The Application of Redemption, Book 10 (6 of 13)

The Application of Redemption · Book 10 (6 of 13)

p. 245Consider how much you run in Arrearages, and how 2far you are cast behind hand in this Spiritual Service; how unacquainted with it in former times, and how … since you have known the way, and therefore so much more need you have to double your diligence, and to recover your former carelessness with more studious and consciencious endeavor to your utmost. He that hath much work, and little time, hath reason to be exceeding laborious: he that hath a long journey, and sets out late, had need to make hast: he that hath many antient reckonings almost past remembrance, he must resolve to sit at it, and that it cost him the setting on to make any through accounts, when thou art to cal over the folly of thy Child-hood, the vanity of thy youth, the rebellion of thy riper yeers, to search into the sinful distempers of thy heart, which thou hast long harbored, and thy miscarriages worn out of mind and remembrance, it wil cause thee to sit at it night and day, and to bring in those …, and to read them over, it's almost impossible for thy life, and therefore thou must labor hard, Zach. 12. 10, 11, 12 When the Lord shall powr out the spirit of Grace and supplication upon the Jews, they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn apart, the Wives apart, and the Husbands apart, &c.

Consider what need thou hast of this holy Ordinance, p. 2463that wil compel thee to prize it, and to use it also; it's that which wil yield some supply in most of all thy Spiritual wants, lend a hand … support in most of thy feeblenesses, which may befal, and would hinder thee in a Christian way, thy memory is weak; thou dost attend the holy Word of God, and many times close with the … and precious comforts, but alas they are gone and slip away: Meditation wil strengthen thy feeble memory, and though these blessed Truths would depart, yet it wil stay them and retain them with thee. Jos. 1. 8. The words of this book shall not depart away from thee; how … we prevent that? Thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Thy apprehensions are shallow, and thou narrow in thy conceiving; Meditation wil ripen and enlarge thy judgment, so that thou shalt exceed the most udicious and learned, Psal. 119. 99. I have more understanding than all my teachers; how came that about? For thy Testimonies are my Meditation. Thou art simple and imprudent in thy way, not able to discover or prevent the over reachings of such as be wily and cunning in their contrivements; Meditation wil sharpen thy apprehensions, and make thee able to discern the secret conveyances and slights of the falshearted, and to prevent the danger of them; Psal. 119. 98. I became wiser than mine Enemies, because thy Commandements were ever with me, and that was by Meditation: Thy Spirit is sluggish and wearish, thou wantest life and mettal in the discharge of thy duty, prayest without sence, and confessest without sorrow, begs mercy, and dost not affect it; Meditation will quicken thee in Conference, make thee apt and ready to all undertakings, store thee with matter, fraught thy apprehensions and tongue, warm thy affections, and make thee go with readiness to the work; Meditation adds as it were, wind to a mans Sails, and wings to a mans endeavor, While I was musing, my heart burned, then spake I with my tongue, Psal. 39. 2, 3. If then thy memory p. 247be weak, and thou needest that that would strengthen it; thy apprehension narrow and dul, thou need'st that that would enlarge it; thy spirit dul and sluggish, and thou needest that that may add quickening vertue thereunto, a ful stream that may turn the wheel; behold Meditation is the Medicine, it hath a Probatum est upon it, approved of al the Saints, and the Cure left upon Record. Thy needs are great and manifold; so do thou prize this means, and use it for thy good.

Consider the Soveraign Vertue of this Spiritual Service, 4and special Ordinance of God, as that which sucks out the sap and sweet of al other Dispensations of God, and means of Grace, wherein he discovers himself to us, so that though they be good in themselves, yet the good of them is not received but by meditation: As it is in the body naturally, be it that thy meat is choyce that is provided, the dressing neat and wholsom, the appetite strong and sharp, and that a man feeds liberally and heartily of such dainties set before him, though these provisions be never so savory and Cordial, and able to refresh and strengthen, yet al labor is lost, and meat lost also, if his digestion be naught, Nature is loaded and …, but never nourished thereby. So it is in the soul, be the means of Grace never so powerful and precious, sappy and Spiritual, Opportunities great to enjoy them, liberties and desires ready to attend them, to hear, and read, and confer, receive the Seals, &c. These are excellent, and of special use in themselves, but unless by Meditation we digest this food, the head and heart may be loaded, but little spiritual knowledg or power with a spiritual blessing wil be reaped therefrom. Josh. 1. 8. Thou shalt meditate therein day and night; then shalt thou make thy way prosperous; then shalt thou have good success: would'st thou have the Word that is preached, and the administration of the Seals savory and seasonable, admonitions prosperous, when they are dispensed to thy soul? to what purpose else p. 248have we them, and enjoy them? if not prospered, they are certainly accursed; that is the scope of all Ordinances, the end and good of al Church Liberties and Priviledges: Would'st thou be sure when thou goest to the Congregation, thou shalt have good success in hearing, thou shalt be quickened, good success in receiving, thou shalt be strengthened in assurance of eternal life? When thou fallest to Meditating, then, then I say, expect the Lord wil make al prosperous and successful to thy soul; and before that time the Lord doth not promise thee either blessing or success, nor canst thou expect it, nor art thou like to receive any. Our Profession in the Church, is like the Trade we drive in Christianity, and Meditation it is that brings in al the profit and gain, wherein the life and comfort of al Performances and Ordinances do consist. And that wherein the upshot of al our desires are brought in. The reproof was sharp and seasonable, met with thy corruption, and touched thy heart in a special manner, and thou sayest, I pray God we may profit by it. The Examination and Tryal, was narrow and straight, came indeed to the quick, drave me to stagger and stand; our Liberties and Priviledges are precious we enjoy in New-England, I pray God we may profit by them; so say I, I pray God thou mayest. But if thy heart be with thy prayer, I would only advise thee the way to obtain what thou desirest. That of Paul to Timothy, 1. Tim. 4. 15, 16. Meditate upon these things, and be in them, and thou shalt profit, and thy profiting will appear to all. The wicked wil be forced to see it, and wonder at it; the Saints wil see it, and rejoyce in it; it wil appear to thine own heart, and thou mayest be comforted in it.

These be Motives to provoke thee, and compel thee to pay thy debt honestly: Thou art marvelous behind hand; thine own ease should draw thee now to pursue it; thou hast most need, and necessity should force thee p. 249to attend it; the blessing goes along with it, and that should … thee to be glad to continue in it.

The Second Particular propounded, is how to direct 2you herein; and here, this ART of Meditation isDirections … …. that which hath exercised the Pens of many, and the Thoughts of more; and the desires of men are not herein yet satisfied, who find it most hard to practice, and yet more than ordinarily difficult to know what they should practice: I shal suddenly lay forth the compass of it so far as concerns the occasion in hand.

The Meditation of our sins, so far as may be serviceable to set forward the work of Contrition, hath two Parts:

1. Following the enquiry of the Nature of corruption.

The Rule to Authorize to the Work.

Manner how to proceed in the Work,

Survey the particulars severally.

Sum them up joyntly, see the value of them.

2. Fastening of it upon the Soul.

That we may follow the footsteps of a corruption, and tracka distemper to the full, we must have our COMMISSION that must Authorize us, and carry us on in our Course. And here the Direction is this:

We must go out to this Work of Meditation in the vertue Direct. 1of an Ordinance, and so of Commission from God: We must attend a Word that must guide us in it, and look to Christ and … Pro nise, and set our Grace awork, that by the power of his might, and the help of his Grace, we may both be enabled and preserved in the service; p. 250for such is the ticklishness of our corrupt hearts, and the infecting and tainting Nature of sin, that it's hard to meddle with it, but some pollution wil cleave unto us by it. And it is that which the Saints, and those most sincere, have found by experience, and in much bitterness have complained of, that … they have set themselves about this work by Meditation of their sin, their hearts have suddenly been carried aside with it, and tainted with a kind of delight in it, when they intended to loath and abhor themselves in the Consideration thereof. Thus by the abuse of this Duty, we come to be moulded and melted into the temper of sin by Meditation, when we intended to be burdened with it. The error and mistake is here; We do not bring the Authority of the Word, and Power of Christ, and help of his Grace against sin, which would both discover and subdue it: But we bring the Temptation, and occasion, and our corrupt hearts together, they soder and suit one with another, like tinder to the spark, it encreaseth the fire, not quencheth it, provokes a corruption, not kils it. This is to make a brabble with a mans lust, when out of our own strength we enter into a contestation with our distemper; we act under the Covenant of Works, by an irritating power we add to the strength and dominion of sin. Whereas did we go against it in the Covenant of Grace, we should destroy the dominion of it, Rom. 6. 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under the Law, but under Grace. Thus if a man have Grace. But if it be in the way of seeking and receiving Grace, then attend the Word, and in the Authority and Commission from thence received, be carried on: Go against thy Corruption in the vertue and power of the Word, not in any power of thine own: As Constables, though mean, yet they use the Kings Name.

