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bittering the baits of worldly vanities, and filling our souls with penitential sorrow. Before honour is humility. This happy humiliation makes way for the greatest exaltation; for "thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and the heart of the contrite, to fill the hungry with good things, and beautify the meek with salvation." Isa. lvii. 15.

If these advantages, which exceed the worth of earthly crowns, necessarily result from the proper knowledge of our corrupt and lost estate, who, but an infatuated enemy of his own soul, would be afraid of that self-science? Who, but an obstinate pharisee, would not esteem it, next to the knowledge of Christ, the greatest blessing which heaven can bestow upon the self-destroyed, and yet self-conceited children of men?

Careless reader, if thou art the person, if remaining unshaken in thy carnal confidence, and supposing thyself wiser than seven men that cau render a reason, thou not only despisest the testimony of the sacred writers, and our pious reformers, laid before thee in the first part of this treatise, but disregardest the numerous arguments it contains, tramplest under foot both matter of fact and common sense, and remainest unaffected by the most dreadful consequences of self-ignorance on the one hand, and by the greatest advantages of self-knowledge on the other. I have done, and must take leave of thee.

May the merciful and holy God, whose laws thou dost daily violate, whose word thou hourly opposest or forgettest, whose salvation thou dost every moment neglect, whose vengeance thou continually provokest, and whose cause I have attempted to plead, bear with thee and thy insults a little longer! May his infinite patience yet afford thee some means of conviction, more effectual than that which is at present in thy hands! Or shouldst thou look into this labour of love once more, may it then answer a better purpose than to aggravate thy guilt, and enhance thy condemnation, by rendering the folly of thy unbelief more glaring, and consequently more inexcusable !

A concluding ADDRESS to the serious Reader, who enquires, must I do to be saved?"

"What

"Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" Jer. viii. 22.

Containing, I. REFLECTIONS on the nature and depth of penitential

sorrow.

II. DIRECTIONS proper for a half-awakened sinner, who desires to be truly convinced of his guilt and danger.

III. CAUTIONS against many false ways of healing a conscience wounded by sin.

IV. The evangelical method of a sound cure.

V. A scriptural testimony of God's children concerning the excellency of this method.

VI, Scriptural invitations and exhortations, to encourage a desponding penitent to try this never-failing method. And,

VII. The happy effects of such a trial.

HAVING taken my leave of the thoughtless and gay, who regard an appeal to their reason as little as they do the warnings of their conscience;

I return to thee*, serious and well-disposed reader. I am too much concerned for thy soul's welfare to lay down my pen, without shewing thee more perfectly the way to the kingdom of heaven, by testifying to thee repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Thou art happily weary of feeding upon the husks of earthly vanities. I have a right, therefore, as a steward of the mysteries of God, to bring out of the divine treasury, the pearls of evangelical truth; and I gladly cast them before thee; persuaded that, far from awakening thy anger, they will excite thy desires, and animate thy languid hopes.

Instead of ridiculing or dreading a heart-felt conviction of thy lost estate, thou now seest it is a desirable privilege—an invaluable blessing. Ready to mourn, because thou canst not mourn, thou complainest that thou hast only a confused view of thy total depravity. Thou wantest the feelings of the royal penitent, when he said, " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity," &c. "I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me:" but conscious thou canst not raise them in thy heart by natural powers, thou desirest some scriptural directions suitable to thy case. Give me leave to introduce them by a few

I. PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS On the nature and depth of penitential sorrow. Thou knowest, that except thou truly repentest, thou shalt surely perish, and that there is no true repentance where there is not true sorrow for sin. "I rejoice," says St. Paul to the Corinthians, "that ye were made sorry after a godly manner; for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Hence it appears, that there are two sorts of sorrow springing from opposite sources, God and the world; the one a gedly sorrow, and the other the sorrow of the world. Learn to distinguish them by their various causes and effects, so shalt thou avoid the danger of mistaking one for the other.

The sorrow of the world, which many cover with the cloak of religion, arises from fear of contempt, dread of poverty, secret jealousy, revenge dissatisfied, love disappointed, baffled schemes, losses in business, unkindness of friends, provocation of enemies, or the death of some idolized relative. Nay, this sorrow may sometimes spring from a mixture of self-righteous pride and slavish fear. Some cannot bear to be robbed of their fond hopes of meriting heaven by their imaginary good works: they lose all patience, when they see their best righteousness brought to light, and exposed as filthy rags; they are cut to the heart, when they hear that their apparent good deeds deserve punishment as well as their black enormities; or like condemned malefactors, they dread the consequences of their crimes, while they feel little or no horror for the crimes themselves.

