are but the fins of a man, but the leaft of God's mercies is the mercy of God. 3. The Lord calleth all, even thofe finners who are heavy laden with fins to come unto him, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, Matth. xi. 28. Is not this enough to rouze and raise up thy heart from sinking? Remember what was faid to Bartimeus the blind man, fitting by the water fide at Jericho, Be of good comfort, arife, he calleth thee, Mark x. 49. So chear up thy heavy heart with this fweet balfam; lift up thy hands which hang down, and thy knees which are weak, and make straight fteps with thy feet, even unto the throne of grace, behold he calleth q d. Poor foul, thou that complaineft thy fin is great come hither, and I will eafe thee of it; let me bear thy cares, and thou shalt bear my comfort; give me thy fins, and I will give thee my righteoufnefs. Heavy hearts whom this call of Chrift cannot revive. 4. Thy fins indeed are great, and very great; and if ever the Holy Ghost do but open thine eyes, he will make thee fee it: But yet they are not fo great as that therefore they cannot be forgiven; that is not the voice of the Holy Spirit, but of him who is the father of lies: If thy fins were a thousand thousand times greater than they are, and if thou shouldft add to them the fins of Cain and Judas, and all the reprobates in the world, doubtless they would be a great heap, yet lay this huge heap before infinite pardoning grace, and there will be no comparison; what say. eft thou? that God either cannot, or will not pardon thee? or that never fuch a finner as thyfelf was pardoned? O do not limit the holy One of Ifrael! have no low thoughts of God's love, which, faith the apostle, passeth all underAanding, Eph. iii. 19. Suppofe the like finner to thyself was never pardoned, Behold, faith the Lord, I will do a new thing, now it fhall fpring forth, fhall ye not know it? I will make a way in the wildernefs, and rivers in the defart-to give drink to my people, my chofen: this people have I formed for myfelf, they fhall fhew forth my praife. It is the fame with that promife, He will abundantly pardon, or he will multiply to pardon,' Ifa. Iv. 7. q. d. I'll drop mercy with your fip, and fpend all I have rather than it should be faid, My good is overcome of your evil. But how may I know the falfe accufations of Satan from the convictions of God's own Spirit? for both tell me my fins are great, and very great. I anfwer, When they afperfe God, and to charge the foul, that withal they reflect on God's goodness, and mercy, and love, and the riches of his grace, then are they not of the holy Spirit, but of the evil fpirit. Oh mark this fign! if thy fins are so reprefented to thee, as exceeding the greatnels of God's mercy, and thou crieft with Cain. My iniquity is greater than can be forgiven, here the devil opens himself. Mr. Gurnal fweetly obferves, The holy Spirit is Chrift's spokes man to commend him to fouls, and to wooe finners to em. brace the grace of the gofpel, and can fuch words drop from his facred lips as fhould break the match, and fink Chrift's efteem in the thoughts of the creature? You may eafily know where this is minted, when you hear one commend another for a wife and a good man, but at last comes in with a but that dasheth all; you will think he is no friend to the man, but fome fly enemy, that by feeming to commend, de fires to difgrace the more. Thus when you find God reprefented to you as merciful, gracious, but not to fuch great finners; to have power and trength, but not able to fave fuch as you are, you may fay, Avaunt Satan, thy fpeech bewrayeth thee. SECT. IV. Of Satan's Affaults upon fenfe of Mifery. HE holy Spirit that convinceth of fin, in the next place works fear, or fenfe of mifery. Thus Paul trembled, and the goaler trembled. As when a man fees danger near and imminent, he naturally fears; fo when the Spirit presents a man's danger, death, and wrath even at the door, he begins then to fear, Ye have not received, feith the apostle, the Spirit of bondage again to fear, Rom. viii. 15. this plainly intimates that once they had received it: The Spirit pursues fouls whom he purposes for heaven with ftrong fears, till proud man falls down before God crying, and faying, Oh I am undone! Oh that I had ne ver been born! Gr. Now in this cafe Satan fteps in, and either allays thefe fears with worldly comforts, in fome counterfeit claim, or elfe he works further and deeper fears than the Holy Ghost himself alone intended. For the first; fometimes he allays these fears with world. ly comforts, or fome counterfeit claim. Of this I fhall speak when I come to that other step of feeking for comfort. Satan hath his comforters, tho' the Lord knows they are miferable comforters all. For the fecond; fometimes he aggravates fears, and to that purpose he tells men of God's eternal wrath, and of God's eternal rejection, and that God will never be merciful, and fo he layeth them lower, and calls them into a further fear and bondage than the Holy Ghoft is cause of : Yea, devils now combine and fay as David's enemies faid in his distress, What! would thefe fouls efcape our clutches? Come, let us now take them, for God hath forfaken them; let us now devour them, and fwallow them up with fear and defpair. As