For the Manner of our Proceeding, to make a 2full Enquiry into the several Passages of a sinful p. 251Distemper, the Directions are Three:

First, Lood at the Root and rise of a sinful practice, 1whence it springs, inwardly, otherwise we shall never come to the core of a Corruption, or see where the loathsomness of a lust lies. The sting of the Serpent is smal, and the skin pleasing, but the poyson is spreading and deadly. Beware that there be not a root of bitterness, Heb. 12. 15. Thus our Savior he leads his Disciples to the right discovery of their carriage when they asked whether they might not imitate the practice of Elias, to call … … down from Heaven upon the heads of the Samaritans, because of their unkind dealing, Luke, 9. 54. Did one look but at the out-side of the expression, the pattern they propound, and the pretence they made, there would no great matter of discovery appear; therefore our Savior leads them inward, saies he, You know not what spirits you are of. The voyce is the voyce of Jacob; your pretence is fair, as Elias his zeal was good; but you have not the spirit of Elias, not the love of God, but the love of your selves, even the spirit of self-love and pride, &c. there is little exception that can be taken from any thing that appears outwardly, their Imposthumed matter lay within. The spirit of sin is in the spirit of a mans practice; may be it's but a short and snappish speech, a wayward carriage in a silent manner, and …, thou goest away, and sayest nothing. But from what spirit came this? From thy heart in hideous disdain and contempt, with … of hatred, as though it had been a fiend of Hell, look to thy spirit.

When thou hast known the womb of wickedness, 2where the active power of a corruption lay, and whence it came, Look secondly to the … and breeding of sin, how the frame and constitution of a corruption comes to be fashioned inwardly, before it be brought forth into practice, James, 1. 15. Lust when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin: Somtimes a man conceives p. 252and travels of a monstrous Birth, of an abominable and hideous villany, and yet no man can so judg it before it appear in the ful birth, and so the compleat constitution thereof. This conception of a lust appears in the concurrence and combination of a corrupt heart, and carnal reason. 1. The affections pursue eagerly the evil, and the wil resolves peremptorily, this lust I must satisfie, this … way I wil walk in. 2. Carnal reasonings are like the formative force, or like the Spirit in the seed; it casts about by al cunning contrivements, subtil devices, to compass and bring it about, and to cover and color it over with the fairest pretence they may: But when the parts and proportions of a perverse carriage, the framing of our loathsom lusts come to view, they then appear direful and dreadful. That David should send for Uriah, entertain him kindly, tender him and his comfort, so as to send him to enjoy his own comfort at his own house, that he should advance him to that respect, and put that honor and trust upon him, as to put him into the Fore-front of the Battel, who can blame any thing? But to do al this to cover his Adultery, and at last to suck the blood of the innocent that he may enjoy his lust, here is a hellish brood, a monstrous birth: So it was with Absolons fair language, &c. To this place appertain al those rebellious oppositions which make head against al Rule and Reason; when the light of knowledg would gainsay, motions of the Spirit perswade and forewarn, do it not; checks of Conscience controul; yet against knowledg and conscience, and the motions of the Spirit, they break through, and pursue their lusts; the light of knowledg carnal reason darkens, the motions of the Spirit they quench, the checks of conscience they …. So it is in the perverse carriage of rebellious Servants, &c.

Follow sin by the fruits of it, as by the bloody footsteps, 3and see what havock it makes in every place, where ever it comes: go to the prisons, and see … many Malefactors p. 253in Irons, so many Witches in the Dungeon; these are the fruits of …; look aside, and there you shal see one drawn out of the pit where he was drowned; cast your eye but hard by, and behold another lying weltring in his blood, the knife in his Throat, and his hand at the knife, and his own hands become his Executioner; thence go to the place of Execution, and there you shal hear many prodigal and rebellious children and servants upon the Ladder, leaving the last remembrance of their untimely death, which their distempers have brought about. I was born in a good place where the Gospel was preached with plainness and power, lived under Godly Masters, … Religious Parents; a holy and tender-hearted Mother I had, many prayers she made tears she wept for me, and those have met me often in the dark in my dissolute courses, but I never had a heart to hear and receive. All you stubborn and rebellious, hear and fear, and learn by my harms; hasten from thence into the Wilderness, and see Corah, …, and Abiram going down quick to Hell, and al the people flying and crying lest we perish also; Lo, this rebellion hath brought. Turn aside but to the red Sea, and behold al the Egyptians dead upon the shore; and ask who … them and the story wil tel you a … … was the cause of that direful confusion: From clience send your thoughts to the Cross where our Savior was …, he who bears up Heaven and Earth with his Power, and behold those bitter and brinish …, … hideous cries, My God, my God, why … thou … …? And make but a peep-hole into Hel, … … your ear and listen to those … of the Devils and damned, cursing the day that ever they were born, the … that ever they enjoyed, the mercies that … … did …, the worm there …, and … … the … there burning and … goes out, and … this … … done, and it wil do so to al that … it, … … … it. Say thou therefore, and why not I p. 254amongst the Witches upon the place of Execution, with Malefactors? why not I in Hel with the Devils? Since my sins are as theirs, my plagues might have been, and in the issue wil be as theirs, unless I repent.

Direful are those plagues that sin brings upon the sinner; but these are not the worst, nay in truth, the least part of that evil that sin procures, and puls upon the souls of those who give themselves thereunto. Here is the venom of the vengeance, and the dregs and malignity of that mischief that accompanies it, in those spiritual desolations and ruines it leaves upon the soul, those not to be conceived, much less uttered by the tongues of Men and Angels. Let us look inward, and dig decper.

Commission of sin makes a man senceless and remorseless 1in it, puts a man beyond the consideration and thought of amendment, either capability of good or to look after it; it takes off endeavor, nay desire, and thought of recovery out of our wretchedness: such were they of whom the Apostle speaks, 1 Tim. 4. 2. Having their consciences seared with a hot Iron; as it is with seared parts, what ever gashes or stabs come, they have no sence or feeling of them; what ever judgments are denounced, threatnings proclaimed in a mans ears, executed before a mans eyes, the seared conscience is stupid and fearless, it feels nothing, is affected with nothing. So it was said of the Heathen, Eph. 4. 19. They were past feeling; God frowns from Heaven, the Word threatens, Devils accuse, their own Judgments condemn the loathsomness of their practice, and men bear witness, and cry shame of the sottishness of their course, their distempers are such that they stink above ground, and yet they poor creatures feel nothing, but bless themselves in their present condition; Rom. 2. 5. They have hearts that cannot repent, heaping up … against the day of wrath.

p. 255The daily and ordinary commission of any one sin, 2delivers up the sinner to become a prey to the power of al corruptions even the most detestable; sin lays wast the soul that it becomes a through-fair, and lyes open to the most hellish provocations or distempers that can be presented before it and nothing comes amiss, thats the inference when the heathen had no delight to have God in their knowledg, had notliking to such and such righteous and good wayes of God, he delivered them up to a reprobate sence, Rom. 1. 28. they had no delight to be ruled by the truth, and the wisdom and holiness thereof, no delight … know or rellish any good; God takes them at their word, and leaves them in the hands of their sins, they should have minds that should never know the truth, hearts that should never approve of it. See presently when the soul is thus layed wast what a drove and inroad of hideous abominations come in, and take possession, and make a prey and spoyl of the poor wretched creature as they wil, then ver. 29. 30. they are ful of all Unrighteousness, Covetousness, Fornication, Envy, proud Boasters, beady, high minded, … breakers, False, Unfaithful, Disobedient, Unnatural, nothing is a miss what ever the heart of Belzebub, or the bottom of Hel can harbour, It's the ground of the cohaerence of that place also Eph. 4. 19. Who being past feeling, they have given up themselves to work al uncleanness with greediness; the poor creature is at the … and beck of any base abomination; no temptation presseth in, but prevayles, no allurement is presented but it surpriseth and taketh aside, no corruption … but it carryes and acts him without gainsaying; the Devil and his distempers take him alive and take him at their pleasures, lead him as they … and he knows not where he is before he be in the bottomless pit; This is the quintessence of vengeance an unseen evil; … in truth unconceavable, the terrors of death and the torments … hell are nothing in comparison of this. When p. 256the glorious and blessed God through the just desert of sin leaves the creature, at the lust of Satan and his diftemper, Loe he is in your … do what you wil with him, I wil have nothing to do with him more this is the sentence passed upon the backslider Prov. 14. 14. the backslider in heart shal be … with his own wayes, he shal have his belly …. Thus as the saints are sealed up in the day of Redemption the wicked are … … up under the soverainty of their sins … the day of destruction, thou … have thy pride and stubbornness & …, be thou for ever proud and for ever …, and for ever …-hearted, continu so and perish …. There is no judgment like to this and this is the … of sin, and that which the Lord reserves as the choycest of al his plagues the last and worst 1 Prov. 26. 28. 31. Yee shall call, but I wil not hear; yee shall seek me, and shall not … me, one would think this is heavy and harder measure could hardly be found, yes the Lord hath worse because ye despised my counsel and set at naught al my reproof, … they shall eat the fruit of their own wayes and be ful of their own devices, they who srame and devise devises to contrive Contentments to their own carnal and corrupt … carry a forge of falshood and … about them, to succeed in these one would have thought is the … content such a person could take; true it is so, and that is the greatest and most dreadful plague that could befal them. When the Lord Christ takes away … of himself and his spirit from the … and leaves him wholly to himself and the power of Satan, & his own … … distempers, nothing of Gods wisdom … their own folly shal mislead them, nothing of Gods … but the perverse rebellion of their own hearts shal rule them and so destroy them. this is to be in hell before he come there, and so be a Devil before he come among them.

