CHAP. XI. (1)

The Third Direction proposed. Load the Conscience with the Guilt of the perplexing Distemper. The Wayes and Means whereby that may be done. The Fourth Direction. Vehement desire for Deliverance. The Fifth. Some Distempers rooted deeply in mens Natural Tempers. Considerations of such Distempers: Wayes of dealing with them. The Sixth Direction. Occasions and Advantages of Sin to be prevented. The Seventh Direction. The first actings of Sin vigorously to be opposed.

THIS is my Third Direction:

Load thy Conscience with the Guilt of it. Not onely consider, that it hath a Guilt, but load thy Conscience with the Guilt of its actual Eruptions and Disturbances.

For the right improvement of this Rule, I shall give some particular Directions.

First, Take Gods Me[gap]hod in it, and begin with Generals, a[gap] so descend to particulars.

(1) Charge thy Conscience with that Guilt which appears in it, from the Rectitude and Holiness of the Law. Bring the holy Law of

God into thy Conscience; lay thy corruption to it; pray that thou mayest be affected with it. Consider the holiness, spirituality, fiery severity, inwardness, absoluteness of the Law; And see how thou canst stand before it. Be much (I say) in affecting thy Conscience with the Terrour of the Lord in the Law, and how righteous it is that every one of thy Transgressions should receive a recompence of Reward. Perhaps thy Conscience will invent shifts and Evasions to keep off the Power of this Consideration; as, that the condemning power of the Law doth not belong to thee, thou art set free from it, and the like; and so though thou be not conformable to it, yet thou needest not to be so much troubled at it. But,

1. Tell thy Conscience, that it cannot manage any evidence to the purpose, that thou art free from the condemning Power of Sin, whilest thy unmortified Lust lyes in thy Heart; so that perhaps the Law may make good its Plea against thee for a full Dominion, and then thou art a lost Creature. Wherefore it is best to ponder to the utmost, what it hath to say.

Assuredly he [gap] pleads in the most secret Reserve of his Heart, that he is freed from the condemning po[gap]e[gap] of the Law, thereby secretly to countenance himself in giving the [gap]st

allowance unto any Sin or Lust, is not able on Gospel grounds to manage any Evidence unto any tolerable spiritual Security, that indeed he is in a due manner freed from what he so pretends himself to be delivered.

2. Whatever be the issue, yet the Law hath Commission from God to seize upon Transgressors wherever it find them, and so bring them before his Throne, where they are to plead for themselves; This is thy present case: The Law hath found thee out, and before God it will bring thee: If thou canst plead a Pardon, well and good; If not, the Law will do its work.

3. However, this is the proper Work of the Law, to discover Sin in the Guilt of it, to awake and humble the Soul for it, to be a Glass to represent Sin in its colours; and if thou denyest to deal with it on this Account, it is not through Faith, but through the hardness of thy Heart and the Deceitfulness of Sin.

This is a Door that too many Professors have gone out at, unto open Apostasie; such a Deliverance from the Law they have pretended, as that they would consult its Guidance and Direction no more; they would measure their Sin by it no more; by little and little this Principle hath insensibly from the Notion of it proceeded to influence their practical Understandings;

and having taken possession there, hath turned the Will and Affections loose to all manner of Abominations.

By such wayes (I say then) as these, perswade thy Conscience to hearken diligently to what the Law speaks in the Name of the Lord unto thee, about thy Lust and Corruption. Oh! if thy Ears be open, it will speak with a Voyce that shall make thee tremble, that shall cast thee to the ground, and fill thee with Astonishment. If ever thou wilt mortifie thy Corruptions, thou must tye up thy Conscience to the Law, shut it from all shifts and Exceptions untill it owns its Guilt, with a clear and through Apprehension: So that thence, (as David speaks) thy Iniquity may ever be before thee.

(2) Bring thy Lust to the Gospel, not for Relief, but for farther conviction of its Guilt; look on him whom thou hast pierced, and be in bitterness. Say to thy Soul; What have I done? what Love, what Mercy, what Blood, what Grace have I despised and trampled on? Is this the Return I make to the Father for his Love, to the Son for his Blood, to the Holy Ghost for his Grace? Doe I thus requite the Lord? Have I defiled the Heart that Christ dyed to wash; that the Blessed Spirit hath chosen to dwell in? And can I keep my self out of the Dust? What can I say to the dear Lord

Jesus? How shall I hold up my head with any boldness before him? Doe I account Communion with him of so little value, that for this vile Lusts sake I have scarce left him any room in my Heart? How shall I escape, if I neglect so great Salvation? In the mean time, what shall I say to the Lord? Love, Mercy, Grace, Goodness, Peace, Joy, Consolation, I have despised them all, and esteemed them as a thing of nought, that I might harbour a Lust in my Heart.

