The Application of Redemption, Book 10 (9 of 13)

The Application of Redemption · Book 10 (9 of 13)

p. 383Hence the Lord Christ by the irresistible power of his Conclus.spirit doth countermand the authority of sin; makes it 4appear that its commission is come to an end, the date of it is expired. Namely sin after Adam withdrawing himself received a commission from divine justice, that … the soul would not be ruled by him and his law. It should be possessed and acted by corruption; the date of the commission lasts until the Lord Jesus the second Adam who … for the sinner comes by covenant to take the soul to himself; and then he appearing in this behalf, sin is forced back, and not to exercise her power, and then the evil of sin is brought p. 384home to the soul and set on with the ful venome of it, and the nature of the soul is made sensible of it, I say made sensible and deeply affected therewith; This me thinks is the binding of the strong man, Math. 12. 29. Wherby the Devills armour that is his comission by vertue of which … holds the soul is taken away from him stopp the sluice and stream that drives the mil, and then you turn the wheel another way, which otherwise while under the sourse of the stream cannot be stirred. Thus God commands the soul to return from iniquity Job. 36. 10. And if he do but stop the commission for a sudden turn, then there may follow a tast which such as sin against the holy Ghost may have of whom the Apostle speaks Hebr. 6. 4, 5, 6.

The Lord Jesus by the virtu of his death puts an end Conclus.to the commission that divine justice gave, & disanuls 5the right and power that sin challenged and by which it acted the soul of a sinner, wherby it kept the soul under its command that no means could work upon it or be made effectual to it. 1. Pet. 3. 18. Christ dyed for us that he might bring us to God. For when Adam (and so we in him) wilfully departed from God & would not be guided by his rightous law and just wil; divine justice gave a commission to sin to take vengeance of the soul, and keep it under, that no good may come to it or it receive any; now Christ by his death having satisfyed justice, the commission is cancelled, there is nothing on Gods part which hinders; And there is nothing on our parts can hinder, the authority of sin is disannulled, his claym made voyd; that soul is mine saies Christ, hands off …, hands off sin; the claym answered, authority disannulled, power stopped, now there is way for light to come to the mind; and for the nature of sin as discovered to be set on upon the soul, and it made to seel the venom thereof, as upon those termes it may, utsupra. So our Saviour …. 1. 18. I was dead but am alive, and I have the keyes of hell and death. i. e. hath p. 385supream authority to shoot back al boults to open al dores. As the first Adam by natural generation … power and commission from divine justice to turn the souls of his children from God to sin, so the second Adam having satisfyed and answered divine justice, hath power to turn the soul from satan and sin to God; satan and sin are at his devotion, the soul at his command

The third particular to be opened.

How far the soul is or may be truly said to be active in this work of Contrition, or this 3spiritual sorrow, when it comes to receive the right impression of it for sin as such:

The Answer may be conceived in the following particulars.

There is no power in man to remove that resistance that is in his heart against God & the work of his grace; that which out of its own corrupt principles doth wholly 1resist and cannot but resist, the operation and dispensation of al spiritual means, that would prevayl with it for good, that cannot take away the resistance; for resistance cannot take away resistance; it implyes a palpable contradiction, as that which is professedly cross to common sence; but the corrupt heart of a natural man while he is in the state of nature, and corruption, doth and cannot but wholly resist, the work of Gods spirit and grace and al the saveing operations of al the means thereof. The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary Gal. 5. 17. And what is born of the flesh is flesh John, 3. 7. that is the temper and inward constitution of a soul in its natural condition, its wholly born of the flesh, and therefore nothing but flesh, and therefore can do nothing but resist the spirit; yea it cannot but p. 386oppose what ever would take that resistance away; for it's a received rule of reason and confessed of al hands, every thing desires the preservation of it self, and its being, otherwise the being and the causes that made up the being should be cross to the thing, if it should endeavor its own destruction, nay a thing should be opposite to it self; Hence it is that the corruption of the heart wil put forth al the skil & strength it hath or by the contrivements of carnal reason, can compass to fortify & preserve it self against the spiritual and saving dispensation of the work of Gods spirit in his own ordinances, because wicked men look at the power thereof as that which works the ruin of their lusts; therefore they labor to avoyd the light if they can, if not that, to oppose it, and overbear it by their delusions, if not that, to destroy it; they wil not hear the truth, or gainsay, what they hear, or abhor and loath what they cannot many times gainsay, nay endeavour to destroy what they so hate and are tormented withal, The wisdom of the flesh cannot be subject to the law. Rom. 8. 7. the heart riseth up in armes, and indignation against the soul-saving and uncontroulable evidences of the truth, they wil not be ruled by the holiness of it, and they cannot endure the terror and Majesty of it. … sometimes the Philystians dealt with the Ark when it came into the field, they thus spake one to another there was never such a thing heard of as this, these are the Gods that destroyed the Egiptians in the red. Sea, quit your selves like men, Oh yee Philystins, that ye be not servants to the Hebrewes, They say of the word as sometimes of our Saviour. Math. 21. this is the Heyr come let us kill him, and the inheritance shal be ours, they cannot have their lusts so long as the power of the word would, overtop and cross them, therefore Herodias prefers John Baptists head before half the Kingdom, that she might be quiet in her sins.

Before the soul can act against the evil of sin or for 2the removal of this resistance wherein the destroying p. 387venom of sin lyes, and that which stops the passage of the power of the ordinance & the work of Grace, It's necessary that the Lord should not only concur with the … of the wil of a sinner to lead or draw forth the act thereof which he hath ability to express, but he must let in an influence of the … power & vertue into the faculty of the wil, whereby it may be enabled to put forth an act unto which it formerly it had no power of it self; It's a subtile pang of Pelagianism and the Arminians som of their successors have licked up that loathsom heresy of theirs at this day: & … this delusion & cunning pretence of theirs they would color over those rotten and poysonful conceits; & hence it is they labor to bear men in hand, that they labor to set forth and exalt the honour of Gods free grace, they profess that without the preventing grace of God, mans free wil and al that ability he hath left in nature since the fal is able to do no spiritual good. The words are fayr but the intent is fals and …, and indeed they do privily and cunningly undermine the work of Gods grace while they pretend indeed to advance it. For the meaning is this. God must enlighten mens minds and reveal the things of life and happiness to mens wils, excite, stir up and cal forth their hearts to the embracing of that which is good, and concur with him in their endeavors to the performance of the work or else they can do nothing, so that upon this grant, Gods free grace in the work of conversion, cals forth and concurs with that act which mans free wil hath sufficiency to put forth, which is to make man share with God in his work, and to part stakes with him.

But the truth is this, The Lord must let in an influence of some special motion and operation and leave some impression of spiritual power upon the wil to enable it to act, not onelyonly to concur with the act thereof. God gives a man ability whereby he may wil, doth not … with him by assistance and providence when he wills as one in whom we live and move.

p. 388Of the first of these it's true which many of the Antients speak, God works without us, many things in us, i. e. unto which we being in no causal ability at al, God gives us ability to do that which is pleasing and spiritual, to the obtaining whereof, we had no causal ability of our own; when the Lord Christ raised Lazarus now dead and smelling in the Grave, he did not concur with the action and motion of his Soul in rising out of the Grave, but without any causal concurrence or help of Lazarus, he put a soul into his body, whereby he was enabled to stir and move. So it is with a soul dead in sins and trespasses, when the mind and will have no ability for any spiritual act, not able to take off that deadness and indisposition that is there, the Lord without the will, without any causal concurrence of it, lets in ability into it for the work, and concurs with it in the work. So Paul expresseth this manner of Gods Work, 2 Cor. 4. 6. He causeth light to shine out of darkness, he gives light and being out of darkness, without the help of light, and then concurs with the light in the shining of it, God lets in an Influence to the will, not only lends a concurrence to the work.

The Influence of this spiritual Power whereby the 3Lord takes away this sinful resistance, is not by any gracious habit of sanctification, but by an irresistable motion of the work of his spirit upon the soul: By a gracious habit of Sanctification, I mean those spiritual Graces of Wisdom, Holiness, Righteousness, in which Adam at first was created, and according unto which, al the Elect and called are renewed according to the Image of him that created them, Eph. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. these gracious habits are so many Spiritual and Supernatural Principles as it were left in the soul, whereby it is in a state of Life and Grace, and liberty and free will to any good; and therefore as those that are Agents by Counsel, they are … of their own work, can act or not act, can act more or less according to their own choyce: p. 389And I follow the Apprehension of those Authors who conceive that the removal of this resistance is not by any gracious habit of Sanctification, but by the irresistible motion of the work of the Spirit; and therefore they cal it Actual Grace, the other Habitual: A work of the Spirit assisting, the other a work of the Spirit inhabiting, or dwelling in the heart; the one a Principle of Grace in us which we have from communion with Christ; the other the work of the Spirit upon us, to bring us from our sins to union with the Lord Jesus; and that upon these grounds:

All Habits (as it is in the Nature of all qualities) 1have their being in their Subjects, before they work in their Subject: Reason and Nature teacheth and presupposeth he must have skil before he can use it, gain the knowledg of an Art before he … work by it; I cannot do the work of the Trade, alas I have no skil, nor ever was brought up to it; for take the heart according to the condition in which we now look at a sinner, it's wholly under the power of resistance, carried in total opposition against God, and al the works of his Grace; and therefore consider him in this time and turn, and go no further, there is no room, or next capability of a gracious habit or spiritual Principle to be there, therefore it cannot work there, The Natural man doth not receive the things of the Spirit of God, nay he cannot do it, 1 Cor. 2. 14. The World cannot receive the Comforter, John, 14. 21.

