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

and Ver. 39. Why should a living Man complain, for the Punishment of his Sin? You think the Lord doth you Wrong, and neglects your Good and his own Glory too, if he doth not give you Peace and Pardon, Grace and Mercy, even to the utmost of your asking, and then think you have good Cause to fret, and sink, and be discouraged: No, no, the Lord will pull down those Mountains, those high Thoughts, and make you lie low at his Feet, and acknowledge that it is infinite Mercy you are alive, and not consumed; and that there is any Hope or Possibility of Mercy, and that you are out of the nethermost Pit: And that if he should never pity you, yet he doth you no Wrong, but that which is equal and just, and that it is fit your sinful forward Wills should stoop to his holy, righteous, and good Will, rather than it should stoop and be crooked according unto yours. Believe it Brethren, He that judgeth not himself thus, shall be judged of the Lord, 1 Cor. 11.31. How can you have Mercy that will set yourselves up in God's sovereign Throne to dispose of it, and will not lie down humbly under it, that it may dispose of you? For are you worthy of it? Hath the Lord any Need of you? Have you not provoked him exceedingly? Was there ever any that dealt worse with him than you? Oh, Beloved, lie low here; and learn of the Church, Micah 7.9. I will bear the Indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. It was a most blessed ⟨p. 103⟩Frame of Spirit in Aaron, Levit. 10.3. when he saw God's Hand against him in cutting off his Children, and Aaron held his Peace; so if the Lord should cast thee off, cut thee off, never take Pleasure in such a polluted broken Vessel unfit for any Use for him, hold thou thy Peace; quarrel not, be silent before him, and say as they did, 2 Cor. 12.5. The Lord is Righteous, but I am vile; let him do with me what seems good in his own Eyes: And thus the Lord Jesus by the Law doth dead the Soul to the Law, until it be made to submit like Wax, or like Clay to the Hand of the Potter, to frame it a Vessel to what Use he pleaseth; and as the Apostle most excellently,