Have I obtained a view of Gods Fatherly Countenance, that I might behold his face, and provoke him to his face? Was my Soul washed, that room might be made for new Defilements? Shall I endeavour to disappoint the End of the Death of Christ? Shall I daily grieve that Spirit whereby I am sealed to the day of Redemption? Entert[gap]in thy Conscience daily with this Treaty. [gap] it can stand before this Aggravation o[gap] [gap] [gap]i[gap]t. If this make it not sink in some [gap] ▪ and melt, I fear thy Case is dangerous.

Secondly, [gap] particulars. As under the General [gap] Gospel, all the Benefits of it are to be considered, as Redemption, Justification and the l[gap]ke; so in particular, consider the Management of the love of them toward thine own Soul, for the Aggravation of the Guilt of thy Corruption. As,

1. Consider the infinite Patience and forbearance of God towards thee in particular: Consider what Advantages he might have taken against thee, to have made thee a shame and a reproach in this World, and an object of wrath for ever: How thou hast dealt treacherously and falsly with him from time to time, flattered him with thy Lips, but broken all Promises and Engagements; and that by the means of that Sin thou art now in pursuit of; and yet he hath spared thee from time to time, although thou seemest boldly to have put it to the tryal how long he could hold out: And wilt thou yet sin against him? wilt thou yet weary him, and make him to serve with thy Corruptions?

Hast thou not often been ready to conclude thy self, that it was utterly impossible that he should bear any longer with thee; that he would cast thee off, and be gracious no more; that all his Forbearance was exhausted, and Hell and Wrath was even ready prepared for thee; and yet above all thy Expectation he hath returned with Visitations of Love; and wilt thou yet abide in the Provocation of the eyes of his Glory?

2. How often hast thou been at the door of being Hardened by the Deceitfulness of Sin; and by the infinite rich Grace of God hast been recovered to communion with him again?

Hast thou not found Grace decaying; Delight in Duties, Ordinances, Prayer and Meditation, vanishing; inclinations to loose careless walking, thriving; and they who before were entangled, almost beyond recovery? Hast thou not found thy self engaged in such Wayes, Societies, Companies, and that with delight, as God abhorres? and wilt thou venture any more to the brink of Hardness?

3. All Gods gracious dealings with thee in Providential Dispensations, Deliverances, Afflictions, Mercies, Enjoyments, all ought here to take place. By these I say, and the like Means, load thy Conscience, and leave it not untill it be throughly affected with the Guilt of thy indwelling Corruption: Untill it is sensible of its Wound, and lye in the dust before the Lord. Unless this be done to the purpose, all other Endeavours are to no purpose. Whilest the Conscience hath any Means to alleviate the Guilt of Sin, the Soul will never vigorously attempt its Mortification.

Fourthly, Being thus affected with thy Sin, in the next place, get a constant longing, breathing after deliverance from the Power of it. Suffer not thy Heart one moment to be contented with thy present Frame and Condition. Longing desires after any thing, in things Natural and Civil, are of no value nor consideration,

any farther, but as they incite and stirre up the person in whom they are, to a diligent use of Means for the bringing about the thing aymed at. In spiritual things it is otherwise. Longing, breathing and panting after Deliverance, is a Grace in its self, that hath a mighty power to conform the Soul into the likeness of the thing longed after. Hence the Apostle describing the Repentance and godly Sorrow of the Corinthians, reckons this as one eminent Grace that was then set on work; vehement Desire, 2 Cor. 7.11. And in this case of indwelling Sin, and the power of it, what Frame doth he express himself to be in? Rom. 7.24. His heart breaks out with longings into a most passionate Expression of desire of deliverance. Now if this be the frame of Saints, upon the general consideration of indwelling Sin, how is it to be heightened and increased, when thereunto is added the perplexing Rage and Power of any particular Lust and Corruption? Assure thy self, unless thou longest for Deliverance thou shalt not have it.

