Now for the cure of it, I will recommend unto you two means, two graces, and two ordinances.
First, Two means, light and love.
1. Light : Jer. xxxi. 19, ' Surely after that I turned I repented ; and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh ; I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.' Men that know not the nature and danger of sin are little troubled about it. Where there is no knowledge there is little conscience. When the troops of Syria were smitten with blindness, they were easily led into the midst of their enemies, 2 Kings vi. 18, 19 ; and when they thousrht themselves at Dothan thev were in Samaria. Ignorance,
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because it is not always accompanied with gross acts, is little thought of ; but it is a bloody sin. If men did know God and themselves more, they could not be satisfied with their condition. Ignorance is the greatest cause of hardening.
2. Love. I do not consider it as a grace, but as an argument to melt the soid. It is a forcible argument and a kindly argument,
[1.] It is a forcible argument. Saul relented when David had an advantage against him, and spared him in the cave : 1 Sam. xxiv. 16, 17, ' Saul lift up his voice and wept ; and he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I ; for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.' To make the heart relent, it is good to study God's kindness, not only how he hath spared us, but how he hath blessed us.
(1.) For temporal mercies, creation and providence. For the mercies of creation : We all condemn the rebellion of Absalom for rising against his father. God made us out of nothing ; none so much ^x father as God, and yet we rebel against him. If we had lost a limb, an eye, a tooth, or an arm, would we injure him that could restore us these things ? God gave them to us at first ; how should the thoughts of this soften our hearts ! Then for the mercies of providence : Xathan mentions God's mercies to David to humble him : 2 Sam. xii. 7-9, ' I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul ; and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah ; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight ? ' It is God that feedeth and maintaineth you, and preserveth you. Men stand upon their honour in the world, to be true to their interest, not to be unthank- ful to their preservers. Now God giveth us life and breath and all things. You value these things when they are given you by men, much more should you when they are given you by God. Is water the worse because it cometli from the fountain and not from the cistern ? Water is purer in the fountain. We have more reason to value mercies when they come from God, that so great a majesty should look after you : Ps. cxiii. 6, ' Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth ; ' that God that standeth not in need of you, as man doth of the meanest ; that God whom you have ofiended, ■whose favour you are so much concerned about. In a small gift from a king, the favour is valued : we are continually fed and maintained at the expense and care of his providence.
(2.) For spiritual mercies ; they melt the heart. What great love Christ showed in the business of our salvation, what he left, what he suffered, what he purchased !
(Ist.) What he left. That love that is accompanied with self-denial is accounted the highest. How many degrees did the sun of righteous- ness go back ! eKevcoaiv kavrov; Phil. ii. 8, 'He humbled, or emptied himself.' There was a veil upon his godhead : when ' he was ricli, for our sakes he became poor,' 2 Cor. viii. 9. In the fulness of the God- head he abstained from the use of it. Did Christ leave heaven, and wilt not thou leave thy lusts ? Was he made the Son of man, and wilt
216 SERMONS UPON MARK III. 5.
not thou be made the son of God H It was his abasement, but it is our advancement.
{2d.) What he suffered. We are more affected with what men suffer for us tlian with what they do for us. Cuhitum sine manu. To sliow the stump of the arm where the liand was lost was an effec- tual plea : Zech. xii. 10, ' They shall look upon me whom they have pierced ; and they shall mourn for him, as one mournetli for his only son, and be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.' Sin doth most affect the heart when we consider the wrong done to Christ by it. Amor doloris causa — The more a man loveth another, or apprehends that he is loved of him, the more he is grieved that he hath any way injured him. Your sins strike at Christ, and have pierced him ; shall not your hearts be pierced when his head was pierced with thorns, his hands and feet with nails, his heart with sorrows ? Can you look upon Golgotha with dry eyes and a careless stupid heart ? Think that you heard Christ say. Behold, is any sorrow like to my sorrow ? Will you still go on in your rebellion against me ? Is all nothing, all that I have done and suffered for you ?