humbled under the hand of GoD upon them, that they have submitted to his will, even to bear the curfe of the law, if GOD should be moft glorified thereby; but the lowest degree of humility, or felf-denial, is to fubmit with delight to the way of Gon's falvation, by fovereign grace, through the blood and righteoufnefs of CHRIST. And let me fay, this humi lity is no fooner wrought in the foul, but the ftorm in the confcience ceaseth. If it were possible for a fubmiffive foul to go to Hell, verily Hell would not be Hell to him; this submiffion to the LORD's will, brings the foul to a calm waiting upon the LORD, to fee what the LORD will do with him. No one need be at a lofs to know when he has or has not this fubmiffion, if this fhort rule be obferved;-a fubmiffive foul is one that is content with what GOD hath promifed, with what God giveth, and to wait in his appointed wavs, till he fulfil what He hath promised, counting him faithful which bath promifed.

Friendly. Wherein doth the neceffity of this humiliation appear?

Truth. I anfwer, Humiliation of foul is necessary, previous to faith, which drives the foul from every falie hold within, and is no fooner wounded for fin, but it says, what fball I do? Luke x. 25. Mafter, what shall I do, to inberit eternal life? Why, faith confcience, you must obey, or perish for ever. Thus the foul flies from its fins to moral duties, and by them, hopes to heal the wound that fin has made in the mind, instead of flying to Jesus for life and falvation. The awakened finner firft flies to legal duties, there takes up reft, and hopes thereby to make an atonement either in part or whole for his fins. But God beats him out of all his fubterfuges, tears from him his fig-leaf covering, that the fhame of his nakedness may appear, and without this humiliation, the foul would always reft fhort of CHRIST, and depend upon an arm of flesh.

This work is neceffary to pave a way for GoD's manifefta tive mercy to the foul, an unhumbled finner is unfit for mercy, nay, in fuch a ftate he would rather call it a debt than a mercy, therefore God never difplays faving mercy to any foul, before faving humiliation, as humility is (if I may fo express it) the first stone paved in the mind for mercy to build all her glories upon, and on which account, God refifteth the proud and giveth grace to the bumble: He manifefteth to fuch an one the glories of falvation; fuch a foul is prepared by the Holy GHOST to receive at the hands of GoD what he has promifed

in his word; in fhort, to fuch every bleffing and promise belongs; but the man that is not thus humbled, is not yet brought from trusting in his own works, either in part or whole, and that foul that trusteth more or less to itself, or any thing it can do, is undone, if grace prevent not, for ever; therefore this humiliation is to make the foul fubmiffive to the way of GoD's falvation, and to drive it from all felf-dependence. Friendly. By whom is this humiliation in the mind wrought?

Truth. If we confider that man is not only a child of wrath, by nature, but dead in trefpaffes and fins, it will appear evidently, that he cannot humble himfelf, it must be by fome more powerful agent, and who should this agent be but the comforter, the HOLY GHOST, whofe office is, to convince the world of fin, of righteousness, and of judgment; who as a fovereign wind, doth blow when, where, and upon whom it pleafeth, Vain man may think to humble himself before GOD, but this is vanity and vexation of fpirit, for it is the work of a no less powerful being than the Omnipotent GOD, to humble haughty finners, and he doth humble every one of his elect veffels, before he bleffeth them with precious faith.

Friendly. By what means doth the HOLY GHOST thus humble the mind?

Truth. Firft, By teaching the foul the purity and spiritua lity of the law, which is a mirror wherein the foul fees the corruptions and imperfections of all its best duties, for the foul when first convinced that fin would prove its ruin, applies to duties, to reading the word of God, to attend upon the public miniftration thereof, to prayer, public and private; it may be it adds thereunto the giving of alms to fuch as have need, fuch as bread to the hungry, and clothing to the naked; the foul alfo may vifit the fick, and confess his fins before GOD, by which means he patcheth together a fig-leaf righteoufnefs to cover the fhame of his nakedness, and for a time the foul may blefs itself in its happy ftate, that it was fo well provided for. But when the fpirituality of the law is let into the foul, by the power of the fpirit, it rendeth and teareth this leaf-righteoufnefs, and icattereth it abroad. It is the property of the spirituality of the law, to raze the foundation of all our ftrong holds, and pull down our fences, which we have made to detend us from the wrath of an angry GoD, who winketh not at fin, for when Gop the Spirit works, he foon throws down all the redoubts which, it may be, the foul hath

been building for fifty or fixty years, which when this is done, cries out, woe is me, for I am undone; finds it has only been a Babel-builder all its days, and that the whole of its labour ends in confufion and diftraction.

Secondly, The Spirit' effecteth this humiliation, by making -the law ferment the fin of the heart; perhaps you will think this a very strange faying, that the Spirit makes the law to ferment the depravity of the heart, but if we examine, we shall foon fee that the Apostle Paul found this to be the cafe, Rom. vii. 8. But fin taking occafion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupifcence, for without the law fin was dead. But here you are not to understand as though the law conveyed any thing that is evil to the heart, but being perfectly holy and good in its nature, and fin in its nature being perfectly unholy and impure, the law, which is the very oppofite of fin, being let into the heart by the HOLY GHOST, in its purity and authority, doth ftir up the depravity of nature in fuch a manner, that the foul fees itself to be altogether finful, Rom. vii. 7. What shall we fay then? Is the law fin? Nay, I had not known fin, but by the law: for I had not known luft, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. ver. 13. Was that which is good made death to me? God forbid. But fin, that it might appear fin, worketh death in me by that which is good; that fin by the commandment might become exceeding finful. For we know that the law is Spiritual. But fad, and finking, is this difcovery to fuch a finner, who never fufpected the goodnefs of his own heart, for there are many, and I fear even among profeffors of religion too, who are ready to acknowledge that their actions are not very good, but they do not doubt the integrity of their hearts. When God the Spirit is about humbling fuch fouls for fin, and breaking them off from their dependence upon duties, he then difcovers the corruptions and pollutions of their minds, by which they see there is nothing but fin within and without them, that they are polluted, and altogether filthy.

