servant ; nor he does not cry out, Take away the enemies of thy servant, but, Take away the iniquity of thy servant ; nor he does not say. Take away the pestilence from the land, but, Take away the iniquity of thy servant. But now when Pharaoh was under judgments, he never cries to the Lord to take away his sins, his pride, his hardness, his obdurate- ness, his envy, his malice, his hatred, &c., but he cries out. Take away the judgment, take away the judgment, take away the frogs, take away the lice, take away the caterpillers, &c. But under all these dreadful and amazing judgments that he was under, such a word as this never fell from his lips. Take away my sin, O Lord ! take away my sins ; thy judgments do terrify me, but my sins will damn me, and therefore what- ever becomes of my life, kingdom, and crown, take away my sins and save my soul. David saw sin to be a greater evil than flying before his enemies, or than famine or pestilence was; and therefore he desires rather to be rid of his sins, than to be rid of the punishment that was due to his sin; but Pharaoh saw no such evil in sin, and therefore he cries out, Take away the plague, take away the plague. And Job upon the dunghill cries out, 'I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men !' Job vii. 20. Job does not cry out, Oh, I have lost all my substance, I am bereaved of all my children, I am set as naked upon the dunghill as ever I was born ! My friends reproach me, my wife tempts me to curse my God, which is ten thousand times worse than to curse myself; Satan persecutes me, and God has not only for- saken me, but is also become a severe enemy to me, &c. Job cries out of his sin, and not of his sufferings. A deep sense of his sins swallows up as it were all sense of his suft'erings.
And so that great apostle Paul does not cry out, 0 wretched man that I am ! that bonds attend me in every place, and that I have neither house nor home to go to, and that I am despised, scorned, reproached, and persecuted, and that I am accounted factious, seditious, rebellious, erroneous, and that I am looked upon as the offscouring of the Avorld, &c. Oh no ! but he cries out of his sin : '0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from this body of death V Rom. vii. 23, 2i.
So the prophet Micah, ' I will bear the indignation of the Lord, be- cause I have sinned,' Micah vii. 9. Though of all burdens the indigna- tion of the Lord be the greatest burden, yet divine indignation is but a light burden in comparison of sin. A gracious soul can better stand under the burden of God's indignation for sin, than it can stand under the burden of sin itself, Avhich hath kindled that indignation, &c.
[3.] Thirdly, Godly sorrow is a great sorrow, it is a superlative sorroio, it is a sad and serious sorrotv. A sincere mourning is a deep mourning, it springs from serious and deep apprehensions of the great anger and deep displeasure of God, and of the woful nature, demerit, burden, bitterness, vileness, and filthiness of sin, &c. The blessed Scrip- ture seems to make godly sorrow a superlative sorrow, calling it a great mourning, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo, and a bitterness, as one is in for his first-bom, Zech. xii. 10, 11. And so the church, ' My bowels are troubled within me, mine heart is turned within me ; for I have grievously rebelled,' Lament, i. 20. And David watered his couch with his tears, Ps. vi. G. And Mary Magdalene wept [much, as well as she loved much, Luke vii. And Peter went out and
394 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. III.
wept bitterly, Mat. xxvi. 15. Clement observes, that all the time that Peter lived after this great fall, he would every night, when he heard the cock crow, fall upon his knees and weep bitterly. Look, as shallow brooks make the greatest noise, so hypocrites and formalists may howl, . and roar, and cry, and make more noise than the true penitent ; but yet the sorrow of a true penitent is more inward, secret, solid, still, and deep, Hosea vii. 14. As, you know, the deepest rivers run most silently, and make least noise, so the deepest sorrow makes least noise. The mourning of repenting souls, under the apprehensions of their sins, is like the mourning of doves ; but the mourning of wicked men under the apprehension of their sins, is like the bellowing of bulls and roar- ing of bears, Ezek. vii. 16 ; Isa. li. 20, lix. 11.
[4.] Fourthly, A sincere mourning is an extensive mourning, it is an universal mourning. Godly sorrow and grief extends itself, not only to some sins, but to all sins, great and small. Look, as a holy heart hates all sin, so a holy heart mourns over all sin that it sees and knows to be sin. God hates one sin as well as another, and he has forbid one sin as well as another, and he has revealed his wrath from heaven against one sin as well as another, and he is provoked by one sin as well as another, and Christ is crucified by one sin as well as another, and the Spirit is grieved as well by one sin as by another, and the gospel is reproached by one sin as well as another, and the conscience is wounded by one sin as well as another, and Satan is gratified by one sin as well as another, and wicked men's mouths are opened by one sin as well as another, and young comers on in religion are stumbled, grieved, and offended by one sin as well as another, and the soul is endangered by one sin as well as another. An unsound heart may mourn for great sins, that make great wounds in his conscience and credit, and that leave a great blot upon his name, or that waste or rot his body, or de- stroy his estate, or that expose him to public scorn and shame, &c., but for sins of omission, for wandering thoughts, idle words, deadness, cold- ness, slightness in religious duties and services, unbelief, secret pride, self-confidence, and a thousand more, such gnats as these he can swallow without any remorse, Prov. v. 8-14.
But now godly sorrow is of a general extent, it mourns as well for small sins as for great. David's heart smote him, as well for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment, as it did for killing of Uriah with the sword. A gracious soul weeps over many sins that none can charge upon him but God and his own conscience : Ps. xix. 12, ' Oh cleanse thou me from secret faults.'
Yea, let me say that godly sorrow and grief extends not only to a man's own sins, but also to the sins of others as well as his own, Ezek. ix. 4, 5. And this you may see also in David, Ps. cxix. 53, 136, 158 ; and in Jeremiah, Jer. ix. 1-3 ; and in Paul, Philip, iii. IS ; and in Lot, 2 Peter ii. 7, 8. And if you please to turn to my treatise on holi- ness, you may see seven special arguments for this their practice, page 339 to page 145, and therefore a touch in this place may suffice.'