The application of redemption

A Third ground of Discouragement which the §3sinner finds, and that is the worst of all, viz. The stiffness and stubbornness of his own heart; he cannot blame the Devil for […] of him, or the world for snaring of him; he says, and knows his heart is as bad as Hell it self, he hath courted and desired temptations, his heart hath been lingering and hankering after them: and had not God been merciful to him, he had lived, and lien, and perished for ever in his sins. Nay, though there were no […] to tempt, nor world to allure, yet I have a heart like a dunghill, that steams up continually noisome abominations: Nay, that that's worst of all, If after all the Mercies I have abused, and sins committed; I had a heart that could repent there was some hope: but Oh! the stiffness and knottiness of this heart of mine, I have had Conscience checking of me, and the Minister reproving of me, and the Spirit of God striving with me, but Oh! I have a hard heart that cannot repent; And this is the plague of all plagues, worse than the Devil and Hell it self, How shall I help my self here? Moral Persuasions? Alas my heart spurns at them all, and makes nothing of them all, I have had the Minister speaking to my soul, and the flashes of Hell in my face, and yet alas! such is the desperate frame of my heart, that I will have my sins or […] die for it. What will all Moral Persuasions, and Congruity of Means do here? Alas! the Heart scorns all: As in the Case of a man, who fell into deep distress and horror of Conscience […] he had […] the sin against the Holy Ghost, lying in that a twelve month together, and the Lord let loose the […] of his own Spirit upon him, that he often ⟨p. 441⟩thought to lay violent hands upon himself, but this was all that he had to support himself in that sad time; my Salvation is not in mine own hand, it is not in my Will, but in Gods Will, It is not in him that Wills, or in him that Runs, but in God that shows mercy, Jam. 1. 18. Of his own Will he hath begotten us by the word of truth. He that made the Will, can only Convert the Will: Oh! then bless God, that hath taken our Salvation into his own hand, for if it were in our hands, if it were left to our Wills, we should never have it. This is that that may uphold the heart in the midst of all the heavy temptation, which will […] or last seize upon the hearts of men.