Thirdly, The experiences of others, who have been in the same deeps of trouble, are also of great use to keep up the soul above water. The experience of another is of great use to prop up a desponding mind, whilst as yet it hath none of its own ; and, in- deed, for the support of souls in such cases, they were recorded. 1 Tim. i. 16. " For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first " Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern " to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlast- " ing.'" For an encouraging * Pattern, an eminent precedent to all poor sinners that were to come after him, that none might ab- solutely despair of finding mercy through Christ. You know if a man be taken sick, and none can tell what the disease is, none can
* The word TcroruTwcv; as well as Tvrrog (which the word rendered Pattern in 1 Tim. i. 16.) signifies the first draught of a picture, it is here taken for example, that men might see what they might expect from God : That grace much more abound--, and is more powerful than sin, and that no believer may be diffident of the forgiveness provided for him. Pol. Sr/nops, on the place.
164 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. IX-
say that ever they heard of such a disease before, it is exceeding- frightful ; but if one and another, it may be twenty, come to the sick man's bed-side, and tell him, sir, be not afraid, I have been in the very same case that you now are in, and so have many more, and all did well at last ; why this is half a cure to the sick man. So it is here a great support to hear the experiences of other saints.
Fourthly , As the experiences of others support the soul under these burdens, so the riches of free grace through Jesus Christ up- hold it. It is rich and abundant, Psal. cxxx. 7, 8. plenteous re- demption ; and it is free, and to the worst of sinners, Isa. i. 18. And under these troubles it finds itself in the way and proper me- thod of mercy, for so my text (a text that hath upheld many thousand drooping hearts) states it. All this gives hope and en- couragement under trouble.
Fifthly, and lastly, Though the state of the soul be sad and
sinking, yet Jesus Christ usually makes haste in the extremity of
trouble to relieve it by sweet and seasonable discoveries of his
grace; cum dupllcantur later is, re nit Moses*, in the mount of the
Lord it shall be seen. It is with Christ as it was with Joseph,
whose bowels yearned towards his brethren, and he was in pain
till he had told them, " I am Joseph your brother." This is
sweetly exhibited to us in that excellent parable of the prodigal,
Luke xv. when his father saw him, being yet a great way off, he
ran and fell upon his neck, and kissed him. Mercy runs nimbly
to help, when souls are ready to fall under the pressure of sin.
And thus you see both how they are burdened, and how upheld
TJ7-7 j ,j /. j 7 Thirdly. If it be enquired, in the last
Why doth God make ■, ,*.** i i .i i j * •
,7 r,J j ,, ■ 7. place, why God makes the burden ot sin
the burden of sin be r ' s -, , L r
7 „ ~ .j ; press so neavy upon the hearts ot poor
so heavy upon The souls r- , T . J r j r
~* err f r-1 ,„ ,9 sinners ? It is answered,
of some sinners ? r. . TT , A • . V *t. ■ t.
u First, He aoth it to divorce their hearts
from sin, by giving them an experimental taste of the bitternesss
and evil that is in sin. Men\s hearts are naturally glued with
delight to their sinful courses ; all the persuasions and arguments in
the world are too weak to separate them from their beloved lusts.
The morsels of sin go down smoothly and sweetly, they roll them
with much delectation under their tongues, and it is but need that
such bitter potions as these should be administered " to make their
" stomachs rise against sin," as that f word used by the apostle in
2 Cor. vii. 11. signifies, in that ye sorrowed after a godly sort,
•what indignation it wrought? It notes the rising of the stomach
with rage, a being angry even unto sickness ; and this is the way,
* When the tale of bricks is doubled, Closes arrives.
t Aya,va.z,rrl<Jt;) indignatio) stomachatio. Leigh's Critica, in verb.
THE METHOD OF GRACE. 165
the best and most effectual way to separate the soul of a sinner from his lusts; for, in these troubles, conscience saith, as it is in Jer. iv. 18. " Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto " thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is great, because it " reacheth unto thy heart.11
Secondly, The Lord doth this to make Jesus Christ most welcome and desirable to the souk Christ is not sweet till sin be made bitter to us. Matth. ix. 12. " They that be whole need not a physician, " but they that are sick." If once God wounds the heart of a sinner, with the stinging sense of sin, then nothing in the world is so precious, so necessary, so vehemently desired and panted for as Jesus Christ ! O that I had Christ, if I did go in rags, if I did feed upon no other food all my days, but the bread and water of affliction ! This is the language of a soul filled with the sense of the evil of sin.
Thirdly, The Lord doth this to advance the riches of his free grace in the eyes of sinners. Grace never appears grace till sin ap« pear to be sin. The deeper our sense of the evil of sin is, the deeper our apprehensions of the free grace of God in Christ will be. The louder our groans have been under the burden of sin, the louder will our acclamations and praises be for our salvation from it by Jesus Christ. " To me (saith Paul) the chiefest of sinners, was " this grace given,11 1 Tim. i. 15. Never doth the grace of a prince so melt the heart of a traitor, as when trial, sentence, and all pre- parations for his execution have passed, before his unexpected par- don comes.
Fourthly, The Lord doth this to prevent relapses into sin : " In " that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought V 2 Cor. ii. 7. The burnt child dreads the fire, the bird that is de- livered out of the talons of the hawk, trembles afterwards at the noise of his bells. " After such a deliverance as this, should we "again break thy commandments?11 Ezra ix. 13, 14. Ask a poor penitent soul, that hath been in the deeps of sorrow for sin, Will you return to your former course of sin again ? And it sounds in his ears, as if you should ask him, Will you run into the fire ? Will you go to the rack again ? O no, it hath cost him dear already *.
Fifthly, Lastly, This the Lord doth, to make them both skilful and compassionate in relieving others that are under like inward troubles. None can speak so judiciously, so pertinently, so feeling- ly to another's case, as he that hath been in the same case himself f ;
* Nolo tanti emere pcenitentiam. i. e. I will not purchase repentance at so dear a rate.
f Haud ignara mali, miser is succurere disco. Virg. Like you, an alien in a land unknown, I learn to pity woes, so like mine own. Ihyden.
THE METHOD OF GKACE. SERM. IX,