the Commandments ver 3. and presently he speaketh of Victory over the World The World is the great Enemy of the Commandments and till it be overcome a Christian can have no Comfort but still be contesting with God as Pharaoh was and slighting every Message 3. This Contest on Pharaoh's part is managed with slightings and contempt of God on God's part with Mercy and Condescension On Pharaoh's part with slightings and contempt of God Exod. 5.2 And Pharaoh said Who is the Lord that I should obey his Voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Words of profane Contempt Who is the Lord as if he should say Am not I King of Egypt Who is my Peer much less my Superiour and my Lord I know not the Lord. Ere God hath done with Pharaoh he shall know him to the purpose Mark the Words I know not and then I will not Hardness is the usual effect of Blindness Errors of Mind go on to Errors of Heart I will not know I will not hear of it I care not for such a Duty nor will I weigh or consider what is God's Will concerning me The Eye affecteth the Heart Pharaoh did not consider what it was to deal with God and then doubleth the Burdens of the Israelites But now on God's part it is managed with Sweetness and Kindness God from the beginning foreknew the Hardness of Pharaoh's Heart and therefore might have swept him away of a sudden but he giveth him frequent Warnings and Convictions He would have Men convinced e're they are punished Foregoing Mercy sheweth the Righteousness of ensuing Wrath. In all the progress of the Story the first Miracles were before him the next upon him And every Judgment is threatned before it be executed God telleth what he would do to warn Pharaoh In one Plague it is notable that God doth not only threaten the Judgment but sendeth a gracious Warning to bid him take his Cattle out of the Fields Exod. 9.19 Send therefore now and gather thy Cattle and all that thou hast in the Field for upon every Man and Beast which shall be found in the Field and shall not be brought home the Hail shall come down upon them and they shall die To shew that God delighteth not in the Ruine and Destruction of the Creature and to make Pharaoh the more liable to Condemnation and to spare such among the Egyptians as had some Fear of God remaining in them but chiefly to harden Pharaoh the more Exod. 10.1 And the Lord said unto Moses Go in unto Pharaoh for I have hardned his Heart and the Heart of his Servants that I might shew these my Signs before him Moses might say Lord therefore let me never go to Pharaoh but saith God Go in unto him for I have hardned his Heart God continueth the Means though he denieth Grace and the Wicked must be admonished though they will not be reformed In the hardning of Sinners God usually observeth this Course by Mercies and the Meâ—ns of Grace they are convinced and hardned at the same time there is still new matter of glorifying God and hardning the Creature 4. The first Plague on Pharaoh's Heart is Delusion Moses worketh Miracles turneth Aaron's Rod into a Serpent Rivers into Blood bringeth Frogs and the Magicians still do the same God permitteth these Magical Impostures to leave Pharaoh in his wilful Error It is probable that what the Magicians did was not real but a mere Delusion of the Senses but the Lord doth not discover the Cheat because his present Aim was not to shame Satan but to harden Pharaoh therefore he suffered the Devil to imitate the true Miracles without Discovery It is sad when Men chuse false Teachers to themselves and God suffereth them to be blinded Hosea 4.17 Ephraim is joined to Idols let him alone They may have some Parts plausible Elocution Gifts of Prayer there may be common Effects wrought by them these things blind Men and their Hearts are set upon Familism and Antinomianism let them alone Exod. 7.22 The Magicians of Egypt did so with their Inchantments and Pharaoh ' s Heart was hardned This was one means of hardning his Heart the Magicians wrought the same Miracles that Moses and Aaron did God suffereth Men to be hardned by their own Choice 5. God was not wanting to give Pharaoh sufficient means of Conviction The Magicians turned their Rods into Serpents but Aaron's Rod swallowed up their Rods Exod. 7.12 Which sheweth God's supereminent Power They could not deliver him from the Frogs though they could bring Frogs God may suffer the Devil to add to the Judgment but to relieve them is an Act of Mercy the Magicians could add to the Plagues but they could not deliver him from them the Devil can sooner bring a Plague than remove it This was warning enough there was Difficulty enough to harden them and Light enough to convince them Again the Magicians were non-plust in their Art Exod. 8.18 And the Magicians did so with their Inchantments to bring forth Lice but they could not They sought to bring forth Lice and could not being hindred by God's Will They that could bring forth Frogs could not bring forth Lice the greater the Possibility the more are the Magicians abashed this was an easy Miracle All Colour of Excuse is taken away from Pharaoh they confess This is the Finger of God Exod. 8.19 and yet Pharaoh's Heart was hardned as many will not be won to the Truth by the Confession of those that led them into the Mistake Nay afterwards the Magicians themselves were smitten with Boils Exod. 9.11 12. And the Magicians could not stand before Moses because of the Boils for the Boil was upon the Magicians and upon all the Egyptians And the Lord hardned the Heart of Pharaoh and he hearkned not unto them If the hard Heart go to Hell it is not for want of Light but Grace We may wonder as much at the Success as at the Plagues To what a Height of Obstinacy will Man come if he be let alone to Plagues for all this while Pharaoh's Heart was hardened 6. Observe in one of the Plagues Israel might have stolen away whether Pharaoh would or no Exod. 10.22 23. And Moses stretched forth his Hand towards Heaven and there was a thick Darkness in all the Land of Egypt three Days They saw not one another neither rose any from his Place for three Days but all the Children of Israel had Light in their Dwellings They were not only deprived of the Light of Heaven but of Candles and Torches the Air was condensed with thick Clouds and the Mists and Vapors so thick that they would easily have damped them and put them out again Now whilst they were under the Power of three Days Darkness the Israelites might have stolen away and have gone three Days Journey in the Wilderness before they could have made any Pursuit but God had more Miracles to be done When he
likeness of his Resurrection Rom. 6.5 We shall be dead to Sin and alive to God The same Divine Power that kills the Old Man quickens the New Again I might argue from the Word which is our Rule for there we have not only Restraints but Precepts therefore we must not only escape from Sin but delight in Communion with God We must eschew what God forbids and practise what God commands Vse Let it press us not to rest in abstaining from Sin meerly Many are not vicious but they are not sanctified they have no feeling of the Power of the new Life The Pharisees Religion ran upon Negatives Luke 18.11 God I thank thee I am not as other Men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican To enforce this consider both are contrary to the new Nature it hates Evil and loves Good Where there is Regeneration there is a putting on and a putting off Ephes. 4.22 23 24. That ye put off concerning the former Conversation the Old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts. And be renewed in the Spirit of your Mind And that ye put on the New Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness The new Nature makes Conscience of abstaining from Sin and obeying God's Precepts And both are serviceable to the Work of Grace Grace is obstructed by Sins of Omission and Commission for Sins increase as well as unfitness for Duty The Motions of the Spirit are quenched and Lusts grow prevalent in the Soul and both are odious to God A barren Tree cumbers the Ground and is rooted up as well as the poisonous Herb. Obs. 3. We must first begin with renouncing Evil that 's the first thing Grace teacheth Since the Fall the Method is Analytical to unravel and undo that which hath been done in the Soul So it is said of Christ 1 Iohn 3.8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the Works of the Devil Sin is the first Occupant in the Soul and claimeth Possession six thousand Years ago it thrust out Grace which was the right owner therefore first there must be a Writ of Ejectment sealed against Sin that Grace may take the Throne Dagon must down e're the Ark be set up It cannot be otherwise it must not be otherwise there must be mortifying and subduing of Sin by Acts of Humiliation and Godly Sorrow before there will be Experience of Grace 1. It cannot be otherwise for the Devil hath a right in us as long as we remain in Sin therefore there must be a rescue from his Power Col. 1.13 Who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son Christ and Satan cannot reign in the same Heart nor God and the hâ—â— World Ioseph was taken out of Prison and then preferr'd to Pharaoh This is â—he Method Luke 1.73 That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the Days of our lives Deliverance hath the precedence first the Thorns must be rooted out and then the Corn is sowed 2. It must not be otherwise God will have nothing to do with us till we have renounced Sin A plausible Life is but a counterfeit Varnish like gilding over a rotten Post or a moral Integrity till Sin be renounced The Prodigal left his Husks and then returned to his Father This is the Method at our first Conversion indeed afterwards there is some difference when once Grace is once planted in the Heart it hath the advantage of Corruption and worketh first Thus it is said of Iob Chap. 1.1 That Man was perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed Evil. First fearing God then eschewing Evil. Grace having taken possession and being seated in the Heart it works first Like a Man possessed and seated in his House he seeketh to expel his Enemy So at first way is made for the Operation of Grace and then all the Work afterwards is the destruction of Sin Obs. 4. It is not enough to renounce one Sin but we must renounce all For when the Apostle speaks of denying Ungodliness he intends all Ungodliness Compare this with 1 Pet. 2.1 Wherefore laying aside all Malice and all Guile and Hypocrisies and Iam. 1.21 Wherefore lay apart all Filthiness and superfluity of Naughtiness All Sins must be renounced little Sins and great Sins Great Sins as Adultery Drunkenness and the like are manifest Gal. 5.19 that is Nature doth abhor them they stink and smell rank in Nature's Nostrils even to a natural Conscience Then for little Sins Matth. 