A treatise on comforting afflicted consciences - The Digital Puritan

;AFFLICTED CONSCIENCES. 173it had eaten out the corruption indeed, then it might havebeen whole Ions; ago."If daubers in this kind did rightly understand and acknowledge,or had ever had any experimental feeling in theirown souls of Christ's rule, and the Holy Ghost's method,which is first to convince of sin, to deject and humble inthe sight of the Lord with apprehension and sense of a mostabominable and cursed state, before there follow a convictionof the righteousness of Christ to raise up (see Johnxvi, 8), or of the necessity of the work of the spirit ofbondage, to fit and prepare for Christ and comfort ; I say,then, they would not deal so ignorantly in a matter of sodear and e\'erlasting importance. They would not so hastilyand rashly, without all warrant and wisdom, withoutany further search, discovery, or dejection, oflPer mercy,pardon, and all the promises to a man formerly wicked, onlyfor some faint and enforced confession of sins, or becausenow being overtaken by the evil day, he howls upon hisbed, not for any true hatred of sin, but for present smartand expected horror, 6cc. But would labour to let the spiritof bondage have its full work, and lay him open more atlarge in the true colour of his scarlet sins ; and not onlycausea bare confession of them, but such a conviction asmay stop his mouth, so that he hath not a word to speak,but trembles to see such a sink, Sodom, and hell of sin andabomination in himself, &c. Oh, how oft have I heardmany a poor ignorant soul in the day of sorrow, beingmoved to humble himself in the sight of the Lord that hemight lift hira up, first to get his heart broken with theabhorred burthen of all his sins, and then to bring it thusbleeding to the throne of grace, that Christ might bind itup ; I say, being thus intreated, to answer, Yes, yes, withall my heart ; I am sorry for ray sins with all my heart ; Itrust in Jesus Christ with all my heart ; and thus, whatsoeveryou can counsel or advise, he doth it with all his heartwhereas, alas ! poor heart, as yet his understanding is asdark as darkness itself, in respect of any, I say not onlysaving knowledge, but almost of any knowledge at all ; andhis heart in respect of any true remorse as hard as a rock offlint. Now those unskilful physicians of the soul, who inthis and the like cases will needs without any more ado,without any further enlightening or labour, thrust mercyand comfort upon them, are like those " foolish shepherds,"as lMarbury,in his Exposition upon Psalm xxxii, calls them," who when they want skill to help their poor sheep out ofthe ditch, are driven to play the miserable comforters, andto take some other indirect course (as many use to do in suchQ 3