breathing out hisfurrow, as though he were going down to hell, and he taith, If t!..re be any mercy, any love, any fellowfi"P ofthe Spt>'J't, havt mercy upon me a poor creature, that am under the bwden ofthe .Almighty! 0 pray,and pity thefe wounds and vexattons of Spirit, which no man finds nor feels, but he that hath been·thus wounded.. It tS a figne ofa foul wholly devoted to dell:ruc'l:ion, that hath a defperated~fdam agamft _poor wounded creatures ; Is it poffible there fhould harbour fuch a fpmt tn any man? tf the Devil himfelf were incarnate, I cannot conceive what he could do worfe. 2 • If ever thou wouldeil be comforted, and retcive mercy frotrt God; labour never to be quiet, till thou doll: bring thy heart to a right pitch of forrow; tho~ haft a ltttle flight forrow; but Oh ! labour to have thy heart truly touched,that at !all tt may break in regard ofthy many dtfl:empers;remember, the longer feed-tnne, the greater harvelt: Blcjfcd are they that mourn, for they Jhall be comforted: but wo to you that are at eafe m Zion: Thou hadft better now be wounded, than everlall:ingly tormented; and there– for if thou defireft to fee Gods face with comfort, if thou wouldell: hear Chritl: fay, Come, tho" poor heavy hearted finner, I will eafe thee, Labour to lay load _on thy heart, withforrorv for thy fin; 0 what a comfort fhall a poor broken heart find m that day l Seer. 5. The extent of this Sorrow. HItherto of Contrition; tne next work is Hnmillmion, which differs from the other, not in fubflance,but circumftance: For H~tmiliation (as I take it) is only the extent of Sorrowfor fin, of which we have fpoken: and it contains thef~ two Duties: 5 r · Submiffion, t to be at the Lords difpofal. · I 2. Contentedncffe, ( The firll: part of Humiliation, is Submiffion, which is wrought thus: The finner having now had a Sight of hu fins, and a Sorrow in fome mcafurefor fin, he feeks far and wide, improves all means, and takes up all Dmies, that (if it wete P';'ffible) he might heal his wounded foul : Thus feeking, and feeking, but finding no fuccour in what he hath, or doth, he is forced at !all:, (in his defpairing condition) to make trial of the Lord: It is true,for the prefent he apprehends God to be jufi,and to be incenfed againft him ; he hath no experience of Gods favour for the while, no certainty how he fhall fpeed, if he go to the Lord: yet becaufe he fees he cannot be worfe than he is, and that none can help him but God, if it would pleafe him: therefore he falls at the footll:vol of Mercy, and he lies grovelling at the gate of Grace, and fubmits himfdf to the L?rd, to do with him as pleafeth himfelf, or ru it feemeth good in bis eyes. Vfo 2. Matth. S· 4· Amo1 6, 1. This was the Ninevites cafe, when Jonah had denounced that heavy Judgement, and (as tt were) thrown wilde-fire 'fbout the firects, faying, within f orty dayes Nineveh ]Jn3h 3· li· fhall be defrroyed: See what they refolved upon, They fafted and prayed, and put on Jack!;loth and ajbes; Who can tell (faid they) but God may tttrn, and repent him of his fierce wrath, that we perijh not? as if they had faid, We know not what God will do, but this w~ know, that we cannot oppofe his Judgements, nor fuccour our felves: Thus it is Wtth a !inner, when he feeth heJJ.fire to flafh in his face, and that he cannot fuccoul' htmfelf, then he faith, This I/z.<tow, that all the means in the world cannotfave me ;yet who can tell, b~tt the Lord may have mercy on me, and cure this diffrejfed Confcience, and heal all thefe wounds thatfin hath made in myfoul? This is the lively pic'l:ure of the foul in this cafe. Or for a further light, this SubjeClion difcovers it felf in four particulars: , ,ftrll:, he feeth and confe.ffeth that the Lord may, & (for ought he knows) will ~ oceed m Jufttce agam!l: htm, and execute upon him thofe plagues that' God hath tnreatned, and his fins have deferved · he feeth that Jull:ice is not yet fatisfied and thofe reckonings between God and hit~ are not yet made up and therefore he ~annot apprehend, but that God willtake vengeance on him: Wh,(r elfe? when he hath done a~;e can, he is unprofitable ll:ill ; Jull:icc remains unfatisfied, and faith, Thotl h~<ft finned, " I am wronged, and therr/o~e thou jiJtdt die. . Se?ndly, he concei(res, tliat what God will do, that he will do, and he cannot avoid ~~ ' th~ Lord will come, and require the glory of his Jull:ice·againtl: him, there is no l:i Yto av01d tt, n_o; to bear tt: and thi~ crufheth the heart, and makes the foul w be eyo~d all fhtfts ana evafions,wh-ereby it may feem to avoid the dint of the L<Jrds blow. Thtrdly, he catl:s away his weapons, and-fall~ down before the Lord, add refigne3 himfelf
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