5.19 Whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and teach Men so to do shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven It is spoken of Ministers principally whoever shall give licence by the Gospel to the least Sin either break it himself or teach Men so to do shall have no place no room among Gospel-Ministers No Sin can be little that is committed against the great God Sins are not to be measured by the smallness of the Occasion or by the suddenness of the Act but by the Offence done to God to an Infinite Majesty The less the Sin the greater many times it is It argues much Malice to break with God upon every slight Occasion there is more unkindness in it and the more contempt of God and it argues the greater depravation of Nature As a little Weight will make a Stone move downward because of its natural Inclination so it is a sign we have an inclination that way when a small Matter can draw us from God Again secret Sins must be eschewed as well as Publick Isa. 55.7 Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts the Thought as well as the Way is to be forsaken By Way is meant his outward course of Life by his Thoughts is meant the hidden workings of his Spirit Nothing more transient and sudden than the Thought therefore as we must not do Evil before Men so we must not think Evil before God God seeth the Thought as well as Man the Actions and infinitely more The Thoughts are visible to him and these fall under a Law as well as our Actions Again Sins of Temper to which we are more incident as well as other Sins to which we have less inclination they must be mortified Psal. 18.23 I was also upright before him and I kept my self from mine Iniquity That Sin which we call ours should be most watched against and most hated above all others As a Man should be afraid of the Meat of which he hath once surfeited so the Sin that hath once prevailed over us we should be more cautious against It is nothing for a sordid Spirit to be less proud or a proud Man to be less covetous or a covetous Man to be less sensual or a sensual Man to be less
Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 Having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof This is the greatest Ungodliness that can be they will not own his Authority in their Hearts nor suffer him to have any Dominion in their Conscience nor own him without in their Actions before Men. The Heart is his Chair of State and Chamber of Presence but Hypocrites and wicked Men rob God of his Dominion over the Conscience therefore Hypocrisy is practical Blasphemy Rev. 2.9 I know the Blasphemy of them that say they are Iews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Men pretend to obey God yet blaspheme him in their Heart and refuse the Power of that to which they pretend And the Life must be conformed to God's Laws God will be honoured in our Conversation as well as have his Throne set up in the Conscience his Laws must be visibly obeyed in the Sight of Men. It is the Glory of a Commander to be obeyed Matth. 8.9 I am a Man under Authority having Souldiers under me and I say to one Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh and to my Servant Do this and he doth it So God will have all the World know that he hath his Servants at a beck If he bids them deny and abstain the Flesh O they durst not meddle with it or if he bids them practise Holiness they must do it his Honour is much promoted by your Lives God will have all the World see that he hath called you to his Foot and that he hath an absolute Authority and Power over the Sons of Men they are a People formed for his Praise he looks for Glory in this kind Fourthly God will be honoured as the last and utmost End and so in all Acts natural moral and spiritual If we do not aim at God's Glory we are guilty of Ungodliness This is the proper Work of Godliness to refer all we do to the Glory of God and this is the Distinction between Godliness and Holiness Holiness minds the Law of God and implies only a Conformity to the Law Godliness minds the Glory of God and is the Aim of the Soul to exalt God 2 Pet. 3.11 What manner of Persons ought we to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness You see Godliness is distinguished from Holiness Godliness refers all we do to God's Glory But more particularly 1. In natural Acts we must have a supernatural Aim 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the Glory of God If we are to take a Meal to sustain the Body and refresh Nature it is that we may be more serviceable to God And he that eats and drinks to himself to his own Pleasure to satisfy his own Appetite and hath no Respect to God he doth but offer a Meat-Offering and a Drink-Offering to an Idol And he that traffiques for himself meerly to get Wealth and doth not aim at Usefulness and Serviceableness to God he is a Priest consecrated to Mammon his eating is Idolatry Phil. 3.19 VVhose God is his Belly and his trading is Idolatry Matth. 6.24 Ye cannot serve God and Mammon 2. In your moral Actions Ephes. 6. where all moral Duties are reciprocally set down as Duties of Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants Parents and Children the Apostle presseth them to do all as in and to the Lord not merely that they may live together in Contentment and Peace but they must walk in their Relations so as God may have Honour A Christian by an excellent Art turns his second Table-Duties into first Table-Duties and makes his civil Commerce a kind of Religious Worship 3. So in all spiritual Acts The whole Ordination of the spiritual Life must be to God I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God Gal. 2.19 All the Motions and Tendencies of the Soul are to advance God and glorify God In the very spiritual internal Actions and Reachings forth of the Soul after God why do I desire to have Grace and Pardon That God may be glorified that must be the last End Our Desires can never be regular in asking Grace till they suit with God's End in giving Grace Now what are God's Ends in giving Grace Eph. 1.6 To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved All that God aims at is to make Grace glorious and that Grace may carry away all the Praise So in your Desires of Pardon Heaven and Salvation you are to desire them that God may be glorified in your Salvation and in the Pardon of your Sins So in our external Actions Prayer Worship Preaching whatever we do In sacred things it is dangerous to look asquint and to serve our selves our own Lusts our Covetousness or Pride upon the Worship of God this is to put Dung in God's own Cup. It were a mighty Affront to a King to fill his Cup full of Excrements Nothing alienates the Heart from God so much as Self-respect God hath given us many things but he hath reserved the Glory of all to himself as Pharaoh said to Ioseph Gen. 41.40 Thou shalt be over my House and according unto thy VVord shall all my People be ruled only in the Throne will I be greater than thou This is the first Branch of Ungodliness the Negative Part when we deny God his due Honour II. For the Positive Part. Positive Ungodliness is more gross when we put an actual Contempt and Scorn upon God We are guilty of this when we slight his Providence and disobey his Laws 1 st When we slight his Providence Heb. 12.5 My Son despise not thou the Chastening of the Lord. Men harden themselves against Corrections and count light of them Men cannot indure to have their Anger despised When the three Children despised Nebuchadnezzar's Threatnings it is said Dan. 3.19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of Fury and the Form of his Visage was changed against Shadrach Meshech and Abednego therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the Furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heat It is a mighty Affront to God and a Contempt of him when we provoke him while we are under his afflicting Hand if in Despite of God we break out into Sin when he hedgeth up our way with Thorns 2 Chron. 28.22 And in the time of his Distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord. This is that King Ahaz 2 dly When we are disobedient to his Laws Open Irreligion is a Despite to God when we cast off his Yoke This is Ungodliness in the Height when God is not only neglected but rejected Ier. 2.31 VVe are Lords we will come no more unto thee We would be absolute Masters of our own Wills This was the first Bait Gen 3.5 Ye shall be as Gods knowing Good and Evil. This endeth in open Prophaneness which groweth upon Men by Degrees as Lactantius said of Lucian Nec
