f The objects of the invitation are sinners, as such, to cficourage and warrant them to believe. Editor,
SERM. IX. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 159
Doct. 1. Some souls are heavy laden with the burthensome sense of
sin. I do not say all are so, for " fools make a mock at sin," Prov. xiv. 9. It is so far from being burthensome to some, that it is a sport to them, Prov. x. 23. But when a man's eyes are opened to see the evil that is in sin, and the eternal misery that follows it, (sin and hell being linked together with such strong chains as nothing but the blood of Christ can loose) then no burden is like that of sin : " A wounded conscience who can bear ?" Prov. xviii. 14. For let us but consider the efficacy that the law of God hath upon the consciences of men, when it comes in the spirtuality and power of it, to convince and humble the soul of a sinner. For then,
First, The memory of sin long since committed, is refreshed and revived, as if it had been but yes- What inward terday : There are fresh recognitions of sin long troubles for sin since acted and forgotten, as if they had never been : are. What was done in our youth is fetched back a- again, and by a new impression of fear and horror set home upon the trembling conscience, Job xiii. 26. " Thou writest bitter things " against me, and makest me to possess the sins of my youth." Conscience can call back the days that are past, and draw up a new charge upon the score of old sins, Gen. xlii. 21. All that ever we did is recorded and entered into the book of conscience, and now is the time to open that book, when the Lord will con- vince and awaken sinners. We read in Job xiv. 17. of sealing up iniquities in a bag, which is an allusion to the Clerk of the assizes, that takes all the indictments that are made against persons at the assizes, and seals them up in a bag, in order to a trial. This is the first office and work of conscience ; upon which
The second, namely, its accusations, do depend. These accusa- tions of conscience are terrible things ; who can stand before them ? They are full, they are clear, and all of them referring to the ap- proaching judgment of the great and terrible God.
Conscience dives into all sins *, secret as well as open, and into all the circumstances and aggravations of sin, as being committed against light, against mercy, against the strivings, warnings, and regrets of conscience. So that we may say of the efficacy of con- science, as it is said, Psal. xix. 6. of the influence of the sun, " nothing is hid from the heat and power thereof." " Come (saith the woman of Samaria) see a man that hath told me all that
* This is the first punishment of sin, that no guilty person can be acquitted in L cwn conscience. Jul. lib. 13.1.2.
160 THE METHOD OF GRACE, SERM. IX.
" ever I did," John iv. 29. Christ convinced her but of one sin by liis discourse, but conscience, by that one, fetched in, and charged all the rest upon her. And as the accusations of con- science are full, so they are clear and undeniable. A man becomes self-convinced, and there remains no shift, excuse, or plea, to de- fend himself. A thousand witnesses cannot prove any point more clearly than one testimony of conscience doth. Mat. xxii. 12. " The man was speechless, a mute ; muzzled (as the word signi- fies *) by the clear testimony of his own conscience. These accusa- tions are the second work of conscience, and they make way for the third, namely,
Thirdly, The sentence and condemnation of conscience : And truly this is an insupportable burthen : The condemnation of conscience is nothing else but its application of the condemning sentence of the law to a man's person : The law curseth every one that trans- gresseth it, Gal. iii. 10. Conscience applies this curse to the guilty sinner. So that it sentences the sinner in God's name and autho- rity, from whence there is no appeal : The voice of conscience is the voice of God, and what it pronounces in God's name and au- thority, he will confirm and ratify, 1 John iii. 20. " If our hearts, u (i. e.) our consciences condemn us, God is greater than our " hearts, and knoweth all things." This is that torment which no man can endure. See the effects of it in Cain, in Judas, and in Spira ; it is a real foretaste of hell-torments : This is that worm that never dies, Mark ix. 44. For look, as a worm in the body is bred of the corruption that is there, so the accusations and condemnations of conscience are bred in the soul by the corruption and guilt that are there. As the worm in the body preys and bites upon the tender, sensible, inward parts, so doth conscience touch the very quick. This is the third effect, or work, to sentence and condemn ; and this also makes way for a fourth, namely,
Fourthly, To upbraid and reproach the sinner under his misery : and this makes a man a very terror to himself: To be pitied in misery is some relief, but to be upbraided and reproached, double our affliction. You know it was one of the aggravations of Christ's sufferings to be reproached by the tongues of his enemies, whilst he hanged in torments upon the cursed tree; but all the scoffs and reproaches, the bitter jeers and sarcasms in the world, are nothing to those of a man's own conscience, which will cut to the very bone.
O ! when a man's conscience shall say to him in a day of trouble, as Reuben to his afflicted brethren, Gen. xliii. 22. " Spake I not " unto you, saying, do not sin against the child, and ye would not
* O ds itpi/Auftrj, et ilk cnpistratvs est.
SERM. IX. THE METHOD OV GRACE. 161
" hear ; therefore behold also his blood is required." So con- science, did I not warn you, threaten you, persuade you in time against these evils, but you would not hearken to me, therefore behold now you must suffer to all eternity for it. The wrath of God is kindled against thy soul for it : This is the fruit of thy own wilful madness and obstinacy. Now thou shalt know the price of sinning against God, against light and conscience. O, this is terrible ! Every bite of conscience makes a poor soul to startle, and in a terrible fright to cry, O the worm ! O, the bitter foretaste of hell ! A wounded spirit who can bear ?
This is a fourth wound of conscience, and it makes way for a fifth ; for here it is as the pouring out of the vials, and the sound- ing of those woe-trumpets in Revelations ; one woe is past, and another cometh. After all these deadly blows of conscience upon the very heart of a sinner, comes another as dreadful as any that is yet named ; and that is,