&c., it will be thy wisdom to subscribe to the secret cry of conscience. But,
Ans. 2. Secondly, Seriously observe what that sin is that thy soul would have spared above all, that thy soud is most unwilling to leave, and bid an everlasting farewell to. Observe what thy right hand sin, thy bosom sin, thy constitution sin, thy complexion sin, is, for it is a hundred to one but that God hath sent the rod for the subduing of that very sin, Micah vi. 6, 7, Esther v. 13. Commonly by the rod God points at the mortifjring of that particular sin to which the heart stands most strongly inchned. But,
Ans. 3. Thirdly, Observe what that sin is, that dothmost maim and mxir thy confidence and boldness in all thy addresses and apjyroaches to God, 1 John iii. 20, 21 ; for doubtless that is the sin that God would subdue and bring under by the rod. But,
Ans. 4. Fourthly, Observe what the afliction, what the pain, what the disease, ivhat the punishment is, that you are under, for sometimes a person may run and read his sin in his very punishment : Judges i. 7, ' Threescore and ten kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table : as I have done, so God hath requited me.' Now shall Adonibezek, a heathen prince, run and read his sin in his punishment ; and shall not a Christian much more ? Shall not grace do as much as blind nature ? Look, as a man may sometimes guess at the disease of the patient by the prudent observing of the physician's bill ; so may he sometimes guess at the particular sin that God would have destroyed by the punishment that is inflicted. God usually, first or last, meets with men, and pays them home in their own coin. Is the judgment shame ? Then the sin was pride, Hosea ii. 8, 9. Is the judgment want, famine ? Then the sin was abuse of abundance. Is the judgment oppression ? Then the sin was unmercifulness. Is the judgment loss of children ? Then the sin was inordinate love to them. Eli and David were too indulgent to their children ; and therefore they were punished in them and by them. Is the judgment sickness or want of health ? Then the sin was either the abuse of health, or the non-improvement of health. Is the judgment a famine of the word ? Then the sin was slighting and loathing of the word. Is the judgment war ? Then the sin was abuse of peace. Is the judgment a blind, car- nal, profane, formal, drunken, superstitious clergy ? Then the sin hath been slighting, neglecting, undervaluing, and despising an able, knowing, zealous, spiritual, and powerful ministry. Is the judgment a worship- ping of God in a lazy, dry, dull, dead, formal, customary way, according to the inventions and traditions of the elders ? Then the sin hath been men's not worshipping of God in spirit and in truth, and with that zeal, spirit, life, warmth, and fervency as he requires, John iv. 23, 24, Rom. xii. 11. Is the judgment the breaking of the communion of God's people, and scattering of them into holes and comers, as it was in Ahab's, and Jezebel's, and Gideon's days ? Judges vi. 1-5. Then doubt- less the sin hath been a slighting, undervaluing, neglecting, or forsaking of Christian communion, or else a non-improvement of Christian com- munion. But,
Ans. 5. Fifthly, Observe whether you have not been very faulty towards others in the very things you now suffer yourselves. Do others wrong
152 THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN.
you in your names, estates, relations, callings, dealings, &c. ? Lay your hands upon your hearts, and ask them whether you have never wronged others as others now wrong you, Isa. xxxiii. 1, Rev. xiii, 10, James ii. 10, Gen. 1. 15-17. Do others rashly judge you, and bitterly censure you, and falsely accuse you, and unjustly condemn you ? If they do, reflect upon your former carriages towards others ; and if you must plead guilty, throw the first stone at yourselves, and say with Adonibezek, ' As I have done, so God hath requited me.' Let every lash of God upon you put you in mind of your deportment towards others, when God hath given them gall and wonnwood to drink, Mat. vii. 1, 2. But,
Ans. 6. Sixthly, Observe xvhat that sin is that thou canst not endure should be touched, or reproved, or spoken against. Pro v. i. 25, 30, xii. 1, xvii. 10, ix. 8, XV. 12. Ah ! how proud, how impatient, how passionate, how mad are many, when you come to touch their right-eye sin. When you come to touch them in the tender part, oh ! then they fume, and swell, and rage, and take on like men and women out of their wits, as you may see in the scribes and pharisees, who were so angry and mad with Christ that they sought his death ; and all because he was still a- pointing at the toads in their bosoms, viz. pride, vain-glory, hypocrisy, and self-righteousness. Oh ! they could not endure that the sharp razor of reproof should come near their sorest part. Certainly that Christian must be under a very high distemper, that cannot but smite a righteous man with reproach for smiting him with a reproof Though gracious reproofs are choice physic, yet few stomachs can tell how to bear them. Most Christians are for lenitives, few are for corrosives. David was glad of a healing reproof, but there are but few Davids alive, Ps. cxli. 5. Who is angry with the physician for prescribing a bitter potion ? And yet, ah ! how angry are many Christians when they come to fall under holy reproofs, especially if there be any of that sharpness and cuttingness in them that the apostle exhorts to in that Titus i. 13. Now, doubtless, the voice of the rod is this, Soul ! take heed of that sin that thou canst not endure should be touched. Labour mightily with God to get that particular sin mortified that thou canst not endure should be reproved. But,
Ans. 7. Seventhly, Observe what sin that is that doth most hinder thee from closing with the precious promises, and from living upon precious promises, and from improving of precious promises, and from treasuring up of 'precious promises, and from appropriating of precious proTnises to thine own soul, Ps. L 1 6, 17. And it is very pro- bable that, for the subduing of that sin, the Lord hath visited thee with his fatherly rod. But,
A ns. 8. Eighthly, Observe what sin thai is that did most sting and terrify thee in an evil day, as when thou hast been under some loath- some disease or tormenting pain, Gen. xlii, 21 ; be it stone, gout, or burning fever, or when thou hast been in some imminent danger, or when thou hast had a sentence of death upon thee, and there hath been but a short step between thee and eternity. Doubtless that sin, which hath lain as a heavy load upon thy conscience in the days of thy former dis- tress, that is the sin that Goji would have conquered and brought under by his present rod. But,
Ans. 9. Ninthly, Observe what particular sin that is that doth most
EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 153