Friendly. What is the end of this difcovery by the law, and the miniftration of the HOLY GHOST?

Truth. To weary the foul from a dependence upon duties for at firft the foul doth not obey GOD from a principle of love to him, but principally from love to itself, out of fear, left it fhould be damned, therefore with dread and fear it obeys, that it may have fomething to place its hope of Heaven upon. When aftorm begins to appear, and the waves beat hard against the ship at fea, the mariners apply themselves to the oars, and row with renewed vigour, if peradventure they may reach the

happy fhore, as was the cafe with the mariners with whom Jonah was when he fled from the prefence of the LORD; they had not long been out at fea, but they perceived the lowering clouds threaten them with a dreadful hurricane; the winds. began to blow in a tempestuous manner, and the angry billows. breaking in upon the fhip, threatened with deftruction; the mariners have recourfe to their oars, but obferve, the storm being raifed by GOD himself, for the well-known end of the Prophet's rebuke, the harder the mariners pull at the oars, the more terrible the tempeft became, the fea wrought and was tempeftuous; nothing would appease the raging thereof but Jonah.

In like manner, when God the Spirit raifeth the storm of convictions, with its concomitant terrors, in the confcience of the finner, he steppeth for help to the oar of legal performances, pulls for life, running the conftant round of duties, hoping thereby to reach at fome haven of fafety; and if he finds the ftorm increase, he lightens his fhip, i. e. he throws away his darling fins, for skin for fkin, and all that a man bath will he give for his life, nothing doubting but when the fhip is lightened, and the oars well plyed, he fhall reach the shore of immortal blifs at laft; but, poor foul, he knows not that there is a Jonah of legal pride to be caft out, before the storm will ceafe.

Friendly. What is the caufe that the convinced finners flies to duties and works of righteoufnefs for help, from the wrath of a fin-revenging GoD, when the LORD hath declared, by the mouth of the Prophet, Ifa. 1. 11. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compafs yourfelves about with fparks; walk in the light of your fire, and in the fparks that ye have kindled. This ye tha: have of mine hand, ye jhall lie down in forrow. Ifa. lvii. 12. I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee. And faith Paul, as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curfe; therefore it follows, by the deeds of the law fhall no flesh living be justified: not of works, left any man boast.

Truth. I answer, It arifeth from pride and felf-sufficiency, mixed with ignorance of God's way of falvation; the foul when first convinced of fin, and of the injury done to God, thinks that it must appease Gon by making him amends; for the mind at first forms its judgment of things fpiritual, just as we do of things natural, viz. if we have done any one an injury, in order to a reconciliation, we must make amends for the offence.

Now this is right between man and man, but the cafe between GoD and the foul is vastly different; yet fuch is the darkness of the understanding at first, that the foul naturally seeks for life by the miniftration of death; flies directly into the arms of Mofes, to the law for refuge, with a what must I do? and Mofes anfwers, keep the whole law; thou fhalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy foul, with all thy frength, and with all thy mind; then as our dear LORD faith, Matt. x. 28. This do, and thou shalt live. To which the foul replies, I will do what I can, and hope that Gon will accept my fincere, though imperfect obedience, and fo make up my deficiency; by and by, the foul finds its working power to fail, and is thereby non-plushed; the convinced finner would be glad to fulfil his tale of bricks; but alas, he hath no straw; he would fain keep the whole law, but he finds that he has not ftrength to keep any part of it.. He goes to the Lawgiver, (as the Ifraelites went to the task-mafters to make com plaint) and pleads to have his task diminished, but it is anfwered, ye are idle, ye are idle; go, gather ftraw for yourselves; for I will not diminish ought of your task. This is the language of Mofes, by the law, which faith, I have nothing to do with you, whether you have ftrength or not, but if you will enter into life, keep the commandments perfectly and perpetually, in thought, word, and deed, if you offend in one point you are guilty of all.

Thus the more the foul ftrives to attain the favour of GoD by religious duties, the farther it feeth that it cometh behind; and the more it ftrives after perfect obedience, the more it fees of its imperfections and unholinefs, in thoughts, words, and actions; thus goes on till the mind fairly fits down in defpair of falvation by the law, and as one that worketh not, waiteth for pure mercy to fpeak peace. The HOLY GHOST, not only taketh down the finner's ftrong-holds of fins, but by the fword of his own obedience, drives him from the falfe refuge of duties, leading him to fee the extent, force, and fpirituality of the law, that by the law is only the knowledge of fin, and not of falvation.

Friendly. Doth not GOD humble the foul to the dust, by leading it to fee the equity of the condemning fentence of the

law?

Truth. Yes, then, but not before, and fays with Paul, the law is holy, juft, and good; the law is holy, and the command ment is holy, but I am carnal, fold under fin; but while the natural pride of the heart remains in its full power, the foul is