quicken us to Thanksgiving Vse 2. Exhortation If Christ hath given himself it presseth us 1. To accept Christ and entertain him in our Hearts Shall Christ give himself and will not we accept the Gift It is true when he gave himself for us he gave himself to God the Father as you know the Price must be paid to the Creditor Satisfaction is made to the Judg. But as he gave himself for us so he gives himself to us and thus he is offered in the Gospel Therefore it is said Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation for our Sins In the Gospel God holds out Christ and makes an Offer Sinners will you take him Shall Christ offer himself thus and shall not we esteem and value this Gift and entertain it in our Hearts with all Thankfulness Certainly we do not know what a Gift Christ is and therefore we do not prize it John 4.10 If thou knewest the Gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked and he would have given thee living Water Here is the best Gift ever God can give If we knew Christ our Affections would not be so cold God is represented in Scripture with two Hands and he hath Gifts in his Right Hand and Gifts in his Left Hand There is Jesus Christ Grace Pardon and Salvation and all that is dear and precious these are the Blessings of his Right Hand In his Left Hand there are Riches and Honour Estate Lands Houses Supplies of the present Life Now art thou a Goat or Sheep one that shall stand at God's Left or Right Hand Thou art known by thy Choice All that are for the World run for a worldly Portion and neglect Christ. We count those Children foolish who prefer an Apple before a Jewel So here the Lord sets out to us Christ and the Things of this Life and Men prefer the base Contentments of the World before Christ. Therefore let us accept of Christ if he hath given himself for us 2. It exhorteth and presseth us to a spiritual Consecration to give up our selves to Christ. Rom. 12.1 I beseech you Brethren by the Mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable Service Jesus Christ gave himself as a Sin-offering and we must give up our selves as a Thank-offering unto God Now let me tell you your giving up your selves is a far other manner of giving up than Christ gave up himself You never keep your selves so much as when you give up your selves to God All the receiving is on our part God would have us give up our Hearts to him How that we might be made better Better be given up to God than left to our selves Christ gave up himself to be crucified but we give up our selves to be glorified And Jesus Christ gave up himself voluntarily there was no necessity lay upon him but wo unto us if we give not up our selves to God there is a necessity laid upon us we do but give God his due and his own but Jesus Christ had power over his Life to lay it down and take it up for he was an absolute Master of his Life but we are dependant under an Obligation therefore our giving is but to make our Relation to God more explicite And again Jesus Christ could sanctify himself he was Priest Altar and Sacrifice and brings all out of his own Store but all we have is from God it goeth under the name of our Deed but the Sacrifice Fire and Altar all come down from Heaven yet the Act must be done by us And here take these two Cautions 1. You must do as Christ did give up your All Body Soul Estate Goods good Name Life Parts Interest Relations write upon all Holiness to the Lord there must not be a Hoof reserved for these things are but Trifles in comparison of what Christ parted withal for us Some stick at one thing some at another some divide the Body and the Soul In times of Safety when the publick Profession of Religion is honourable then Men will give up their Bodies to Christ their Eyes shall be lifted up in Prayer and their Tongues shall speak well of Christ but their Heart is not given him In times of Trouble then they could give God their Souls but Profession is suspended the Body must be spared and excused And then in the Soul some make an untoward Division between Conscience and Affections fain they would have Christ to pacify and satisfy their Conscience but they give their Hearts and Affections to the World Some could give up their Parts for Christ O they could plead for him and do some good Act of Kindness but not a Penny of their Estates Christians you must not thus stand hucking with God and play Pharaoh's Trick but all must be given up The Devil knows when we divide the Whole will fall to his share It would be sad if God should deal with you as you deal with him and glorify no more than you give him take the Body into Heaven and leave the Soul in Hell 2. You must not retract your Vows It is dangerous to alienate things once consecrated to say with him I go Sir and went not Mat. 21.30 or as Ananias to keep back part of the Mony for which he sold his Possession and yet the thing was in his own power But you are not in your own power it is not indifferent whether you will give up your selves to Christ or no but it is a Duty and therefore live as if thou wert not thine own Master but act for Christ think for Christ and do for Christ it is not an hard Law Consider what Christ did Christ pleased not himself Rom. 15.3 He had a private Will as well as you but he denied it and yielded to the publick Will Christ did not obey his private Will to the prejudice of his publick therefore let it not be grievous to renounce your Will 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judg that if Christ died for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 3. It presseth you again to a like Readiness in Christ's Service as the Lord Christ shewed in the service of our Souls Why should we be so backward to come to the Throne of Grace when Jesus Christ was not backward to go to the Cross We go grudgingly when he went so willingly to suffer for us When the Business was propounded to him he said Psal. 40.7 8. Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy Will O my God So when there 's a warm Suggestion upon your Hearts Psal. 27.8 Thou saidst Seek my Face my Heart said unto thee Thy Face Lord will I seek Lord what
are some remainders of right Reason some Impressions of Equity some Principles of Common Honesty still left and preserved in us thô as to Spiritual Endowments We are altogether become filthy and abominable Psal. 14.2 yet some Moral Inclinations are left to shew what Humane Nature once was As in a rifled Palace thô the rich Furniture be gone the Plate and the Jewels and thô the fashion of it be much spoil'd yet some of the Fabrick is left still standing to shew what a Magnificent Structure it once was Nature teacheth to deal justly with all and startles and looks ghastly at some kind of Abominations The dictates of Morality and Common Right are very Legible in our Conscience The Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2.14 As Iob's Messengers said every one of them I alone am escaped to tell thee So there are some Principles of Conscience that are left and escaped out of the ruines of the fall to warn us of our Duty and to make us give back at monstrous and gross Impieties and to leave us without Excuse Thô men be born in Sin and are dead to all Spiritual Good yet some restraints are left still upon Nature lest man should not shew himself to be Man 2. For the good of Mankind God is the Patron of Humane Society and delights in the welfare and preservation of it He Created not Man as he did the Angels to live several and Independant from one another We are all multiplied and propagated from one Original Root that we might live in mutual Society and Converse with one another It is observed that ravenous and noxious Creatures live single and apart but the useful in Herds and Flocks so Man was made by Nature a Sociable Creature Now there would be no such thing as Humane Society if there were not some sweetness of Nature and Moral Dispositions yet left in us The World would be but one great Forrest of Wild Beasts if God had not left some Authority in Conscience to keep men within the Bounds of Honesty And therefore to uphold order in the World there must be some amiable Qualities even in the Unregenerate or Corrupt State some are more Innocent and unblameable than others I 'll set it forth by this Similitude As Nebuchadnezzar when he carried the Princes and Chief men into Captivity out of the Land of Iudea he left some of the People behind him to Till the Land least it became a Wilderness So that the World might not become a Forrest of wild Beasts there are some that observe the Common Dictates of Nature that men might be commodious and useful one to another for did not these Impressions bear sway the World could not subsist nor Justice and Honesty be maintained 3. There are other things besides renewing Grace that might cause these Amiable Qualities 1. Bodily Temper may encline Men to some good We see some are of a rougher Temper and others of a sweeter Disposition Some are soft smooth and docible others stiff and stubborn The Scripture takes notice of the different Dispositions of Esau and Iacob Gen. 25.27 Esau was a cunning Hunter a man of the Field but Iacob was a plain man dwelling in Tents Look as Blades thô all are made of the same Mettal yet they differ much in Goodness by reason of the Temper so there 's a great deal of difference between Men and Men by reason of the Temper of their Bodies some are ingenious and shame-â—aced and not so easily drawn to Outrage and Sin but others are of a baser alloy The Complexion of the Soul doth very much follow the Constitution of the Body and therefore some are better Natured and Temper'd than others So that there may be Amiable Qualities in them and yet without Grace 2. The increase of one Sin may cause others to decrease as a Wen that grows big and monstrous defrauds other parts of their Nourishment Thô all Sin be kindly to a Natural Heart yet some