They come to be helpless in regard of all means, that 3the Lord hath provided, or the mercies that the Lord p. 257hath offered unto them, and doth yet strive with them in, Its sin that stops the entercourse between God and the soul, his ordinances and our Consciences, takes and … the passage, that the power of the means never work upon us, the sweetness of his mercies never affect us, the virtue of his ordinances find no place, leave no impression upon the soul; This is the fruit which the prophet layes forth of the rebellions and … of the Jewes, which made them ripe for everlasting ruine, Isa. 6. 9. 10. Make the heart of this people …, and their ears heavy, and by that time they are sure enough for ever seeing the face of God, or receiving … by any means; seeing they may see and not perceive, hearing they may hear and … understand, least they be converted. They are far enough from conversion and so from salvation, Its that also which is of necessity implyed in the former expression; they shal be filled with their own devises, so there is no entrance, no acceptance of any direction from the wil and word of God. As it is in vessels that are brim ful of liquor ready to run over, there is no room for a spoonful of the most precious liquor to be put into them. So through the just desert of their sin they are so fully possessed with the power of their corruptions which have had commission to rule them, that as our saviour said John 8. 37. There is no place for the word. Their minds so ful of pride of their own carnal reason, that therē is no room for instruction to direct or inform them, their hearts so ful of stifness and perveriness, that there is no place for reproof that may prevail with them and reform them, the spirit so ful of falsness and ready to take hold upon …, that there is no place for the … of the truth to frame them to the … and singleness of carriage as suits with Gods mind; so that all means of grace and ordinances take their leave of the sinner, work no more upon that heart that hath … long and so often opposed the work thereof …. 51. 9. We would have healed Babilon, … she p. 258would not be healed, leave her then leave instructions, and leave exhorting &c. so it is with the ordinances the Lord passeth by and wil not so much as speak a word to a rebellious heart, the threatnings that troubled before, now stir not; the instructions that convinced before now awe not at al; the reproofs and exhortations that awakened and affected the heart, now slide away like water upon a rock, and there is no print or the least appearance of any impression left behind; the ruine of mens comforts, lives and liberties which sin hath brought are open, but oh the woful desolation of souls could it be seen of al, as it is felt of some whose heart God toucheth it would make sin exceeding sinful and unsupportably evil, as they in the Prophet complayned bitterly, Why are our hearts hardened from thy fear? Isa. 63. 17.

Besides this bitter fruit which the sinner is forced to 4tast of sin in his own particular, view wee the extent of that evil which sin doth unto others; and that partly which is common to every corruption of what ever kind or degree, it is of great or smal, open or secret, whether more loathsom and not … to the eyes of men, or that which is esteemed less in the account of the world, that which is an ingredient into the nature and constitution and making up of every corruption that it makes a breach upon the righteous law of God i. e. not onelyonly shaks of the rule and soveraignty of the law, but preferrs in truth the supremacie of our lusts, before the authority of the Lord himself which ho hath and ought to exercise over our souls. For the sinner in the practice of any sin proclaims this unto the world, its not the royalty of the righteous law of God but mine own distemper shal rule me: not his wil but mine own wayward corruption shal … the ballance; Its not the wisdom of the word but my folly, and the vanity of my ignorant mind shal lead me in what I do; Its not the goodness of the Law of Gods holiness but the pleasing p. 259corruptions of mine own carnal heart shal content me; in a word, each man professeth God shal not be his God but he sets up his lust in his room and doth homage therunto; than which what greater indignity can be done to the Almighty? Al men look at it as a most hellith expression of the Jews, … him but Barabbas. Barabbas was a murtherer vile and base, yet a man, and therefore somthing of God in him, but more hideous is the hateful blasphemy which the practice of every sinner proclaymes not God but sin; he advanceth sin in his choyce which is nothing but baseness it self, above the infinite holiness of the only blessed God, so their profession was, they said to the Almighty depart away from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes, thou saiest in thy heart as much, when in the secret resolution of thy soul thou baddest humility depart the pride of thine own heart should carry thee; to meekness depart, so to the God of Grace and holiness depart, the knotty stoutness of thine own spirit was the Liege Lord thou yieldest homage and obedience unto. Out of mens Atheism and ignorance this is not thought on, and therefore men thinke their sins little, nor are they apprehensive of that infinite wrōng that they do to the holy and infinite Majesty of the blessed God.

Besides this wrong that is common to al sins, there be some especially open and scandalous that become out of measure sinful.

Committed against many mercies, against many 1means; against many mercies wherwith God hath … and allured them, that he might have overcome their unkind hearts, w^th his tender compassions, had they but a spark of any good nature or ingenuity within them. Thus they sin against more of God, & therfore their sin becoms unmeasurably … against the bowels of a Father that hath yerned towards them: the blood of a Christ that hath been shed for them; the tears of a saviour that have been wept over them, Oh that thou hadst known in this p. 260thy day; the consolation and intimations of the spirit who hath striven and entreated, Oh do not do so and sin against God, and yet impudently, presumptuously and pertinaciously thou wouldest break through al these armyes of compassions, to commit that sin that wil be thy ruine, how vile thy carriage and how just thy plague. Thus Nathan pleads with David when he would lay open the loathsomness of his evil before him, 2 Sam. 12. 7. 8. 9. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel I annoynted thee King over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy masters house and thy masters wives into thy bosome, and gave thee the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and if that had been too little I would moreover have given thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the command of the Lord? The heart of the holy man sunk down in sorrow, I have sinned. Yea these coals of fire if gathered and heaped up I mean these compassions rightly considered and weighed, and layd upon the heart they are able almost to melt the most flinty disposition, Jud. 2. 1. 2. 3. So the Angel overbore the rebellious spirits of the Israelites, I made you to go up out of Egipt and have brought you into the land which I sware unto your Fathers, and I said I will never break my Covenant with you, and ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land, you shal throw down their altars, but ye have not obeyed my voyce why have ye done this? and it came to pass when he spake these words unto al the Children of Israel that the people lift up their voyces and wept. This brake their hearts al in pieces, though perverse and rebellious, they ceased answering and fel to weeping, their tears and mourning were instead of words they would return in their defence.

Against many means wherwith the Lord hath 2striven with us to stop us in the pursuit of sin, and to reclame us from our iniscarriages; God hems in a poor creature on every side by publick dispensations and p. 261private … by ordinary and extraordinary helps, way-layes a sinner and hedgeth up his path … thorns, and builds a wal about him that he might find the ways of ungodlyness no more Hos 2. 8. He that adventures upon the commission of sin against such means, and breaks through such armyes of ordinances, there is a multiplication of many sins in the commission of one, because it is against the multiplication of many truths, or one truth in a manifold dispensation, he sins against so many instructions, so many comforts, so many counsels he hath heard. Confessions he hath made, and prayers he hath put up for himself, and others have made in his behalf; every one of these dispensations hath an action against the soul because it hath been wronged by the sinner; John. 12. 48. He that heareth and rejecteth hath one that judgeth, even that word that I have spoken and he hath heard wil judg him: saith our Saviour Christ. Those reproofs that thou haft heard and not submitted to, Instructions that thou hast heard and not embraced thou shalt need no other judg, those wil judg thee, and how heavy wil that judgment be then, John, 15. 22. If I had not come, they had had no sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin.