Where there is a capability to receive, there is some kind of consent and agreement, but so as yet it cannot be here in a heart fastened to its lusts; where there is a total opposition, there is no fit disposition to receive, but while the soul is under the power of this resistance, there is a total opposition, and therefore there can be no consension.

Again Secondly, All gracious Habits of Sanctification 2are part of the Image which we receive from the Second p. 490Adam, 1 Cor. 15. 49. As we have born the Image of the first Adam, so shall we also bear the Image of the second Adam, and so also part of our Spiritual communion with Christ, of whose fulness we receive Grace for Grace, John, 1. 16. and are transformed from one degree of glorious Grace to another, 2 Cor. 3. last.

All Communion presupposeth Union; no sap in 1the Branches, unless growing to the Tree; no life in the Member, unless united to the Head, John, 15. 4. Unless ye abide in me, ye can have nothing, do nothing: Eph. 4. 15, 16. Grows up in him in all things, who is our Head, by whom the Body aptly compacted together, according to the effectual working, &c. First In-being then working.

No Union but by an Act, for no qualities close 2with their Object but by an Act. But now look at the soul in this present condition, as it comes to consideration in this place, as to have the resistance removed, and it self turned from sin, and in way to be turned to God. Should this be done by a gracious Habit? then there should be communion with Christ, before any union to him, or acting upon him; all which imply so many impossibilities, and cross the whol course of Gods Dispensation.

Those gracious Habits, when and wheresoever they 3be in any Subject, it becomes free (somtimes the actions thereof are suspended and cease, as in sleep) and then the act and order of things, is according to their own liberty in an indifferency; so that were either the resistance against the work of Grace to be removed, or the heart carried to God from hence, it were in our choyce to be converted, or not converted, whenas it hath been proved, our Conversion is wrought irresistably, and determined to one side, not issuing from the liberty of our choyce, and therefore it is brought about by the irresistible impression of the work of the Spirit: In a word, p. 491to issue this Point, Look as it is in the will of every Son of Adam, when he comes to be averted, and turned … God to sin in the course of Natural Generation; so it is in a right proportion in the … of every man begotten of the Second Adam, when he comes to be turned from sin to God in Spiritual Conversion. Look at the will of a Child in the course of Natural Generation, as it is created by God, and comes holy and undefiled out of his hand; as the question, How comes the will of the Child to be turned from God to sin? it cannot be by any actual sin of its own, it hath committed none; it cannot be by any corrupt quality first put into it, before it was turned from God, and by which, that turning aside is wrought, for then it should be under the power of sin, while yet it is under the power of God. But by vertue of Adams sin, and the Curse that attends the breach of the Covenant, and by means of the next Parent in the work of Generation; the Body made wonderfully, and the Soul created holy by God, he as an unskilful workman, by the vertue of the Curse, acting the work of Generation under the power of the Curse, and power of a perverted will, turns the set of the Soul from God, joyns body and soul in a wrong and exorbitant manner; hence they … to be in a disorderly frame, the wheels run wrong, under the power of original corruption, and struck wrong by actual transgression; so that there is the strength of the Curse, the push of Divine Justice, and the perverting stroke of the next Parent turns the soul from God to sin, whence it comes to be wholly possessed and acted by corruption.

So it is by proportion in a contrary manner in the work of Conversion, when the Lord Jesus comes to bring the sinner home, he doth not put sanctifying Grace into the heart, to bring the heart from the power and rebellion of fin, for then it should be under the power of Grace and sin together; but by the mighty impression and motion of his Spirit takes off the resistance, p. 392and turns the soul from sin to himself in Christ, in whom accepting of it as adopted in his Son, he leaves the impression of his Image, and al gracious abilities whereby the heart may be carried towards him, and act for him in all things.

In the removal of this resistance, for the conquering 4and overpowering this opposition, that a carnal heart naturally carries against God and his Grace, the will of the sinner it self is a meer Patient, and the soul is only a sufferer and acts not, but is acted upon; for the heart and wil of a sinner being possessed and overpowered with corruption, that which is the subject of his corrupt quality, and acted by it, hath no power to expel it, that which is wholly carried by resistance, cannot wil to remove that resistance out of it, but in truth resists al that resists or opposeth that; only the Lord by the mighty impression of the powerful operation of Spirit over-bears that opposition in the soul, and forceth the soul to feel the stab and venom of sin, though it use all means and waies it can to avoid the stroak of it, but al in vain, for the Arrows of the Almighty stick fast in him: And all this is done, and may be without any prejudice to any Liberty that the Lord hath put into the will, for the will may be forced to suffer even against it's will, without any wrong to the liberty thereof, as the damned do in Hell at this day, and shal through all eternity, and shal never be able to get from under the terrors of the Almighty.

For the meaning of that received expression, the Will cannot be compelled, is this, In all the acts the Will puts forth, she is a cause by counsel, and acts from the inward power and ability that is implanted in her; to be compelled, is to act by constraining force from without: now for the will to act from her own power inwardly, and yet to be acted by a contrary power from without, are Contradictions. The will then (in a word) cannot be constrained to do, but it may be constrained to p. 393suffer without any the least prejudice to liberty; and so it is here in this work I now mention, a meer sufferer.

Thus Job, 36, 10. The Lord said to command men from iniquity; he not only directs, but by a soveraign power carries the soul from iniquity: thus lamenting Ephraim intreats, Jer. 31. 18. Turn me and I shall be turned, thou art the Lord my God: And Paul was sent, Acts, 20. 18. To turn men from darkness to light; and so the whol frame of Scripture runs: they are said to be wounded, burdened, …, when they should avoid the blow, and remove the burden, were in their choyce, but they are pressed under the hand of the Lord, which they are not able to escape, though not able to undergo it: Hence it is that though by reason of the presence of the body of death that yet remains, there will be some stirrings of distemper, which wil raise up some mutinies and conspiracies against the work and preventing Grace of God, yet there will never be power nor possibility, so far to resist as to hinder the work of Conversion, and effectual bringing of the soul to God: As in an Army wholly defeated, and routed, and scattered, their Commanders slain, and strong Holds taken, and their Country possessed; though some roving Troops may happily pilfer and forage up and down here and there in secret, when they are not observed; yet they are never able to make head, or come into the Field. So here.

Lastly, When this resistance is removed, and the 5right, power and challenge which sin made, disanulled, the soul comes yet further to yield consent that there should be an everlasting divorce made between it and her former lusts and lovers, and is in earnest content they should for ever be estranged from her, and she from them. And in this consent which the soul yields for this separation, which is the great knot, it moves only as under the power, and in the vertue of the motion of the Spirit. So that Divines thus speak, This consent is not p. 394of our selves, though not without our selves. There is no power in the soul, by which as a principle and beginning of the work it's carried to the work, but acts as prevented by the impression of the power and motion of the Spirit, in vertue whereof it's acted and enabled to this consent; so that the act of Gods exciting and working Grace, doth not concur with the power that is in the will, to put forth this consent, but as a principle leaves an impression of power upon the will, by the vertue whereof it's moved, and so moves in and to this consent. As the will of a child of Adam, in generation it turns from God to sin, not by any first power of its own, but by the perverting work of the next Parent, who under the vertue of the Curse and Gods Divine Justice, turned it from the Lord, and the Authority of the Law, and put it under the Authority of fin: So the will of him that comes to be begotten of the Second Adam, doth turn from sin unto God, not by any power or principle it hath of its own, but by the impression of the operation of his Spirit by which it is turned, and in vertue of that it turns. Take an instance: Suppose the first Grace offered, or the voyce of Gods Call tendered unto the will that now hath the resistance taken off; the Question now grows, How the will comes to give her consent to this Act or first Grace; this consent must come either from the will only; or partly from the will, and partly from Grace; or from Grace only. To say from the will only, is Heretical, and perfect Pelagianism in the highest degree, which exalts Nature above Grace, nay, to make it perfect without it. If from Grace and the will both, as divers principles, then there is a concurrence of our will by a power of its own with the power of Grace at the same instant to this work of consent, then there is an ability in the will to begin its work, and to meet and concur with Grace, without Grace so far in a Spiritual Act: As for instance, The Father and the child both draw a Boat; the Father puts p. 395more strength to the work, the Son also from a principle of its own puts forth some strength, and both these concur and meet in the motion; the beginning is several from each as several causes, though both meet in the act: So that Grace concurs with the power of the will to this motion, doth not give power and principle whereby it moves: And this also is Heretical and Pelagianism; for thus far, and in that beginning, the will closeth with Grace without the power of Grace, which is cross to the Apostle, and to all the former conclusions. Whereas it is in this consent, The first call of Grace prevents, and wholly moves the will, and the will in the … of that motion, moves to the call, and consents: As it in the Eccho, the Voyce stirs the Air, the Air in vertue of that stir, returns the Voyce again.

