Chapter IV
How our reconciliation to God consists in renouncing all friendships and inte
rests which stand in competition with his ; and in choosing him for our alone friend and portion ; in resigning all to him ; in having a disposition and nature like to God ; and also in all our addresses to God proceeding from an inward principle ofpure good will unto God.
8. Eighthly ; He that will be reconciled to God must part with, and for
sake, all other friends and lovers ; renounce and break off all interests and VOL. VI. I
130 THE WOEK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK III.
correspondences with them, and choose God for his sole friend and por tion. And he must choose God for ever, to cleave to him with full purpose of heart.
* Ye adul
(1.) He must renounce all other friendships
: James iv. 4,
terers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God ? Whosoever therefore shall be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God. As God will not have us serve other masters, so not
to have other friends : Whosoever doth not forsake father, mother,
&c., is unworthy of me, says Christ, Luke xiv. 26. And still what God hath done in Christ for reconciling us, will persuade to it.
[1.] First, God was content to part with his Son, a friend, an old friend, and a bosom friend, brought up with him ; and yet he was content for a time
to forsake him. Witness that speech, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me ? And Christ was content to part with and leave his Father
for a time. That speech, For this cause a man shall forsake father and
mother, is, in Eph. v. 31, applied to Christ, in his giving himself to the
church, as the context shews.
And he came down from heaven for to make such friends. And thus each of them parted with their old friends to get new. So do you, and be
content to forsake the dearest you have delighted in, and have been brought up with. The church forsook her father s house.
[2.] The nature of reconciliation requires it ; for friendship with any
thing else is enmity with God, James iv. 4. A friendship not only with
proclaimed enemies, open sins, but with all the things the world hath, is
vanitywith God. A believer may have a lordship over them, but not
friendship with them. He may use them as strangers and servants, but not as friends ; so they must not have his heart. He that hates not
father and mother is unworthy of me, says Christ, that is, not worthy of my friendship, and such a friend as I am and mean to be.
[3.] Choose him alone for your God, to betake yourselves unto him for
ever. Friendship is entered into by choice. Kindred indeed is not, for I chose not who was to be my father ; who shall be the son of my mother is not in my choice : but friendship goes by choice. So Jonathan chose David : 1 Sam. xx. 30, Thou hast chosen the son of Jesse (saith Saul). So the church : Hos. ii. 7, She shall follow after lovers, but she shall not overtake them ; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them : then
shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband ; for then was it
better with me than now. She forsakes all other lovers, and betakes her
self to God ; and what says God ? Verse 23, I will say, They are my people ; and they shall answer my love again, and say, Thou art my God, ver. 23. Which place shews the reason whence it may be enforced. For God, you heard, chose you, and gave you to Christ before you were, and he chose Christ for you to be your mediator, and said concerning him,
Thou art a priest, and that he would not repent his choice. Now, in like manner as God did choose you, so must you also choose him. As God chooseth you
* freely, Hos. xiv. 14, out of good will, and pitcheth his
choice upon your persons, so must you choose him freely, and choose
him, as Jonathan chose David to be his friend, though to the loss of a
kingdom, as Saul told him, 1 Sam. xx. 30. So do thou choose God, though to thy undoing in the world ; and as he chose you for ever, never to cast
you off, making an everlasting covenant with Christ for you, giving him a
charge to save you, choosing you out of an everlasting love : so you are to * Qu. enmity ? ED.
CHAP. IV.] IN OUR SALVATION. 131
choose him to be your God for ever. And, as Jonathan s heart cleaving to
David, he sware to him, and entered into covenant with him, so must you do with God. I have sworn (sa}
rs David), and I will perform it, Ps. cxix. And as no difficulty could put God by from his purpose he had took up towards you, as you heard, so strong was he in it, so bent and
set upon it ; so let nothing that can fall out in your way, losses or
crosses, that you meet with for him, alter your purpose towards him. As nothing can separate you from his love, so let nothing separate him from yours.
