The application of redemption

All those Truths that we shall hear publicly dispensed¹ out of the word, or we shall privately read in it, which concerns our corruption of which we stand guilty, or that condition into which we are brought by reason of our sin; We must take them home to our selves, as the special portion the Lord hath appointed unto us in particular, and we must make particular application of them in a peculiar manner unto our selves; for by this means there is more light without, whereby our sins and estates are more fully discovered, more Eye-salve and Spiritual sight conveyed to our minds, whereby the eye of our understanding is more clearly enlightened to see our sins, and our misery in them. He that joins many fires together, they will not only warm him, but scorch him if he stand near them. So it is with the Word which is a fire, the joint Testimony of so many Scriptures, or so many […] Admonitions taken and applied near, as those which attend our Particular, they will not only warm and affect the heart a little slightly, but scorch a mans Conscience with the terror, as well as ⟨p. 186⟩clear a mans apprehension with the light; that is one thing in the 1 Cor. 14. 24. The simple Idiot when he comes before God in the Assembly, and the Word is published and seconded; the Text […], he is judged of all, and condemned of all, and so the thoughts of his heart are made man fest, and […] falls down, and says, these sins are mine, I have committed them; all these plagues, and threatenings, and judgments are mine, I have deserved the Lord should lay them upon me; all this guilt belongs to me, how shall I answer it, or be able to undergo it? All these thus taken home by Spiritual application, become as so many weights added to the burden, which makes it unsupportable. Look as it is in Chirurgery, it's not enough to have the Salve, and apply it, yea, and bind it also; but it must be […] renewed, and so quickened, and then it will work […], and marvellous forcibly. So it is when by our own conviction, and the dispensation of the Ministry, the light of our apprehension is made more clear by the instruction of the Word, the strength of our own conviction established by the conviction of the Word, we apply afresh, follow them, and fasten them afresh upon our souls, and that makes them prevail more effectually than before, like a fresh gale, it makes us go faster on the way we intended.