Wrong to our brethren their honor, and lives, goods 3and good names, especially when open and scandalous, wee sin against the souls of our brethren, lay stumbling blocks before them, and here one sin may become many millions of offences, as the numbers may be many that shal hear of it. Who knows how others may be emboldned and encouraged in sin by our example? how others hindred, and provoked to speak evil of the good ways, of Gods grace because of our wretchedness? Woe be to the World because of offences, Mat. 18. 7. Who knows but the blood of many who perish by our means may be required at our hand? nay that our sinful example may live when we are dead, 2 Sam. 12. 14. By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord p. 262to blaspheme, Rom. 2. 24. the name of God is blasphemed amongst the heathen through you, and therefore the Prophet David though God hath pardoned his sin, and published it by Nathan, he would not pardon himself, but left his repentance upon record as wel as his fal, Peter went out and wept bitterly that others might hear of his sorrow and humiliation for his sin who had heard of his backsliding. Many wil ly and curse with Peter, but he that hath his Grace wil go out with Peter and mourn bitterly. Many can easily fal into filthiness as David, but if he have his spirit he wil labour to have his heart and bones broken with David.

Add unto al the former the time wherein a man hath 4continued in his sins and the frequency of them, having often committed one and the same sin, stumbling again at the same stone, & taken aside again by the same … and temptations after they have been confessed; bewailed, resolved against Psal. 78. 32. For all this they sined stil &c. Psal. 40. 12. they are more than the haires of my head, I am not able to look up, Thus wee must survey severally the particulars which may be able to present the vileness of sin to us, but that is not al nor yet sufficient. but,

We must sum them up joyntly by serious meditation, 2that so they may fal-upon the heart in the ful weight of them, and prevail more effectually and this also helps forward the work of contrition in a special manner, He that parts every stick in the bundle and takes them severally and singles them one from another he may carry them easily and lightly, never be loaded or troubled with them, but when he hath gathered them from several places where they lay scattered, and … them together, he wil then find them a burden he is not able to lift, much less able to stand under and bear; so here that is also another and special work of Meditation, besides those mentioned formerly, it doth not onelyonly look over the several aberrations of mans practice, and p. 263gather up our particular miscarriages scattered up and down in our dayly course, but laies and bundles them all together, and so they become a burden unsupportable: that seems to be one part of the meaning of the place, Psal. 38. 4. My sins are passed over my head, and are become too heavy for me to bear. It's a comparison (say Interpreters, and those very judicious) taken from Waters; that look as the Land-floods when the waters flow in from every Riveret and Gutter, and from every Hill and Furrough; at last they meet all in the main Channel, and so becomes an overbearing stream that swels above the Banks, and bears down all before it; whereas each petty Gutter was such as any might wade through, and step over; the might of the Flood none can withstand: So it is here with Meditation, it doth not only search the several aberrations and goings aside in the several occasions of our life, which when they are singled one from another seem very smal; yet when our several distempers, and dayly swervings become like the drops of rain, not falling forty daies and forty nights, but may be so many months or yeers of continued provocations; the great depths of the corruption of our Nature, are set open, and our sins like the Waters of the Sea gathered together by sad musing, pass over our heads, and are past our strength to bear them, and without special supporting mercy would sink us into everlasting discouragement. As it is with a Bankrupt arrested, some petty debts or smal bils that are charged upon him, he might easily answer, and be able without any great difficulty to discharge; but when al his Bils are brought in from each Creditor, and his … summed up, the Summa totalis, amounts to so much that it sinks his estate, and breaks his back utterly. So here, a slighty apprehension of such and such slips, or some circumstances of our miscarriages, look over them severally, they … but little in themselves; but laid together, and taken in p. 264the ful Sum unto which they amount, the guilt and filth of them wil appear inconceivable and unsupportable, that the sinner wil never be able to answer, or to bear.

It is the mind and intendment of the Spirit, the meaning, yea, the proper meaning of that word, Mark, 14. last, when he had thought of his sins, saies our Translation; when he had cast all the particular and heightning circumstances together, as the word properly signifies; when he had summed up his several miscarriages by a serious Meditation, then his heart breaketh within him, though the Cock had crowed, and our Savior had looked upon him, and he remembred at a sudden push of apprehension his evil, yet he stood it; but when he had laid al together, cast up the Summa totalis of his fearful departures from the Lord, by denying, falsefying, cursing, with al the aggravating circumstances, that he that was not only a Christian, but entertained as a Servant, yea called to be an Apostle, who was so seasonably, and with such earnestness forewarned of his back sliding and false dealing, who had promised and resolved with such courage against it, that he should not only forsake his Master in a covert manner, but openly and shamefully renounce him, yea … blaspheme and curse, and that often, and now especially in this … … trouble, in the day of our Saviors distress, when the Innocency of his cause, the Honor of his person, yea, his life lay at hazard, that such a Servant and Apostle should so basely and … deny and forswear his Master and Redeemer, and that at this time of need, upon so slight an occasion, as the voyce of a silly Damsel, or some ordinary man; he laid al these together, and … them upon his heart, and he was not able to bear it, but went …, and wept bitterly.

The Art of Meditation, appeared especially in two things, as the special and proper parts of it.

1. The following of … in a ful search and … p. 265after it, and that hath been dispatched in al the severals of it, when we have viewed al the particulars of sin, and brought in the whol and ful Sum together.

The Second part of Meditation is in the fastening of The second part of Meditation.Meditation thus discovered upon the heart. All this while the sinner hath been gathering and bringing in the several circumstances, as it were so many single sticks scattered here and there, and bundled all together as it were by a joynt consideration that they may be attended in their ful weight; and lastly, the sinner hath lifted at them by meditation, and found them heavy, but it hath not as yet laid them and prest them upon his soul, that he might feel them piercing and pinching as a burden unsupportable.

The Second thing now to be attended as the last part of this Heavenly Art, and holy Duty, is to fasten these sins upon our souls in the full weight thereof.

This is done in two things:

1 By grapling with the Heart.

2 By getting above, or getting the better of the Heart.

In the first of these we act Meditation as far as our endeavor wil go: In the second the Lord arms it with power to do that it should, and we cannot by the best of al our diligence and ability. In the former the soul is put in suit, the sum of the several bils being charged upon it. In the latter we have sentence past, and execution done upon the soul, that it is forced to seek out for payment and satisfaction, and that is awarded from under the hand of the Spirit in the High Court of Heaven.

To begin with the first of these, How Meditation grapples with the heart, I shal in short set forth unto you, in three Directions or Rules.

The first comes within the Soul.

The second laies hold upon it.

The third drags it to the Throne of Justice, and p. 266drives it to seek out for payment, and satisfaction.

It's the skil of meditation to come within the soul, 1and surprize it with the pursuit of the evil of sin, which hath now been laid open in so large and apparant manner. It's the cunning of Wrastlers before they fasten upon the adversary whom they intend to foyl and bring under, they gather in upon them with the greatest wiliness and dexterity they may, and then they lay hold with such advantages that they are not able to escape their hands: It's so in this Spiritual Service, it's the chiefest dexterity in Meditation to gather in upon the heart, i. e. the wil and affections (where the sink of sin lies, and who are wedded to their distempers) that it shall be forced to come under the Evidence of the Truth, and the … of the evil of sin so discovered. It's one thing to sum up debts, and shew them to the Bankerupt; another thing to serve a Writ of them, to summon him to the Court that he may answer and give satisfaction: it's one thing to relate a mans bils, as a Servant, an Accomptant may; another thing to charge them upon him. So here, Meditation shewed the corruption, now summons and serves a Sub-paena upon the soul; before it played the part of an Accomptant, brought in al Bils; now takes the place of a Serjeant, laies them to the charge, and attacheth the sinner: Meditation you must know, includes the highest strain of the strength of Reason, in the utmost extent of it; it's not the whol (nay indeed it's the least part of the) work of Meditation, to search and take a survey of the compass of corruption in al the circumstances thereof apprehended to the full, but it puts home an apprehension to the full, follows it, and … it upon the heart, and causeth it to attend for the while.

