Chapter IV
The use and subservience of conviction of sin, and humiliation for it, to in
duce the soul to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation.
I shall now give you an account of conviction of sin and humiliation, not in the general only, but of every particular mentioned, to let you see
the reason, the use they serve to, viz., to advance God himself as man s
chiefest good, and to set up Christ and his righteousness, and his own free
grace in justifying, sanctifying, and in all.
First, That the soul should be wounded with sin as sin, and as in itself
the greatest misery, to what a blessed end tends it !
1. By this work of humiliation, the heart is for ever weaned from the
comfort that is in sin, or in any creature, so as never to be quiet till it meets with God, the God of comforts. For if this apprehension, that sin
is the greatest evil, season but a man s spirit once, it sours all pleasant
things with him, they have lost their taste for ever ; and nothing can be
so good to him as sin is evil, but only God ; for nothing is so good as sin
is evil, but only he. And then a man will take God and his favour for a
comfort alone ; all he can ever look for, or hope to find, it must be in
him, his comfort in sin and all things else is everlastingly spoiled and
marred; so Hosea ii. 14. When God would allure and win his church s
heart to him, what doth he ? He brings her into the wilderness, into a
barrenness of all comforts, and then speaks comfortably to her. A man
convinced of sin and lost state is like a man condemned to die, the pleasure which may be had in the green pasture he goes through to execution, affects him not, so nor can this man take content in anything, till he hath the
favour of that God he hath offended. God only can speak comfort to such
a soul, and nothing else.
And 2dly, Hereby it is made restless after Christ and his righteousness, as the means of bringing him into favour with God. If it were wrath, or
trouble of conscience thereby, were all his grief, ease would content him ; but it being sin, nothing but Christ and his righteousness will do it. As
the hart wounded rests not till it comes to such an herb as cures it, so nor he that is wounded can take delight in anything till he spies Christ out, and
sighs and pants incessantly after him.
2. For a man to see himself an unbeliever, and without faith, without
Christ, it is also exceedingly necessary, John xvi. 10.
(1.) Because it tends to bring in the guilt of all his sins upon him, to
serve the inquest against him ; for when the conscience is charged with
oaths, adulteries, &c., it pleads a presumptuous sinner s pretensions of a
believer I am in Christ, and I believe and so sin cannot fasten on
him, but he puts it off and slights it, and walks outfacing it and all its
bills ; but when he is convinced of unbelief, which is the protector of all
sin, then every commandment may bring out its bill and be heard, and
CHAP. IV.J IN OUK SALVATION. 383
serve a writ upon him. Convince him of this, and you will convince him of all.
(2.) Because they may be convinced what is the main thing necessary, and the first thing they are to do, the next course they are to take ; for if men should not be convinced of unbelief as the great sin of all the rest, they would not be pitched upon faith as the only and full remedy of their
evil. Hereby they see the necessity of faith, the stead it must stand them
in ; and their aim will be to get it. And (3dly) hereby, and for want of faith, seeing themselves out of Christ, they will be pitched upon what is the especial aim of faith, union with him, as the foundation of all good they must receive from him. Many being humbled for want of duties, pitch upon performing them, and so are eased ;
but when unbelief is the main sin, and want of union with Christ the greatest misery, then union with him is the first aim of faith, and the soul is con vinced that it must have his person, as Paul, Philip, iii., that I may win
Christ, and then have righteousness and all else. I must believe, and I must have Christ, or nothing is accepted, says the soul. Then,
(4.) By seeing a man s self to have been an ungodly person, and to have done no good, and by seeing the inwards of actions, and the carriage of the heart in them, the soul is convinced that this is true, that no good thing dwells in a man ; and this moves the soul to go to Christ both for justi fication and sanctification, and without it a man is in danger to err in both.