9. Ninthly, let thy heart resign up itself, and all that it hath, and devote
it all unto God for ever, to be commanded and used by him. Thus friends use to do, and thus God did for you. For if he spared not his own Son, how shall he not with him give you all things else ? Let all you have be God s ; giving up }^ourselves first unto the Lord, as they in 2 Cor. viii. 5. Let God have all thy understanding, will, affections, and whatever else. Let all be his, to command in anything as he pleaseth, and study how to
set all a-work for him ; for he set the infinite depths of his wisdom a-work
to find out a way to be friends with you, and chose that which would shew most love ; and so do you choose the things that will most please him :
Isa. Ivi. 4 and xliv 5, Subscribe with your hands to the Lord, and say, I am his, even as friends use to say, Yours to command, and All I have is at
your service. God wrote with his own hand your names in heaven (Heb. xii. 23), in the heart of Christ ; and he wrote it down in the books of his
decrees, and made Christ subscribe to it that he should be a priest. And so subscribe you, that you will be for ever his to command and use.
10. And tenthly, o/x/o i/o/a, or likeness of disposition, is the only sure
lasting ground and foundation of friendship, and is the soul of it, so as it is
impossible two should long be friends, unless the}^ agree in their minds and
* Can two walk together and not agree ? Amos iii. 3. Therefore, you must get stamped upon your hearts a likeness to God in holiness, whereby to hate where God hates, and
affections, loving and liking the same things ;
to love where he loves, so as to become an enemy to his enemies, and a friend to his friends. And in this respect David is called a man after God s own heart ; that is, whose mind and disposition was fashioned to the Lord s
in all things. So Ps. cxix. 127, 128, I hate every false way; but thy law
I esteem aright concerning all things. So do you love and approve holi ness in all things
: in the abstract and concrete, in the word as it is de
livered, and in men s lives and hearts as it is practised and appears. And so the believer also hates sin in himself and others, and counts God s ene mies as his own. Thus David did, Ps. cxix. 21-23. And this in Scripture is termed a true heart, Heb. x. 22 ; true as a man to his friend, as to his own self. True and faithful, as a spouse to her husband ; true and loyal, as subjects to their native prince. Job xxii. 21, 22, Acquaint thyself with him (there is an exhortation to friendship with God), and be at peace. Receive, I pray thee, the law at his mouth.
11. Eleventhly, Accordingly, a man that is thus reconciled, must endea vour to walk and behave himself as unto a friend. The nature of recon
ciliation requires it : Prov. xviii. 24, He that hath friends must carry him
self friendly. And Christ hath said, If ye be my friends, then keep my commandments, John xv. 14. Therefore you must endeavour so to do, and to do it upon that motive chiefly ; and to walk with God, as Enoch
did, observing all God s carriages to you, and yours to God-ward ; as one that is reconciled observes him in all his dealings, interprets all in love,
132 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK III.
depends on him, trusts on him, &c. And also, watch over yourselves in all
your ways, and be fearful to displease him and his goodness, Hosea. iii. 5.
12. Only, in the last place, all these addresses tending to reconciliation must proceed from an inward principle of pure good will unto God, which
is the soul of reconciliation, and which, therefore, God regards and requires above all things else, not only in respect of his own greatness and sove
reignty (which exacts all in the creature to be for him, Kom. xi. 36, and
to be wholly referred unto him), but also in a way of ingenuity. He is the
superior, yea sovereign, in this friendship. The nature of true reconcilia
tion requires it, especially with respect to such an one, who, being so
infinitely above us, doth condescend to this relation of friendship with us ;
yea, and subjects himself to all, even the lowest laws and expressions of love and friendship, which any, the meanest friend on earth, can be supposed to
do. Aristotle indeed denies that the true law of friendship can hold between one too much superior and inferior ; for the interest of one riseth so high to sovereignty as excludeth pure good will ; and in the inferior, it falls so low to subjection, as it admits too great a mixture of by-ends ; and so true
friendship is excluded on either hand. But this philosopher never knew our God, nor yet the power of the divine nature in us. He could not have
imagined that God, who is so great, could be so good, and stoop unto such low carriages and terms towards us as (to instance in one out of the text) to beseech us to be reconciled. But above all, this is expected by him whose friendship is wholly free. The title of it is free grace, merely out of pure good will,