Herein lies the Excellency and Efficacy of Meditation, 2That it forceth the Truth and discovery of sin with that … Evidence upon the Heart, that it cannot p. 267but own it as his debt, acknowledg what is his due, and the danger unto which he is justly subject by reason thereof, and is now compelled to find and confess it self to be under the soveraign authority of the truth, to be in the guilt of sin which it hath committed, and the punishment of sin that it hath deserved thereby, the case is now so clear it sees it cannot but own the guilt and it cannot avoyd the punishment. This is the reason rendred by the prophet of the sottishness of the deluded Idolater, that he cannot see his own folly and madness in worshipping an Image of wood, he stifles the strength of reason and setts not … that overbearing evidence of truth which his own experience would give in to his heart. Isa. 44. 16. He burneth part thereof in the fire with part thereof he rosteth flesh, yea he warmeth himself and saith Aha I am warm, with the residue thereof he maketh a God even a graven Image he falleth down and worshippeth it. whats the ground that any living man should so far go against common sence, he answereth ver. 19. None considereth in his heart, to say I have burnt part, I have roasted and warmed my self, and shal I make a God of the rest? The strength of reason in a right way would easily have forced such a conclusion upon the heart; but the corruption of the heart stifled and intercepted the power of reason and damped the evidence thereof, because it was not followed and fastened by the power of Meditation; no man considereth in his heart, the want of consideration made the heart not find nor own the evidence of that inference and truth. For we find this in our corrupt hearts naturally when sin and guilt comes to be charged upon us, and the dreadfullness of both are presented to our view, we willingly would hide our selves from the evidence and power of the truth, as Adam from the presence of the Lord. If we cannot deny it, yet excuse it, that the fault was in such and such, they are to be blamed, they were the cause and they … me to the commission, I therefore p. 268am to be excused. Or if not excuse it wholly yet mince and lessen it, if not slight it, and cast it aside as that which neither needs nor deserves consideration. As the bankerupt, the debts he is not willing to pay he is willing not to think off, here now is the fruit and vertue, … power and profit of Meditation, it dasheth and scatters al these delusions and deceits, stops the passage as it were that none of al these carnal and false pretences can keep off the stroke of the truth, and the sting of sin from the heart. No no replyes Meditation: these and these are your corruptions you must own them, the evidence of them are such and so playn ye cannot excuse them; the aggravations so many so great you cannot lessen them, the plagues heavy and unavoydable you cannot prevent them. Thus it is know it for your selves these are your sins, these will be your ruin. And I summon thee here to answer it before God in the sight of men and Angels at the great day. When the heart cannot shuffle, nor shift, nor shake off the strength and cleerness of the Truth, it's compelled to own its sin and misery, though happily not willing to leave the one, nor knows not how to avoid the other.

True indeed then Meditation hath attained its proper and powerful work, and is effectually blessed of God when our hearts are so affected, with the evil of our sins, as in our judgments rightly informed, we did conceive them, and in our most serious … concluded them, and indeed we should shine to our utmost to attain this, and never give the Lord rest, nor our own souls any rest, until our hearts feel the bitterness of sin, as by meditation we have found it made known in the word. This is beyond our power and reach, only its good to run after it, and though we cannot go as far as we should, yet thus far we may go.

We may put the heart to silence for the while, stop 3and stisle such gainsayings for a time and turn, and get the last word of the wil, as it were, notwithstanding p. 269the waywardness thereof. This hath its mervailous use, and leaves a great restraint upon the soul that it dare not vent it felf in ungodly practices but with a kind of awe and fear. It deals with our souls as the Angel with Sarah, when she laughed in herself as conceiving it impossible she should have a son in her old age, though the Angel had said it, Gen 18. 12. the Lord asked why did Sarah laugh, and she denied it because she was afraid and sayed, I did not laugh; but the Lord followed her and held her to it, and would not let her go away so, nay but thou didst laugh. So when the heart would fly off from the evil that is evidenced, and charged, either, excusing or lessening the hainousness of the evil, or slighting the danger of it. either it was not my fault or its not so great, or the punishment is not so grieous and fearsul as men would bear us in hand. Hold the heart to it, and do not suffer it to go away. Yes it was you that did it, you must own it, you shal find it upon your score one day. you know and God knows and I know it, the time when they were committed the manner how, and how aggravated with many heightning circumstances: It is so, know it; and thy damnation sleepeth not, do not slight it, you wil never be able to endure it. Yes but I can: God wil abate it, or I can bear it, nay you cannot; God cannot abate it if you live in your sins, and you cannot bear it. Take the leave of your heart thus when you go to bed; this is your condition, this wil be your misery. The sum of this first Rule returns to these three particulars.

1 Summon the heart to answer the charge. 2 Force the heart to own it. 3 Silence the heart for the while under it.

When thus Meditation hath come into the heart, let 2it lay hold upon the heart: That's the Second thing in this fastening, when it hath arrested the soul, the undeniable Evidence of the Truth, then keep it under the arrest: p. 270as Officers do such as they have attached, not suffered them to go out of the room, nor to be out of their sight or presence. When thou hast with strong hand as it were forced thy heart by the power of the Truth raised by Meditation from every Coast, as it were from all particular circumstances and occasions, that it yield the Charge which it cannot gainsay, owns the guilt under which it lies, and the punishment which it hath deserved, sits down silent under the Soveraignty of the Truth which it cannot controul; keeps the heart under this awful disposition for ever. Do not suffer thy mind to go off from the Duty of Meditation, or thy wil and affections from under the impressions which were left upon it thereby. For if thou thus givest way out of sloth, or wearish negligence, thou art in hazard not only to lose thy labor, but to leave thy soul much worse by the abuse of an Ordinance, than it was before thou did'st enjoy the liberty and practice of it. As Iron or any Mettal once melted, if it cool, it grows more hard than before, and more unsit to be fashioned to any use; It's so with the heart awed and melted as it were, and made coming under the power of Meditation; if once thou growest careless, and it grows cold, it becomes more unteachable, hard, and unfit to receive any impression of the Truth, with what ever power it be dispensed. Therefore by dayly consideration keep the power of the Truth, and discovery of thy sins within ken stil, before the eyes and sight of thy soul, that so thou mayest keep the same heat and temper of Spirit, that awful, under, and silent subjection, to the Authority of the Truth, the terror and dreadfulness of thine own sins; and here our greatest watch is to be improved to follow this direction, because the policy of Satan, the proneness of our own hearts, and professed opposition that the Spirits of the sons of men have against this Dispensation on Gods part, and this disposition on ours; we are loth to bear it, Satan and the wicked are loth to suffer it in us, to p. 271have the rod dayly shaked over us, the silth and guilt and plagues due unto our sins continually presented and pressed upon our consciences, it's exceeding tedious and irksom unto our natures: Flesh and blood is very loth to bear it, Satan and the world are unwilling we should continue in such a course, because they know it's the next way to make us weary of our lives, and of our sins; therefore our corrupt hearts are willing to shake off such considerations, and they are as restless to pluck our hearts from under the power of such an Ordinance. It wil be our comfort, let it be our care to have dayly meditation keep us company in our dayly course, it wil keep the heart in an awful and under temper. Therefore the Apostle joyns both together, 1 Tim. 4. 15. Meditate on these things, and be in them, under the power and prevailing vertue of them. As it's sure of al, so of this Truth also, John, 8. 31, 32. Continue in the Truth, and it shall make you free. It's not enough for an old cankered sore to make it open, but we must keep it open; not only lance it, but tent …: to force a Truth by Meditation lanceth the sore, attention to the same Truth in Meditation, is the tenting of the sore, and that brings, though a slow, yet a persect Cure. Dog the heart with the dayly consideration of the discovery of sin formerly set on, it wil tire a man out of his distemper, force the soul either to leave his Meditation or his corruption. It was that which caused the venom of Gods vengeance, and the poyson of his own abominations to enter into his bones. Psal. 51. 4. My sin is ever before me. And this is the peculiar work of Meditation to keep things in present view, and fresh apprehension, it keeps sin ever before mens eyes. The sinner is forced to walk and talk with it, to wake and sleep with it, to eat and drink his sins, and curses due to him for the same, they are … out to him in every cutting, and … before him in every … that is set at the Table; Psal. 119. 98. It was Meditation that drew out the marrow … p. 272quintessence of Counsel and Wisdom out of the Command, so that David came to have more understanding than the Antient; Because thy Commandements are ever with me: Meditation drains and draws out the dreadful venom of a mans distempers, and makes it ever with him, where ever he goes, in every … he takes, the guilt of his sins is before him to accuse, and Hell gaping to devour him; where ever he is, his sin and guilt, his fears and terrors, his curses and confusion is with him to astonish him to al eternity. To have a wound or sore is troublesom, but to be raking in it dayly, though it were never so smal, were in truth intollerable. So it is here, Meditation is the multiplication of al these stings and terrors.

When Meditation hath thus taken hold of the heart, 3it then drags it to the Throne of Justice, and then drives it to seek out for payment and satisfaction, without which it cannot be eased nor delivered. This is the Markstone, within which the bounds and limits of Meditation are to be confined that it may be ordered and acted aright, according to the Method of the Almighty, and a right Rule. When the soul is summoned to answer the Charge, and is under the Arrest, and not able to escape, it finds now the severity of Gods Justice that exacts all, even the utmost, the greatness of the debt, and it's own inability to answer; yet pay he must, or else he must perish. It drives the soul to see a need of a Christ and mercy, and that it ought to seek out thither for relief and satisfaction: This is the aim of the Duty, and Gods end in fastening thus the filth, and guilt, and desert of sin upon the soul, and it should be our end also. And here a Three-fold extream unto which the soul is very subject in the exercise of this Service, is especially to be avoided.

1 Desperate Discouragements.

2 Hellish Provocations.

3 False Conceivings of the measure of Gods Work, p. 273or the manner of his proceedings, which we frame to our selves in our own thoughts.

All which are aberrations from the right way and Rule, and prove marvelous prejudicial in our proceeding. And the Enemy strives to put us upon all these by al the malice and policy he can use. If he cannot keep us in security, and hinder us from setting out in a Christian course, his next endeavor is to wrack us upon rocks, and fholes, and sands, and so to hazard our passage. A word of all.