Among some searching Disputes, I meet with such an expression, which I shal propound and explicate, because it makes way for the understanding of the thing in hand; The Will doth consent or will, but doth not make it self to consent, but is made so by another. Their meaning is this:

1. The Will doth put forth the Act of Consent, and so far it's the cause of it.

2. But it was not the cause of that power by which it was enabled to consent, but that it received, and by that it was enabled to it. So that this seems to be the order in which God proceeds.

God takes away that resistance by the irresistable operation 1of his Spirit, when the soul, having that impediment removed, it comes to be in the next passive power, and immediately disposed to a Spiritual Work, vult moveri.

God leaves a powerful impression upon the will, acts 2this capability to carry it from sin in a right order to God; at the entrance of which, the soul is moved, and takes the impression; having taken the impression or motion, it moves again, and in vertue of that is said to act p. 396and consent, so that this consent is not from our selves, though not without our selves.

And thus we are put beyond any principle of our own, or to be the beginners of our own work, by any thing we have in our selves, which cuts the sinews of the Covenant of Works; and hither many times God wil bring us to our beginnings, to the bare board, even to leave our souls with him, that he may carry us from sin to himself, and act us upon himself, and keep us with himself for ever. Thus David, Psal. 119. 29. Take from me the way of lying, … could not take it away himself: Hos. 14. 2. Take away all iniquity; they leave themselves in Gods hand, that the Lord would cause them to turn from iniquity.

So that in this Condition, it's true to say a man hath not a principle of concurrence with God, as by sanctified habits we have; but the Spirit puts in us a power whereby we are carried to God.

The Fourth Particular for opening of the Point.

The behavior of the heart under this stroak; 4and that appears in the Particulars following:

When this Sorrow is rightly set on, and the soul rightly 1affected therewith, the sinner hath the loath somness of corruption ever in his sight, keeps it ever within his ken: he could not be brought before to take to heart, the hainousness of … evil; Ministers pressed him with it in publick, others minded him of it in private, forewarned him of the direful venom and … that lay in those distempers of his, that one day he was like to feel to the hazard of his everlasting happiness, it would be p. 397bitterness in the latter end. but he turned the deaf ear to al, would not so much as take it into consideration, not once look back into the danger of his rebellions, nor listen to any thing that may force the same upon his soul; but now the case is altered; he that could not be brought to see sin before, now he wil see nothing but sin, cannot be brought to look off from it, he feels now the plague of those provocations of his, and finds by woful proof and experience the truth of al that formerly hath been told him, and hath time enough now to recount the savory counsels, those seasonable reproofs, directions & entreaties which would have kept him from the commssion of those evils, the hainousness whereof he is not able to conceive; the bitterness and poyson whereof he is not able to bear, now he is constrayned to feel the sting thereof. He hath now leisure to survey the folly and perversness of his spirit in former times and to sit down in silence and shame; now he can seal to that as an eternal truth of God which before he east behind his back as slight and vain; Oh I now see the Ministers were faithful watch-men which foresaw the danger, and foretold me how dreadful the evils would be which did attend my distempers, If I would not leave my sin, mercy and blessing would leave me, and my heart feels it so. The Christians were loving and compassionate which laboured by earnest and affectionate entreaties to with draw me from the wayes of wickedness, which with drew me from God, & by woful experience I sind it so. Though it were a sharp, yet it was a sure & safe word that I have often heard, but would never receive, It were better to cut off my hand & to pluck out mine eye and to enter lame and maimed into the Kingdom of Heaven, lame and maimed in comforts and credit, and carnal and sensual delights, than to have … these and go to hell, where the worm never dyes and the fire never goes out, and now my Conscience confesseth it is so, Lord where was my mind that could not p. 398see this? how hard and senseless my heart that could not be affected with this? the sinner thus wounded, his hand is ever upon the sore, his eye upon his distemper, as the extream danger that hangs over his head, and the deadliest enemy that is in pursuit of his soul; he sleeps & wakes & eats, and drinks with this, as his daily diet, & a standing dish; carryes it up and down as his daily companion, Psal. 51. 3. My sin is ever before me; listen to him when he sighes out his prayers in secret, ye shal observe his complaints run upon this, confer with him, enquire of his condition, his speech ever returns to this point, and al his questions lead stil to the discovery of the loathsomness of his rebellions. As it is with a commander or General of the field when he sees the enemy come on furiously, his numbers many, his power great, his souldiers skilful and couragious so that he sees al ly at stake, the shock is like to be sudden & fierce, either conquer al or loose al; A prudent commander seeing where the stress of the battle and the strength of the enemy lyes, and the safety or ruin of the whol consists; he leaves the thoughts of comforts, conveniencies, wife and family, the profits and priviledges which he hath formerly enjoyed and prized; bends al his thoughts, exerciseth the utmost of al his … now to defeat the enemy how to encounter him, how to overcome him, and this takes up the whol mind and the whol man, its vayn to attend other things when the neglect of the enemyes approach is the loss and overthrow of al. So it is with a broken hearted Christian when the numberless company of those hellish abominations of heart and life, lay siedg against and threaten his everlasting ruin, either he must destroy them or they wil undoubtedly destroy his comforts; he leaves the consideration of other things and looks to the main chance. If my sin live I dye for it either I must be separated from them or they from me; and therefore bends al his forces, bestows al his thoughts how the hainousness of this may be forever discovered, & p. 399the heart forever freed from the power and authority thereof. The Apostle Paul hath his sin ever in his eye, he keeps it in fresh remembrance and consideration never hath occasion to mention any thing of himself but stil he strikes upon that string, to me the least of all Saints and then the chiefest of all sinners, I was a persecuter 1 Tim. 1. 15.1 Tim 1:15and blasphemer, the main evil was there, and his eye and thoughts were most upon that. So the lamenting church Lam 5. 16. wo to us because we have sinned, the plague famine and sword though they were beyond measure grievous, yet the plague-sore of their sins was heaviest upon their hearts and most in their thoughts, so it is with a contrite sinner, his complaints and thoughts return hither as to their center, publish the comforts, promises and priviledges of the Gospel, the sinner acknowledgeth the promises are precious, the comforts are sweet the priviledges great, and happy they that ever they were born that have a title thereunto; But alas what have I to do with these, my heart is yet hard, and my sins yet unsubdued. Those keep good things from me; Lay open al the threatnings of the word, the plagues the Lord hath prepared, the curses, iudgments and punishments that are recorded in the scripture and ever were inflicted by the justice of the Lord, the contrite sinner looks presently beyond these plagues to his sins, which is the cause of al these and worse than al these, and that gives the sting and evil unto al these evils what shal I doPsal. 51Ps 51 I have sinned, deliver me from blood guiltiness O God, not from the sword, though that was threatned, but from his sin.

