Direct. II. Renew not the wounds of conscience by renewed, wilful, gross sin. For sin will bring sorrow, especially if thou have any life of grace to feel it: even as falls, and breaking the bones, bring pain. Obey carefully if thou wouldst have peace.
Direct. III. Be well acquainted with the general grounds of hope in the mercy of God, the office and death of Christ, and the free, universal offer of pardon, grace, and life in the new covenant. Abundance of grief doth dwell in many humbled souls, through the ignorance of these general grounds of comfort; which would vanish away if these were known.
Direct. IV. Know well the true nature and use of godly sorrow; how it is but a means to higher grace, and a thing which may exceed, and not a thing that we should stop in, or think we can never have too much of it. Desire it but in its place, and to its proper ends.
Direct. V. Know well the nature and excellency of those higher graces which sorrow tendeth to; even love, and thankfulness, and delight in God, and fruitful obedience. And then you will be carried after these, and will learn to hate the sorrow that hindereth them, and to cherish that sorrow which leadeth you up to them, and to value it but as a means to them.
Direct. VI. Manage all your affairs, especially those of your souls, with prudent foresight; and look not only on things as they appear at hand.[360] Judge not by sense, but by reason; for sense cannot foresee, but pleaseth itself at present with that which must be bitterness in the end. Thus, carnal delight is the common way to overwhelming sorrow. He that would not have the pain and sickness of a surfeit to-morrow, must not please his appetite against reason to-day. Poison will gripe and kill never the less for tasting sweet. You must foreknow how that which you take will work, and what will be the effects of it, and not only how it tasteth, if you would escape the pain. The drunkard thinketh not of his vomiting, and poverty, or shame, or sickness, and therefore causeth them. There is no sorrow so intolerable as that of a guilty soul, that is passing in terror to the bar of God, and thence to everlasting pain. Foresee this sorrow in your most pleasant sin; and remember that when you are tempted to sin, you are tempted to sorrow; and then you may prevent it. And in all your particular actions use a foreseeing judgment, and ask what is like to be the end, before you enter on the beginning. Most of our sorrows come for want of this, and express themselves by, Had I known, or had I thought of this, I had prevented it. Do nothing which you may foresee must be repented of; for repentance is sorrowful; and the weightier the case the deeper the sorrow. How easy and comfortable a life and death might men attain, if they would not buy a little forbidden, poisonous pleasure, with the price of future pain and sorrows! And if they did not foolishly and over-tenderly refuse those holy, necessary, medicinal sorrows, by which their greater, overwhelming, and undoing sorrows should have been prevented!
Direct. VII. Look always on your remedy when you look on your misery; and when you find any dangerous sin or sign in you, presently consider what is your duty in order to your recovery and escape. It is an ordinary thing with peevish, distempered natures, when they are reproved for any sin, to resist the reproof by excuses as long as they can; and when they can resist no longer, then they fall into despairing lamentations, if they are so bad, what then shall they do! and in the mean time never set themselves against the sin, and cast it off and return to their obedience, that their comforts may return: they will do any thing rather than amend. The reason why God convinceth them of sin is that they may forsake it, and they are sooner brought to any thing than to this: convince them of their pride, or malice, or worldliness, or disobedience, or slothfulness, or passion, and they will sooner sink in sorrow and despair than they will set upon a resolved reformation. This is it indeed which the devil desireth; he can allow you grief and desperation, but not to amend. But is this best for you? Or is it pleasing to God? Deny not your sin, but see withal that there is enough in Christ for your pardon and deliverance. He hath appointed you means for your present recovery, and he is ready to help you. Ask what is your duty for your cure, and set upon it without delay.
Direct. VIII. Remember your causes of joy as well as your cause of sorrow, that each may have their due, and your joy and sorrow may both be suited to their causes: to which end you must labour for the exactest acquaintance with your own condition, that possibly you can attain to.[361] If you are yet ungodly, your sorrow must be greater than your joy, or else it will be irrational joy, and pernicious to your souls, and increase your after-sorrow. And you must not overlook so much cause of comfort as is afforded you in God's patience, and the offers of a Saviour, and of pardon, and grace, and life in him. If you are truly godly, you must so mourn for sin, and weakness, and wants, and crosses, and afflictions of yourselves and others, as never to forget the invaluable mercies which you have already received, your part in Christ and life eternal, your beginnings of grace, and your reconciliation with God, which allow and command you greatly to rejoice: and remember that no humiliations will excuse you from the observation and acknowledgment of all these mercies.
Direct. IX. Read over all the commands of Scripture that make it your duty to rejoice in the Lord, and exceedingly to rejoice; and make as much conscience of them as of other commands of God. The same God commandeth you to rejoice, who commandeth you to hear, and pray, and repent. See Psal. xxxiii. 1; Phil. iii. 1; iv. 4; Rom. v. 2; Phil. iii. 3; 1 Thess. v. 16; 1 Pet. i. 6-8; iv. 13; Heb. iii. 6; 2 Cor. vi. 10; Rom. xii. 12; Psal. xxxii. 11; cxxxii. 9, 16; Rom. xiv. 17; Psal. v. 11.
Direct. X. Befriend not your own excessive sorrows, by thinking them to be your duty, nor suspect lawful mirth and joy as if it were a sin, or a thing unbecoming you. For if you take your sin for your duty, and plead for it, and your duty for your sin, and plead against it, you are far from the way of amendment and recovery. And yet it is common with an afflicted, weak, impatient soul, to fall into liking (though not in love) with their inordinate sorrows, and to justify them, and think that it is their duty still to mourn. If these sorrows were of God, we should be more backward to them: and if our comfort were not more pleasing to God, our natures would not be so backward to them as they are.
Direct. XI. Love no creature too much, and let it not grow too sweet and pleasant to you: else you are preparing for sorrow from the creature. Love it less, and you shall sorrow less. All your grief for crosses and losses, in goods, estate, in children and friends, in reputation, liberty, health, and life, doth come from your over-loving them. Value them but as they deserve, and you may easily bear the loss of them. He that maketh them his idol or felicity, will grieve for the want of them, or the loss of them, as a man undone that cannot live without them. But he that hath placed his happiness and hopes in God, and valueth the world no further than it tendeth to his ultimate end, will no further grieve for the want of it, than as he misseth it to that end. 1 Tim. vi. 10, "The love of money and coveting after it, doth pierce men through with many sorrows." Mark what you find your heart too much set upon and pleased in, or hoping after, and take it off quickly if you love your peace.