This second was, that this course is for our good, and that two ways,
1. In justification. 2. In sanctification.
1. In justification. For the first, we are such strangers unto God, that we will never come to him till we see no other remedy, being at the pit's brink, ready to starve, hopeless of all other helps. We are such wretched creatures, so hard frozen in the dregs of sin, delighting in our own ways, as we see in the parable of the prodigal son, Luke xv. 11, seq. He would never think of any return to his father till all other helps failed him, money, friends, acquaintance, all sort of food ; nay, if he might have fed on husks with the swine, he would not have thought of returning any more to his father. This being denied him, then the text saith, ' He came to himself,' shewing us that whilst men run on in sinful courses they are madmen, out of themselves, even as we see those men in Bedlam. They are beaten, and kept under; comforts denied them till they come to themselves. Then what says he ? ' I will go to my father, and confess that I have sinned,' &c. So it is with us, until the Lord humbles and brings us low in our own eyes, and shews us our misery and sinful poverty, and that in us is no good thing ; that we be stripped of all helps in and without ourselves, and must perish for ever without we beg his mercy. We will not come unto him, as we see it was with that woman whom Christ healed of her bloody issue, Luke viii. 43, how long it was ere she came to Christ. She had been sick twelve years ; she had spent all her substance on physicians, and nobody could help her. This extre- mity brought her. So that this is a means to bring us to Christ, to drive us on our knees, helpless, as low as may be, — to shew us where only help is to be found, and make us run into it.
Thus,|therefoie, when men have no mind to come unto Christ, he sends as it were fiery serpents to sting them, that they might Icok up unto the brazen serpent, or rather unto Christ Jesus, of whom it was a type, for help. Num. xxi. 8, John iii. 14. So unto others, being strangers unto him, he sends variety of great and strange afflictions, to make them come, that he may be acquainted with them. As Absalom set Joab's com on fire because he would not come at him, being twice sent for, 2 Sam. xiv.
374 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
30, so God dealeth with us before our conversion many times; and with an iron whip he lasheth us home, turning loose the avenger of blood after us, and then we run and make haste unto this city of refuge for our life. Thus, I say, God doth shoot ofi' his great ordnance against us, to make us run unto him. So John the Baptist in this manner came preaching of repentance, in attire, speech, diet, all strange; clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of skin about his loins, his meat locusts and wild honey ; the place, in a wilderness ; the speech, harsh and uncomfortable, thunder- ing in voice, calling them generation of vipers, and telling them that now was the axe also laid to the root of the tree or under the wood, that every tree that brought not forth good fruit was hewn down and cast into the fire, Mark i. 0, scq.
As also we know in this manner, the Lord came unto Elias, 1 Kings xix. 11, seq. First, a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after them went an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earth- quake ; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. These were as a peal of great ordnance, shot ofi" to prepare the way for him, to shew the King his coming. And after the fire a still small voice, and there the Lord was. So the Lord rends, tears, and shakes our con- sciences ofttimes to prepare the way for him, and then he comes unto us in that still and soft voice of consolation.
2. For our sanctijication. It is good for us that the Comforter's first work is to work fear in us; for we are naturally so frozen in our dregs, that no fire in a manner will warm and thaw us. We wallow in our blood; we stick fast in the mire of sin up to the chin, that we cannot stir. So that this fear is sent unto us to put us from our corruptions, and to make us more holy. As we see a man having a gangrene beginning on his hand or foot, which may spread further and be his death, he is easily persuaded to cut ofi" that, that it go no further. So doth God deal with us in this fear of bondage, that we may be clothed anew with his image, in holiness and righteousness.
Now, to efiect this, the sharpest things are best. Such as are the law and threatenings of condemnation, the opening of hell, the racking of the conscience, and a sense of wrath present and to come. So hard-hearted we are by nature, being as children of the bond-woman, unto whom violence must do the work. Even as we see a man riding a wild and young horse to tame him, he will run him against a wall that this may make him afraid, ride him into deep and tough lands, or taking him up unto the top of some high rock, from whence bringing him to the bank thereof, he threatens to throw him down, and so makes him shake and quake for fear, whereby at last he is tamed. So deals the Lord by us. He gives us a sight of sin, and the punishment due thereunto, a sense of wrath ; sets the conscience on fire ; fills the heart with fears, horrors, and disquietness ; opens hell thus unto the soul ; brings one as it were unto the gates thereof, and threatens to throw him in ; and all this to make us more lowly, or the more to hate sin. So that by this we see there must be strange mortifying and subduing of us by strong hand, to bring us unto Christ, for our sanctification.