The sinner that hath his heart thus truly affected and 2pierced through with his sins, is marvelous tender, easily to be convinced, of a yielding disposition, i. e. freely and readily enlarged in the open acknowledgment of an evil that is discovered & he stands guilty of; As it is with the body when it is pierced or pricked with a stiletto. He bleeds inwardly it may be but so as the blood hath no p. 400vent, nor the party relief; hence the life is in hazard, but when its thrust quite through, though the wound be greater and wider yet the danger is less, because the party bleeds kindly and naturally, the wound is more … to be cleansed and healed, there is no fear of festering and rankling inwardly, but the Chirurgeon may readily come at it for the cure. So it is when the soul is wounded aright with Godly sorrow for its sin, it bleeds kindly and naturally, ready to see the evil, the core, the root of that corruption from whence it comes, and willing and open hearted that the saving word of the truth, either of instruction, reproof, comfort or exhortation may be applyed for cure and recovery. A broken hearted sinner fals immediately before the power of the word, takes the sin presently home to himself, when ever or what ever is presented with evidence to him, without cavilling or gainsaying, shifting or winding away from under the authority thereof. That resistance and gainsaying opposition is now removed, which formerly took possession: and the irresistible power of the spirit hath flung down those strong holds of Satan and sin, hath conquered and captivated the high thoughts of the mind and sturdy rebellions of the heart unto the obedience of the Lord Jesus, and therefore there is an entrance and easy passage made for the truth to take place and the heart to take the impression thereof with some pleasing content; parts of the body which are wounded, broken and sore, and very sensible of the least stir or touch of any thing that comes nigh them, they feel presently and are affected with some trouble, Oh say we, its my broken Arm, my sore Hand, the least touch it goes to my heart; It's so with broken spirits they are presently sensible of the least touch of any truth, the least intimation or discovery of any sin that comes by the by, if from a work that fals occasionally, it feels it forthwith, yields it, and owns it, without any more ado. Thats the deceit of my heart which I never saw before, thats my distemper p. 401unto which I have been addicted: the law is holy and good, but my heart naught, and sold under sin Rom. 7. this was the temper of good … at the reading of the law which the Lord observes and so much … 2 Chron. 34. 27. because thy heart was tender, & melted when thou heardest the words of this law, he took the impression of the truth at the first, without the least appearance of any opposition, in any particular or rising of spirit against them, though the severity and sharpness of the threatnings were marvailous cross not onelyonly to a corrupt heart but to the outward comforts, & eminent priviledges of his place, pomp and prosperity of his Crown, and Kingdom; the heart is melted and broken is conquered by the truth, and therefore can do 1 Cor. 13.1 Cor 13nothing against it. But can do any thing against its own lusts, and the pleasing corruption of his own nature; this is part of that preparation which the Baptist, the Harbenger of our Savior made, to make this plain, for his coming into the hearts of his as into his temple. Luk 3. The rough things shal be made plain, and crooked things straight, the rugged and sturdy gainsayings of a rebellious heart, are taken away and it's made easy and readily yielding to the evidence of any part of Gods wil, it finds a plain passage into the soul, no rub in the way, no rising against the righteous and good wil of God. If any thing be doubtful he is easy to be informed; amiss, to be reproved and amended thereby. Those crooked aymes and by ends also whereby falshearted hypocrites serve their turn of the Lord Jesus, seek for grace and mercy either to quiet the horror of their …, promote their own credit, or under a profession against sin to get more liberty to commit sin, to sin without suspicion or distraction; these rugged distempers must be levelled, and the spirit of a man made plyable, simple and sincere, and then all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord. And unless this de done set thy heart at rest, thou canst never see Gods Salvation; True indeed I p. 402confess the truth many times may be secret and such as at the present exceeds the reach and apprehension of weaker judgments. And here wil be, and in some … may, a long inquisition and painful and tedious search for the right discovery where the narrow way lyes. But there is great ods betwixt an inquisition and serious enquiry that we may see the truth. And a quarrelling against the evidence thereof that we may not see it. Inquisition is one thing, contention against the truth is another; that al the Saints should endeavour, this none but the ungodly wil practise, for it's given as a never failing note of a graceless person who is appointed to destruction, to them who are contentious and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness. Rom. 2. 8. for where the one is not the other wil be; contentious persons joyn sides with their sinful distempers against the truth, & authority of the righteous law of God; openly to maintain a professed opposition against the truth is so loathsom to common sence and … even to the remainders of light left in the … of a natural man, that hardly any man is come to the height of wickedness that he dare openly own a course so hellish, and absurdly unreasonable, and therefore your cunning hypocrite he colors over his treachery under another pretence; and therefore his conspiracy comes under the name of enquiry, but in the issue if the wil of God suit not with his wil, and his … commands cross the corruptions of his heart, which he is resolved to maintayn, he casts al away in … and …. So they to the prophet …, Jer. 42. 3. they sayed to the prophet …, let our supplycations be accepted before thee, and … thou … the Lord thy God that be may shew us the way … we may walk and the … … we may do; and … 5. The … be a true and faithful witness … us, if we do … even according to al things for which the Lord … God shall end … to us, whether it be good … evil we wil obey. p. 403But when he had consulted with the Lord and returned his mind that they should not go down to Egipt, which no way suited their privy resolutions which they had taken up within themselves. They oppose him to his very face and give him the lye, Jer. 43. 2. Thou speakest falsly the Lord thy God hath not sent thee to say go not into Egipt to sojourn there: when he did not speak that which they would have him. Thus your false hearted hypocrites deal with the truth of God, as the Jewes dealt with Paul who banded themselves together and bound themselves under a curse, that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. and they carryed it thus, they came to the Priests Acts, 23. 14. 15. we have bound our selves &c. Now go ye with the counsel, signify to the chief Captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow as though you would enquire somthing more fully; and we, ere-ever he come neer wil be ready to kill him. So treacherous hypocrites deal with the truth, their enquiries are indeed conspiracies against the wisdom and counsel of the Lord, they say they would enquire more perfectly, and see more and more fully what the mind of God is; But if things please not their pallat, suit not their conceit, answer not their corrupt desire, and carnal ends they are resolved what to do, only ask God leave to do what they list and therefore they make no bones to cross the truth when it crosseth their expectation, when that which is answered they cannot remove it, that which is alledged they cannot gainsay, yet hold their own apprehensions and so cast the commands of God behind their back, and refuse utterly to follow them. Whenas a broken-hearted sinner who hath this resistance taken away, he in earnest is content to part with his corruption, and therfore readily gives way to what ever truth is revealed in the evidence thereof. Both these dispositions the Apostle expresseth as contrary one to another answerable to the contrary conditions of nature and Grace, Rom. 6. p. 40417. But God be thanked that ye were the Servants of sin, that is an evidence of their Natural condition, But ye have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine unto which ye were delivered; that is, they were ready and easie to take the impression of every Truth that was published and dispensed to them. Certain it is, he that is not willing to be convinced, and to give way to the Authority of the Truth made known, and to submit thereunto, is led with his own lusts, and is a Servant of sin to this very day.

He that hath his … pierced through, and is truly 3affected with his sins, he loaths himself and his soul for it, sees that shame is his due, and that which his sin hath, deserved, and therefore is willing to take that which is his due and desert, desirous to shame and dishonor that which hath been the greatest shame and blot to his person and profession, and the greatest dishonor to God; this is made the guise and behavior of all those whom God doth kindly and really break off from their sins, and bring them to himself, Ezek. 36. 31. Then shall ye remember your evil waies and doings that were not good, and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations: Ezek. 6. 9. And they that escape of you, shall remember me, because, I am broken with your whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with your eyes which go a whoring, and they shall loath themselves for the evils they bave committed in all their abominations: Ezek. 16. last, Then shalt thou remember, be ashamed and confounded, and never open thy mouth more. The soul in this condition, sees and feels now the …, and the greatness of the evil of sin, that rebellion and opposition by which it hath been carried against God, and the separation it hath made from him; and therefore it loaths that most, wherein most of this evil is harbored, and by which it hath been practiced, and that is his soul which hath been the sink of these sinful distempers, the p. 405root from whence all these bitter fruits arise and grows, the fountain, or dunghil rather, whence all those … steams of loathsom abominations have been sent, in speeches, practices, and behavior, in our dayly course; the filth of sin is most loathsom, and there is most of that in the heart, therefore he loaths that most of all. It's true, there be some sins so detestable to the light of Nature, and the common principles left in a corrupt Conscience, that they are not fit to be named, Murders, Adulteries, …, and Sodomy, bruitish Drunkenness, and excessive Riots, which abase a man below the very bruit Creatures, and make the Earth spue out such Inhabitants, as fitter for the company of Devils, than the communion of men, It's a shame to speak of those things which were done of them in secret, Eph. 5. 12. And therefore Reprobates do, and Hypocrites can, and all, even the worst of men, may when they come to themselves in cold blood, and take things in a right consideration, loath these practices because shameful and scandalous, fling filth in their faces, disparagement upon their persons, and cast them out of the society and communion of reasonable men, and make them abhorred of humanity, even a terror to themselves; but alas when this is over, they look not to the nest of these noysom abominations which lodgeth in their bosoms, where they have their being and breeding in their hearts, the Cage of these unclean Birds, the Den of these bruitish Lusts; but if they can wipe the mouth with the Harlot, and wash their hands as Pilate did, and keep themselves from the contempt of men, and the stroak of Authority; they can maintain a privy communion between these lusts and their souls, and suck out the sweet of these by speculation, and never be troubled nor affected therewith. Judas flings away his money, he fingers that no more, looks at his treasonable practices as detestable to the very Scribes, but he stil keeps his murder in his heart. But when a sinner is indeed pierced quite through the p. 406heart, and feels inwardly the … and evil of sin, he loaths that most, and his heart most of all, that is most guilty and tainted with it. In the soul, there is … it were the soul of sin, the … and poyson of it, and he opposeth that most, that hath opposed the Lord, … Spirit, and the Word and Work of his Grace, the … of this mind, the preversness of this will, the distempers of these corrupt and carnal affections; he is at … with his own heart, that ever it hath held any kind of connivence and correspondence with any corruption, ever been acted by it, carried with it, that ever it hath combined and conspired with sin and Satan in … against the righteous and holy One of Israel, the great God of Heaven and Earth; and here he finds work enough, even matter of abasement al his daies, he … down in shame, and is covered with confusion as with a cloak, and never lifts up his head more, because he … that about him, that wil dayly mind him of his own baseness. … It's now his dayly task to oppose that which opposed the Lord, resist that which hath resisted the work of Grace, conspire against the Treacheries and plottings of his own heart, where all the conspiracies against God and his holy Law have been hatched. Job was vile before, but he saw not the vileness of his heart.