Sins are more apt to take the Throne and other Lusts are starved to feed that As for Instance He that is Covetous by the force of his Covetousness and Parsimony is made an Enemy to Prodigality and a Friend to Frugality as Iudas that lov'd the Bag was against Profuseness and wastfulness Ioh. 12.5 6. A Prodigal Man is not Covetous and so more prone to be Liberal and Free-hearted A prophane Man is an Enemy of Superstition and loves to be moderate and indifferent in Religion A Superstitious Man hates Prophaneness and lays out his Zeal upon every little trifle that can lay Claim to Religion and so he may seem to be a greater Friend to Zeal A Voluptuary hates Despair and Morosity and is more Sociable and Friendly in Converse Thus as Weeds destroy one another so do many Vices so many Vices occasion something that is Amiable Ambition makes Men Diligent Sober and Vigilant to improve their Opportunities 3. It may be occasioned partly by Discipline and strict Education or else the miseries and Calamities of the present Life for these things thô they do not mortifie Sin yet they may much weaken and hinder the discovery of it Solomon often tells us of the force of Education and that the Rod of Correction gets a great deal of Folly out of the Heart of Children Prov. 22.15 Foolishness is bound in the Heart of a Child but the rod of Correction driveth it far from him And as they grow up in years God takes them into his own Discipline Pharaoh is devout under his Plagues and Ahab under a severe Threatning walks softly God's Correction may work some Commendable Qualities in them 4. By Politick Government and Laws which keep men within the Bounds of their Duty so that they are orderly by constraint and for fear of Penalty which if they should follow their pleasure in sinning they would be exposed to Austin saith Leges humanae munditoria instrumenta sunt He compares Laws to Brooms which thô they cannot make Corn of Weeds or of Chaff yet they serve to sweep in the Corn and keep it within the Floor Laws may make men good Subjects thô not Good men As Seneca tells us the Heathens observed many things they may do many things Non tanquam dijs grata sed tanquam legibus jussa magis ad morem quam ad rem not as pleasing God but as required by the Law not for the thing but for the fashion they may be very harmless put on a Face of Goodness but it is not out of Conscience the Magistrate makes them so who is the Minister of God for good Rom. 13.4 5. Unregenerate men may be translated from the Grammar School of Nature to the University of Grace and thô they never Commence there and took the Degree of true Sanctification yet they may come very near it by Common Grace and may not be far from the Kingdom of God This may be by the Efficacy of the Word
seem the cheapest Matter in the World But whoever is a Christian indeed makes a full and absolute Resignation of himself and all he hath He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me Mark 10.37 He that loveth any thing more than Christ can never hold out in Heaven's way When the Profession of Religion grows cheap and is low God sends some trouble or other to raise the price that those that will go to the cost may be known what they are I. VSE For Reproof unto two sorts 1. Those that are so unwilling to part with a little Portion of their Goods when the Lord hath need of some supply from them for his Servants and their poor fellow Christians They are so far from being Content to part with all for the Glory of God and good of their Brethren that they are backward and will part with nothing for the maintenance of God's Worship and Relief of the Poor it must be drawn and wrung from them as if all were lost Men act as if their Goods were at their own dispose O how dwelleth the Love of God in them 1 Iohn 3.17 Whoso hath this Worlds good and seeth his Brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him 2. It reproveth those that shift and wriggle and Dispute themselves out of their Duty and all to shake off the Cross and avoid suffering whereas they should with a ready mind take it up Gal. 6.12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh they constrain you to be circumcised only least they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ that is they did Judaise to avoid trouble from the Iews Thô they were not guilty of a total Apostacy yet to take off the Edge of the Iews they disputed themselves into such evil complyance It is true to escape suffering by lawful means is Commanded Mat. 10.23 When they persecute you in this City flee ye into another To remove our selves when a Storm comes this is commanded Prov. 22.3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil and bideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished But to do any thing to prejudice the Truth to shift and turn and all to shake off the Cross this is sinful and forbidden 3. It Reproveth those that do with such Impatience suffer the Loss of any outward thing either by God's immediate Providence or by the violence of men for the Profession of the Truth O this should not be but you should cheerfully and willingly yield it up to God Lev. 10.3 And Aaron held his peace Heb. 10.34 Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods 1 Cor. 7.30 We should mourn as if we mourned not In all worldly Losses we are to shew that we expect better things and that our Hearts are not here and that we have such an Esteem for Christ that he is so worthy and so necessary for us that we should be glad to follow him naked II. VSE To press us to be of such a Spirit to be willing to part with all when Christ will have us and when the Sence of our Duty and his Honour requires it of us This seems to be a hard Lesson but to help us to learn it something must be avoided and something considered 1. Something must be Avoided As 1. Love of the World and Addictedness to the Creature We must hang loose to outward things or we shall never be ready to forgoe them for Christ's sake If there be any secret Idol in your Heart God will bring it forth and put it to the Tryal whether you love him or your Idol most Now the World is a great Idol to keep us from God 1 Ioh. 5.3 4 5. This is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not grievous For whosoever is born of God overcometh the World and this is the Victory that overcometh the world even our Faith Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God The connexion between these Verses is thus Whoever will keep the Commandment must overcome the World which is a great Lett thereto therefore we have need of a Heart to look after better things and loosen the Heart from the World which is that Faith that overcometh the World This Precept is hard but it is only to those that are wedded to present things therefore Contempt of the World and of the Possessions and Riches of it is necessary for all that will not make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience and render themselves uncapable of the Duties of their Holy Calling 2. Distrust of God's Alsufficiency and trust in the Means is that which makes this Precept difficult He that durst not trust in God will certainly be unfaithful to him Here is our danger resting in the Means as if there could be no supply but from Creatures 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches There is the great Bane of Men we cannot see how we can be well without Friends Wealth Liberty Favour Preferment and such and such Revenues by the year We would fain be on the surest side and on the gathering hand and that is the Reason it is so hard to forsake all and trust our selves alone with God's Alsufficiency And therefore if you would bring your Heart hereunto you must strengthen Faith in the Providence of God and bring thy Heart to lean upon that and not inferiour Means and trust him upon his Word then it will be easie It is no unreasonable thing that I require of you it is but that which is due to any honest Man especially if you have had tryal of him you will trust him upon his Word even without a Pawn So you should trust God thô you can see nothing but Nakedness and Poverty and all manner of Inconvenience In time past God hath not been wanting to you he hath given you better things and will he deny thee daily Bread 2. Some things are to be considered if you would thus forsake all for the discharge of a good Conscience There is God's Right and our own compleat Resignation when we first took Christ I suppose you have done so or certainly you are not Christians Our Hopes in the World to come Heaven is worth something But I shall pitch only upon two things 1. Others have quitted Wealth upon far meaner lower and more inconsiderable Respects than you are called to do it therefore certainly you should quit it for Conscience of your Duty to God Anacreon restored five Talents to Polycrates because he was so troubled with Cares about keeping of them saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those things were not worth the care laid out about keeping of them Another cast his Wealth into the Sea saying