* The good plea sure of his will, and can have no other ends. And all, without such sin
cere observance of God, is but plain flattery. And God, who also is so wise
as not to be mocked, accounts it so ; for so he judgeth and pronounceth of those that yet earnestly sought him ; Ps. Ixxviii. 34-37, They sought him, and sought him early; that is, diligently. When he slew them,
they sought him ; and they returned and inquired early after God. And
they remembered that God was their Kock, and the high God their Redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with him, neither were
they stedfast in his covenant. But God is not mocked ; for though men cannot see and discover thus much often in those they deal with, yet God
doth, who searcheth the heart, takes notice of it, you see, and deals with men accordingly. Now flatterers are distinguished from friends by this : that a flatterer is one who seeketh indeed friendship, and abounds in offices of friendship for his own ends, and chiefly out of by-respects ; but a true
friend is one who, besides by-respects, doth things out of good will to the
party. God doth indeed give those who seek reconciliation with him leave
to have a respect to themselves, their own safety, and recompence of re
ward, for else he were not a true friend to them, if he did not suffer them
to look to their own good, which as he subordinately professeth to have aimed at in their reconciliation to himself, though contrived chiefly for his own glory, so may they ; and therefore, says Christ, Luke xii. 4, 5, I say to you, my friends (to speak in the language of the text), fear him that can kill body and soul. So as to fear God, as one who is able to cast us
into hell, may stand with friendship. I say to you, my friends, there is the fear of hell allowed those who are in communion with him, and also
* I am thy exceeding great reward. And one eye he had thereto: Heb. xi. 16, But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God
hopes of heaven. So God said to Abraham, whom he calls his friend,
CHAP. IV.] IN OUR SALVATION. 133
is not ashamed to be called their God ; for he hath prepared for them a
* esteemed the reproach of Christ greater
city. And Moses too, ver. 26,
: for he had respect unto the recompence
riches than the treasures in Egypt
of the reward. And this Moses God treated as a man doth his friend :
Exod. xxxiii. 11, And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man
speaketh unto his friend. But yet, if there be no further principle of
good will predominate, it is but flattery; and though I confess that happily
in one newly scared out of his natural estate, this principle is not so soon
and so easily discerned, yet after a while it may ; which, because it is the
main and soul of all the former acts, I will therefore a little more enlarge upon it. And herein I will not attempt to affix a different character of
friendship and flattery upon each and every of those particular acts and
passages of reconciliation formerly mentioned, nor keep punctually unto all
those acts specified in the 78th Psalm, though this is seizable, and might be done ; as, for example, it is here said, When he slew them, then they remembered he was their Eock and Redeemer. A traveller in fair weather
passeth by a rock, minds and regards it not ; but in a storm, he runs for
shelter to it, but yet dwells not there. But one truly wrought on, though he first run to God in his distress, and after often doth so, yet ever^ after
he makes him his house and dwelling-place, Ps. xc. 1. It is the voice of
the whole church, age after age, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place
in all generations. And in the next Psalm xci., ver 1, He that dwells in
the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I observe,
1. That it is the description of a man truly godly to be one that dwells
in God, yea, and in the secret place, the heart, the bosom of God, and
hath intimate communion with him. He affects that room, and if he can
not get in, is still knocking at it, takes it up for his constant abode. And 2. A shelter in it, and from it, comes in it secondarily as to his aim, for it is
the promise made upon it. He shall abide under the shadow, that is,
the protection, of the Almighty. It is the love of God he principally aims
to dwell in ; 1 John iv. 16, God is love ; and he that dwells in love
dwells in God, and God in him.
2. I might, secondly, observe the like upon that other passage, They
flattered him, in running then to him, but only as a Redeemer. The Holy Ghost is exactly punctual in expressing the bottom differences of their
flattery. A man is like to die : he sends to the physician, but as a physi
cian only ; he never did, nor doth now, regard the friendship of the man.