He fears all sin, and all provocations to sin, because 4he hath felt the evil of all, and knows the danger of all; any inclination from within, any temptation from without, any appearance in the least measure that might provoke thereunto. Therefore these two are put in way of opposition; Blessed is the man that fears alwaies, but he that hardens his heart, shal fall into mischief, Prov. 28. 14. q. d. A hard heart feels …, knows not the evil of …, and therefore … like the horso into the battel to his ruine; but if the heart be truly wounded and contrite, truly affected with sin, as having experience of the danger of it, it wil come no more there; p. 407he that hath been scorched with those flames will come no more into that fire: As men who have wounded parts, broken an Arm or a Leg, how careful are they where they sit, where they go, they wil come neer nothing that may hurt, cannot endure any thing neer, lest it should so much as touch or trouble. So the Apostle adviseth, Heb. 12. 13. 'Make straight steps to your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way: Lame men observe every step they take, every stone upon which they tread, see and view the place where they set their feet, search and set al right, come there no more: So here, a broken Spirit … every thought, weighs every word, takes notice of the least … of his heart, the first appearance of any occasion or temptation: Thus they fear al sin above al other evil, nay, the least sin above the greatest plague, because he hath felt them by proof and experience to be such; fears rather he shal not be sound, than not quiet: He that fears one sin, and yet is careless to fall into another, he never seared nor sorrowed aright; sorrow for sin wil not make a man commit sin by sorrowing: if he fear, or take notice it is a sin, it is enough: And hence it makes watchful to … … prevent the evil. So Joseph, Gen. 39. 10, 11. He would not lie by her, nor be with her, avoided her company that would withdraw his communion from the Lord. It makes a man speedy to avoid the …, he … the place, left his garment rather than his … he that would not fal into the pit, wil not come neer the bank: As after a …, the party cannot endure the sight, the … of it, and are careful to … … the appearance … the … of such evils, …. 19. 11. I … … thy … in my heart, that I … … sin against thee.

He is … to attend all …, but accounts most 5of those … work … … and … … the … … … of corruption … … … heart, and … … … the … from it. Though p. 408the Truths which are delivered, carry dread with them to the Conscience, rack the heart of the sinner in restless horror and perplexity; are like the bitterest Pils, and the sharpest Corrosives, cross to the sinful security, and that Natural quiet the soul doth covet, yea, to his Credit and outward Comforts and conveniences in which he pleased himself, yet he is content his hand should be cut off, and his eye plucked out; that is, that the … Truth of God, and powerful and plain Dispensation thereof should pluck away those darling distempers, be they as profitable as a hand, as dear as an eye, rather than they should once pluck his heart from the Lord; quarrels with the loathsom abominations of his Nature which now are discovered, but gladly welcoms those soul-saving Truths that would slay and subdue those sins, and not quarrel with them: The Word of the Lord is a good Word, though a convicting, terrifying, yea, a condemning Word to his own apprehension; he that is sensible of his burden as unsupportable and passing strength, he is best pleased with that ease: A wise Patient, when by his tryal he hath found it, and the consent of learned Physitians and Chyrurgeons have concluded that his Gangrened part must be cut off and cauterized, cannot be healed; though his Nature shrink at it, yet Reason and his own preservation makes him desire and chuse the sharpest Instrument, because by that his life and safety is best procured. The sinner that finds the burden of his sin the heaviest of al other, and a disease most deadly to his soul, the sharpest Truths he accounts the safest, and therefore takes most content therein, there shal no course that can be prescribed, be it never so tedious to flesh and blood, no means that shall be appointed to him, be they attended with never so much danger and difficulty, but he readily addresseth himself to the use thereof, and easily submits himself to the Counsel, and Authority, and Command of God therein; willing that God should do any thing with p. 409him, that he might do good to his soul, and remove that which he feels to be the greatest evil of it. As Ely to Samuel 1. Sam. 3. 17. Hide nothing from me, though the heaviest and hardest of the message that he was to report; A broken hearted sinner wil … capitulate with the Almighty, stick with God unless he may have his own …, or look for some abatement from the Lord, if the corruption be more than ordinary strong, and the means which are to be used be mervailously cross, not onelyonly to a mans corruption, but to ones outward comforts, yea to nature it self; yea the heart under this disposition yields quietly that the Lord should take his. own course, any course with it, if he wil but take away his corruption with which he is plagued most of al, and of which he desires most of al to be freed and delivered, if it were the good pleasure of the Almighty: Zach. 14. 6. These are the wounds wherewith I was wounded in the house of my friends. In case of resolution of it, come to the highest summ and to the hazard of a mans whol estate even to his open beggery, if God appoints it, he wil bear it, if that be a means to remove his distemper, he wil not baulk it, he can part with his estate, if he may part with his covetous disposition by that means. If the heart be loosened from the world its not hard to leave the things of the world. But if the stroak be but overly that hath taken off, and abated onelyonly the edge of inordinate desire after these things, but there lyes a root of bitterness and base covetousness within, though a man may take the receipt in some degrees of it to restore to some shillings and crowns and pounds, but when it comes to hundreds, the heart is not loosened from al, and therefore leaves God and his ordinance rather than his own lusts. So the covetous young man when it came so that he must sel al and give to the poor, He went away sorrowful, Math. 19. 20. &c. He would rather go away from Christ than suffer him to take away his covetous disposition.

p. 410Again: In Confession there is also a stress which a proud and perverse heart is wholly unable to undergo, unless the Spirit be deeply affected with unfeigned sorrow, and so fitted for to apply and bear so keen a Corrosive to eat away his corruption; especially if it be the confession of some secret, and some shameful distemper, as in case al other means be improved, the Lord refuseth to give pardon, or power, or peace, he then calls for attendance upon this Ordinance: And the contrite sinner when he understands Gods mind herein, he freely, fully powrs out his acknowledgment into the bosom of such, whose help he craves in that case; and as his heart is loosened from his corruption, so his confession issues Naturally from him, improving of it as a means appointed by the Almighty that he may ashame his sinful course, and himself for it, and be for ever separated from both; therefore confessing and forsaking are ioyned together, Prov. 18. 13. and 1 Joh. 7. he that indeed confesseth; God is faithful to forgive, this is to judg our selves, 1 Cor. 11. Whereas the sinner that is yet riveted in the wretched distempers of his own soul, the Lord when he hath him upon the rack of Conscience, may happily wrest a consession from him; but it's by a constraining hand, and against the hair wholly, he would be eased of his plagues, not of his sin: So GodJosh. 7.Josh 7 sound out Achan, pursued Judas, and laid hold onMath. 27.Matt 27 both, and pulled the acknowledgment by force out of their mouths, which they did to ease them of their sorrows, not as a means to help against their sin. Lastly, it easily fals under the evidence of an Admonition administred so far as it reacheth the evil of his sin, though happily unseasonably or disorderly administred, neither out of that love it should, nor in that prudent manner it ought to be: If yet he perceives that it helps him to remove his corruption, he is glad of it, and takes advantage thereby to get the heart more convinced, and estranged from its distemper. When Joab so rudely reproved p. 411the unseasonable and excessive sorrow of David for the death of Absalon, 2 Sam. 19. 6, 7. expressions not beseeming a Subject … to a Prince, when Shimei cast … and … reproaches upon him, 2 Sam. 16. 7. 10. Come out thou bloody man, thou man of Belial, the Lord hath returned all the blood of Saul upon thee; he retired into his own bosom, takes notice of the guilt of his own sin in the death of Uriah he puts up all these provocations because he perceived' Gods displeasure in them, let him alone, God hath commanded him to curse, … he wil do good unto me. Though the Physick was il mingled, and given in a worse manner, yet he takes both, and hoping to receive help against his corruption by both; whereas the painted Hypocrite who never had his heart touched with any true remorse for his many rebellions; observe how perversly … he wil be under a stinging reproof, quarrel with the man, the manner of the delivery of it, &c.

A broken-hearted sinner feels his covetousness worse than beggery, and therefore restores al readily; his sin worse than shame, and therefore freely confesseth it; than scorn or contempt, and therefore bears the sharpest reproofs after the most unsavory and disorderly manner dispensed: he is weary of his distemper, and therefore willing to bear the sharpest means that shall be tried upon him by … to remove it,; use any, even the most difficult and tedious that may subdue those distempers in his ….