This will make the Heart watchfull for all Opportunities of Advantage against its Enemy; and ready to close with any Assistances that are afforded for its Destruction; strong Desires are the very Life of that praying alwayes which is enjoyned us in all Conditions, and

in none is more necessary than in this; they set Faith and Hope on work, and are the Souls moving after the Lord.

Get thy Heart then into a panting and breathing Frame, long, sigh, cry out; you know the Example of David, I shall not need to insist on it.

The Fifth Directions is,

5ly, Consider whether the Distemper with which thou art perplexed, be not rooted in thy Nature, and cherished, fomented and heightned from thy Constitution. A proneness to some Sins may doubtless lye in the Natural Temper and Disposition of men. In this Case consider;

1. This is not in the least an Extenuation of the Guilt of thy Sin.

Some with an open Profaneness will ascribe gross Enormities to their Temper and Disposition. And whether others may not relieve themselves from the pressing Guilt of their Distempers by the same Consideration, I know not. It is from the F[gap]ll, from the Original depravation of our Natures, that the fomes and Nourishment of any Sin abides in our Natural Temper. David reckons his being shapen in Iniquity, and conception in Sin, Psal. 51.5. as an Aggravation of his following Sin, not a lessening or extenuation of it. That thou art

peculiarly inclined unto any sinfull Distemper, is but a peculiar breaking out of Original Lust in thy Nature, which should peculiarly abase and humble thee.

2. That thou hast to fix upon on this account, in reference to thy walking with God, is, that so great an Advantage is given to Sin, as also to Satan, by this thy Temper and Disposition, that without extraordinary Watchfulness, Care and Diligence, they will assuredly prevail against thy Soul. Thousands have been on this account hurryed headlong to Hell, who otherwise (at least) might have gone at a more gentle, less provoking, less mischievous rate.

3. For the Mortification of any Distemper, so rooted in the Nature of a Man, unto all other Wayes and Means already named or farther to be insisted on, there is one expedient peculiarly suited. This is that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 9.27. I keep under my Body, and bring it into subjection. The bringing of the very Body into subjection, is an Ordinance of God, tending to the Mortification of Sin. This gives check unto the Natural Root of the Distemper, and withers it by taking away its fatness of soil. Perhaps because the Papists (men ignorant of the Righteousness of Christ, the Work of his Spirit, and whole business in hand) have layed the whole weight and stress

of Mortification in voluntary Services and Penances; leading to the subjection of the Body, knowing indeed the true Nature neither of Sin nor Mortification, it may on the other side be a Temptation to some, to neglect some means of humiliation, which by God himself are owned and appointed. The bringing of the body into subjection in the case insisted on, by cutting short the Natural Appetite, by fasting, watching, and the like, is doubtless acceptable to God, so it be done with the ensuing limitations.

(1) That the outward weakening and impairing of the Body, be not looked upon as a thing good in it self, or that any Mortification doth consist therein, (which were again to bring us under carnal Ordinances) but only as a Means for the End proposed; the weakening of any Distemper in its Natural root and seat. A man may have leanness of Body and Soul together.

(2) That the means whereby this is done, namely, by fasting and watching, and the like, be not looked on as things that in Themselves, and by virtue of their Own Power, can produce true Mortification of any Sin; for if they would, Sin might be mortified without any help of the Spirit, in any unregenerate person in the world. They are to be looked on onely as wayes whereby the Spirit may,

and sometimes doth put forth strength for the accomplishing of his own work, especially in the Case mentioned. Want of a right understanding and due Improvement of these and the like Considerations, hath raised a Mortification among the Papists that may be better applyed to Horses and other Beasts of the Field, than to Believers.

This is the summe of what hath been spoken; when the distemper complained of, seems to be rooted in Natural temper and constitution, in applying our Souls to a participation of the Blood and Spirit of Christ, an Endeavour is to be used, to give check in the way of God, to the natural Root of that Distemper.

Sixthly, Consider what Occasions, what Advantages thy Distemper hath taken to exert and put forth it self, and watch against them all. This is one part of that Duty which our blessed Saviour recommends to his Disciples under the name of watching, Mark 13.37. I say unto you all, Watch; which in Luk. 21.34. is, Take heed that your hearts be not overcharged: Watch against all Eruptions of thy Corruptions. I mean that Duty which David professed himself to be exercised unto: I have (saith he) kept my self from mine Iniquity. he watched all the wayes and workings of his Iniquity to prevent them, to rise up against them.