Pharaoh sends in all haste (it is said) for Moses and Aaron, Exod. x. 16, when he never cared more to have seen them : so ver. 28, See my face
no more. But yet in his distress he says unto them, I have sinned; for
give, and entreat the Lord your God to take away this death only. What
need was there for him to put in this exclusive, this death only ? He was
an ignorant heathen, and so speaks out his heart plainly. He knew not how to flatter this God ; for God was a strange God, whom he professed not ; he still styles him your God. He speaks as indeed it was, he pro-
fesseth to care for God no further. But those very men (of whom the
psalmist here speaks) that were brought out of Egypt from under this
Pharaoh, professed God to be their God, and to have been their redeemer
out of Egypt. And they, in their speeches, when they return to God,
carry it otherwise, yet their hearts at the bottom were the very same ; and
therefore of them it is said, they flattered him with their tongues. And
thus men professing Christ in the church do not say unto God, when they
134 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK III.
pray to him, or unto men when in distress of conscience, sickness, &c., Take away this hell only. They do not say it ; but God, that knows the mind of their spirit in them, knows it is all, and the whole they would have with him ; yet they give good words, conceal this to be all, or the main, of their intentions ; yea, themselves, out of self-flattery, discern it not. But yet still they think and mean the very same, though Pharaoh only spake it out. And therefore they are said to flatter him. But what doth a godly man s heart say in his distress ? He runs to God indeed as a redeemer; but coming to him, he finds, Est aliquid in Christo formosius salvatore.
( The Lord is my portion, says the soul, Lam. iii. 24. And it was spoken as in deep distress, as every soul was in, as is apparent from the chapter. What saith David, from the very bottom of his heart, in his sickness ? Not, Take away this death only. No ; but David being sick, first comforts himself with this promise, Ps. xli. 3, The Lord will streng then him upon his bed of languishing, and make his bed in his sickness ; and then adds, ver. 4, I said, Lord, be merciful to me, and heal my soul ; that is, Destroy my lusts, which are the diseases of my soul, Lord ; and heal my soul, and renew life and communion with thee, which is the health and strength of my soul. Do not take this sickness and death only away ; but this sin away, that hath dishonoured thee, hath separated be tween me and thee : Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. I need not so punctually pursue the rest of these instances of their flattery, that follow in the 78th Psalm. I choose rather to single forth some of the eminent acts contrary to the fore-mentioned particulars, in which I shewed reconciliation to God to consist ; and I must instance but in a few of them, and in them make forth the difference between flattery and true friendship and good will.
1. The first is that of seeking God (which I have been large upon before), and even that also is mentioned in the psalmist
< When he_slew them, then they sought him, and inquired early after God, that is, diligently ; as what a man riseth betimes to do, he may be said to do with earnestness and diligence. They sought him, but still as a redeemer only, as was observed. Now, let us bring it to the business of reconcilia tion, which is the point in hand, and the difference will appear, what seek ing of God is only out of flattery, what also out of friendship.
: Ps. Ixxviii. 34,
First, then, There are two things in reconciliation which the gospel pro pounds, Luke ii. 14, peace and good will. First, peace, quiet of conscience in regard of the pardon of sin. Secondly, God s favour and acceptation, so that God receives us, loves and delights in us. Now, to seek peace only, and to aim at peace alone in seeking God, may be in a flatterer, as in those (Ps. Ixxviii. 34) who sought him whilst he was a-slaying them ; who were earnest that God would be pacified towards them ; but that was all, Ene mies to a prince may earnestly seek peace, and their pardon, who yet care not whether ever they see the king s face any more, and whether they live in his presence and serve him, and attend him all their days. But now one that hath good will to God in him, though he will seek peace also, yet that alone doth not content him ; for he seeks as a favourite seeks to his prince, as a lover or mover to one he is in love withal, whom nothing but love and good will again will satisfy: Jer. ii. 2, I remember, says God,
< the kindness of thy youth, the love of thy espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness. They went after him, and wooed him, as a fond lover doth. So doth he that seeks aright: he seeks to God tor favour, as a friend doth to a friend, to be answered with love, and to
CHAP. IV.J IN OUR SALVATION.
live in his sight and presence for ever. To such a one therefore, who thus
seeks God, and hath such an aim in seeking him, if half the news were
brought to him, that God would pardon him indeed, and not throw him
into hell, but let him enjoy the world, but yet that he can never love or
delight in him again, this would grieve him more than the other would re
joice him. That which Absalom but feigned, they can do and say in truth,
* Let God kill me, rather than not suffer me to see his face,
2 Sam. xiv. 32,
for it is his face they seek. And so the generation of them who seek the
Lord is distinguished, Ps. xxiv. 6.
