A set measure of bruising ourselves cannot be prescribed ; yet it must be so far, as 1, we may prize Christ above all, and see that a Saviour must be had ; and 2, until we reform that which is amiss, though it be to the cutting off our right hand, or puUing out our right eye. There is a dan- gerous slighting of the work of humiliation, some alleging this for a pre- tence for their overly dealing with their own hearts, that Christ will not break the braised reed ; but such must know that every sudden terror and short grief is not that which makes us bruised reeds ; not a little hawiing down our heads like a bidncsh, Isa. Iviii. 5, but a working our hearts to such a grief as will make sin more odious unto us than punishment, until we offer an holy violence against it ; else, favouring ourselves, we make work for God to braise us, and for sharp repentance afterwards. It is dangerous, I confess, in some cases with some spirits, to press too much and too long this bruising, because they may die under the wound and burden before they be raised up again. Therefore it is good in mixed assemblies to mingle comfort, that every soul may have its due portion. But if we lay this for a ground, that there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us, there can be no danger in thorough dealing. It is better to go bruised to heaven than sound to hell. Therefore let us not take off ourselves too soon, nor pull off the plaster before the cure be wrought, but keep ourselves under * ' Lord .... again,' not in A and B, but in E.
48 THE BRUISED REED
this work till sin be tlie sourest, and Christ the sweetest, of all things. And when God's hand is upon us in any kind, it is good to divert our sorrow for other things to the root of all, which is sin. Let our grief run most in that channel, that as sin bred grief, so grief may consume sin.
Quest. But are we not bruised unless we giieve more for sin than we do for punishment?
An^:. Sometimes our grief from outward grievances may lie heavier upon the SGul than grief for God's displeasm-e ; because in such cases the grief works upon the whole man, both outward and inward, and hath nothing to stay it, but a little spark of faith : which, by reason of the violent impression of the grievance, is suspended in the exercises of it : and this is most felt in sudden distresses which come upon the soul as a torrent or land-flood, and especially in bodily distempers, which by reason of the sjTnpathy between the soul and the body, work upon the soul so far as they hinder not only the spiritual, but often the natural acts. Hereupon St James wisheth in affliction to pray ourselves, but in case of sickness to send for the elders, James v. 14 ; that may, as those in the gospel, offer up the sick person to God in their prayers, being unable to present their own case. Hereupon God admitteth of such a plea from the sharpness and bitterness of the grievance, as in David, Ps. vi., &c. 'The Lord knoweth whereof we are made, he remembereth we are but dust,' Ps. ciii. 14 ; that om* strength is not the strength of steel. It is a branch of his faithfulness unto us as his creatures, whence he is called ' a faithful Creator,' 1 Pet. iv. 19 ; ' God is faithful, who will not sufler us to be tempted above that we are able,' 1 Cor. X. 13. There were certain commandments which the Jews called the hedges of the law : as to fence men off from cruelty, he commanded they should ' not take the dam with the yomig, nor seethe the kid in the mother's milk,' Exod. xxiii. 19 ; * nor muzzle the mouth of the ox,' 1 Cor. ix. 9. Hath God care of beasts, and not of his more noble creature ? And therefore we ought to judge charitably of the complaints of God's people which are wrung from them in such cases. Job had the esteem with God of a patient man, not\vithstanding those passionate complaints. Faith overborne for the present will get ground again ; and grief for sin, although it come short of gi"ief for misery in violence, yet it goeth beyond it in con- stancy ; as a running stream fed mth a spring holdeth out, when a sudden swelling brook faileth.
For the concluding of this point, and om* encom-agement to a thorough work of bruising, and patience under God's bruising of us, let all know that none are fitter for comfort than those that think themselves furthest off. Men, for the most part, are not lost enough in their own feeling for a Saviour. A holy despair in om'selves is the gromid of true hope, Hos. xiv. 3. In God the fatherless find mercy : if men were more fatherless, they should feel more God's fatherly affection from heaven ; for God that dwelleth in highest heavens, Isa. Ixvi. 2, dwelleth likewise in the lowest soul. Christ's sheep are weak sheep, and wanting in something or other ; he therefore applieth himself to the necessities of every sheep. * He seeks that which was lost, and brings again that which was driven out of the way, and binds up that which was broken, and strengthens the weak,' Ezek. xxxiv. 16 ; his tenderest care is over the w^eakest. The lambs he carrieth in his bosom, Isa. xl. 11 ; 'Peter, feed my lambs,' John xxi. 15. Ho was most familiar and open to the troubled souls. How careful was ho that Peter and the rest of the apostles should not be too much dejected after his resurrection I ' Go, tell the disciples, and tell Peter,' Mark xvi. 7.