loines and mourned for his sonne many dayes And all his sonns and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said For I will goe downe into the grave unto my sonne mourning he had rather be in the grave than not to be with his son Joseph If a womans husband be in prison it is her wonderfull griefe that it is so but most of all that she may not be with him there Thus also is it with the soule that entirely loves Christ it is content to goe to the prison with him and saith Let mee bee with Christ though hee bee persecuted It is his griefe that Christ is persecuted but it is a greater griefe that hee may not bee with him in persecution As the Spouse Cantic 2.16 My beloved is mine and I am his and as the wife saith Husband let the world doe and say what they will thou art mine and I am thine So the soule saith mercy is mine and Christ is mine if I may have that I have enough but without it I cannot be quieted Secondly there is an holy impatience and restlessenesse of spirit when it cannot come to close with Christ Oh it is good to expresse the earnest desire of the soule to Christ though he seeme to hide his face away and to forbid the banes of asking Thus it appeares what it is to love the Lord Jesus Use 3. Now the pill is sugered Reproofe of them that love not Christ in truth it will go downe the better therefore now let us come to the use of reproofe and this is as a swift witnesse to accuse as a Judge to condemne many in the world this is sufficient to shake the heart and to make the hearts of most that live in the bosome of the Church to sinke at the very sight of their wofull condition in whose heart this blessed grace of God was never yet received I meane that never loved the Lord Jesus woe to their soules yea this is the greatest part of their woe that though they doe not love Christ yet they doe not thinke so nay they will not be perswaded to it This is the cunning that the Divell useth to deceive poore soules withall because these affections are secret and inward neither discover themselves evidently to the heart further than practise goes therefore they think others know them not and here they rest they lean upon a cōpany of sottish delusions which will faile them thus they and their hopes perish for ever Wicked men cannot but confesse their owne vilenesse that their communications are vaine and their fall scandalous but this is that which salves all they say their lives are so indeed but they love the Lord Jesus with all their hearts When these wretches have sworne by their Saviour and have torne his sacred body in sunder with their oathes and blasphemies yet they love Christ with their souls poore deluded sinfull men Now for the better convincing of these men first let me make it good that most men have not this love of Christ and so lay the inditement Secondly let me plead the inditement and shew who they are that have it not
the soule more ready and fit to receive the evidence of Gods love to be exprest to the soule which thou canst not have so exprest to thee except thou have this godly sorrow 1 Joh. 1.9 If wee confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse he speaks there of them that now had faith yet shewes that before the Lord would seale to the man that hath faith the assurance of the pardon of his sinnes hee will make him humble and cry and sorrow for them and as to live comfortably so sorrowfully too as 1 King 8.38 2 Chron. 6.36 If the people returne to thee in the land of their captivitie and pray unto thee saying We have sinned we have done amisse and have dealt wickedly then heare thou in heaven c. When the Lord seeth their hearts humbled for their sinnes and sorrowfull for them then hee seales up the pardon of them So then the way to have this assurance is to have this frame of spirit here spoken of Thirdly this godly sorrow ought to bee continually in such as have this love of Christ that so our hearts may be carried with a more deadly hatred of sinne These are the benefits of godly sorrow and if a man sorrow not for sinne he will not sorrow for the wrong and dishonour done to God by other sinfull men as David Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters runne downe mine eyes because they keepe not thy law EZech. 9.4 The Lord sayd to the Angel Goe and set a marke upon the foreheads of all the men that sigh and that cry for all the abhominations that be done in the midst thereof Now how can a man mourn for the abhominations of others when he hath not the heart to mourne for it in his owne soule Ob. But some will say Must we never rejoyce in the Lord Ans I answer Yes I say sorrow daily for thy sinnes and yet daily rejoyce in thy Saviour and the more thy heart is broken for the one the more thou wilt be comforted by the other Thou that makest no matter of being sensible of the body of death that hangs upon thee and hast no care to bee sensible of thy owne failings take heed that the Lord give thee not up for ever to thy owne basenesse to be rushed headlong into some vile scandalous courses and so thou perish for ever as wee finde by experience many by this meanes have growne the most profane creatures that ever lived And this is the damnable heresie of the Familists The fourth sort is the vain-glorious hypocrite and hee is marvellous zealous for God and his truth in outward appearance That God may bee honoured and his Gospel advanced it is admirable what he will do he will hazzard himselfe his life his estate and all nay be content not to live if he may but leave a little vaine breath after him Wee know what vaine-glory doth amongst the Papists who that they may be canonized for Saints will endure any thing and suffer death it selfe this vain-glory is above life and all Simile As some great Courtiers will doe by a man that they meane to make a booty of they make him their onely favorite and expresse a great deale of kindnesse to him that hee may helpe them to more honour and glory So this wretch doth lift up the Gospel that the Gospel may advance him and fill his sailes full of winde therefore he will doe great matters for this end that hee may receive glory from it Even as the Stage-player that sets up a great stage that he may be above the people Another so it is with a vain-glorious wretch prayer is a good stage and fasting and hearing and preaching are very fine stages for him upon which he acts his part that others may see him that glory may come to him and not that the glory and grace of Christ may bee extolled hee would lift up himselfe to heaven and cast downe Christ to hell Such an one was Saul when Samuel gave him the left hand and would not go with him into the Citie 1 Sam. 15.30 He said I have sinned yet honour me I pray thee before the people and turne again with me that I may worship the Lord thy God Walke with me and then the people will say Oh what good friends they bee surely hee is a good man the Prophet goes with him It is a great honour to those that are wise because they are willing to joyne side with those that are holy and gracious so Saul will honour Samuel that Samuel may honour him and that he may stand upon his shoulders as it were that the people may say See how inward they are and what a good man hee is the Prophet goes on with him but the turne and the issue of the hypocrite is this it is meerly for himselfe which will appeare thus If once the winde begin to turne and the gale of honour grow somewhat cold and other men are a little lifted up so that he may not bee in the fore-front or if his profession will not carry him out with honour but his credit is laid in the dust and hee sees hee cannot get honour his heart dies in him and he saith It is as good to leave off all and if he cannot get glory from the Gospel either hee will grow desperately wicked and oppose the Gospell and joyne side with the wicked and helpe them or else he will flagge and die in a base carnall course and come to nothing and that 's the best of him This hath been the bane of many men who when they have missed of the glory that they lookt for from the Gospel they have become persecuters These men deal with Christ as the Inne-keeper doth with his guests If a man will pay the Ordinarie Simile he is welcome but if once his money faile hee turnes him out of doores so if Christ will pay his Ordinary and if hee may have credit and honour so as men may say he hath good parts and that he fasts more than the world knowes I say if the Gospel will give him this Ordinary it is welcome and he is carried on cheerfully but if Christ and the Gospel will not give him that which hee would have hee turnes his backe upon it The Lord Jesus convince your hearts of it I take this to be the state of a great many but a gracious heart is of another straine or temper Happely God hath given a man parts and gifts and credit and yet if the Lord withdraw himselfe a good soule saith as John did Joh. 3.40 Hee must encrease I must decrease so a good heart saith If another man deserve and have more than I yet let this proud heart licke the dust and never lift up it selfe if the Lord Jesus may encrease and have his honour and glory let me be trodden in the dust this is a heart worth gold