A SCHEME OF PRIVATE INSTRUCTION IN THE It is supposed that the person seeking instruction is awakened to some general concern about his soul. SECTION I. The first step is that he be brought to some sense of his guilt, and being liable to the wrath of God, without any refuge in himself. Here it may be useful to state the case of man generally, as born in sin and a child of wrath; and also to speak of that gracious and all-sufficient remedy provided in the gospel-both of them as certain truths on the authority of God's word, though acknowledged by none to good purpose, unless, and until, the Holy Spirit works them into the heart. The design of this caution is, that the encouragement of the promise may go along with conviction of sin. This is the Scripture way; repentance and remission are declared together. Then, that a due discovery may be made in the soul of the former of these truths, birth-sin must be carefully opened, and that in some such way as that man is by nature proud, and carnal, and filthy in the flesh and spirit. The present world is full of objects which are suited to gratify the one and the other. It hath honour, wealth, grandeur, reputation, to humour our pride; it hath indulgence, pleasure, lewd ness, to gratify our carnal appetite. Hence we naturally love this present world, because it is so suited to our natural inclination. Under this influence, the perverted will naturally chooses this present world, and hence the end of creation is overturned, God's sovereignty is injured; for man is unwilling and averse to do any part of the will of God, or to submit to his dispensations. Did God bid us to enjoy the world, we should naturally do it; doth he dispense to us the enjoyments of the world, we are easily content; though in the one case there were no obedience, nor in the other any submission, because we should so do and be content, not to please him but ourselves. But doth God bid us to love him not the world-doth he expect we be content in the absence of any worldly comforts, as having a sufficient portion in him—both pride and lust rise up against him, and we will not. Pride and lust have thus biassed the will of man; he is entirely selfish; self is his great idol, and in it is implied all manner of ungodliness, such as a spirit of murmuring, unbelief, distrust, unthankfulness, and also all manner of uncharitableness, such as a spirit of resentment, malice, envy, cruelty, covetousness, sloth, vanity. Thus the heart is naturally full of all manner of wickedness, sending forth sin in the thoughts, words, and actions. From hence hath sprung all that actual sin of omission and commission, which every man on earth, more or less, hath committed. Yet in opening this scheme, it will be mostly proper to begin with the outward fruits of birth-sin: to insist on the general carelessness and forgetfulness of God, in which the person hath lived; because the conscience is commonly awakened by a sense of grosser sins at first, and it is of the last importance to preserve and improve that impression; and then afterwards, when the conscience is more tender, to take occasion from the fruits to shew the principle and cause in corrupt nature; which is not effectually done till he hath such experience of himself as readily to trace every outward sin up to the corruption which gave cause to it, and is competently acquainted with the whole body of sin. This is properly self knowledge, and the true foundation of walking humbly, much talked of, but little practiced by many professors. Though it be most advisable to argue from the effect to the cause with grown people, yet the young may perhaps be better dealt with the other way, and immediately made acquainted with birth-sin, which is the point the catechist especially (nor often the preacher) should not lose sight of. Natural pride will be making excuse; the person to be instructed will be pleading to his teacher or himself, that he never knew or thought of this, was never taught, and the like. His conscience must be appealed to; he often quenched or did not attend to it; he practiced what he knew to be sin; and to him only that hath shall be given; and the peculiar guilt of such a course as his, under gospel light, must be insisted on. He must be taught to search after his sins, depending on the influence of the Holy Spirit, whose office, he must be shewn, is to convince of sin; and he must be made sensible of the scriptural promises relating to prayer, and pressed continually thereto. At the same time somewhat may be said (or thrown in all along) concerning God's perfections, especially his holiness, justice, and presence. He must be often questioned what discoveries he hath made, or what sense he hath of his sins or his heart-whether it be abiding, with a desire to know more of them, and full of concern, so that nothing besides goes so near him. He must also be warned against all such things as will lessen the impression, and stop the work of the Spirit, as ill company, trifling conversation, amusements, above all, sloth in prayer, and delay. The fact being now ascertained, the great consequence, the curse and wrath to come, must be fully laid open. In doing this there should be neither reason nor argument used, but the plain declarations of Scripture only insisted on. If there be any kicking against them, the sense of sin hath not gone deep enough, and he must be set to seek further into it (as indeed we must be always doing, however advanced) till he can coolly and deliberately, upon the most sedate determination, (not in a mere heat of passion) acquit God of cruelty should he cast him into hell, saying from the bottom of his heart, God hath threatened sin with death, but I deserve to die. It is not a full conviction till it comes to this, and it is of great moment to the whole after-state that this should be now fully acknowledged, otherwise God is not justified in his judgment, and there will be much leaning to self righteousness perhaps ever after. He must be made clearly sensible of these two things. First, that no future obedience, however perfect, could render God satisfaction for the sin he hath done [so as] to deliver him from the threatened wrath. Secondly, that by reason of the perverse bias of his will, (by means of the pride and lust of his heart, naturally drawn after earthly things and utterly averse from God,) he hath not the least power of his own to return to God and to serve him. Thus full in every particular must his conviction be, that the pride of his heart may be altogether beat down, (for it will be contending with every inch of this) and the way made plain and open for the Redeemer. N.B. Though this work be thus methodically set out, yet many workings of faith will often be discovered in the progress of conviction, such as kindly touches of self-leaving, true sorrow, and displeasure at sin; and I am inclined to think there may be beginnings of faith from the very first commencement. The Spirit works as he will, and there is great variety. SECTION II. some The sinner being brought to a due sense of his guilt, danger, and helplessness, is fitted to bear and receive the promises which are now to be opened to him, and that in some such method as this. First, and principally, he must be led from the express declarations of the word, by the illumination of the Spirit, to a firm persuasion of Christ's sufficiency; and seeing this, to a convinced sinner, is the hardest thing in the world, and that also which the |