Dissembling the Pharisees were a dissembling Generation and they are the famous Instances of hardness of Heart in the first Gospel-days Hypocrisy is a constant Lie and every Lie is a Sin against Light When Men take a Religion out of design their Pretences condemn them Men sin and are secured against the Stroke of the Word and Checks of Conscience by their Fame and plausible Appearance Then for formal performing of good Duties Prov. 7.14 I have Peace-Offerings with me this day have I paid my Vows I do this and that I read so many Chapters a day and keep to my Church Men think they have done enough though they have done never so little Hardness of Heart is often occasioned by the Ordinances Now how do Ordinances harden They may harden partly as they irritate Corruption but chiefly as they are trusted in Duties soundly done humble Men as new Wine rendeth and breaketh old Bottles all to pieces But when formal Duties are used as a sleepy Sop to stop the Mouth of Conscience the Heart is insensibly hardned Every Man must have a Religion to lean to Conscience like the Stomach when it hath no solid Food draweth Wind. 5. Pride and Stubbornness against God Men scorn to be controlled Exod. 5.2 And Pharaoh said Who is the Lord that I should obey his Voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Nehem. 9.29 They dealt proudly and hearkned not unto thy Commandments but sinned against thy Iudgments and withdrew the Shoulder and hardned their Neck and would not hear Jer. 13.15 Hear ye and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken Men scorn to submit to Ordinances to be checked by God's Messengers and say What have we to do with them In this Light of Christianity the Contempt is cast upon the Messenger though indeed the Heart riseth against the Authority of God himself One great Cure of hardness of Heart is seriously to meditate on God's Power Deut. 10.16 17. Circumcise therefore the Foreskin of your Heart and be no more stiff-necked For the Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords a great God a mighty and a terrible which regardeth not Persons nor taketh Reward Do you know what God is Will you contend with him You will fail in the Enterprize you cannot be hard-hearted if you would in the Issue of the Combate Pride is the Root of all Sin what is the Reason Men dare sin They think they shall carry it out well enough for all God and so suffer their Lusts to perk above the Commandment 6. The Deceitfulness of Sin Heb. 3.15 Lest any of you be hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin Now how doth Sin deceive us and so harden the Heart 1. By general Invectives We all cry out of Sin and complain of Sin and yet all this while regard it in our Hearts We make Sin a Notion and so defy it in the general when in Particulars we love it all the while as many ignorant People defy the Devil but hold the Crown upon his Head for he is the Ruler of the Darkness of this World The Devil careth not for ill Words so he can keep Possession of the Heart We make Sin the common Pack-horse to bear all our Burdens Men content themselves with empty Declamations or Forms of Satyr and Invective yet the Heart liketh it well enough and so is insensibly hardned they are not serious and particular Men look upon Matters of Religion as abstracted Ideas and Matters of Fancy O take heed of this 2. By delaying Acts 24.25 Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient Season I will call for thee Christian it is but a Deceit take heed thy Heart be not hardened by it What Reason hast thou to presume of that which God can only give If Cesar had read the Letters over-night to prevent the Conspiracy he had been safe What Security have you either of Time or Grace but your own Presumptions And he that is Security to himself is a Fool. It is true all may be redressed by Repentance but this is not in thy Power and thy Hardness by delaying increaseth every Day 3. It cometh lapped up in carnal Baits of Profit and Pleasure to gratify our Lusts and Interests Sin pretends great Advantage but be not deceived it will harden thy Heart and destroy thee it cannot profit thee 4. It hath many Colours wherewith to beguile a Man It presents it self in another Dress than its own and therefore we have need to have our Eyes about us Prov. 28.14 Happy is the Man that feareth always but he that hardneth his Heart shall fall into Mischief Many Sins lie secret unrepented of and so the Heart is hardned 5. It will increase upon thee it groweth to a Custom by Degrees it is of a bewitching Nature and soaketh into a Man insensibly from Thought to Consent then to Action then to Reiteration then to Custom First Men excuse Sin then justify it then glory in it and in time they grow senseless and confirmed in a Habit of Sin and are loth to quit it At first Temptations seemed horrible the first committing of Sin much perplexed the Soul but in time it is not so burdensom yea it is become pleasing and delightful Be not deceived and hardned by saying it is a little one and my Soul shall live unless we take it betimes as Peter went out immediately and wept bitterly it cannot easily be subdued Sampson knew that Dalilah had purposed to betray him into the Philistines Hands and yet he could not leave her Though Sin cost Men temporal and eternal Life yet they cannot give it over 6. That God will be merciful this is another thing whereby we are deceived a Presumption of Impunity Psal. 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept Silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine Eyes So Deut. 29.19 20. And it come to pass when he heareth the Words of this Curse that he bless himself in his Heart saying I shall have Peace though I walk in the Imagination of mine Heart to add Drunkenness to Thirst. Be not deceived mark what follows The Lord will not spare him but then the Anger of the Lord and his Iealousy shall smoak against that Man and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven Take heed of the Deceitfulness of Sin These are the Causes of Hardness of Heart V. The Heinousness of it 1. It is a contending with God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fighting with God The hard Heart is the greatest Enemy God hath on this side Hell That there is a Contest between God and an hard Heart who shall have the better the Instance of Pharaoh sheweth God sendeth a Message to him and meeteth with a Repulse His Message to Pharaoh was
Exod. 5.1 Thus saith the Lord God of Israel Let my People go And this proud Creature hath the Boldness to deny him Ver. 2. And Pharaoh said Who is the Lord that I should obey his Voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go And he standeth it out after many Warnings and foregoing Judgments And he doth not stand alone but hath more Fellows in the World Nehem. 9.29 They dealt proudly and hearkned not to thy Commandments but sinned against thy Iudgments and withdrew the Shoulder and hardned their Neck and would not hear Every Command of God every Offer of Grace is a Message from God To you is the Word of this Salvation sent Acts 13.26 and it should be respected with as much Reverence as if an Angel himself were the Messenger Only here is the Difference God saith to Pharaoh Let my People go To us he saith Let Sin go It is pity he should have the Repulse Sin will be as bad an Inmate to the Soul as the Israelites were a Snare to Egypt they were fain to thrust them out at length and were glad they could be so rid of them I say this is the Contest between God and his Creatures whether Sin shall go or tarry whether Christ shall be accepted or no He sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and he hath sent Prophets Apostles Pastors and Teachers to us Let Idols Images and false Worship go Swearing Sabbath-breaking Adultery Murder Disobedience to Parents Lying Covetousness let it all go there should not be an Hoof left This is God's Message Now if you will try it out you shall see whose Word shall stand God's or yours Jer. 44.28 his Threatnings or your vain and delusive Imaginations If you put it to the Trial you have more Boldness than an Angel Iude 9. Yet Michael the Arch-Angel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a railing Accusation An Angel durst not use one passionate Word and will you dare to set up other Gods to profane the Sabbath to swear lie or be drunk and to say we will not let these things go let God say or do what he will to the contrary The Contest on God's part is managed for a long time in a mild condescending way He beseecheth his own Creature Ier. 13.15 16. Hear ye and give Ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken Give Glory to the Lord your God before he cause Darkness and before your Feet stumble upon the dark Mountains and while ye look for Light he turn it into the Shadow of Death and make it gross Darkness Be not obstinate it is better that you should take down the Stoutness of your Hearts than that I should pull it down Let me have the Glory of this Conquest voluntarily I shall carry it at length You dream of Happiness and Pleasure alas you cannot injoy these vain Delights long Come leave them and I will make you as happy as Heart can wish but if not take that that followeth you will stumble into the Dungeon of Hell and then be as miserable as Almightiness can make you Iob 9.4 He is wise in Heart and mighty in Strength who ever hardned himself against God and prospered You will never get the day of God if you contend with him there is nothing to be expected but Blows You may indeed overcome him but it is not by resisting but stooping a tender Heart overcometh him Jer. 31.20 Is Ephraim my dear Son is be a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have Mercy upon him saith the Lord. And Isa. 57.18 I have seen his Ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore Comforts to him and to his Mourners But a hard Heart is no Match for God it is ever foiled in the Enterprize if they yield not to his Mercy they are consumed by his Wrath. Pharaoh would contend with God but found his Maker too hard for him at last So Iulian the Apostate Ezek. 22.14 Can thy Heart endure or can thy Hands be strong in the Days that I shall deal with thee I the Lord have spoken it and will do it And 1 Cor. 10.22 Do we provoke the Lord to Iealousy are we stronger than he It is a foolish Contest it ever endeth with our Destruction 2. It is in it self the sorest of all Judgments when other means are urged in vain God giveth