First, We must beware of desperate discouragements 1in the consideration of our evil waies: for first Satan useth al the crafts and wiles that he can, that we may not see our sins, if we never know the danger, we wil never avoid, can never escape it. But if he see the sinner resolved to make a through search, and to make work of it, he then labors to carry him as much to the contrary extream, that he shal see nothing but sin; before he bore him in hand, he needed no pardon; now he perswades him there is no hope of pardon: Before his estate was safe and good, and need not be altered, nor he trouble himself about it; it's now so vile and desperate, there is no help, and cannot be recovered: Before he soothed up the sinner, it was in his power to reform when he would; now he perswades there is no possibility in Heaven or Earth to relieve. Do you not see (saies Satan) the greatness of the guilt of your former sins that's dayly before you, the power of present corruptions prevailing more and more? do you not see that all the means you have, and endeavors you use, do you no good? only you encrease your sin the more, by the abuse of Duties and Ordinances; and God hath forsaken you, rejected your person, cast out your prayers, blesseth not his Ordinances to you for good: talk not you of Grace and Mercy, you have deluded your self with those dreams too long; look not out for any such relief which you know you have formerly neglected, and it's p. 274now too late to expect: cease further troubling your self, sit down in your sorrows, and sink under the weight of your sins, that is the reward you have deserved, and the portion that is prepared for you of the Lord. This is Satans Logick, who would have us to abuse this blessed Ordinance, and to go beyond the bounds and Lawful limits of Meditation set out by the Lord himself; who would have us to see and search our sins, so as to see a need of Mercy, and to seek out after the unsearchable riches of his Grace, … to keep us in our sins, but that we may be carried out to him who wil recover us out of them. Abraham considered not his own dead Body, or Sarahs barrenness, Rom. 4. 19. he considerd them so far as to put him beyond hope in himself, that he might hope above hope; and it's the Lords command, Isai 45. 22. Look unto me from all the ends of the Earth, and be ye saved. Look upon your sins, miseries, dangers, depths of despair, but look up to me out of all these.

The Second Extream is, Hellish provocations, 2which we are to watch against in this Work. When the sinner hath set himself as he conceives … Gods way, and about his work, and yet finds no success in what he doth, our self-seeking hearts are apt to … with the Lord, snarl at his …, and so rise …, and fly in the face of the Almighty: … that wretched King said in … Siege of Samaria, 2 Kings 6. 33. This evil is from the Lord, why should I wait any longer? So the soul, I have done what I can, endeavored what I am able, he doth not bless what I do, I find no more strength, but my corruptions grow strong, my heart worse, my hopes and comforts less, I do but encrease my sin, and hasten my … in what I do, why should I endeavor any more?

I Answer in three things briefly.

1. Do not set too high a price upon our own performances, and overween our worth, and over value the services p. 275we do, for that is a root of bitterness, and a cause of these Hellish risings; when we secretly conceit God doth not consider our care, and the weight of our work and endeavor; if he did, he would otherwise reward us: As Taul saith, Rom. 9. 20. Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?

2. Beware, I say, beware of bringing the righteous Command, and holy Law of God, which discovers our sins, and requires our Duties, and our ability and feebleness together; as though the power and principle of the Work must come from us, and we go out in that. For there wil follow bigh and hellish provocations, fierce and fel rebellions against the Lord, when out of thine own heart thou dost tug against thine own heart and corruption: for instead of the first principle of working (which is not in us, but in the Lord Jesus) we become the first principle of sinning; and then direful and dreadful effects wil follow, which I profess I am afraid to speak, lest I should occasion some tender hearts through mistakes to question.

3. Check and … all those risings with that of the Apostle, Rom. 9 21, 22. What if God will not? and deny any Spiritual power of thine own, and stand stil, and expect no principle of any performance in thy self, but that which is from God, in and by his Word, and let him alone with thy heart: Say, I have nothing, it's fit I should have nothing it's righteous that God should give me nothing. I do not expect to do any Spiritual good of my self, nor yet expect that God should give me Grace for what I do (because al that I do is sin) only I know it is with him to do what he wil; the wil, the power, and thework is al from him; therefore I wil lie in his way, and be at the pool, it may be he wil cast me in: I know he can, and who knows but he may, if not, I have no reason to rise up against him.

Men devise new Rules, and make new Gospels of their 3own, and set such a measure to themselves in their own p. 276apprehensions, which unless they can compass, they are resolved to take no content; nay, not to follow any other direction than that they have coyned in their own conceit; and thus they please themselves in their own apprehensions, and resolve to dwel in the consideration of their sins, until their hearts were brought so low, see themselves so vile, the soul so through broken under the weight of their evil, and their own unworthiness, else what have they to do with a Christ, or once to look toward him.

How we come to grapple with the heart by Meditation, we heard before; and because this Work is wearisom in it self, and tedious to our corrupt Nature, to be ever raking in the Wound, set a mans heart upon the rack, and keep it in restless disquiet, that the venom of a mans guilt and plagues should ever be before his eyes, and the Summons to Judgment ever sounding in his Ears; the soul is not able to bear the unsupportable weight thereof, and therefore it cannot get to Christ to be cured and healed; it winds and turns every way that yet it may be eased, therefore the sinner tries al conclusions that possible may be, that he may drive away the dismal thoughts of his sinful condition, and cast aside those stabbing considerations that makes his heart die within him. Therefore he turns every stone, if he can drink it out, or game it out, or work it out, or pray it out, or any waies, or by any means wear out the thoughts that weary him of his life.

Thus he strives if he cannot get good by his Mediration, yet to get rid of it; because he cannot be bettered by it, he would not be troubled with it. As the Patient when he is not able to bear the extremity of the Corrosive, that would eat out the proud flesh, takes it off and laies it aside, rather keep his sore though it hazard his life than suffer the smart of it, and may be his perversness costs him his life. A serious consideration set on, and kept on upon the soul, is like this extream Corrosive, p. 277the rebellious heare is not able to endure the continuance of it, and therfore at last it wil make an escape from under the sting and strength of it, if possibly it may; and usually it doth, unless the Lord put forth his powerful hand in some special help: and therefore herein lies the last, and the hardest part of Meditation, to get above the heart, and to get the better of it. And to this purpose, the Directions are Three.

Labor to possess thy heart aright with a dreadful fear of thy sinful and desperate condition: maintain it alive in thy self, that it may go along with thee, that will keep thy Meditation alive also, and mightily prevailing. Where a mans fears are, his thoughts wil be, they carry a mans consideration uncontroulably with them. Fear is a faithful Watch-man, it sends post between the head and heart, it cals up our consideration and thoughts, and carries them along with them, as the occasion is presented; and it's beyond al a mans skil, either to prevent the coming, or gainsay the power and overbearing force of fears. If once Satan get the heart fearless, it becomes careless and thoughtless, as I may so speak. Eliphas couples them together, Job, 15. 14. Thou casrest off fear, and restrainest prayer; thou hast taken off the activity of fear: fear hath fallen from his authority, and then it follows thou restrainest prayer. Fear keeps Centinel, gives the … dayly to the soul of the approaching plagues, as the deserts of our sins, cals up the best ability of our minds, and strength of our thoughts to attend the …, so that there is no sleeping nor idling under such a watch-man. What wil be the Judgments which your sins deserve, who can conceive? and how soon they may come, who can tel? Come they wil, that's certain; but when they wil come, that's uncertain: think, and ever be inusing how to prevent those evils, that ye are never able to avoid, nor bear: Job compares fear to an Army of mighty force, that commands where it comes; Job, 30. 15. Terrors are turned in p. 278upon me, they pursue me … the wind; therefore by an over-ruling command they cal for attendance of the strength of the mind and man, and they cannot be put off, or laid aside, or silenced, but press a man to his most serious consideration, to be exercised with all diligence, how to foresee and prevent the evils expected, Psal. 48. 6. Fear is said to seize and lay hold upon the sinner, as travel upon a woman with child. We know when the appointed time of Travel comes on, there is no preventing or delaying of the work, as that the party can stay til the … day, or week, or hour; nor yet can she put off her work to another, as she may do her other occasions, as a friend may go this way for her, a servant may do that which she desires; but when her throws come, no body can stay them, no body must bear them but her self, and she wil be forced to mind, and attend them and her own help, whether she wil or no. The fear and dreadful expectation of Gods righteous Judgments deserved and threatened, let them seize upon the sinner, and let him travel under the terror of the Almighty; If God should come and cal me to answer, how should I help my self? If the Lord do (as the times are in his own hands) what should I judg or think of my condition? In a sinful and miserable estate I am (I am sure) and how soon the pit may shut her mouth upon me, that I may be past hope and help, I know not; high time therefore to think how to be affected with this, and how to be freed from this damnable condition. If the good man of the house did know the Thief would come, he would certainly watch, he would listen attentively at every stirring, Matth. 24. 43. Fear saies the evil wil come, and makes a man ever be thinking how to prevent it before it comes. As in a Siege, he that keeps the noise of the Drum, the sound of the Trumpet, the clattering of Spears, the report of the Canon in his ears and fears, he wil be kept a waking, and be forced to attend upon his watch, and stand … his Guard for his life. So do p. 279thou as the psalmist said, Psal. 9. last Put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves to be but men. they wil know they are sinful and mortal and wretched … that must come to death and judgment.