Exceedingly fatal are the effects of this sorrow, in the person whom it overcomes. Their indignant hearts, unable to bear either disappointment, contradiction, or condemnation, rise against second causes, or against the decrees of Providence; fret at the strictness of the law, or holiness of the lawgiver; and pine away with uninterrupted discontent. Hence spurning at advice, direction, and consolation, they wring their hauds, or gnaw their tongues with anguish; impatience works them up

* This address is only calculated for serious persons, who cordially assent to the doctrine established in the rational demonstration of our fallen and lost estate. As other readers have been dismissed with the portion of truth that belongs to them, they are desired not to meddle with this, lest their cavils confirm St. Paul's observation, We preach Christ crucified,-to the seif-righteous Jews a stumbling-block, and to the self-conceited Greeks foolishness.

into stupid sullenness, or noisy murmuring; they complain that their punishment is greater than they can bear; and, imagining they are more severely dealt with than others, they hastily conclude, "Behold this evil is from the Lord; why should I wait for him any longer?" Taus black despair seizes upon their spirits; and, if grace does not interpose, they either live on to fill up the measure of their iniquities, as Cain, Pharaoh, and Haman, or madly lay violent hands upon themselves, as Ahitophel and Judas.

This sorrow cannot be too much guarded against, as it not only destroys many persons, but does immense hurt to religion. For those who are glad of any pretence to pour contempt upon godliness, taking occasion from the instances of this sorrow, harden their own hearts, and prejudice all around them against the blessed, godly sorrow, which every minister of the gospel endeavours to excite; maliciously representing it as one and the same with the mischievous sorrow of the world.

Their mistake will be evident, if we trace godly sorrow back to its source. It does not spring merely from fear of punishment; but chiefly from humbling views of God's holiness, the impurity of the human nature, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the transcendent excellency of the law, which condemns the sinner.

And this happy sorrow differs not less from the other in its effects than it does in its cause. The persons who are blessed with it, far from murmuring or fretting at the divine commandment, see it to be holy, just, and good, both in its preceptive and penal part. They so absolutely acquiesce in it, that they would not alter it, if they could. They clear God, accuse themselves, subscribe their own sentence, and acknowledge, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed." Each of them can say, "Wherefore should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? It is good that he should both hope and quietly wait for God's salvation. I will therefore watch to see what he will say unto me, for he will speak peace unto his people." Thus in a constant use of all the ordinances of God, they meekly wait, wrestling with their unbelieving fears, till victorious faith comes by hearing of the matchless love of Jesus Christ; and then, fearing the Lord and his goodness, they sing the song of the Lamb, and run his delightful errands.

And as thou seest, serious reader, the nature, necessity, and excellence of godly sorrow, thou art probably desirous of being informed, how deep thine must be, to constitute thee a true penitent. Know then, that it must be deep enough to imbitter thy most pleasing, profitable, and habitual sins, and to prevent thy resting without a clear sense of thy peculiar interest in Christ.-It must be profound enough to make him and his gospel infinitely precious to thee, and to produce, under God, the blessed effects mentioned in the fifth part of the preceding treatise.

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To be more particular, a true penitent may certainly without despair or madness, go as far in godly sorrow, as David does in his penitential psalms, or our church in the first part of the homily on fasting: good men, says she, feel in themselves the heavy burden of sin, see damnation to be the reward of it, and behold with the eye of their mind the horror of hell, they tremble, they quake, they are inwardly touched with sorrrowfulness of heart for their offences, and cannot but accuse themselves, and open their grief unto Almighty God, and call on him for mercy. This being done seriously, their mind is so occupied, partly with sorrow and heaviness, partly with an earnest desire to be delivered from this danger of hell and damnation, that all desire of meat and drink is laid aside, and loathing of all worldly things and pleasures come in place, so that they like nothing better than to weep, to lament, to mourn, and both with words and behaviour of body, to shew themselves weary of this life."

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Nevertheless it must be observed, that godly sorrow needs not be equal, either in degree or duration, in all penitents. Those, whose hearts through divine grace, open as readily and gently as that of Lydia, happily avoid many of David's pangs and Job's terrors. The powerful and instantaneous, or the gentle and gradual manner, in which souls are awakened; the difference of constitutions; the peculiar services that a few are called to, and for which they are prepared by peculiar exercises; the horrid aggravations that have attended the sins of some; and the severe correction, which the Lord is obliged to give others, for their stout resistance against his grace-all this may help us to account for the va→ rious depths of distress, through which different penitents pass in their way to Christ and salvation.

The Lord does not needlessly afflict the children of men, any more than a tender father, unnecessarily corrects his disobedient children; he only wants us to forsake our sins, renounce our own imaginary righteousness, and come to Christ to be made partakers of his merits, holiness, and felicity. The sorrow, which answers these ends, is quite sufficient; though it should be ever so light, and of ever so short a duration. On the contrary, a distress as heavy as that of Judas is unavailable; if instead of driving us from sin to Jesus Christ, it only drives us from prophaneness to hypocrisy, or from presumption to despair.

If, still perplexed, thou askest what thou must do, to get a sense of thy depravity, productive of true repentance; I answer, that an affecting discovery of the guilt, nature, and danger of sin, is only attained by the assistance of God's Spirit, who alone effectually convinces the world of sin. John xvi. 8. But the Lord has graciously appointed means, in the right use of which he never denies a sinner the convincing and converting power of his blessed Spirit, and what they are, thou art informed in the following.