Secondly, It will appear whether good will be in your seeking God, from
the issue and event of it, for either God withholdeth his face from a man
in seeking him, and seemeth to reject his suit, keeping him so in suspense,
as he knows not whether he will save him or no ; or he gives him some
evidence and assurance of it. One of these two cases will fall out, and in
either of them will pure good will to God discover itself, when a man seeks
aright.
First, If God withholds himself and his face from a sincere soul, yet stil.
that soul is enabled to cast himself upon him and his free grace, and to
refer himself and his case to his mere good will and good pleasure. He
can still put himself into his hands, as David did : 2 Sam. xv. 26, Here
I am; if he hath not pleasure in me, let him do what seemeth good in his
eyes. Thus Job also did : Job xiii. 15, If he kill me, yet will I trust in
him. If he dies, he resolves to die seeking at his feet. And it is the
good will he beareth unto God which causeth him to do thus, because he
cannot leave God. But one whose heart is not right with God in seeking
him, when he hath sought a while, and seeking amiss, obtains not, he leaves
off his suit, and withdraws himself, and will not trust his soul with him ;
this seems express by comparing that speech of the apostle, Heb. x,, with
what you find in Habakkuk, whence it is cited. The words of Paul are,
Heb. x. 36-39, For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the
will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall lively
faith : but if any man draw back, rny soul shall have no pleasure in him.
But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition ; but of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. Patience in waiting and believing is
made the character of a true believer, and withdrawing is the character of
impatience in one whose heart is not upright within him : Hab. ii. 3, 4,
4 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie : though it tarry, wait for it ; because it will surely come, it
will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him :
but the just shall live by his faith.
Secondly, One that seeks out of good will, when he obtaineth any glimpse
of God s favour, he rejoiceth in it, and in God, more than in life and the
hope of heaven, Rom. v. 2 and 11 verses compared. The apostle, you may
perceive, proceeds by way of gradation in the effects of faith in a good and
sound heart. He hath first peace, ver. 1 ; then, 2dly, he rejoiceth in hope
< we glory (says he)
of glory, ver. 2 ; then, 3dly, not only so, but (ver. 3)
< in tribulation, and not only so, but (says he, ver. 11) we joy in God,
even in God himself. To rejoice in hope of glory, speaks something of
good will, as hope imports. But it is a strain yet purer and higher to rejoice
in God himself. And therefore if the soul hath not outward things, yet God is enough ; and if he hath them, he rejoiceth more in them as they are
love-tokens of his God, than in the things themselves. And he is more
136 THE WOEK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK III.
fearful to displease him out of fear of his goodness, Hos. iii. 5. When God speaks peace he returns no more to folly, Ps. Ixxxv. 8. It works more
strength, hatred, and loathing of sin. But the insincere soul, if he con ceives any hope (as often they do feed themselves with ungrounded hopes aud shadows of assurances), grows the more securely presumptuous, turns that grace into wantonness, as self-love is apt to do ; Jer. iii. 4, 5, Thou callest me Father, and yet doest as evil as thou couldst. But when God
truly works, he says in opposition to that former, Thou shalt call me Father, and shalt not turn away from me. Even as Absalom sought to be in favour with his father, but rebelled the more, so it proves in the issue with a soul insincere ; for though the assurance of God s love is the surest motive to work upon a principle of love and pure good will unto God in the heart the love of Christ constrains me, saith the apostle yet when there is nothing but self-love in the heart, it abuseth that grace it seeks for, and thinketh it hath attained, for it hath not ingenuity in it to God.