For [1.] if he sees not that there is no good in him, he will certainly trust in himself, and not go wholly to Christ for righteousness ; if it hath
any of its own, it will trust partly in Christ, and partly in itself ; and, like the ship in the Acts, be part aground, and part in the water, and so be broken a-pieces when the waves of temptation come. Go to the first work
ing of faith, God will have a man apprehend himself an ungodly person : Rom. iv. 5, To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. And after faith
wrought, though a man sees some good wrought in him, yet it hinders not his attributing all to Christ in justification. Yet in the first working of
faith, it is clean otherwise upon a different reason : for that good which is
wrought after faith, is wrought by faith, that fetched all from Christ. And so sanctification, being but borrowed by faith, hinders not faith ; the
daughter hinders not the mother. But if a man should see any good before,
it being not wrought by faith, nor fetched from Christ, the heart would rest
in it, and oppose the work of faith and going out to Christ. It being from a man s self, a man would rest in it, and not seek abroad for righteousness, whilst he hath any at home. As any one sin preserves the power of sin in the heart, though a man parts with all other, so any good, or unrighteous ness ungiven up, preserves self-confidence, and hinders justification, as the
other doth sanctification. There is no remedy therefore, but that all our
supposed good be discovered to be naught and rotten ; that every burrow be stopped, ere these poor helpless creatures will go to the rock.
[2.] The want of such conviction will hinder sanctification ; for it would not renew the man throughout, but piece new grace to old, false grace to true, and make the rent worse ; for he would rest in some false good. Christ will have all old things pass away, and all to become new ; every stud pulled down, and nothing in the new building that was in the old. Yea, it hinders Christ from working it. He will shew his skill in drawing his image upon a plain board, and so wipes out all afore. Bring to a curious painter, that would shew his skill, a board with a picture falsely drawn, and he will not
384 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
go about to mend it ; he can make no work of it, but he will take his
pencil and dash all out, and shew his art in a new one ; and so doth
Christ. Bring a bell to a founder that hath a crack in it, and he will not
go about to solder that up, and so let it go, but dash all in pieces and
melt and cast it anew ; and so doth Christ with those who have the seem
ing cast of goodness, and that by letting us see the falseness of it ; for that
is his end in breaking and melting the heart, to cause us to apprehend all
is naught.
[3.] A man s sight and sense of his utter sinfulness, both in his life, heart
and nature, the multitude of sins, and the strength of sin, is necessary.
First, Because, though God pardons, he will have us know what he par dons ; as he, Mat. xviii. 23, though he meant to pardon his servants, yet would take^account of them, that pardon might be the more sweet to them. When a man s soul draweth near to the grave, then for God to say, De
liver him, I have found a ransom, Job xxxiii., how welcome is it !
Secondly, A sight of sin is needful, to constrain us to make use of Christ s
righteousness, and every part of it, to search thoroughly into it, and every
parcel of it, and to see the necessity of all the holiness of his nature, life,
&c., that nothing could be spared. Men that are confusedly convinced that
they are sinners, their faith is answerably as confused ; they believe in
Christ as a Saviour, and that is all ; but their faith improves not his right eousness to the uttermost, nor do they search into the riches of Christ s
active and passive obedience, and the holiness of his nature, as necessary to
obtain their acceptance with God.
Thirdly, It is necessary that we may not rest in a false sanctification. Men that see but the corruption of their outward actions, content them
selves with an outward reformation. But men that see their lusts, rest
not till they be mortified ; they bend their force against them. A con
vinced soul sees his nature corrupted, and the spring of all denied, he will
not rest till he hath a new nature ; as the power of corruption he sees lies
there, so the power of godliness, he will see, lies in cleansing that fountain.
Paul seeing a law of death in his members, rests not till the law of life in
Christ condemns it.
Fourthly, A conviction of our sinfulness is needful, that we may see an
utter helplessness and hopelessness in ourselves for time to come. The heart
is ready to account it can do something for time to come, though it can do
nothing rightly ; yea, when it is stripped of self-righteousness for time past,
yet not selfability for time to come ; but now it thinks and casts with itself,
I will go fast, and go pray, and go meditate on Christ and a promise, and
I will get him ere I have done ; which resolutions are good, when in sense
of a man s own emptiness they are stirred up and maintained by a dependance upon God, to work faith ; but the heart naturally secretly projects this
out of itself, as they in James iv. 13, and not, if God enable me, &c.
