There are two things wondrous necessary, before the soul can be in the right frame it should be in.
First, The soul must apprehend deeply ivhat distance it hath from God, what alienates it from Gud, before it can he tvise ; and it must be estranged from that before ever it can come to couple and join with God. When the soul apprehends what separates it from God, and conceives as it should do of that, then it will be the readier to apprehend God ; and then all duties will come off easily. Therefore let us first of all work upon our own souls to be humbled, and by all the helps that can be.
4. And to help it, consider now at this time how uncertain our life is. We know not who may be stricken next. And consider what the dangerous issue is, if we humble not ourselves here before God humble us in our graves. Let us help humiliation by all that may be ; for where this is, all will follow easily. A man will go out of himself to God when he is abased in himself, and sees no comfort in heaven or earth but in God ; that there is nothing to be stuck to in the world, but all is vanity, and he may be stripped of life and of all these comforts ere long. Wlien a man is abased, faith and obedience will come off easil}'. What is the reason that Christ is not relished more, and that many fall off? They were never deeply humbled. According to the depth of humiliation is the growth of holiness of life and the height of faith. All graces rise higher as the soul is more deeply humbled. The more we descend deeply in digging and rending up our hearts, the more the word of God sinks into the ' good ground' that suffers the plough to rend it up and to cut off the weeds. The more deeply we are humbled, the more the fruits of God's word appear in our hearts and lives, the more fruitful is our conversation. All
THE church's complaint AND CONFIDENCE. 187
comes indeed upon the truth of our humiliation ; and when that is not deep and true, all the rest is shallow and counterfeit. There[foreJ we should work it upon our own hearts.
5. And labour to he humhle and loiv in all the powers of our souls ; to have humble judgments, to think of ourselves as God thinks of us. God thinks of us as sinners ; God and Christ think of us that we are such as must deny all in us before we be fit for heaven. Let us judge of ourselves as he that must be our judge doth and will judge of us ere long. Labour to have low judgments of ourselves ; what we are in ourselves, empty of all good, defiled with all ill.
And this will breed poverty of spirit in our judgments. Then let us labour for humility in our affections ; to bring ourselves more to God ; to stoop to him in fear and reverence ; and humility in our obedience and conversation to God and to men every way. Let humility spread itself over all the parts and powers of the soul and body, and over our whole Hves. I cannot stand further upon that.
Now, here is verbal humiliation, that is, by confession, expressing our humihation by our words ; as the people of God do here by confession, laying open our sius that God may cover them. What we hide God will never cure ; therefore we should take heed that now we are to deal with God, we lay open the bottom of our souls to him ; let not the iron be in the wound. You know a chirurgeon can heal nothing if the iron or poisoned arrow stick there. If thei-e be corruption in the stomach, it must up. If it be ill-gotten goods, it will not digest, up it must all to God. For men, except there be scruples that a man cannot free his con- science, there is no necessity, though great conveniency ; but between God and thy soul open all by confession, and give not over till thou hast brought pardon to thy heart of that sin thou hast confessed. Every slight confession is not enough, but it must be a resolved, downright confession, without guile of spirit, as it is in Ps. xxxii. 4. This is the course that David takes there. Until he dealt roundly with his soul, without guile, ' his moisture was as the drought of summer.' He was in some dangerous disease that could not be cured. And do we look to be preserved from falling into sickness ? or if we be sick, to be cured ? We must begin the cure in our souls ; lay open the wound to God : ' I said, I will confess my sin, and thou forgavest me.' He begins with confession. So all persons that either fear or are under any judgment, let them begin with laying open their souls to God. When the soul is healed, he will heal the body presently after, for he lays sickness upon the body for the soul ; and when the wound is healed, the plaster will tail ofl" of itself. Therefore let us lay open our sins by confession, and shame our souls all that we can.