God fays of thofe enemies of his church, I was but a little difpleafed, and they helped forward the af fiction, Zech. i. 15. So when the Spirit works fear, in or der to converfion, Satan watcheth his opportunity, and drives on that fear to utter defpair. It is a question how Satan can work this fear on the confcience, which is ufually attributed to God's Spirit? but the answer is given by Dr. Goodwin in his Child of Light, thus, 1. That Satan cannot immediately wound the confcience; for as no creature can fhed abroad God's love, and caufe a poor foul to tafte of the fweetnefs of it, fo no crea. ture can make impreffions of God's wrath upon the confci ence, but only God himself, or the Spirit of God imme diately. But, 2. Satan can do it upon the confcience mediately, and that in these feveral refpects. 1. When the Holy Ghoft had lash'd and whip'd the confcience, and made it tender, and fetch'd off the skin, then Satan can fret it more and more, and so be still rubbing upon the fose by his horrid fuggeftions and falle fears çaft in. 2. From renewing the remembrance of these terrors im preffed preffed by the Spirit, he can amaze the foul afresh with fear of worse. 3. He can bring home all the threatnings that are thundred forth in the word against hypocrites, and men unregenerate, and difcharge them all with much violence and noife upon the poor doubting foul. 4. He can ftir up the paffions of fear, and grief, and trembling of fpirit; he is the prince of the airy part of the little world in man, as well as of that elementary region in the great world, and fo can raife unnatural forms and va pours that shall darken reafon, and caufe fuch thunder and lightnings, as fhall burn all into a black confufion, fuch as if hell and foul would prefently come together. And this he doth more than fimply morally, i. e: by a bare propounding fuch objects as shall move them, (which men only can do) but further alfo phyfically; by stirring fuch humours in the body which fuch paffions do act and flir in; and when he hath thus diftempered and difordered all in a man and put a man to fuch difpofitions of fears, then he comes with his fuggeftions, and speaks nothing but of wrath and terrors; and then looks as when a man's choler is up, every small thing provokes him, fo now when his fear is excited, every fuggeftion, every furmife doth frike the foul thro' and thro' with horrid fears. And thus tho' not immediately, yet thro' the means of thefe mifts, and va pours, and fogs raifed, which environ and darken this fun, be works upon the confcience. But what means Satan thus to fill the confcience with fears? I answer, His end is especially double, 1. To bring the foul to defpair of eternal life. 2. To bring the body to fome violent temporary death; in both which, if he can prevail, then he makes fure to hurry the whole man into the torments of hell. We may imagine him to befpeak the fcul in his horrid hellish language, Wouldst thou now, vile wretch, turn unto God, hoping to be re ceived to grace and mercy? why, affure thyfelf it is too late; are not thy fins in number numberlefs, and in their quality and nature moft heinous and contagious? and haft. thou not continued in this thy rebellion a long, a very long time? hath not Chrift often called, and yet thou would t wouldft not come? hath he not gracioufly offered and tendered himself to thee, but thou faidft he should not reign over thee? and haft thou not served me and obeyed me all the days of thy life? now therefore the day of falvation is gone, the acceptable time is paft and never to be recalled; thou mayft with Efau feek repentance with tears, but thou shalt never find it no more than Efau did: Moreover, add the confideration of thy fins, the remem brance of God's justice, the terrible curfe of the law, the fearful torments of hell prepared for finners, amongst which number thou art one of the chief. Come do not flatter thyfelf with hope of mercy, but rather expect those fear ful judgments, and endels torments which are due unto thee for thy rebellions. Thus Satan labours to bring a poor finner to deep despair, and to fill his confcience with horror and fear, which if he can accomplish, he refts not there, but like a cruel coward who can never be quiet till he fee the death of his enemy, he then perfuades to feek fome ease of his prefent torments, by imbruing his hands in his own blood, and putting himself to fome violent death. This is fad, yet fome are brought to this, the Lord knows, I will inftance in none but Cain and Judas, of whom the former defperately blafphemed the mercy of God, and the other defperately laid violent hands on himfelf, He hanged himself, and falling headlong, he burst afunder in the midft, and his bowels gushed out, Matth. xxvii. 5. Acts i, 18. fore, SECT. V. Of the Duties that concern Souls in this Cafe. 1. To that of defpair: Confider, As to God's juftice. 3. As to the law. 1. As to fin. 2. 4. As to hell. 1. As to fin, confider, that no fin, though never lo great, should be a cause to move thee to defpair. What! would Satan perfuade thee, because thou hast been fo great and prodigious a finner, therefore to despair? Retort this argument upon himfelf, and tell him that every thing by which he would perfuade thee to defpair, doth much more deter |