)l's will he would hit upon the moll: skilful, experienced, Jo~tl-fet~rching and found· lealing man amongfl: all God~ meffengers ; t~us was it with l'~ters hearers, ~vhofe heartsbeingpri<k:d, and rent wtth legal terrqurs, then could :hey _bcgm to cry tt out, Menandbrethren, rvhtttJh~llwedo? A<l:s 2. 37· Thus was tt Wtth thejaylor, who after his trembling andfalling down to theground in an humble abafement, could then begil) to fay, Sm, rvhttt muftI do to be faved .' A<l:s 16. 30. And thus the man n_ow ready ti:> be born again,ifhe finde no means to affwage the rage and terrors ofhts gmlty confcience at lafl: he comes to Gods Minifl:cr with a What jh,UI I do, what mujt I do to be fave/.' Alas! now I feel the wounded confci~ncc, the broken heart,the fpiritual blindneffe, the captivity ~nd poverty, of :vhtch often you have told me; tf then there. be any infl:ruction, dire<l:ton or duty, whtch may tend to my good, or free n:e from this evil now open thofe hps that jhottld prcferve k!Jorvledgc, now dtret\: me Ill Gods fear a~d I will willingly follow it with my utmofl: endeavours. . A~d now (and not till now) hath Gods Minifl:er a fl:rong and feafonable calling to amplifie and magnifie the f?ul-faving fufficiency of Chrifl:s death and paffion_; were the blood of Chrifl, and promtfe of falvatwn proffered to an unwounded fonfctence, what were it, but like the pourmg of a moll: foveretgn balfom upon a found member ofman? It is the onely, right everlalbng tnethod, firfl: to wound by the Law, and then to heal by the Gofpel; firll: to caufe fmart for fin, and then to lay to a plaifl:er of ChriO:s blood; and therefore when the heart is broken, then hath the man ofGodhis warrant to binde it up again, then may he magnifie Gods mercy, th~n may he fet out to the height the heavenly beauty of Chrilts paffion and perfon, and' thus playing the Midwife by his high and holy art of comforting the afllicted, at lafl the childe of God (prepared for his birth) becomes a man born again. The fifth fiep is a clear (I fay not a general light, which he had before) but The clear, fight ofChrift laid open to the eye of Faith; no fooner is the poor wounded foul informed throughly in the myO:ery and mercy of the Gofpel, but he then looks on his Saviour as the Jewes on the brazen ferpent, and feeing him lifted upon the Croffe, he cannot but fe~ in him an infinite treafury of mercy and love, a boundleffe and bottomlelfe fea of tender-heartedn.ffe and pity, a whole heaven of fweetneffe, happineffe, peace and pleafores. After the fpirit of bondage, enters the Spirt of adoption ; the terrours of the Law lead him to the comforts of the Gofpel ; his forrow for fin brings him to the clear light of his Saviour; and then as a man in deaths-pangs,th1t lifts up his eyes to heaven, wl>tncc,eolncth his help, fo he in birth-pangs lifts up his eyes to Chrifl:, who mull: either help him, or he fmks under his fin to the bottomlelfe bottom of hell. And I mu£1: tell you, thi's fight of Chrill: Jefus to an humbled !inner (together with thofe gloriou~ pri. viledges which he brings with him, as Reconciliation to God, forgiveneffe <;>f lini, adopti(!n, julbfication,_ righteoufneffe, wifdome, Cm<l:ification, r~demption) it is a moll pleafant, ravifhmg, heavenly fight: Not Solomon in ,./1 his royalty, ·no, nor the hllttsof the field arrayed better than Solomon; not all the curious lights on ·earth nor all thofe glittering fpangles in h!!aven, can poffibly affod fuch ple'afure or ddight to the eye of ·~au, as doth this one object (Chrifl blcedin~ on the_Crolfe) to tnetfguJ.of ~ fmner:IInagme that you faw fome malefaCl:or (whofe tnal & doom were pall:) to be led to the doleful place of execution; imagine that you h~ard him wa}l and weep(for, his m•f-[pent ~tme, for hts bloody acts, for h1s hcynous cranes: yea 1magine hi,s w.ailings and weepmgs fo bttter, that they were able to force tearcs from others and to make all eyes (ho_ot a_nd wate~ that but look't upon him; if this m:m i11 this cife f]1ould fud– denly fee hts Kmg runmng and riding towards him with his pardon in his, han~ .what a fight, would thts be? fure there is none to this. Thus, thus it is with tb-.!-trian for– !o'vjng for fin; whilefl: he is weeping his cafe, and confeffing what a little lbep there IS l:ktwe~n h1m and damnation (as if he were now at hells mouth, the very place of~xe· cut1on) m a maze hclooks ~po~ Chrifl, whom he fees ~ith afl?~ar in hi,s_l.ide, \vith thornes mh1s head, wtth natls mh1s feet, wtth a pardon m hts hands, offenng it to ~11 men.th~t wtll but receive it by faith. 0 here's a fight indeed, al:>le to revivfthc wic~~d.il: man upon cart~, dead in fins and trefpaffes, An.d now there is hopes 0ft~dif:~6 . . 1f ~~?nee c():ne to thts, there is more than .probability of an happy delivery~: w,e 111 ;\f ea. Jt]the O:mmgs of Gods childe, or the firfl: feelings of life,., before he is bor!t agam. . Thelixth O:ep is, An_ hungring defire after Cbrij} and his n~<rrirs, and to this llry blcffed are they that arnve; Blef{ed arg they thiU hlli1£<rtmd rl;irft arter ri~hteou{11efj<; · yj' ~ for Alto 2 37 ·"1 .
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