them up to Hardness of Heart it is one of the Chains of Darkness in which captive Souls are held unto eternal Judgment A stormy Conscience that lieth under the Power of perplexing despairing Fears is not so bad as an hard Heart They are both Chains of Darkness Despair and Obstinacy as in the Devils but in Men Despair may make way for Repentance God hath them in the Briars many are brought to Heaven by the Gates of Hell God hath begun with them but left these Again it will end in Despair the Heart that is not sensible now will then be sensible enough We read of the Worm that never dieth and the Fire that shall never be quenched Mark 9.44 In Hell Men will remember how every Sabbath God did stretch out the Arms of his Mercy to imbrace them and they would not how Christ offered a Plaister of his own Heart's-blood to cure them but they refused it and made light of it how the Holy Ghost put many good Motions into their Hearts but they rejected these Thoughts and would not be interrupted in their Ease and false Peace O the deep Wounds and Stings these Thoughts will occasion when 't is too late 3. It never goeth alone but bringeth other Judgments along with it Pharaoh had Plague upon Plague Zech. 7.12 They made their Hearts as an Adamant Stone lest they should hear the Law and the Words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former Prophets therefore came a great Wrath from the Lord of Hosts more than ordinary Displeasure So Prov. 29.1 He that being often reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without Remedy They shall be destroyed not afflicted only and that without Remedy there shall be none to help And Rom. 2.5 After thy Hardness and impenitent Heart treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the righteous Iudgment of God God will harden his Heart against you shut up his Bowels against you in your greatest Straits when his Patience is quite spent God will retaliate Zech. 7.12 13. They made their Hearts as an Adamant Stone lest they should hear the Law c. Therefore it is come to pass that as he cried and they would not hear so they cried and I would not hear saith the Lord of Hosts There is a time when the stoutest-hearted Sinner who careth least for God shall stand in need of his Help
am I what have I done Yea they slight their Danger take up every vain Pretence and Allegation to maintain their carnal Peace and Quiet Deut. 29.19 And it come to pass when he heareth the Words of this Curse that he bless himself in his Heart saying I shall have Peace though I walk in the Imagination of my Heart to add Drunkenness to Thirst. The Lord will yet spare him c. Broken-hearted Christians are sensible of the Holiness of God and what an hard matter it is to hold Communion with him and observe their own Weakness and Unworthiness and therefore they complain of the Badness of their Hearts that there is no greater bent towards God and are always suspicious of their spiritual Condition 5. Hardness of Heart is most apt to creep upon us in times of Ease and Prosperity Solomon saith Prov. 1.32 The Prosperity of Fools shall destroy them And Rom. 2.4 5. Despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance But after thy Hardness and impenitent Heart treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath. Usually in the times of God's Goodness and Patience Men are besotted with the Pleasures of the Flesh and then lose their Feeling Nothing bringeth a Brawn upon the Heart so much as Sensuality and an inordinate Use of the Creatures it taketh away the Heart and usually in a prosperous Condition Men grow sensual and careless Pharaoh himself when under the Rod could speak as good Words as another but when he was well at Ease then his Hardness returned upon him As Metal in the Furnace is very yeilding and melting capable of any Impression but out of the Furnace it returneth to its wonted Firmness and Consistency The greatest Plague was upon his Heart when he wanted other Plagues Men do well in their Wickedness injoy themselves with Comfort and then fear nothing We see in the brute Creatures when they are in good Plight they grow more fierce so doth Man that aboundeth in Ease and Pleasure his worldly Happiness maketh the Heart gross and sensless We had need to take heed of an hard Heart at all times but especially when we are like to be corrupted with Ease and Pleasure A sensual Heart will be sensless 6. Hardness of Heart is a grievous Sin at all times but then most sinful when most unseasonable for Time is an aggravating Circumstance in all things so in this Now when is it unseasonable In times of Judgment and times of Gospel-Grace 1. In times of Judgment 2 Chron. 28.22 In the time of his Distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord This is that King Ahaz There is a Brand set on him Certainly the Times we live in are extraordinary Times we have seen many Changes and great Effects of God's Anger for Sin we have now many spiritual Judgments upon us Error and Blasphemy great Divisions and Breaches among God's People and Scandals of them that profess the Gospel An hard Heart now is most unsutable it is like a Garland of Rose-buds in a Day of Mourning Clearly upon some the Stroaks of God's Providence have lighted very sore if they shall add Hardness of Heart to their other Plagues who will pity them When all the Corrections of an angry God cannot draw any sensible and serious Thoughts from them how sad is this I tell you Christians it looketh like Hell to continue Sinning under Suffering and to be obstinate against God and the Counsels of his Grace for your Salvation it speaketh much of a spiritual Plague added to temporal Judgments If we did perswade you to a Party only it were more excusable but when we press you to come to Christ and you still remain obstinate and hard-hearted this is sad If the Ministry were only used as a State-Engine to ingage you in such a Faction and Design you might have something to plead for your selves Pardon me for dealing thus freely with you we are Debtors to all Rom. 1.14 Would you be troubled if the Base should rise against the Honourable it were a Judgment certainly but what are you to God Poor base Worms will you contend with your Maker You would complain of it as an heavy Burden and strange Inversion of all States and Conditions if Men of mean and low Fortunes should be at the Top and have Power and Domination over the ancient Gentry and Nobility of the Land Be it so but I would have you to consider in the mean time what an horrible Presumption it is and how God may take it that you stout it out against the Fear of God Alas there is a greater Distance between you and him than between you and your Fellow-Creatures For you to contest it with God! to swagger it and outbrave his Ordinances to contend with his Spirit how may God complain of this if it be so grievous to you to be outbraved by your Fellow-Creatures 2. Times of Light and great Gospel-Grace An hard Heart in Gospel-Days is the very Reproach of Ordinances Many think the Ministry and Ordinances useless things why because there is so little Success You make them useless and then there will not want those that decry them apace 2 Cor. 6.1 2. We then as Workers together with him beseech you also that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain for he saith I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the Day of Salvation have I succour'd thee Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the Day of Salvation An heard Heart should be a thing now quite out of Fashion In a time of Ignorance or a time of Restraint of Preaching when Visions are not open or under a dead sleepy Ministry God might dispense with what he will not under a clear Discovery of his Will But now when the Doctrine of the Gospel is so clearly opened and Christ so freely tendred now to be estranged from the Fear of God is as unsutable as if we should revert to the Fashions of Barbarism or those kind of Clothes or Dresses which our Ancestors wore before they were reduced to this Pitch of Civility whereunto we are now arrived You would laugh at Garments of an antique Fashion and if the Gallants of the Age should put on the Dress of Adam or be clothed with Skins newly taken from the Beasts offered in Sacrifice A blind Mind and a sottish obstinate Heart is more uncomely in the Eye of God Will you be Strangers in Israel and lose the Blessings of the times by refusing the stricter ways of God 7. Hardness of Heart groweth and increaseth on us more and more if we let it alone Zech. 7.11.12 But they refused to hearken and pulled away the Shoulder and sâ—opped their Ears that they should not hear Yea they made their Hearts as an Adamant Stone lest they should hear the Law and the Words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the