Awaken Conscience, cal for the help of it, and put it into commission, and it wil put forth an overruling power, for the settling of our apprehensions in their attentive employments; when somtimes they are routed and put by their proper exercise, by the unruly and inordinate distempers of our hearts. For reason and understanding are the underlings as it were of inferior and lower ranck, and can but as servants and attendants offer and propound to the wil and affections; what they … and conceive may be most convenient, and the wretched way wardness of our hearts, wil either snub or silence them, reject or cast them away, you befool reason, damp and pervert the light of judgment, tel reason she is a fool and is deceived and drive it to another search somtimes in the Saints … and wil are for the work. The one pleads for it the other approves and desires it; and yet the violence and outrage of some overbearing corruptions take off Meditation and hinder it against the heart and hayr against our judgment and desire. Now conscience is to be called in who hath received a supream authority, to oversee both, to right al such disorders and to see that the mind have its free scope, for the exercise of Meditation in his times and turns. And that this is so, Experience of all men in al ages wil give in evidence undeniable; the Godly, their Conscience is controuler in their whol course by the beck and least iutimation of whose authority, the frame of their spirits inwardly and their carriages outwardly are …, so as they can do nothing against the truth (2 Cor. 13. 8.) & dictate of their Conscience they could do any thing against their credit and comfort and profit yea their very lives … not against their Conscience. Witness again the wrastlings of the spirits of the ungodly, when p. 280their … reason hath contrived al waies and shifts their hearts earnestly desired, also how to stifle and stop the mouth of Conscience, to silence his dictates, that they might proceed in the practice of their lawless course, without stop and trouble and disquiet and the sad remembrance of that guilt and … which Conscience tyres them with, but al in vain when Conscience is armed with authority and exerciseth that authority which is given it, is in his place and doth the … of … place but I say you must put it into commission; God can and doth when he wil, but we should also give way and help forward this work as we are able, according to that direction for our spiritual good in this behalf, for it is with Conscience as it is with men of worth in the countrey from whence we came, though they be as holy and gracious and wise when they are out of the commission of the peace as when they are in; yet then (when they are out of the commission) though they be willing and desirous according to the … the Lord hath given them to see and so to reforme al wrongs and disorders yet they want power. So it is with Conscience, when through our careless and rebellious carriage, it is either blinded or stifled, and so his place and exercise of his power is utterly hindred; we must therefore … Conscience into his commission as much as in us lyes; i. e help forward the exercise of that soveraign authority with the right whereof Conscience stands possessed according to the place the Lord hath set him in. Here are three directions.

Let nothing joyn with Conscience in the command it 1gives and power it exerciseth but the holy and righteous Law of God. This is that which makes the simplicity of the eye which our Saviour mentions, Math. 6. 22. and that which addes that overruling vertue and … thereunto, insomuch that the text tells us; where the eye is single the whol body is ful of light. That eye I suppose is not bare reason or understanding enlightened, p. 281though that sence is savory and included: but there is I conceive somewhat more, that eye is here meant according to the light and direction whereof the whol body is acted and ordered, that is a mans whol course and conversation is guided in a right way. That is by vertue of Conscience especially which hath an overpowring command with it, to act and carry out al the dispositions of our hearts and actions of our lives, suitable to the light and level of the law of God, according to which it accuseth or excuseth; This single eye is a conscience sincere, when nothing interrupts the work of Conscience, but the law acts it, and it acts the man, thus the office Conscience exereiseth is from God and for God.

Keep Conscience trembling and tender, that it may 2be Eagle Eyed, and easily sensible of the least evil and do thou accustome thy self to be sure to take notice of the least intimation it gives. This gives as I may say encouragement to Conscience and helps forward the work, and honors that authority which it exerciseth, Thus David was at the beck of his Conscience even for the appearance and bordering of evil, 1. Sam. 24. …. his heart smot him because he had cut off Sauls skirt.

Take undoubtedly the sentence of Conscience rightly 3guided to be Gods own sentence. That which he wil own and make good upon al the sons of men at the great day of …; It wil pass current and prevayl then either for thy Condemnation or for thy absolution, It should therefore prevail with thee for thy direction in this world thou shalt be judged by it then, it stands thee in hand to be ordered by it now. Rev. 20. 12. The books were opened, and the dead were judged out of those things written in their bookes according to their works.

Thus there is some help and assistance lent to Meditā tion that it may awe and keep under the heart, and these have their use and fruit also in their time and measure p. 282but yet a corrupt heart left to it self wil sooner or later shut out Meditation and silence the serious exercise of his own thoughts against his sin and himself to arraign himself every day to sit in judgment and pass the sentence of Condemnation upon his own soul, he is not able to endure. He wil not part with his sin and yet he cannot take pleasure in his sin upon these …. He wil shake off his fears and sear his Conscience, silence his … that neither his thoughts nor terrors may trouble him any more, and so return again to his old haunt and there perish.

Unless the Lord (in the last place) put to his Almighty 3hand and send his spirit from heaven to set on the work so that it shal undoubtedly succeed, … the malice of Satan and the opposition of our own corrupt hearts. An under officer of meaner rank may happily be too weak to cope with a company of prophane varlets, and therefore it may be they scorn and slight both his person and place, until the Prince himself come with numbers and power, he wil certainly bring them under, or be the ruin of the whol company. So when the fears God … sent in be scattered, the dictates of Conscience, as his officer, be laid aside; the Lord himself wil take the … to task and so restelesly pursue the sinner with his own …, that he wil not respite him for the least refreshing from the evil that presseth in upon him; Job. 7. 14. How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me, alone til … swallow down my spittle? Its not the fire but the blowing of the coals that melts the mettal to become fit matter for a vessel to be made. It's not the Law that breaks the heart of a sinner, for he neither is nor can be subject to the LawRom. 8. 7. but its done by the spirit of Humiliation, who hath it in his own hand, and must blow up this fire it wil not melt else; strike with this hammer … certain he must or else the heart wil never break: Job, 13. 26 He makes a man possess the sins of his youth. p. 283when he hath not minded them, may be forgot them; he revies them again and presents them, afresh to the view of the mind, keeps the eyes waking, &c.

They were pricked to the heart.

From the means we are now to come to the work it self, which is attended here with the subject or parties to whom it doth appertayn and in whom it was wrought and these are considered in a double respect: and so they wil afford us a double Instruction. This pricking it was not of al but some onelyonly who heard the word upon whom it prevailed with saving success; some were pierced, some went away not touched not stirred there with. As it fares with scattered shot when the piece is discharged against the whol flock or flight of the fowl, some are hit and slayne with it, some sit stil are not afrighted nor stirred with it.

Hence the doctrine is.

The same dispensation of the word which isDoct. powerful and profitable to some is unprofitable unto others.

They be together at the same time, in the same seat with the same ability, intention and devotion, and yet one is benefited by the means, the other receives no good from it. Luke. 7. 29. 30. And al the people heard John preaching, and the Publicans justified God being baptized of him, but the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, So again, Acts 18. 6. 8. Some …, others opposed and …, Christ himself is layd as a stone of stumbling for the rising and falling of many 2 Cor. 2. 16. The word … some is a … of life … life, unto others the saviour of Death unto Death.

p. 284Because God hath several ends to attain in these. dispensations; Reas. 1.the execution of his justice in a righteous manner, the punishment of the sins of the wicked by the means he affords, to recover them out of their sins and the conveyance of the work of his grace to those that belong to the election of his grace, It's a strange inference God makes and way that he takes in the sending of his messengers, Math. 23. 34. behold I wil send you Prophets and Apostles, and some of them ye shal scourge, and some ye shal … and Crucify; this was to gratify their corrupt wils and so dishonor his own ordinances, how can this stand with his justice; yes herin is his justice exceedingly magnifyed, that the … of al that … been shed might come upon them. Nay which is yet most strange; God then sends the most glorious means of salvation to a people, when in his righteous judgment the work of Conversion shal be furthest off and they aggravate their condemnation. Isa. 6. 9. The Prophet had his tongue touched with a coal from the Altar, mervailously gifted and fitted, and himself unwearied, but mark what his commission was, go (saith the Lord) make the heart of this people fat, and their Ears heavy least they be converted, and should beal them. This was the way to convert them, and yet by this … they are hardened and set further off from conversion than they were before; The choycest physick and purest ayr meeting with corrupt and decaying bodies, kills immediately. So here. Our Saviour resolves it. Math. 13. 11. Its not in the power or parts or improvements of some above others but to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given. The same fire we know wil melt the mettal which shal make vessels of honor and dishonor. He makes the wicked without … he makes his Saints serviceable to his own mind.