They reckon without him ; and in hopes of this the heart rests, and thinks
in the end to get faith to come. Among other steps and degrees of our
misery, this is made one, that a man is not only ungodly, but without
strength, Eom. v. 6. A man that hath no money in his purse, yet whilst he
hath hands to work, he makes no such reckoning of want ; and so men, when
they see they want all good for the time past, yet they hope to work it out ;
they have hands left, and with them they fall to work ; but when a man
shall see hands cut off too, and nothing but stumps left, which are as unfit and unable to lay hold on Christ, as a man s arm without hands is upon a
rope to save him ; and God must not only find him Christ, but his grace
CHAP. V.] IN OUR SALVATION. 385
must give him hands to lay hold on him also : that the apprehension of
this serves both to drive him out of himself, and to magnify God s free
grace in working faith. For if any pretended power in himself were able
to help him, he would never go out of himself to Christ, nor would he at
tribute all wholly unto grace, which is that God intends to have exalted ; Eph. ii. 8, You are saved by grace, through faith. Might some think, we
shall acknowledge grace enough, if we acknowledge that grace pardons all, and effects all, though faith be of our own working
< No (says the apostle),
* and that not of yourselves, not so much as faith,
* it is the gift of God. And so Paul, to magnify Christ s grace, he says Christ died not only for men, and ungodly persons, but also for persons without strength, Rom. v. This you must apprehend and find, and then grace will be grace indeed, and nothing but grace ; and then when you despair of yourselves, you will
rejoice wholly in Christ. What says Paul, Phil iii. ? We have no con
fidence in the flesh, but despair utterly of all in us, and rejoice in Christ
Jesus, acknowledging that he is all, and doth all. God cures one contrary by another ; selfconfidence cannot be cured but by despair. God glorifies not, till the body be dead and rotten in the grave ; and he sanctifies not till
the heart be dead to itself, and unable to stir, to move no more to Christ than the earth can towards heaven. If the sun come nigh it, well and good, but it cannot move nigher to it. Or as Luther compares it, the barren
earth may gape for rain, but it cannot procure it, till heaven pour it freely down into her lap. And so he calls this righteousness of faith a passive
righteousness, and faith a mere receiving grace.
CHAPTER Y.
In which answers are given to several objections made against the usefulness of
conviction and humiliation, to bring the soul to believe on Christ.
My next work is to answer the objections and cavils which men make
against conviction of or humiliation for sin, not only as needless, but dan
gerous, and that to trouble men s consciences for sin is to drive them to
despair.
1. They call it a doctrine teaching men to despair, and that the issue of such troubling tender consciences is despair.
2. That ministers or others, who on men s deathbeds endeavour to dis
cover, to men that have been civil or formal, their estates, are miserable
comforters, as Job s friends were, who would persuade him all was naught.
3. That men s aim in urging this work, as first necessary, is, by troubling men s consciences, to bring them to their bent, and to make them willing to be of their mind and faction, to entertain willingly their dictates and
opinions, and so to tyrannise over their consciences.
4. If men cavil not at this work, yet they deny it, cannot see any reason why it should be so necessary to the power of godliness. If I acknowledge myself ever to have been a sinner, and to have failings in all I do, having always believed in Christ, is not this (say they) enough ? Unto the end both to answer these cavils, as also to vindicate the doc
trine the more, I propose these following assertions.
1. That to bring men to such apprehensions as these is not to bring men
to despair, but the contrary. To make this good, we will go over all the
particulars.
