The Soul's Preparation for Christ

The soul would fain have driven away this fear, but the Lord will not let him, but saith, these curses shall kindle upon thee, and shall continue for ever to thy perdition. And hence comes this sorrow, the Lord lets in some vein of his vengeance, and some secret displeasure of his, and makes sin to stab the soul, and then the curse lieth upon him, and the Lord as it were kindles the fire of his wrath upon him really, and makes him see this is that which he feared. Now his conscience is all on a flame within him, and he saith to himself, Thou hast sinned and offended a just God, and therefore thou must be damned and to hell thou must go: This is the particular ⟨p. 142⟩seizing of the curse upon a sinful soul; for this is the nature of true sorrow, if evil be to come we fear it, if evil be upon us we grieve and sorrow for it, herein is the greatest work of all, & the Lord deals diversly as he seeth fit; specially these three ways.

The soule would faine have driven away this feare, but the Lord will not let him, but saith, these curses shall kindle upon thee, and shall continue for ever to thy perdition. And hence comes this sorrow, the Lord lets in some veine of his vengeance, and some secret displeasure of his, and makes sinne to stabbe the soule, and then the curse lyeth upon him, and the Lord as it were kindles the fire of his wrath upon him really, and makes him see this is that which he feared. Now his conscience is all on a flame within him, and he saith to himselfe, Thou hast sinned and offended a just God, and therefore thou must be damned and to hell thou must goe: This is the particular ⟨p. 142⟩seising of the curse upon a sinfull soule; for this is the nature of true sorrow, if evill be to come we feare it, if evill be upon us we grieue and sorrow for it, herein is the greatest worke of all, & the Lord deales diversly as he seeth fit; specially these three wayes.

First, if God have a purpose to civilize a man, he will lay his sorrow as a fetter upon him; he only means to civilize him, and knock off his fingers from base courses, as we have known some in our days; many desperate persecutors of Gods people, God casts his sorrow into their hearts, and then they say, they will persecute Gods people no more, haply they are naught still, but God confines them first: God only rips the skin a little, and layeth some small blow upon him: but if a man have been rude and a great rioter, the Lord begins to serve a writ upon him, and saith, Thou art the man, to thee be it spoken, thy sins are weighed, and thou art found too light, heaven and salvation is departed from thee, thy sorrow is begun here, never to have end hereafter, but thou must continue in endless torments: thou hast continued in sin, and therefore expect the fierce anger of the Lord to be upon thee for ever; so that now the soul seeth the flashes of hell and Gods wrath upon the soul, and the terrors of hell lay hold upon the heart, and he confesseth he is so, and he hath done so: And therefore he is a poor damned creature, and then the soul labours to welter it, and it may be his conscience will be deluded by