He is restlesly importunate in seeking relief from God 6against his sin, and not satisfied in having any thing but deliverance from sin by Jesus Christ. He is RESTLESS and SEEKING: So that should the Lord reprieve him srom his presentplagues, abate him of the … he hath found, and those pressures and … … hath felt, should the Lord … him of all his horrors, … him, and take present … from the p. 412troubles and occasions of his Conscience; his sorrows would seize upon him afresh, and his fears pursue him without intermission; and the reason is, because the same cause continues, and therefore there must be the same effect, as long as his sin continues unsubdued, he wil continue to sigh out his sorrows, & his prayers; for they were not the crosses of the world, poverty in his Estate, disparagements which were cast upon his person, pressures & persecutions from the rage of unreasonable men, nor yet the torments of Hell prepared or suffered, that did sink the soul of a contrite sinner: No, it was the crossness of his corrupt heart to the holiness of the Almighty, his opposition against him, and separation from him, that was the burden unsufferable and unsupportable; and as long as this remains unsubdued, there is no end of his sorrows, nor end of his prayers in suing to the Almighty for succor and relief. So David, Psal. 38. 3. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger, nor is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin, for mine iniquities are gone over mine head, as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me, and he goes mourning al the day long. Remove therefore al miseries, troubles, …, punishments, let the man free. As long as the bitterness of sin rightly set on by the hand of God remains, he wil … no rest in himself, and it's certain he wil give God no rest, Lam. 3. 49. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission till the Lord look down and behold from Heaven: For it is an everlasting Truth; Sorrow for sin, if right, ever drives a man from sin to God, never from God to sin; that which is appointed in way of Providence, to take off the resistance of the corrupt heart against God, and our crossness to him, that in reason cannot make way for any resistance, or crossness against him, to convince the soul. He that truly sorrowes for his departure from God, as contrite sinners do, he is driven nearer to God, but never departs away from him, by his sorrow; And p. 413therefore he that by reason of the horror of his heart is hurried and carried to the commission of sin in his ordinary course, he never truly found the burden of sin, for common sence wil teach men that hath any consideration about him; he that is truly sensible of his burden, and in earnest willing to be freed from it wil not purposely and willingly ad to his burden. He that is … God should take away his distemper he wil not go away from God, that so he may keep his distemper; he went away sorrowful sayes the text, therefore his sorrow was worldly, causing death, he went away to his own ruin; Achitophel to the rope, Judas to the gallowes, Cain to the Land of Nod, the knife, the pit, being hideous sins, comes from a sorrow that chooseth sin before misery, not from a sorrow that burdens with sin more than misery; and therefore he never puts an end to his cryes before he sees an end of his sins, As a man oppressed and crushed under his burden and hath no power to help himself, and none by to succor him, heark how he cryes help, help, and never ceaseth to cry help till he dyes.

Again he is not satisfyed in haveing any thing but deliverance from sin by Christ; If nothing but a Christ can ease and deliver him, nothing but he can satisfy him, it's certain if any thing cured thee besides a Savior, something wounded thee and troubled thee besides sin, thou hast been in horror of heart, anguish and perplexity of spirit in the very flames of hell, and under the fiercness of the fury of the Almighty, and now the terror is … and trouble is over, quieted and eased, healed and comforted; but how comest thou by quiet and comfort, how healed how recovered? did time and continuance were it away? thy pleasures and delights remove it? did thy prayers, perfourmances put in bale upon thy Conscience, and thou stoppest the mouth of it with this, thou hast seen, confessed, resolved? or doft thou lick thy self whol by thy reformations? thou hast not been put beyond thy shifts by the Almighty, thou hast made a shift to pray p. 414it out, weep it out, fast it out, when those fayl, shifted it off by thy promises and vowes and resolutions, and so … sa west an absolute need of a Christ, nor what it was to be brought to him, but hast made a shift to scramble it out; It's certain as the Lord lives, and thy soul lives, thou never knewest what sorrow for sin meant, or conversion meant or Christ, or Salvation meant to this very day: It was that which Paul speaks of himself, 3. Phil. 8. 9. That I may win Christ and be found in him &c. his brokenness of heart and sorrow for sin did in a restless way drive him thither, he could not be satisfyed without Christ.

The Reasons of the Point.

Because this sorrow is onelyonly true, God accounts it, Reas. 1.and the Saints & Sinners shal so find it. Al other sorrowes, what ever pretences or appearances are put upon them, they are in truth but counterfeit and false, and men wil fail in their hopes and fal short of their ends, and expectations that trust thereunto they are not of the right make, nor have they the right stamp of the spirit of contrition upon them, sorrow for the shame that befals the punishment that pincheth and lyes heavy, wrath and vengeance that scorcheth the Conscience, though this is good in his place as it makes way for another, yet if it go no further men fal short of this work, and in the end of their comforts also. This is in the way but he that sits down here wil never come to his end, untimely travels … untimely births; this we must do but this is not al, and if we find no more, our sorrow is no true sorrow. Truth ever carryes conformity to the nature of the thing; the palate that rasts a thing truly it … it as it is, bitter things as bitter, he sees a thing truly that sees it as it is. But he that shal tast … things sweet, he that shal cal black blew, we say it, and sence … it, he is deceived. So here, he that finds p. 415the burden of the punishment and feels his plagues heavier than his sins, he doth not feel things as they are, nor passeth a righteous judgment upon them according to their …, for it hath appeared & hath been proved that the least sin weigheth down the heaviest plague. The heart tasts evils as the stomack tasts meat, if thy sin be less than thy miseries, thy mouth is out of tast; It was that which he charged upon Job. Job. 36. 21. thou hast chosen sin rather than affliction.

Because without this sorrow the heart can never be Reas. 2.separated from his darling corruption, the league betwixt the soul and sin cannot be broken and dissolved. Happily there may arise some brabbles and slighty quarrels, betwixt the heart of a sinner and his distempers, but that there should be a real divorce without this sorrow rightly set on, it is impossible, for its open to every mans experience that which is sweet & pleasant to the soul, that wherein it finds content, it wil never cast away; love and delight are affections of union, where things appear pleasant there is no cause of parting; sorrow and … are affections of separation; unless the Lord therefore take off these pleasing contents and imbitter the baseness and filth of his lusts unto the soul and force him to feel them as such to be the bane of the soul he wil … part company; therefore it is these go together, when wickedness … sweet, he … it, spares Job. 20.Job 20it and forsakes it not; things that are sweet the stomack12. 13. holds them, they must be bitter and then it vomits them happily a sinner may wrangle for a turn and fal out with his distempers because they do him some unkindnesses, … his commodity or ease &c. but they wil fal in hand pat if there be no further ground of … and forget al those unkindnesses, Luk. 23. 34. the wicked wil rather loose his life than his rayling distemper; The Dog returnes to his …, because he loved not2 Pet. 2.2 Pet 2 the pain of his …, he casts out the vomit, yet because…. he loved the …, he returns to his vomit again; p. 416yea … is not restrained by his terror from his sin, but is acted by the power of it, while he was under the terror of it. So that there is nothing in the world that wil sever betwixt the heart and its lust. Prov. 27. 22. Bray a fool in a morter yet wil not his folly depart from him.

By this the great bar and hinderance of the coming Reas. 3.of our Savior is removed, even the hellish resistance whereby the soul was carried against him. For it's a peremptory Truth, Gal. 4. 17. The flesh lusts against the Spirit; and the conclusion is express, Joh. 3. 9. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh: but every Son of Adam being wholly born of the flesh, doth wholly resist the Spirit. They who are wholly flesh, do wholly resist; they who do wholly resist, cannot receive; for receiving, and wholly resisting, cannot stand together: therefore this resistance of a fleshly heart must be removed, and that is done by this …. That Sorrow whereby the bar and hindrance which stops the coming of our Savior is removed, that sorrow is of necessity required; but by this sorrow that hindrance is removed.

In regard of our selves; Either the heart must thus Reas. 4.be pierced, or else a man without this in his Natural condition, is capable and disposed to receive Faith and Christ; either necessary thus to be disposed, or Nature without this, is fit to entertain him; but that is professedly contrary to the Truth, 2 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law, neither can it be; It's not possible there should be two Suns in the Firmament, two Kings in one Throne, two Gods in one heart, to be in Heaven and Hell at once, to serve God and Mammon. So that as God must give Grace before we have it, so he must give us power to receive it, or else we are not capable of it. A Subject p. 417cannot be capable of contrary habits at the same time, John. 5. 45. How can yee believe who seek honour from man?

Hence therefore its plain, that the substance and Use.truth of this preparative work, it must be and is enstamped upon all that belong to God, though it is in a diverse manner wrought in the most. If this sorrow be onelyonly true and of the right stamp, If by this, sin is severed from the soul, the hinderance of our Saviors coming removed, and the soul made capable of faith and Christ, then this of necessity is required of al, and it's certainly wrought in al whom the Lord brings effectually home unto himself.

Here is matter of complaint we may justly take up against Use.this secure age in which we live, and it shewes, how little, very little saving sorrow there is in the world, and therefore how little saving grace; If no preparation, no Implantation, certainly, never fitted for a Christ, never made partakers of him; never hewed or squared to the building, and therfore never put as spiritual stones into the building. Had we but Jeremiahs fountain of tears we might mourn day and night, that there is no true mourning; and if the Lord should send an … to see and mark such as mourn in secret, how few should he find; the former doctrin is a bil of inditement and fals very heavy upon five sorts of people.