will fret and soak in more and more 4. Use frequent Recollection and communing with your Hearts Man hath Reason and can talk with himself God that cannot err surveyed every Day 's Work and found it good Cast up your Account at the foot of every Page he that runneth in Debt and never casteth up his Accounts will sink at last A Man is insensibly hardned for want of searching and ransacking his Conscience there is no serious Repentance with it Lam. 3.40 Let us search and try our Ways and turn again to the Lord. God will search you if you leave the Work to him 5. Improve Afflictions It is a Means God hath appointed to shake us out of our Security We are apt to be lulled asleep with the Delights and Pleasures of Sin till we feel the sharp Rod of Afflictions 2 Chron. 28.22 And in the time of his Distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord This is that King Ahaz They are Monsters of Nature and hopeless Wretches that are not reclaimed by Afflictions God sets a Brand on Ahaz like a dogged Servant that will not stir beat him never so much Unprofitableness under the Rod is an ill Presage In Hell Sinners are always suffering and always sinning 6. Beware of those things which are both Steps unto and Causes of hardness of Heart for one Degree is the cause of another as when Sin is committed without Remorse and swallowed without Grief 7. Beware of extenuating Sin of having less Thoughts of it and being less troubled about it At first it seemed a horrible thing a Burden too heavy for us but afterwards it grows less light and the Heart more insensible and Sin more delightful The Burden of Sin encreaseth in the Children of God as Light and Acquaintance with God increaseth that which they made nothing of at first groweth very heavy 8. Keep Grace in a constant Exercise Let the Fire be kept always in that came down from Heaven 2 Tim. 1.6 VVherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the Gift of God that is in thee 9. Frequent the Society of God's People Want of care of our Company is a great Fault for Company hardneth in Sin or humbleth The very Example of God's People will be a great help to you how tender they are how watchful what meltings of Heart they have in Prayer how they make conscience of the least Sin how they complain of themselves O what a hard Heart have I Coals lying together keep Fire This is a means to keep us tender Heb. 3.13 But exhort one another daily while it is called To Day lest any of you be hardned through the Deceitfulness of Sin SERMONS UPON EXODVS IV. 21 SERMON I. EXOD. IV. 21 I will harden his Heart that he shall not let my People go I Have spoken of hardness of Heart as it is proper to Man I shall now speak of that Judicial Hardness which is inflicted by God a notable Instance whereof we have in Pharaoh that was raised up that God might in him make his Power known that is he was born into the World and advanced to Royal Dignity that the World may know what God can do against an obstinate contradicting Creature And accordingly it is applied by the Apostle Rom. 9.17 For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh Even for this same Purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my Power in thee and that my Name might be declared throughout all the Earth Therefore it is an Instance worth the viewing In this place God acquainteth Moses of it aforehand to fortify him against all Discouragements he was to deal with an obstinate Creature but it was that which God had fore-seen and fore-decreed I will harden his Heart that he shall not let my People go The Point or Head of Doctrine is God's hardning of Sinners You may take it in the form of a Proposition for the help of the weakest Doct. God himself hath an Hand in the hardning of obstinate Sinners About fourteen times is the Hardness of Pharaoh's Heart spoken of and thrice it is said he hardned his own Heart Exod. 8.15 When Pharaoh saw that there was respite he hardned his Heart and hearkned not unto them as the Lord had said So ver 32. And Pharaoh hardned his Heart at that time also neither would he let the People go And again chap. 9.34 And when Pharaoh saw that the Rain and the Hail and the Thunders were ceased he sinned yet more and hardned his Heart he and all his Servants In all the other places it is ascribed to God himself Man hardneth and then God hardneth When God blindeth a Man he first closeth his own Eyes and when God hardneth a Man he first contracteth a Brawn and Stiffness upon his own Heart Pharaoh in hardning himself is charged with two things slighting of the Judgment chap. 7.23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his House neither did he set his Heart to this also And contempt of the Threatning chap. 8.15 He hardned his Heart and hearkned not unto them as the Lord had said And the very same thing also is said to be of God chap. 7.13 He hardned Pharaoh 's Heart that he hearkned not unto them as the Lord had said For the clearing of this I shall I. Give you some Observations from the Story II. Shew you how God hardneth III. The Causes of it I. I shall give you some general Observations from the Story for in the Story of Pharaoh we have the exact Platform of an hard Heart 1. Between the hard Heart and God there is an actual Contest who shall have the better The Parties contesting are God and Pharaoh See the first Sermon on Mark 3.5 pag. 506. 2. The Sin that hardned Pharaoh and put him upon this Contest was Covetousness and Interest of State Iacob's seventy Souls that he brought down to Egypt were grown to six hundred thousand fighting Men besides Children and to â—et such a Company of Men go whom they used as Slaves besides the Prey of their Herds and Flocks seemed hard to Pharaoh Which is not only an Item to Magistrates to retain nothing which God hateth out of Interest and Reason of State but also to private Christians Whatever of Gain and Advantage we may fancy in Sin it will at length prove a certain Loss If God send a Message for our right Eye we must pluck it out or for our right Hand we must cut it off It is dangerous to deny God any thing If he demand Israel and all the Flocks and Herds let them go the sweetest Interests the dearest Pleasures the most gainful Imployments if they are unlawful let them go There is an usual Contest between Interest and Duty between Pleasure and Obedience between Profit and the Command but it is better our own Faith should give the Command the Victory than God's Power 1 Joh. 5.4 This is the Victory that overcomes the World even our Faith He had before spoken of keeping
hath to do with a hard Heart he will not steal out of the Field but go away with Honour and Triumph This was to be a publick Instance and for Intimation to the World 1 Sam. 6.6 Wherefore then do ye harden your Hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardned their Hearts when he had wrought wonderfully among them did they not let the People go and they departed The Philistines took warning by it and it will be our Condemnation if we do not 7. In all these Plagues I observe that Pharaoh now and then had his devout Pangs In an hard Heart there may be some Relentings but no true Repentance We have him confessing Exod. 9.27 I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous and I and my People are wicked And chap. 10.16 17. I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you Now therefore forgive I pray thee my Sin only this once and intreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this Death only So chap. 12.32 Be gone and bless me also Hardned Sinners may have their Gripes and sensible Touches and so some faint Purposes of Reformation But that which was defective and sheweth it was not true Repentance was 1. Because it was only extorted by present Horror Job 27.10 Will he always call upon God A Still will send forth Water as well as a Fountain but it is by Drops and by Force Prov. 5.11 12 13. And thou mourn at last when thy Flesh and thy Body are consumed and say How have I hated Instruction and my Heart despised Reproof and have not obeyed the Voice of my Teachers nor inclined mine Ear to them that instructed me The Leacher hath his penitent Moods A Malefactor on the Rack will confess freely Vows of Men are very frequent O that Men would be such when they are well as they promised to be when they were sick 2. Because the Aim of all was Ease and Safety Pharaoh's Cry is not Take away Iniquity but Take away this Plague Offers of Nature after Ease are found in Hypocrites Esau sought the Privileges of the Birth-right with Tears quia perdiderat non quia vendiderat not because he sold it but because he had lost it Nature may be sensible of present Evil. 3. Because it was vanishing The good Motions of an hard Heart are of no long continuance they pass through and are gone like a Flash of Lightning Pharaoh his Remorse for the Frogs and Grashoppers was as a Cloud soon blown over Till there be sound Repentance Remorse must needs be short for it is an unpleasing Penance Water heated is the colder afterwards because it is rarified after it hath thawed a little it will freeze the harder Pharaoh after every Respite was hardned anew it is the Temper of those that are doomed to Destruction 4. Because his Purposes came so short and lame of what God expected An hard Heart when it cannot prevail against God would fain compound with him First he gave leave Exod. 8.25 Go ye sacrifice to God in the Land Then ver 28. I will let ye go that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the Wilderness only ye shall not go very far away Then chap. 10.11 Go now ye that are Men and serve the Lord. Their Children were to remain for Hostages Then ver 24. Go ye serve the Lord only let your Flocks and your Herds be stayed let your little ones also go with you Their Cattle were to remain for a Pawn and their Flocks and their Herds for a Forfeiture if they returned not and a Recompence for the Damage of Egypt But God would not abate him a Hoof. An hard Heart yieldeth to God by halves Pharaoh hucketh with him first they might sacrifice in the Land then go a little way three Days Journey then he would keep their Children then their Flocks and Herds An hard Heart never yieldeth to God his whole Demand the Devil is loth to let go his hold How do Men huck with God in Duties contrary to their Affections or prejudicial to their Interests 2 Kings 5.18 In this thing the Lord pardon thy Servant that when my Master goeth into the House of Rimmon to worship there and he leaneth on my Hand and I bow my self in the House of Rimmon when I bow my self in the House of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy Servant in this thing They have their Reservations and in this and that thing they will be excused These are but