That herein he might shew the … … … good Reas. 2.wil and pleasure. Rom. 9. 18. He hath mercy on p. 285whom … will, and whom he will, … … Hath not the Potter power over the clay, to make one vessel to honor, another to dishonor? He shews that the issue and event of al comes only from his own purpose and pleasure. So the Apostle resolves it, … 22. What if God will? So the Evangelist also, John, 12. 37, 38, 39. Though Christ … done many miracles, yet they beleeved not; Why did they not beleeve? He adds, Therefore they could not beleeve, because Isaiah had said he hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, that they should not be converted. Hither our Savior comes, and sits down in admiration, Matth. 11. 25, 26. I thank thee Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent of the world, and hast revealed them unto Babes, even so O Father, because it seemed good in thy sight.

It should provoke in us all, the … fear in the … Vse 1.of the greatest means; our deadliest bane may come from the best Ordinances; this is speeding Physick, it wil work either one way or other, either kill or cure. Now is the Ax laid to the root of the tree, … 3. 10. When Christ came, then was their destruction coming on with most hast, 2 Cor. … When the … had discovered the excellency of his Gospel, in the plainness and power of it, he leaves with that Supposition, If our Gospel be hid, it's hid to … … perish. When Moses was coming, … … … … Where he … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … excellent means of Grace; … 11. … … … … … … … … … … … … …

… … … … … Use 2.… … … … … … … … … … p. 286of these, as though they had inhaerent, prevailing power in themselves. Bless not thy self barely by having of these; say, I may have these Ordinances, and yet have death as wel as life: yea, I may hear of Christ, may seek after him, and enjoy his presence here in the means, and yet never have any saving good by any of these, Luke, 2. 34. He is as well for the fall of many, as for their rising.

Exhortation to stir us up to use all means; and when Use 3.thou seest the benefit received by som, seek thou also for a blessing upon them; as Esau said, bless me, me also. So say thou, such … proud heart hath found the Word humbling of him, such a discouraged heart hath felt the Word comforting of him; Lord, let the Word humble me also, pierce me also, comfort me also. The Husband-man sows, and waits for the first and latter rain, and as David said, mine eyes fail for thy Salvation, saying, when … thou comfort me? when wilt thou enlighten me, quicken me? when wilt thou break my heart? when wilt thou make me spiritual, and painful, and thriving in … Christian Course.

Lastly, Return praise and thanksgiving to the Lord Use 4.for what thou … receive, and find in the powerful dispensations of the Word. God hath marvelously separated his mercy unto thee, in giving not Physick, but health in it; not Bread, but the staff of nourishment with it; not the Word, but the life and profit of it. Be thou marvelous thankful and careful not to come and hear as … but set thy heart to the Word, bring a … … … … … … to the hearing of it. Do not powr out thy words in prayer, but powr out thy … &c.

Again Secondly, Look who these are, who are nowSecondly. wounded and pierced with the preaching of Peter, and we shal find them some of the … of the … and … of … wretches, who were not only guilty of the death of … but such who now set themselves p. 287in an inhumane manner against the Apostles of Christ; and carried themselves with … and contempt against their persons and proceedings, the publishing … … of the great things of God in the … strain of opposition; for … ye look back into the 12, and 13. verses, you shal there see the miracle of tongues wrought a twofold effect in the hearers; some were amazed, verse 12. some mocked, verse 13. and to these Peter addresseth his speech, his spirit being stirred in a holy indignation against so hellish distempers, against the gracious and miraculous expression of the Spirit of the Lord; to them he saies, ver. 14, 15. … it known unto you, that these men are not drunk … ye suppose, &c. to these … and deriders he now speaks, and they are now Pricked. Some … wounded, and these were the worst, and such as did oppose.

Hence the Doctrine to be observed, …

The Lord many times makes the Word pierceDoct. and prevail most powerfully in the hearts of sinners for their everlasting good, when they oppose the power thereof, and their own good therein.

In a word. The Lord often makes the Word work then effectually, when the scornful heart is … against the work, and … at a distance from it. This is the Lords profession, … 43. 21. Even the people that he formed for himself, and such … should shew forth his praise, those whom … would make most … to himself, … so did; yet see in the following words how he found these, and when he formed these for his own … … 24, 25. Thou … … … no … Cane … … … … … … Sacrifices: … … … … … of his Ordinances, p. 288and cast his commands behind their back, yea, thou hast made me serve with thy sins, and thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities; instead of serving God, they made his Ordinances, and the Priviledges he provided, and so his Love, and Mercy, and himself therein, to serve their … and sensual Hearts; they put God to it, his Patience and long-suffering, that he could no longer endure their lewdness. Yet then he ads, he would do most good to … when they had no care of their own good; and then enlarge his compassions to them when they multiplied … provocations against him. I, even I for mine own sake, will blot out thine iniquities, and remember thy sins no more. This was Gods dealing with Ephraim, and the season of that his saving health he extended towards him, when he rushed on in the waies of …, according to thè waies of his own heart, Isai 57. 17, 18. For the iniquity of his covetousness, of his evil lustings, I was … with him, I … him, I hid my self and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart; here is the highest strain of rebellious sturdiness of Spirit. When God is angry he smites the soul, and hides away himself; yet to be froward in the mid'st of al these heavy expressions of his displeasure that might reform him, yea, to go on after in the … of wickedness. If ever a people seemed to be past cure, prepared for ruin and confusion, past all hope either of enjoying or profiting by the means; this might seem to be the time, these the men; but Gods waies and thoughts are not as ours: for mark the next words; I have seen his waies, and I will lead him, and heal …, and … comfort to him, and those that mourn with him. Then God will see him, when he cannot see himself; then God will heal his frowardness who cannot help himself; then God will guide him when he cannot guide himself; then he wil make him mourn, and others mourn, with him, and mourn for him, and he wil comfort them p. 289both. And our Savior for this very end, hath ascended up on high to receive gifts for men, even for the rebellious, that the Lord may dwell among them also. Psal. 68. 18. Eph. 4. 8.

This may suffice for the Proof of the Point: See the … of it laid open in … Particulars.

He presseth in upon men by the prevailing work of 1his Grace in his Ordinances, before they look after him or their own welfare, prevents their imaginations and desires. When … snorting in their sins, sit down securely, wel apay'd with their careless and corrupt condition: the things of Grace, and Christ, and Mercy, are not so much as in their thoughts or dream; the Lord beyond their expectation, lets in the discovery of himself, and … manifestation of the work of his Spirit, before they be aware of it. Jos. 24. 2. compared with Acts, 7. 2. Thus it was in the calling of Abraham, when the Lord brought him to himself, and made him the Father of the Faithful, when Terah and he were drowned in Idolatry, without God, without Christ, and without Hope, never heard of any such thing as life in a Savior by Faith, never hearkened after it, but worshiping the Idols of the Heathen. The God of Glory, saies Stephen, appeared to our Father Abraham, when he … in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran; when he dwelt in the mid'st of Idolaters, and never had the least thought or apprehension of the Covenant of Grace; the Lord then appeared to him, and bad him come out from thy country and kindred, and from thy fathers …, and so from their Idolatrous Practices. God finds men before they seek him, he makes known himself before they enquire after him; Isai. …. 1. I am … of them that asked not after me, I am found of them that sought me not; I said, behold me, behold me, to a Nation that was … called by my Name. How often have we heard it, and known it in our own Country; the Lord hath sent a Minister to see the Country, and visit his p. 290friends, and it hath been the day wherein he hath been pleased to visit the heart of many a careless ignorant Creature, who came idling as to a May-game, or Morrisdauncing, and dropped into the Assembly, and the Word hath laid hold on him before he hath been aware of it; how often hath the loose Prodigal come to riot it at the Fair and Market, and hath been drawn in to hear beyond his purpose, cross to his desire, and wished himself out of the place, and yet hath heard that before he departed, which hath been a word of life and peace unto his soul, for which he saw cause to bless God to all Eternity, Matthew he is sitting at the receit of Custom, minds how to take money, Peter and James are casting a Net into the Sea, to see how to make provision for themselves; Christ cals them to himself, and so to an Interest in Grace and Glory, when they had not so much as a thought that way; It's that of the Apostle, Rom. 9. 30. The Gentiles who sought not after righteousness, they have attained unto righteousness, and yet the Jews who pretended great pains and search that way, they fel short of it.