Your heedless and fearless professors, who notwithstanding 1lift up their head ful high, and would bear the world in hand that they desire unfeinedly to fear the Lord, nay pretend a Conscientious care to Gods Command; and conceive they have been affected with their sin and that not in a smal measure, but have had both sight of, and sorrow for their failings and they hope to good purpose, and would be loath (prejudice being laid aside) it should appear to be other. You say wel and if you prove what you say happy it is for you, which I … desire. But are you willing to put your case p. 418to the tryal? let us a little parly about the buisiness and because we wil deal plainly, your own practices and your own consciences shal bring in evidence and those I hope are beyond exception, you careless servants in the family; you careless hearers in the Assemblies, and you careless professors in the plantations, you are here indited that the practice of this heart-breaking sorrow for sin is a stranger to you, and you a stranger to it in your daily course, we shal then agree upon the grounds on which we shal proceed.

You wil not, you cannot deny, but you have wholsom and savory counsel daily suggested, the commands of God are line after line, precept after precept here a little and there a little, and your duties daily layd before you in publick, in private, your failings bewailed, grace and help begged from the Lord for you; the truth, your judgments do not gainsay and your hearts cannot but approve, as lawful and suitable to your places and according to Gods mind, yet no sooner out of the assembly where you hear, out of the presence of your master who commads, from your knees where you have prayed and confessed, but the commands are layd by, that is not attended, this not discharged, that is neglected, you return again to the old distempers; and you say you did not remember it, you have … it, you did not think of it. What need we more evidence? … own words shal be thine own …, and appeal to thine own Conscience, let that be … own judg; didst thou ever hear any man that … under the load that was two heavy for him, wearied with the burden that is beyond his strength, as not able to bear, nor to ease himself, say he did not remember the burden that … him. he did not think of the weight of the load that clogges and tires him; would you not … such expressions as cross to common sence, or would you not conclude either the man had no burden or else his words had no truth?

p. 419Ah but thou saiest; If they had been gross evills it had been somthing, but they are petty things and therefore need no great care; what need we any more evidence, thine own words wil be thine own wittness, therefore thou carest onelyonly for great sins, fearest onelyonly gross and scandalous evils, then thy care and fear is naught, and thy course so, and thy Conscience so, and thy condition also, he that feels al sin as such, he fears al sin, yea the least sin more than the greatest evil, if thou fearest only loathsom and scandalous practices, thy fear is fals and thy heart fals thy sorrow was never found nor yet thy condition; that I must confess when I … mens infinite heedlesness, if they did know what God were, or what sin was, what Conscience, what a command, what the reckoning to come were, did not most men live without God in the world they could not live so.

The second sort who are hence shut out from having 2any share in this Godly sorrow, or the through impression of the work of the spirit is the treacherous formalist. Formalist I tearm him because he carryes the face of religion, the garbe and guise of Godliness in outward appearance and would be counted a friend to the truth, so far as he may serve his own turn of it, and he is content to be at league with the Gospel, provided he may make his own terms, and attain his own ends; namely that he may have allowance in some lusts and yet … honored 1 Sam.also among the people, with the title of an honest 15. 30.Godly and good man. But when his carnal ends are not answered, and the word requires more than he hath, and commands more than he would do, and would pluck away his beloved lust that he is loath to part withal; he then begins to set up secret conspiracies in his heart against the evidence of the doctrine, and therefore I cal him a treacherous hypocrite, because he may happily bite the lip and go away for the while, and sayes little but he bears a privy grudg against the strictness of such truths that are beyond his pitch and strain, p. 420and when time comes he wil be revenged of them, in the mean time his heart is inwardly tyred with them and goes off from them, this the … cals the counsel Psal. 1. 1.Ps 1:1of the wicked, when wicked hearts cal a counsel and sit in counsel against the commands of God: and Job prayes earnestly that God would keep him, and free him from it. Job 21. 16. Let the counsel of the wicked be far from me, namely a reserved resolution to have his distemper, rather than to have and welcome that word that would remove it. Whereas we have heard a broken-hearted sinner is willing to attend al means, but those especially that would help him most and free him from his corruptions: this treacherous wretch notwithstanding his pretended love to the word, yet when it comes to, he is willing to be rid of the word, not rid of his corruption, so far from being weary of his sin, that he is weary of the Minister, or Christian brother that would remove it, of the word that would subdue it. This was the temper of those formalists that followed our savior for the loaves, that is the Gospel for…. 6. 16. their own ends, when our savior pressed a spiritual and convicting truth upon them which might carry them beyond their own fals aymes or els would condemn them utterly as such as had no life of Grace in them, unless … eat the flesh and drink the blood of the son of man, ye have no life in you, John. 6. 53. nor were it possible they should attain the life of Glory, they answer, This is a hard saying, who can bear it? it pinched them to the quick, and searched the very core of their corruption, and they were resolved to bear their sin, but could not bear the saying of our Savior; the presence of their sins was pleasant, they could welcom them, but the power of the Truth was hard, they could not indure that; nay, they speak as though it were a matter impossible, who hath power to submit to it? truly none but a heart truly pierced with Godly sorrow: and therefore it's added, verse 66. From that time, many of p. 421his Disciples went back, and walked no more with him, because they would walk in their own waies, and wicked practices, therefore they chose rather to forsake the company and Ministry of a Savior, than to forsake their own distempers. Thus it hath been often seen in the Country whence we came, many a formal wretch hath been at great cost and charges, laid out himself and estate to bring a faithful preacher to a place; and when the soul-saving dispensation of the Word hath either discovered his falsness, and laid open the cursed haunts of a carnal heart, shook his hopes, and beat all the holds he had of the goodness of his estate, and batterred them before his eyes: He that had the greatest hand to bring the means and Ministry unto the place, ifhe cannot cunningly undermine the man, he would rather leave the place, than live under the Ministry that would take away his lusts: This was the wound of the yong man, because he wanted this brokenness of heart, not being rightly burdened with his corruption, nor loosened from it, Matth. 19. he went away from that Counsel of our Savior that would have plucked away his Earthly, covetous humor which did take place in him, He went away sorrowful: al the while our Saviors conditions suited his crooked ends, and carnal reason, he gave way and welcom to what he was advised, All these … I done from my youth up, this is so as I would have it; but when our Savior went further, Go sell all, that was beyond his pace and expectation; and he went away, he could not bear the Counsel, and therefore would not hear it. Thus it befals many a man that the Lord hath brought hither, confined him to the narrow compass of the Covenant of the Gospel: Al the while he lived at large as it were, and … constantly or occasionally attended upon the preaching of the Word, and carried an approved kind of conformity thereunto, in the Judgment and Opinion of such as only attended the general strain of his profession, and so walked aloof off in way p. 422of Christian … and loving entertainment of the Truth, al went wel: but when he comes to be foulded in the fellowship of the Faith, and that men follow him home to his doors, and watch him in his retired carriage, and have occasion to grapple with his spirit in the specials which concern his particular …, as when he had failed and offended, and therefore follows him with Physick answerable and appointed for the purpose, a seasonable admonition: poor sinful Creature, he is not able to … the Discipline and Government of Christ, to … under it, he begins secretly to … … undermine the strictness of those … that formerly he did como into these Parts for, that he might seek them, find and enjoy them as … often professed. It's said of Herodias, when John Baptist would give no … to her lust, but professed openly against it, so that she must be forced to reform it, or to have Gall and Wormwood with it, either not have it, or not have any …; the Text saies, Mark, 6. 19. she waylaid him, and left not the plotting of her purposes until she procured his ruin, she watched him a turn, and was revenged of him. So it is with a carnal heart, he is so far from being troubled for sin, that he is troubled he cannot commit it; so far from being plagued with the corruption (as Solomon speaks, he that sees the plague1 Kings. 8. 38.1 Kgs 8:38 of his own heart, the plague of pride, the plague of a perverse, sluggish, heedless heart) that he is plagued and tormented with those Spiritual Truths, and power of those Ordinances, that wil not suffer those lusts to lodg in his bosom, nor suffer him to lie and live in them with any quiet or content. Thus when sin should be grievous as the Psalmist speaks, the waies and Commands of Psal. 10. 5.Ps 10:5God are ever grievous to such, it's a grief to him to be counselled, checked, crossed in a sinful course: was … any man truly sensible of a burden that would not be …? any man oppressed with a load, that would not be content to have it removed, and taken away from p. 423him? Of this temper were those the Lord delivered up to a reprobate sence, Rom. 1. who did not delight to have God in their knowledg, they bear a secret spleen against such saving Truths as would search the core of those noysom corruptions of their hearts. It's certain such never knew what Godly sorrow for sin meant: since we have heard that such are willing to attend all means, but take most content in those that work most powerfully for the removal of their special distempers.

