The sound believer. A treatise of evangelical conversion. Discovering the work of Christ's spirit,…

First, It is such a Mourning as is precedent unto spiritual Joy. And hence it is not said, I will give the Spirit of Gladness to beget Mourning, (tho' the Lord doth so after Conversion) but this goes in order before that. Ephraim like, who seeing what an unruly ⟨p. 56⟩Beast he had been, unaccustomed to God's Yoke, smites upon his Thigh, and bemoans himself, (Jer. 31.18.) It is God's Method (after his Pe•••le have sinned) to sad their Hearts, and then to turn Mourning into Joy; much more at first Beginning of God's Work upon the Soul, they shall first mourn, and lament, and smite upon the Thigh: If God wounds the Soul for sin, it shall smart, and bleed too, before God will heal.

Secondly, It is a great Mourning, because it is called a Spirit of Mourning, Hos. 6.1, 2. As a Spirit of Slumber is a deep Slumber. When the poor Jews shall be converted, their great Sin shall then be presented before them, of cursing and crucifying the Lord of Life; as it was to those, Acts 2.36. And by reason of this, there shall be a great Mourning, Zech. 12.11. that they shall desire to go alone in secret every one apart, and take their Fill of Mourning, before the Lord open the Fountain of Grace, Chap. 13.1. It is not a Summer Cloud, or an April Shower, that is soon spent, but a great Mourning. For,

1. Before this Spirit of Sorrow comes, a Man's Heart takes great delight in his sin, 'tis his God, his Life, and sweeter than Christ, and all the Joys of Heaven; and therefore there must be great Sorrow, sin must be made exceeding bitter. A Man that is very hungry and thirsty after his Lust, must find such Meat and Drink exceeding bitter, else he will feed on it. Solomon took great Content in Women, but what saith he when the Lord humbled him? I find a Woman more bitter than Death,