2. The second particular I would instance is, confession of sin with mourning, which I instanced in, as one eminent ingredient into reconcilia tion with God. This flatterers also may seem seriously to do. So Ahab mourned and went softly ; and (Isa. Iviii. 5) they are said to hang down their heads like bulrushes. But if the mourning be out of good will, then, First, A man s heart will not only mourn for sin, as having brought misery upon him, or as that which hath cast him out from God, which whilst a man doth, he indeed lamenteth but himself; as a traitor at the gallows lamenteth that he should come to such a miserable end, and deserve such a death ; as Cain mourned when he cried out, My punishment is greater than I can bear. It was the punishment pinched him. Thus to mourn for sin in relation to misery, though we do it thus before God, is not mourn ing but howling, Hos. vii. 14, or, as David terms it, roaring, Ps. xxxii. 3. But in true mourning, which comes out of goodwill, they are said (Zech. xii. 10) to mourn for him whom they had pierced, as a mother for her only son. In which two things are observable for our purpose (which is to dis tinguish mourning), first, that they are said to mourn, not so much for sin, much less their misery, as for him, that is, for sin in relation to him, as it is an injury, provoking, wronging, and piercing him. As David in confes sion, Ps. li., sets this accent upon his sinning, in saying, Against thee, against thee have I sinned. In the verse afore he says, his sins were ever before him, as that which is a man s greatest and heaviest affliction useth to be. David had other things enough to have had afore him, as the shame, &c. But these things, though when sin fell light, they were heavy, yet now are vanished and disappear ; and the sin, the sin is ever afore him. And what was it in the sin ? Even this, that against God he had sinned. Wherein I observe, 1. That he considers it not only as done in God s sight, in his presence, and afore him only, and he looking on, though he aggra vates it by that ; but chiefly, that the sin was committed against him as the
object. And, 2dly, he repeats that twice, as in sorrow we use to do what most deeply affects us ; as David on another occasion cried out, Absa lom, my son, my son ; so here he says twice, Against thee, against thee, &c. And, Sdly, as not content with this, he adds only ( against thee only ), as the only consideration that at present moved him, though he had sinned
against Bathsheba and Uriah too, and all the people of God. And hence, because God is the object, the terminus of such sorrow, it hath therefore its denomination from God, and is called sorrow according to God, 2 Cor.
CHAP. IV.] IN OUR SALVATION. 1 37
vii. 9, 10, Kara, sbv XUCTTJ, as acts are denominated from their tendency. And,
Secondly. The comparison the prophet useth, Zech. xii. 10, argues it
* as a mother mourneth for her only son. What else moveth a mother to mourn for the loss of a son,
sprang from pure good will. For his words are,
especially of an infant, but goodwill to it ? You know how David took on
for his son Absalom. Children are in dependence upon their parents, and may mourn out of self-love, because when they are gone, they are left
orphans and helpless. If therefore he had instanced in the mourning of a
child, self-love might at least have been supposed the principal motive ; but when he says, as a mother for her child, he can mean nothing more than
that out of love they do it. It is one thing to come and mourn for sin
before God, and bemoan ourselves to him, and another to mourn for him, and for sin, as done against him. A flatterer may do the one/but an inge nious friend only the latter: Ezek. vi. 9, They that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols : and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. This also is spoken of the true and kindly sorrow of heart wherewith the godly come unto God.
Now as afore you heard, they mourned for him : so here, says God,
* they shall remember me. And upon the thought of him, whom they have
so sinned against, shall loathe themselves. Now that which must cause
self to hate itself, must be pure good will to God above a man s self. To remember God is to think of him with the deepest affection of love, as the words of Christ in the institution of the sacrament import, Do this in remembrance of me.
3. What is it concerning God in sin that makes them loathe themselves? Even this, that it hath broken God s heart. The godly look upon sin as God doth, see that to be the evil in sin which God doth ; yea, they look
upon it also with God s heart, and what affects God in it affects them. It
is said (Num. xi. 10) God was angry, and Moses was displeased also. Yea,
they mourn for it, because it affects God s heart, as true friends, that have but one heart and one soul : Thy friend (Deut. xiii. 6) that is as thine own soul. So God and the saints have as it were one heart, which con
sists in pure good will. And therefore God, that knows the temper of true
hearts to him, propounds this as the object of their sorrow, that the
thought that his heart was broken, was the chief thing that breaks theirs. And this motive no principle in man but love can apprehend and take in. A sincere soul considers this as the eminent evil in his sinning, that God s
heart is broken with the unkindness of it, as a husband for the departure of a wife whorishly from him (to which that place alludes), and so mourn
for it.
