God Makes Men Sensible

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God oftentimes makes use of men’s own experience to convince them that they are helpless in themselves. When they first set out in seeking salvation, it may be they thought it an easy thing to be converted. They thought they should presently bring themselves to repent of their sins, and believe in Christ, and accordingly they strove in their own strength with hopes of success. But they were disappointed. And so God suffers them to go on striving to open their own eyes, and mend their own hearts. But they find no success.

They have been striving to see for a long time, yet they are as blind as ever; and can see nothing. It is all Egyptian darkness. They have been striving to make themselves better; but they are bad as ever. They have often striven to do something which is good, to be in the exercise of good affections, which should be acceptable to God; but they have no success. And it seems to them, that instead of growing better, they grow worse and worse; their hearts are fuller of wicked thoughts than they were at first; they see no more likelihood of their conversion than there was at first. So God suffers them to strive in their own strength, till they are discouraged, and despair of helping themselves. The prodigal son first strove to fill his belly with the husks which the swine did eat. But when he despaired of being helped in that way, then he came to himself, and entertained thoughts of returning to his father’s house.

God sometimes, by a particular assistance of the understanding, enables men to see so much of their own hearts, as at once causes them to despair of helping themselves. He sometimes convinces them by their own trials, suffering them to try a long time to effect their own salvation, until they are discouraged. But God, if He pleases, can convince men without such endeavors of their own; and sometimes He does so, as must be the case in many sudden conversions, of which the instances are not infrequent.

By revealing to them their own hearts, He sometimes enables them to perceive that they are so remote from the exercise of love to God, of faith, and of every other Christian grace, as well as from the possession of the least degree of spiritual light, that they despair of ever bringing themselves to it. They perceive that within their souls all is darkness as darkness itself, and as the shadow of death, and that it is too much for them to cause light. They find themselves dead to any thing good, and therefore despair of bringing themselves to the performance of gracious acts.

Thus we have shown that it is God’s ordinary manner, before He reveals His redeeming mercy to the souls of men, to make them sensible to their sinfulness and danger, of their desert of the divine wrath, and of their utter helplessness in themselves. This we have shown to be most accordant with the Holy Scriptures, as well as with God’s method of dealing with mankind in other things. And we have shown in an imperfect manner how, and by what means, it is, that God thus convinces men. This work is what Christ speaks of, as one part of the work of the Holy Ghost. “When He is come, He will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). It is God’s manner to convince men of sin, before He convinces them of righteousness.

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