II. DIRECTIONS, proper for a half-awakened sinner, desirous of being duly convinced of his corrupt and lost estate. Beware of fools that make a mock at sorrow for sin, and sin itself. Beware of those blind leaders of the blind, who having a form of godliness, deny the power thereof: instead of pointing thee to the throne of grace, and bidding thee to "behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world," they will only direct thee to the church-walls and communiontable and perhaps, if they see thee under dejection of spirit for thy sins, they will recommend the play-house, the card-table, or what they call a cheerful glass." From such turn away, or they will persuade thee that repentance is melancholy conviction of sin, despair; and the love of God, enthusiasm. 2 Tim. iii. 5.

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That they may not be able to laugh, or frown thee out of the way of salvation, dwell in thy thoughts on God's awful perfection. Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne." The unspotted, resplendent holiness beaming forth from him, as from an immensely glorious Sun of righteousness, will shew thee thy sins as innumerable as the flying motes discovered in a dusty room, where the natural sun can penetrate. Consider that they are committed by a worm of earth, against the Majesty of heaven; and they will all appear to thee infinitely great; especially if thou measurest them, and thyself by the true rule, the oracles of God; casting away the three false standards which selfdeceivers measure themselves by, namely, the good opinion of their worldly-minded neighbours, the defective examples of their fellow-sinners, and the flattering suggestions of their own blind self-love.

Follow the example of the noble Bereans: "Search the Scriptures daily, whether these things are so." Acts xvii. 11. View in that faithful mirror, the picture both of the natural and of the regenerate man, and ask thy conscience which thou resemblest most. If, imitating the godly

man described in the first psalm, thou" meditatest in the law of the Lord day and night;" the straitness of the heavenly rule will soon shew thee how very far gone thy thoughts, words, actions, tempers, and nature, are from original righteousness.

To this meditation, add a frequent survey of the follies of thy childhood, the vanity of thy youth, the worldly-mindedness of thy riper years, the capital transgressions which conscience accuses thee of, and the hardness of heart, and alienation from the life of God, that the Scriptures charge thee with. Confess all to the Lord as thou art able, remembering that the wages of sin is death, who flies fast upon thee with the wings of time :-Death, who often gives no warning, and ushers in judgment, with all the horrors of hell, or the joys of heaven; and pray, that these awful realities may affect thee now, as they will in thy last moments. Frequently reflect, how total must be our loss of spiritual life, which cannot be repaired but by a resurrection, a new-birth, or a new crea tion. Col. iii. 1. John iii. 7. Gal. vi. 5. And how desperate the disease of our fallen nature, which cannot be healed but with the blood of a divine physician. Consider, attentively consider him, whose piercing look softened the obdurate heart of cursing Peter, whose amazing sufferings brought a hardened thief under the deepest concern for his salvation, and whose dying groans rent the rocks, shook the earth, and opened the graves. The tender flower of angelical sorrow grows best in the shade of his cross a believing view of him, as suffering for thee, will melt thee into penitential tears, and seal upon thy relenting heart the gracious promise, “They shall look upon him, whom they have pierced, and mourn. Zech. xii. 10.

In the mean time, improve the daily opportunities, which thou hast of studying human corruption in the life and tempers of all around thee, but chiefly in thy own careless and deceitful heart: take notice of its pride and self-seeking, of its risings and secret workings, especially when unexpected temptations trouble thy imaginary peace of mind; for, at such a time, thy corruption, like the sediment in the bottom of a vial that is shaken, will shew its loathsomeness and strength.

Converse frequently, if thou canst, with persons deeply convinced of sin. Attend a plain, heart-searching ministry as often as possible; and when the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, pierces thy soul, beware of fretful impatience. Instead of rising with indignation against the preacher, and saying, as proud Ahab did to the man of God, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Account him thy best friend, that wounds thee deepest, provided he brings thee to Christ for a cure: and when the arrows of the word fly abroad, drop the shield of unbelief, make bare thy breast, welcome the blessed shaft, and remember, that the only way of conquering sin, is to fall wounded and helpless at the Redeemer's feet.

Nevertheless the impressions of the word will soon wear off, if thou dost not importunately intreat the Searcher of hearts, to light the candle of his grace in thy soul, thou mayest clearly see whether thy inward parts are holiness to the Lord, as thou fondly supposest; or very wickedness, as the scripture testifies. It is only in God's light that we can clearly discover our blindness.

This light, it is true, shineth in darkness, but frequently the darkness comprehendeth it not. That this be not thy dreadful case, do not grieve and quench the convincing Spirit, by persisting in the wilful omission of any duty, or deliberate commission of any sin: nothing but obstinate unbelief darkens the mind, and hardens the heart, more than this. Therefore, instead of burying thy one talent with the slothful servant earnestly pray the Lord to make thee faithful to thy convictions, and to deepen them daily till they end in a sound conversion.

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