(1.) To make men apprehensive that sin is the greatest evil, is not to VOL. vi. B b
386 THE WOKK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
drive them to despair ; Paul, Eom. vii. 13, saw it to be above measure sin
ful, when first converted, and you can never be enough convinced of it, not
so much as you should, though the sight of it scares you, and fears you, and this you may see without despair ; yea, where that sight is, that soul
shall never despair, for it directly leads the soul to Christ, and causeth it
to see a beauty in grace. If, indeed, we taught it were necessary to have
such horror and anguish of soul as Spira had, or if we endeavoured to make impression of such deep terrors from the wrath of God as Judas and
Cain had, then you might have reason to think that this work tended to
despair, though many have had them, and have not despaired. But we
profess, that as ravishing joy is not necessary and essential to faith, so nor
deep vexing gashes and impressions of wrath are necessary to humiliation,
though they often accompany it ; as the one is but the overflow of faith, so
the other of humiliation. But as to see Christ the greatest good is essen
tial to faith, so to see sin the greatest evil is essential to humiliation, and
this is the main. The damned indeed, who are plunged in wrath in hell,
they despair through extremity and everlastingness of torment. But they are far from what we urge as requisite to humiliation, from seeing the evil
of sin in itself. And as far are they that see sin as sin, to be the greatest
evil, from despair, as the damned, that feel nothing but wrath, are from
true humiliation.
And (2.) if some drops of wrath and fears of damnation be mingled with
this cup, yet it is far from despair, for it is a work of the Spirit of God, who, before he becomes a Spirit of adoption to save, becomes a Spirit of bondage to cause men to fear, Rom. viii. 15.
(3.) To bring men to apprehend all their former estate to have been
hitherto throughout sinful and damnable, and out of Christ, is not to bring men to despair.
For, 1st, to apprehend that a man s person is simply damned, this in deed causeth despair ; but to apprehend that my person is in a damnable
condition, and such as if I remain in, I cannot be saved, is far from de
spair ; for Paul apprehended himself once a child of wrath as well as others, Eph. ii. 2.
2dly, To apprehend their condition to be thus, is not to believe that there
is no mercy reserved for them, or that they are not capable of it ; if so, then indeed it would make men despair ; but, as Peter says, 1 Peter ii. 10,
* which in time past had not obtained mercy, so to apprehend that as long as I remain in this condition I do not obtain mercy, is not to despair, but
to apprehend the truth. For as it follows there, Those who once had not
obtained mercy, have now obtained mercy. And so we say he may obtain
mercy, whose condition is most sinful.
Nor, 3dly, to apprehend thyself out of Christ in the condition thou art
in is not to despair ; for then the Ephesians, when they saw their former
condition to have been, as (Eph. ii. 12) it is said once it was, and who are exhorted to remember that they were once without Christ, and without the
promises, should have despaired. But there is yet hope left for the great est sinners, that for time to come they may be in Christ, as those Ephesians after conversion were. To apprehend that I am absolutely excluded from
the benefit of Christ s death, that will cause despair ; but that humiliation
teacheth not. But to apprehend that it is not yet applied to me, that it is
as yet to me as if Christ had not died, and if I die in such a condition, I
should die in my sin, this is not to despair.
4thly, Again, to apprehend my estate to be helpless and hopeless, in re-
CHAP. V.] IN OUR SALVATION. 387
gard of any duties I have or can perform, or in respect of any power in me, or any creature to help me, is not to despair. It is indeed to despair of
thyself, and all the creatures, and to have no confidence in the flesh ; and that is a good despair. But to despair, is to despair of God and his mercy for time to come ; to say that he will never be merciful, never give me faith and Christ. I may rightly make use of that in 2 Cor. i. 8-10 to
illustrate this, which, though spoken in regard of despairing of his natural
life, yet for the same reason there used, will hold good of this despair of eternal life. We were so pressed, says he, that we despaired of life, and had the sentence of death in ourselves ; so far as by any means of ourselves we could use,, we saw no way but death* But, says Paul, it was that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God that raiseth the dead ; that is, though we despaired, yet it was not of God s power to help us, but we de
spaired in ourselves. And thus God deals with men, and dealt with Paul about eternal life ; he passed a sentence of death on him, and Paul saw no
help in himself to believe, or come out of his misery ; Kom. vii. 10, I was alive, but when the commandment came, I died ; that is, received the sentence of death, and saw no way to escape it by anything he could do. This was, that he should not trust in himself, but this was not that he should despair of God s shewing mercy for time to come.