4. The last words (in Ezek. vi. 9) do import some such thing, for they run thus : That they should loathe themselves for the evils committed in
their abominations. Not for their abominations simply, in the grossness of them, for wicked men mourn for their abominations when outwardly
gross. But this expression imports there were certain special evils in their abominations (the greatest of the evils therein) which they spied out to mourn for, as their unkindness to God, falseness in them to God, &c.
Thirdly, The sincerity of this mourning will appear in the issue and
event, in the cases fore-mentioned. For,
THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [JBOOK HI.
1. If God forbear to speak peace and pardon to him, and rather seems to be an enemy, and to fight against him (Isa. Ixiii. 10), in that case he
joins with God in self-revenge. Thus, 2 Cor. vii. 11, Godly sorrow (among other things) worketh revenge on one s self (as they had done on a church member, of which it is principally spoken), so as he hates and loathes himself, and turns enemy against himself: Ezek. xxxvi. 31, Judgeth himself worthy to be destroyed. So the old translation renders it. He finds it in his heart now that at the latter day his heart would of itself step out the first, before ever it were accused, and say, Here am I, that have deserved thy utmost destruction. And if he thought he should be destroyed, he finds some little relief in this, that God is avenged on one of his enemies.
2. If he hath assurance that God will pardon him, then the more assur ance or hopes (that rise to any greatness) he hath of pardon, the more he mourneth. Assurance broacheth godly sorrow, sets it a-working, and giveth vent to it. Ezek. xvi. 61,
< Thou shalt remember thy evil ways, and thy doings, which were not good. And remembering them, ver. 63, shalt be confounded and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done. Then cometh in the greatest confusion, shame and grief overcoming the heart most, when God is pacified. God overcomes when he pardons as well as when he judgeth, and hath a greater victory over the soul whom he pardons than over the damned in hell. And there is in such a soul as true a confusion of face, though of another kind, that so no flesh may glory in his presence. But the more hope an insincere soul, who seeks out of self-love, and mourns only out of self-love, hath, the less he mourns ; like a traitor, that when he hath got what he would have, and is in hope to obtain his pardon, his eyes are dry.
Fourthly ; There must be good will in acts of obedience also, and in choos ing the things that please God. You know what Christ says, John xv. 14, If you be my friends, do what I command you. Now if there be good will in the heart it will appear. A man may discover it one time or other by the dispositions of his heart, either, 1. Sometimes before the obedience performed. 2. In the performance. 3. After the performance, or the doing anything for God.
1. Before the performance by two things. (1.) Inasmuch as the chiefest aim of his heart in it will be to shew forth and express his good will to God. As he does it as a friend, by way of
requital to a friend, whose utmost end is to shew his love to the party, so the chiefest thing he desires is, that God would but accept it for such, and take it in good part, and take notice of his love in it ; which love of his is more than the thing, though he grieves it should be so little. And there fore a godly man s obedience is termed thankfulness. When Mary came and bestowed that cost upon Christ, and washed his feet with tears, her utmost end was but to shew her love, which therefore Christ took notice of, and speaks of, and accepts of above all else : She loved much, because much is forgiven her, says Christ ; as if he had said, All this is but to
testify her love and godly sorrow, which I take notice of, and will therefore have recorded to the end of the world. Therefore it is called, Heb. vi. 10, * The labour of love. And hence oftentimes (perhaps not always) the
greatest and strongest motives that can be used before to persuade and
prevail with the heart to obedience, is taken from love s topics, from God s
love, as appeareth by Christ s dealing with Peter, whom when he would
CHAP. IV. J IN OUR SALVATION. 139
effectually persuade to feed his church, he telleth him not of livings and
preferments by it, nor of the woe if he preached not, but he useth a motive
of another kind, stronger than all these. Peter, Lovest thoume ? I am
persuaded it broke Peter s heart to hear Christ thus questioning with him, and to think that he had given him occasion, by his denial, to make a
question of it. He modestly replies, Lord (saith he), thou knowest
that, though I have dealt unthankfully and falsely with thee, that yet I
love thee, and am willing to do anything for thee. Whereas another per forms his duty, but at best as a servant doth a business for a master, and
so he may do it even because he is commanded ; but yet his utmost aim is
* If ye do what
not as a friend to shew his love. But what says Christ,
* henceforth I shall call you
ever I command you, that is, out of love, then
friends, not servants, John xv. 15. Or else the man doth his duty as a
: Micah vi. G, Wherewithal shall
bribe to a judge to buy off his punishment
I appear before the Lord ? What shall I give him ? His manner of
speaking bewrays he did it to bribe the Lord, to get his pardon. An enemy,
being in an enemy s lurch, may do as much for his enemy, and for one he
regardeth not.
