The Method of Grace

Thirdly, If it be enquired in the last place, why God makes the burden of sin press so heavy upon the hearts of poor ¹sinners, 'tis answered,

1. 13. Why doth God make the burden of sin lie so heavy upon the souls of some sinners.

First, He doth it to divorce their hearts from sin, by giving them an experimental taste of the bitterness and evil that is in sin: mens hearts are naturally glued with delight to their sinful courses: all the persuasions and arguments in the world are too weak to separate them and their beloved lusts. The morsels of sin go down smoothly and sweetly: they roll them with much delectation under their tongues; and it is but need that such bitter potions as these should be administered to make their stomachs rise against sin, as that ⟨p. 192⟩word used by the Apostle in 2 Cor. 7. 11. signifies, in that ye ¹sorrowed after a godly sort, what indignation it wrought: it notes the rising of the stomach with rage, a being angry even unto sickness, and this is the way, the best and most effectual way to separate the soul of a sinner from his Lusts: for in these troubles conscience saith, as it is in Jer. 4. 18. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is great, because it reacheth unto thy heart.

First, He doth it to divorce their hearts from sin, by giving them an experimental taste of the bitterness and evil that is in sin: mens hearts are naturally glewed with delight to their sinful courses: all the perswasions and arguments in the world are too weak to separate them and their beloved lusts. The morsels of sin go down smoothly and sweetly: they roll them with much delectation under their tongues; and it is but need that such bitter potions as these should be administred to make their stomachs rise against sin, as that