Tenthly, Therefore the […] at C•rt••'s •••r for mercy: but, yet he is […] on his personal worth. For, as the […] ⟨p. 181⟩the one only Mediator; so the branches of the old stock, have always something to produce, which they think may commend them to Christ, and engage him to take their cause in hand. They cannot think of coming to the spiritual market, without money in their hand They are like persons, who have once had an estate of their own, but are reduced to extreme poverty, and forced to b•g When they come to beg, they still remember their former character; and though they have lost their substance, yet they retain much of their former spirit, therefore they cannot think they ought to be treated as ordinary beggars; but deserve a particular regard; and, if that be not given them, their spirits rise against him to whom they ad••• themselves for supply. Thus God gives the unhumbled sinner many com••• mercies: and shuts him not up in the pit, according to his deserving• but all this is nothing in his eyes. He must be set down at the children's table, otherwise he reckons himself hardly dealt with, and wronged▪ for he is not yet brought so low, as to think, God may be justified when he speaketh, (against him) and clear from all iniqui••, when he judgeth him, according to his real demerit, Psal. li. 4 He thinks, perhaps, that even before he was enlightened, he was better than many others; he considers his reformation of life, his repentance, and grief and tears his sin has cost him, his earnest desires after Christ, his prayers, and wrestlings for mercy; and useth all these now, as bribes for mercy, laying no small weight upon them, in his addresses to the throne of grace. But here the Spirit of the Lord shoots a sheaf of arrows into the man's heart, whereby his confidence in these things is sunk and destroyed; and instead of thinking himself better than many, he is made to see himself worse than any. The naughtiness of his reformation of life is discovered. His repentance appears to him no better than the repentance of Judas; his tears like Esau's, and his desires after Christ to be selfish and loathsome, like theirs who sought Christ because of the loaves. John vi. 26. His answer from God seems now to be, Away proud beggar, How shall I put thee among the children?
Tenthly, Therefore the 〈…〉 at C•rt••'s •••r for mercy: but, yet he is 〈…〉 on his personal worth. For, as the 〈…〉 ⟨p. 181⟩the one only Mediator; so the branches of the old stock, have always something to produce, which they think may commend them to Christ, and engage him to take their cause in hand. They cannot think of coming to the spiritual market, without money in their hand They are like persons, who have once had an estate of their own, but are reduced to extreme poverty, and forced to b•g When they come to beg, they still remember their former character; and though they have lost their substance, yet they retain much of their former spirit, therefore they cannot think they ought to be treated as ordinary beggars; but deserve a particular regard; and, if that be not given them, their spirits rise against him to whom they ad••• themselves for supply. Thus God gives the unhumbled sinner many com••• mercies: and shuts him not up in the pit, according to his deserving• but all this is nothing in his eyes. He must be set down at the children's table, otherwise he reckons himself hardly dealt with, and wronged▪ for he is not yet brought so low, as to think, God may be justified when he speaketh, (against him) and clear from all iniqui••, when he judgeth him, according to his real demerit, Psal. li. 4 He thinks, perhaps, that even before he was enlightned, he was better than many others; he considers his reformation of life, his repentance, and grief and tears his sin has cost him, his earnest desires after Christ, his prayers, and wrestlings for mercy; and useth all these now, as bribes for mercy, laying no small weight upon them, in his addresses to the throne of grace. But here the Spirit of the Lord shoots a sheaf of arrows into the man's heart, whereby his confidence in these things is sunk and destroyed; and instead of thinking himself better than many, he is made to see himself worse than any. The naughtiness of his reformation of life is discovered. His repentance appears to him no better than the repentance of Judas; his tears like Esau's, and his desires after Christ to be selfish and loathsome, like theirs who sought Christ because of the loaves.