(2.) Secondly, The good will that is in the heart will appear before the per formance of any divine service, in a readiness to do it. As if a man truly loves a friend, his love to him is a preparation in his heart, and makes it ready to do anything before he asketh it. And therefore (1 Peter v. 2) they are
said to do what they do (if they do it as they ought) out of a ready mind. And though they cannot do always what they would, as Paul complaineth, Rom. vii., yet (says he) at the 18th verse, To will is present with me. And therefore it comes off willingly, frankly, and freely, 1 Chron. xxix. 14. ; whereas another, though he goes about it, yet it is out of constraint, as
Peter speaks, 1 Peter v. 2. And that is not only when worldly and by-ends move a man, but when conscience also pricks a man on to it by legal motives
only. And when the heart is put upon it, it is sorry, and wincheth, it is
sorry that it is propounded so, as when it is propounded and urged by motives drawn from God ; that of all love between him and us we would do such a duty, as ever we would do him a kindness, or shew our love
to him ; as ever we have received mercy from him, or look for communion with him as a friend, we should obey him in this or that particular; yet the heart stirs not for all these, comes not off, until self-respects strike
in. God in this case thinks himself denied.
2. Good will appeareth in the doing of the service to God, 1 John v. 3. This is the effect of love to God, that his commandments are not grievous, and a man goes about his work as about a friend s business, as Jacob went
about Laban s business ; when love to Rachel set him on work, it was not
grievous to him ; he thought not the time long because he loved her. So anything we do for God, love sweeteneth to us, 1 Chron. xxix. David offered, and he
offered willingly, and rejoiced with great joy in the doing of it : ver. 14, And who am I, says he, that I should do it ? He thought it a mercy God would use him, and accept it.
3. It will appear after the performance by two dispositions. First, thou
wilt think everything too little that thou dost, as when a friend sends pre sents to one who is a friend indeed, still he thinks that they are not
good enough, and wisheth they were better for his sake. There are two
companies of men who seem to have done much for Christ, who shall appear before him at the latter day
: the one thought they had done so much, that
they speak of it themselves, Have we not prophesied, &c. ; but the other,
140 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK III.
that had done much more, and out of love to him, were silent, and not only so, but when Christ took notice of their love they were modest, wondered at
it, were ashamed, as it were, that such poor services should be spoken of, as not worth the owning. And the reason is, because he that hath good will in his heart to God, still his heart exceeds his actions ; .he doth them out of the abundance of his heart, as Christ speaks. As the woman that
gave her mite emptied her purse, but not her heart, being (as it is likely) sorry she had no more to give. And such a one also, doing it out of love, and that of answering and requiting an infinite love, measuring what is done by both, finds it infinitely too little ; not big enough to express his own love, but much less to answer God s ; and so he is sorry and ashamed
it is no better ; whereas, one that doth not do things out of good will, thinks
everything enough that he thinks will but save him. His heart is less than his actions, and though by reason of convictions of what he ought to do, he cannot think it too much, knowing it to be his duty, yet when he doth it, and
afterward, his heart thinks it much, and grudgeth it.
Fiflly; Lastly, In case of trial, when in temptation poor souls think all they have done is in vain, this goodwill will appear, in that they repent not of what they have done ; 2 Cor. vii. 9, 10, it is therefore called
< repentance never to be repented of. There can no case befall them, wherein they do
repent, or are sorry for what they have done ; but still wish it had been much better for God s sake. If he hath had any glory by it, and if they should be damned, and not rewarded, they are contented to give him so much in. Whereas the other, as suitors when they are out of hope, send for all their tokens again, though they pretended much love ; so they did in the prophet
: It is in vain, say they, to serve God ; and wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest it not ?