The Soul's Conflict with Itself

In want of grief for sin, we must remember, 1. That we must have this ¹affection from God, before we can bring it unto God.

In want of griefe for sinne, we must remember, 1. That wee must have this ¹affection from God, before we can bring it unto God.

1. 1What we must do in want of grief for sin.What wee must doe in want of griefe for sinne.

And therefore, in the second place, Our chief care should be, not to harden ¹our hearts against the motions of ²the spirit, stirring us to seasonable grief, for that may cause a judicial hardness from God. God oft inflicteth some spiritual judgement (as a correction upon men) for not yielding to his spirit at the first, they feel a hardness of heart growing upon them: This made the Church complain, Why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy ³fear? which if Christians did well consider, they would more carefully entertain such impressions of sorrow, as the spirit in the use of the means, and observation of Gods dealing toward• ⟨p. 383⟩tselves or others, shall work in •m, then they do. It is a saying of […], Let a man grieve for his sin, and […] for his grief. Though we can nei•er love, nor grieve, nor joy of our es, as we should, yet our hearts tell […], we are often guilty of giving a ck to the spirit, stirring these affecti in us, which is a main cause of the y sharp afflictions we endure in is life, though Gods love in the main er of salvation be most firm unto […]