A third sort who fall short of this saving Work, is, 2your self-conceited Pharisee, who hath such an overweening apprehension of his own worth and excellency, that … is not able to take shame for … sin, & therfore cannot endure to be convinced of it, what he wil not do, he wil not know, loth to confess his course shameful and vile, because then he concludes there is no color of common sence to continue in it, but he must be forced to reform it, unless he would openly proclaim to al the world, that he is resolved to go against Knowledg and Conscience, which is too loathsom and gross, even to ordinary prophaneness; therefore he pretends nothing but the search of the Truth, … further information of the mind of the Lord, and if that once could appear, how glad would he be to receive it, and more glad to follow it, because this plea is beyond exception, …, carries an appearance of consciencious and judicious watchfulness in a mans course, which cannot … a Cavil, but is secretly resolved of the Conclusion, the reasons shal never be plain to him that would press and perswade to the practice of that which doth not please his … heart, which he purposeth to satisfie; let men say what they can, if he may have approbation and allowance from others to follow his own heart, it wil be more credit for him, and he shal find more ease; if not, he determines to do what he list without leave and allowance, holds out this in his ordinary and dayly profession; it's the way of Truth he p. 424desires to find, the Rule he would see, the mind of God he endeavors to know and follow; that he pretends, but intends indeed to walk in his own way, and follow his own mind; and therefore if things answer not his intents, suit not his expectation, but Arguments seem strong that perswade to the contrary, and the evidences of Reason look and lead another way: he then keep afoot his old course, confesseth he is yet in the dark, those reasons do not carry him, those arguments do not convince him, he desires further light, and shal be willing to submit and follow, i. e. if men would be willing to submit to his conceit, and follow his humor; thus he holds his sin, and holds his enquiry, keeps off al conviction that he may keep his corruption, and his course in it. As we know it in the Country from whence we came, some wily headed persons get possession of a living, keep the Owner in suit and restless wrangling many yeers together, against the evidence of their own Conscience and Reason, because so long they can keep the Living, and reap the Commodity of it. So while men keep an enquiry, and dispute what they should do, all that while they do what they list, but only waiting for better light, Numb. 23. 34. when Balaam had gone against the express Counsel and Command of God, to listen to Balack to gratifie his malicious desires, the Angel of the Lord met him, and withstood him in the perversness of his way, he crooked his way, and perverted his path against Gods express charge, observe how pliably he comes in to the Angels reproof, I knew it not that thou stoodest in the way, now therefore if it displease thee, I will get me back: he knew it displeased God, and though he said so, yet he kept his disposition and resolution to curse Israel, and so to displease God still, and therefore he contrives all waies to compass his …, and therefore here he builds seven Altars, and there he builds seven Altars, that he might ask leave of the Almighty, and when that would not do it, he went without p. 425leave, Numb. 24. 1. This is one part of that of the Prophet to lay hold of deceit; and so of sin, whereas a broken-hearted sinner as we have heard, because the holds of sin are cast down, and the crossness and resistrance of the … removed, and his soul loosened from his sin, he is easily willing to be convinced, sensible of the least inkling and intimation of any evil that is or shal be discovered, and sits down under the Evidence of it … but when Reasons are so pregnant that he cannot gainsay, and Answers so undeniable that they cannot be shaken, yet to stand off from the Truth, with a pretence of waiting for a further discovery, argues a person strengthened in the stiffness of his Spirit, which holds out Truth at the staves end, and was never yet subdued to the Soveraignty and Authority thereof; he keeps the blow off, and therefore breaks not under it, shuts the Truth out of their Souls, and therefore it stirs not, works not at all upon the soul; such are afar off from God.

The fourth sort is your complaning Hypocrite, whose 4Conscience hath been awakened with horrors and fears, and the heart startled with the terrors of the Almighty, and affected with the sight and sence of his sins, and the venom and dread of those Curses that the Truth hath revealed, and fastened upon the soul; he sees he is now in Gods hand, and that he hath him at an infinite advantage; to bear it, is beyond his power; to avoid it, is beyond his Skil; to resist is bootless, and against Reáson and Sence, that were to hasten his own ruin; his heart is filled with grief, and his eyes with tears, and his mouth with heavy complaints to God, to man, and he is free and full this way, and that usually, and this he hopes may move the Lord to pity, and to spare him, and abate him of those plagues which he hath denounced in his holy Word, and he cannot but confess he hath deserved by reason of his sin; and he presumes this wil go for good pay with the Lord, considering those many human infirmities that do attend us since the Fall, and that p. 426it is beyond our power to help our selves, and free our selves from our corruptions; thus he keeps his complaints and keeps his sins, he mourns over his distempers, and maintains them while he doth so; thus they bath their sins, as he said, but do not drown them with those heart-breaking Sorrows, which in truth are poyson to them: thus it was with Ahab when he had received that dreadful Message from the mouth of the Lord, That he would require the Blood of Naboth at his hand, and cut off his house, he rent his cloaths, and put on Sackcloth, and fasted, &c. 1 Kings, 21. 27. the Lord himself observes how he acts this work of …, and that in a comly manner, Stage-Player like, and abates him for the present execution of the plague; the Lord loves his own Work and Ordinances; that as it is with a Parent that affects a Child, the very Picture of it pleaseth him; so it is with God, he likes his Ordinances, and the acting and using of them: but this did not cure, but encrease his corruption, for he that was an Enemy to Elijah, verse 20, he professed after, 1 Kings, 22. 8. He hated Micaiah, his sorrow was too overly and slighty, he rent his cloaths when he should have rent his heart. Thus it was with those Hypocrites, Isai. 5. 8. 2. 3. We have fasted, say they, and thou regardest not; we have humbled our souls, and thou respectest it not; the Lord Answers, You fast for strife and debate, and to seek your own pleasure; they made way for the maintaining and practising their sins, not for the removal of them from their hearts; and it's admirably strange how this delusion wil cozen a man, and how far it wil carry him, it wil make him Sermon-Proof, and help him him to … his heart against the most sharp and searching Words. As he, how came he to desire and delight in the most powerful preaching, and yet never knew what it was to need a …, or to be relieved by him? Answ. I conceive such threatnings are intended against them that wil not repent and sorrow for their p. 427sins, but that will I. Nay, it hath been found by experience from the confessions of many, that they would weep over their sins, and then fal to commit them; men make their lamentation over their distempers, and then return to the Commission of them: As old friends weep at their parting, not because they would be quit one of another, but it's a grievance they should part, and they hope to meet again shortly.

The fifth …, … the discouraged Hypocrite, whom 5the Lord hath exercised under his heavy displeasure, and the poyson of his corruptions hath been Gall and Wormwood to his Conscience, the floods of iniquities have followed at the heels, and forced him to find his heart, and prayers, and endeavors, and yet al in vain, he finds no relief at all, no ease, no good at all, by any means the Lord hath appointed, and he improved according to his ability; the sinner sinks down in desperate discouragement, and casts off the thoughts of mercy, and the continuance of any further endeavor, he sees no profit accrewing, and concludes there is no possibility of obtaining, his hands grow feeble, and his heart faint, he concludes, as good sit still, as rise and fall; I shal never attain it, thus, and so long I have tried, and therefore why should I endeavor it? So wretched Saul, 1 Sam. 28. 15. God hath forsaken me, and answers me, neither by Urim, nor by …: thus also that wicked King, 2 Kings, 6. last, This comes of the Lord, why should I pray to him, or waitupon him any longer? and thus it was with them, Ezek. 33. 10. Men pine away in their sins, lie under the weight, and never look out for help: This is not … or brokenness of heart, for that makes a man restlessly importunate in seeking the Lord; its not therefore sorrow for sin, but a kind of sullen waywardness of Spirit, a dogged kind of self-willy disposition, because the pressures grow heavy and unsufferable, and the Lord withdraws himself from our desires, … it's beyond our power and ability to relieve our selves, p. 428God denies to hear, and will not help, and we cannot help our selves, nor command help els-where; in sullen way wardness the heart casts off any further attendance upon the Lord.

Whereas Godly Sorrow rightly set on, and that for sin, and departure from God, wil not suffer the soul to depart further; that which takes away the resistance of our corrupt hearts, that wil not suffer them yet further to depart, these desperate discouragements are Valleys and Ditches that must be filled up before the Lord Christ come into the soul, Luke, 3. 5.

TERROR. It shews the direful condition of all Use 2.hard-hearted …, who are not only in the ChainsProv. 5. 22.Prov 5:22 of darkness, and held with the Cords of their own iniquities (as the Scripture speaks) but shut up in the Dungeon of everlasting destruction, and locked in within the Iron Gate of a hard … stupid heart without the least preparation, or expectation of good from the Almighty.

This Hardness is double; there are two sorts, at least two … of it.

1. Such as sleep in a careless and secure Course, never yet saw, at least were not sensible of the plague of Sin, or the sting and punishment that is attending thereupon.

2. Such as have been in the fire, scorched with the fury of the Almighty, which hath drunk up their spirits, but when God hath abated them of the expression of his Displeasure, and allayed the flame, they grow cold and careless; as the Iron that hath been heated with a long and strong Fire, grows more hard when it grows once cold, than ever it was before: They have been gashed, and … in pieces with the terrors of Conscience; but … worn out their Terrors, and Fears, they are more seared and senceless than ever.