5thly, Again, understand aright whence despair ariseth : not from the
greatness or heinousness of a man s sins, or insufficiency of a man to help himself,, but from stubbornness of heart, not to go out to Christ for suffi
: Ye will not come to me that
ciency in him, that is the work of despair
ye may be saved, as Christ told the Jews.
6thly, Again, poor souls that are in this condition, God hath an especial care of to keep them from despair, when they have renounced themselves and their former condition. Though their souls be a Tohu and Bohu, and as that first matter, Gen. i. 2, without form, and so of themselves would sink into nothing, yet God s Spirit broods upon it and upholds it. They shall
fail between those two rocks, blockishness and despair, so as the convinced sinner shall be terrified, and yet God will keep him secretly. God hath an
especial eye upon such a soul : Isa. Ixvi. 2, To this man will I look, to him that is poor and contrite, and trembleth at my word, and I will so look
to him as he shall not despair. Isa. Ivii. 16, I will not always contend, for the spirit would fail before me, and I will not suffer it. Though he melts it, yet he will not suffer it, when melted, to boil over into the fire, and to be cast down and spilt into hell fire irrecoverably. No ; but though he be shut up and sees no help by anything he can do to get out, Gal,
iii. 23, yet he opens a door of hope, Hosea ii. 15, when the soul is in the
valley of Achor, of starving ; when sins fly about a man s ears, yet God
opens there a door of hope. And again,
(4.) To let men go on without knowing their condition, is the way to
despair at last. For when men come to die, and then have their eyes opened, and their consciences convinced, to see their estate out of Christ
wholly sinful, and themselves not able to lay hold on Christ, or believe, and that now they have but a few hours to get oil and grace in, then they de
spair indeed. Isa. 1. 11, the prophet shews that trusting in false righteous ness, sparks of their own kindling, will bring them to despair in the end, they shall lie down in sorrow ; whereas a timely discovery of this prevents
it, gives them time to use their endeavour, and to wait on Christ. To lie at God s feet, and refer thyself to him, to damn or save, is not to despair, but argues the greatest ingenuity that may be, and argues some trust and
388 THE WOBK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK VIII.
hope in God begun, that a man will refer himself to him, as David did : 2 Sam. xv. 26, Here I am ; if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, let him do what seemeth good in his eyes. And whom a man would choose
as an umpire to cast his life upon, and to be his judge, he hath some con
fidence in him ; this is not despair. We come to the second cavil, viz., that the issue of this work in many
is despair, and well nigh undoing themselves.
1. When the jailor was humbled for his sins, he had well nigh killed him
self ; shall we condemn that work was then upon his heart, that led him
to Christ, and brought him to ask, What shall I do to be saved ? No.
For, 2, such stories and conclusions are the devil s work, to discredit the work of the Spirit ; he enters upon God s work to spoil it. As when the
incestuous Corinthian was excommunicated, 2 Cor. ii., which was an ordi nance to humble him, Satan was ready to take the advantage to have swallowed him up of sorrow, ver. 7.
* And we are not ignorant, says the
apostle, of his devices, ver. 11. Shall we condemn that ordinance, because Satan might abuse it ? And so, shall we decry this work of humiliation, because Satan adds fearful conclusions to it ? There is no work of the
Spirit but he adds false conclusions to it if he can. If the Spirit comforts, he endeavours to make the soul presumptuous ; if he casts into bondage
only, the devil labours to cast into despair. But as we may not condemn
assurance, because sometimes it hath such an issue, so, nor humiliation.
3. If any do miscarry, they are but such as would ever have perished, whatever course in preaching had been held.
The third cavil is, that when we labour to humble men, our aim is only to bring them to our bent, and so impose on them what we please.
I answer, 1st, Then Peter might be charged with the same, when he endeavoured to humble the Jews for their sin in crucifying Christ ; when he brought them to such a pass that they, being pricked in their hearts,
cry out, Men and brethren, what shall w do to be saved ? Acts ii. 37. But Peter s aim was orderly to bring them to sound repentance, and to
believe in Christ ; and that is all that we aim at also, and all the remedy we prescribe. Mark xvi. 16, Christ bids them preach, that he that be
lieves not shall be damned. One part of their office was to humble men, and discover their estates out of Christ ; and to what end ? Mat. xxviii. 19, you shall find it was to make them disciples, as the word signifies ; but of whom ? Not of themselves, but of Christ, and to bring them to universal
* Teaching them to do whatever I have commanded, ver. 20. And as Christ s promise is to be with us to the end of the world, so this must be our course to the end of the world.
obedience, which without this work they will never come to :
And 2dly, If we did indeed, as the friars of old, who preached the law, and, stinging men s consciences, took the advantage of it to bring the people to auricular confession, and get their secret sins out, and so make them obnoxious to them, and then took money for pardons and absolutions ; and
set them about building this convent and that convent, for satisfaction ; if we did it thus to make a gain of you, as Paul says, 2 Cor. xii. 17, you might suspect us in it. But we sp^ak before God in Christ,
( we do all
things for your edifying, as Paul says, ver. 19. It is to set up Christ in
your hearts that we endeavour to humble you ; that you may see your need
of him ; and that you may see your own emptiness and his fulness, to make him precious to you, and to drive your souls to him, and to bring every thought into the obedience of Christ ; to make you sensible of sin, that
CHAP. VI.] IN OUR SALVATION. 389
you may make conscience of it, and know what Christ hath done for you. And if the duties that are required be not duty, the sins discovered be not
proved to be sins y your humiliation will not bring you to make conscience of them. It is our Master s advantage and your edifying is our aim ; we seek not yours, but you. And 3dly, If we were minded to gain a party out of the world, and to
gain your ear, it were a better course to soothe you up in a good opinion of your estates, to sew pillows under your elbows, and cry Peace, peace, when there is no peace, as the false prophets did.* But to go about to
persuade men that their estates are bad, and to urge a necessity of appre hending it such, this is the way to exasperate men. This provoked the Pharisees against Christ ; brought the world about Paul s ears, as Paul
says, Gal. i., Do we persuade men or God? that is, for God. This doctrine crosseth the world, sets up God, and gains but few ; for men will and do stand out ; and where one is throughly humbled, thousands presume, and will do so.
For, indeed, 4thly, it is a mighty work of the Spirit to convince. And
so, when the apostles were sent out, the Spirit is promised, and he shall convince the world of sin, John xvi. 8. We could never do it, and the
devil he would never trouble men, for he keeps all in peace, and as I said, enters upon the Spirit s work to spoil it. So of all projects and courses
this were the vainest, if it were not God s way, and he did not go forth with us in it. And whereas, 5thly, men complain that such are miserable comforters
to convince and humble men for sin, like Job s friends, and that it is cruelty in men to deal so with poor souls.
1. Consider that such a comforter is the Holy Ghost himself, John xvi. He is promised to come as a comforter ; and what should he do for to comfort ? He should convince the world of sin, because they believe not in me ; for this makes way for comfort. And so, Rom. viii. 15, ere he becomes the Spirit of adoption, he becomes a Spirit of bondage ; for none
else are fit for comfort but those that are broken : Isa. Ixi. 1-3, The
Spirit is upon me, to preach glad tidings to the meek, and comfort those that mourn, &c. And 2dly, It is cruelty indeed to break the bruised reed, to smite him whom God hath smitten, as David says ; to break him in pieces whose bones are broken. But if men s joints are set wrong, it is not cruelty to break them in pieces, for else they cannot be set right.