deceitful Pangs Pharaoh doth often eat his Words and retract every Grant 8. In process of Time his Hardness is improved into Rage and downright Malice Exod. 10.28 Get thee from me take heed to thy self see my Face no more for in the Day thou seest my Face thou shalt die Vessels when they come to the Lees they grow sowre and tart so Pharaoh began to run Dregs Or as Beasts by long baiting grow mad and furious so it was with Pharaoh Men first slight the Truth and then are hardned against it and then come to persecute it A River when it hath been long kept up swelleth and beareth down the Bank and Rampire so do wicked Men rage when their Consciences cannot withstand the Light and their Hearts will not yield to it 9. At length Pharaoh is willing to let them go After much ado God may get something from a hard Heart but it is no sooner given but retracted like Fire struck out of a Flint it is hardly got and quickly gone Hosea 6.4 Your Goodness is as a Morning Cloud and as the early Dew it goeth away Many may have some shew of Goodness at least at some times who yet are little the better and their Condition nothing the better it proveth a great Snare and Neckâ—break to them its Unfoundness is presently seen in its Unconstancy 10. The last News that we hear of hardning Pharaoh's Heart was a little before his Destruction Exod. 14.8 And the Lord hardned the Heart of Pharaoh King of Egypt and he pursued after the Children of Israel Pharaoh begrudgeth his own Grant as if he had yielded too far Hardness of Heart will not leave us till it hath wrought our full and final Destruction God always besotteth when he meaneth to destroy Never any were hardned but to their own Ruine As God that loveth his own loveth them to the end so God that hateth those that are hardned hateth them to the end Pharaoh is first plagued and then destroyed This is the upshot of all Iob 9.4 Who hath hardned himself against him and prospered The Beginning is Imposture and Delusion the Middle Obstinacy and the End Ruine II. How God hardneth It is a Point that needeth Explication God is not and cannot be the Author of Sin if God should cause it Man should sin of necessity and then his Punishment would not be just he being under Force God hath not brought upon any a necessity of sinning and God that is Good cannot be the cause of Evil
Thou shalt perswade him and prevail also go forth and do so There is a permissive Intention not an effective Satan is the Efficient and Instrument God is the Judg he permitteth Satan to excite and stir up their evil Natures they grieve his Spirit and then God withdraweth and leaveth them to an evil Spirit as in Saul 1 Sam. 16.14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him The Light of the Spirit of the Lord is gone and then Satan filled him with Rage and Fury and Cruelty It is said an evil Spirit from the Lord because he was sent from God to punish him for his Sins 3. There is an active Providence which disposeth and propoundeth such Objects as meeting with a wicked Heart maketh it more hard God maketh the best things the Wicked enjoy to turn to the Fall and Destruction of those that have them Sometimes natural Comforts Ier. 6.21 Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold I will lay Stumbling-blocks before this People and the Fathers and the Sons together shall fall upon them the Neighbour and his Friend shall perish Their Table is made a Snare and an Occasion and Preparation and Means to ruine them They harden themselves by despising the Goodness and Patience of God Rom. 2.4 Or despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance Sometimes Corrections and Chastisements these produce nothing but a greater Contumacy as a resty Horse the more he is spurred forward the more he goeth backward or as a fierce Bull or Bear groweth mad with baiting In what a sad case are wicked Men left by God Mercies corrupt them and Corrections inrage them as unsavoury Herbs the more they are pounded the more they stink Sometimes by spiritual Ordinances and Advantages the most spiritual Means do them no good Isa. 6.10 Make the Heart of this People fat and make their Ears heavy and shut their Eyes lest they see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and convert and be healed He that bringeth in the Light blindeth the Owl Water poured on Lime maketh it burn the more so do the Means of Grace hurt wicked Men irritating their Corruptions or they resting in them Sometimes by withdrawing the Word and Means of Grace and Prayers of his People Acts 19.9 When divers were hardned and believed not but spake evil of that Way before the Multitude he departed from them Jer. 7.16 Pray not thou for this People neither lift up Cry nor Prayer for them neither make Intercession to me for I will not hear thee Do not any longer strive between me and them Sometimes by disposing and ordering the Deceits of false Teachers 2 Thess. 2.10 11. They received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved And for this cause God gave them up to strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie Job 12.16 The Deceived and the Deceiver are his This doth not fall out without a Providence The Water runneth its own Course but the Miller maketh use of it to drive his Engine As all things work together for good to them that love God so all things work for the worst to the Wicked and Impenitent Providences and Ordinances we read of them that wrest the Scriptures to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 Some are condemned to worldly Happiness by Ease and abundance of Prosperity they are intangled Prov. 1.32 The Prosperity of Fools shall destroy them As brute Creatures when in good plight grow fierce and Man-keen If we will find the Sin God will find the Occasion I shall instance in Iudas Christ had reproved him for begrudging Mary's Bounty and ye read Mark 26.16 From that time he sought opportunity to betray him He was offended with Christ's Reproof Iudas was hurried on with Wrath and Avarice and when Men are resolved God in his Providence suffereth them to have a fit Opportunity The Priests alarmed with the Miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead by which many were drawn to believe in him were thinking how to seize on him and Iudas comes in the nick and asketh them What will ye give me and I will betray him to you Vse Let us take warning by Pharaoh's Example that this great Judgment light not upon us The Philistines that were otherwise a blind and stupid People yet were affected with it Dagon was broken in pieces and they were smitten with Emrods once and again and they begin to consult what to do their Diviners told them 1 Sam. 6.6 Wherefore do ye harden your Hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardned their Hearts when he had wrought wonderfully among them did they not let the People go and they departed God delighteth not in Judgment and therefore he hath made a Precedent once for all here is Pharaoh set up that all succeeding Ages may stand in fear God would not have us learn to our bitter Cost but take Example by others Qui alieno malo non sapit graviùs punitur He that will not take warning by others shall be more grievously punished In Judgments it is better to take Example than to become Examples If thy Life should be nothing else but Pharaoh's Story acted over again for certainly there is an exact Parallel between this Case and the Course of every obstinate Sinner how great will thy Doom be God was angry with Belshazzar because he was not warned by Nebuchadnezzar's Example Dan. 5.22 And thou his Son O Belshazzar hast not humbled thine Heart though thou knewest all this You have known and heard of the Way of God with Pharaoh God hath a Quarrel with some of you for your Lusts and Vanities Do you think to bear it up against Warnings with Peace and Quiet Your Lusts may not bring you to present Ruine that you may be the more hardned in them but be sure that God will have the best at last and then I leave you to judg what will be your Condition when you fall under the weight of his Displeasure Have you not some Qualms of Conscience sometimes about your eternal Condition Doth not Conscience say Surely I am not so careful to make my Peace with God as I should be Upon every such stirring you are the more estranged from God if you do not improve it Conscience will repeat over these Warnings to you when you lie upon your Death-beds and then you will sadly howl over your Neglects and wish your Magicians and old Companions far from you then you will send for Moses and Aaron and it may be too late When God is shewing Mercy the last Mercies are the best and the further he goeth the sweeter he is and when God is punishing the last Punishments are the sorest and the further he goeth the more bitter I will propound two Considerations 1 st From the Evil of an hard Heart 1. It is a Contest with God not only with his Greatness and
Power but also with his Goodness and Mercy and therefore it must needs succeed ill with us Before God breaketh out with Fury he treateth with us in a mild condescending way he beseecheth his own Creature Jer. 13.15 16. Hear ye and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken give Glory to God before he cause Darkness and before your Feet stumble upon the dark Mountains and while ye look for Light he turn it into the Shadow of Death and make it gross Darkness 2. An hard Heart makes us Rebels to God and Slaves to every thing else for we are wedded to some inferiour thing we are our own Pharaohs and will not let our selves go 2 Tim. 3.4 Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God 3. It is in it self the sorest of all Judgments 4. It never goes alone but brings other Judgments along with it 5. It is the great hindrance of the Spiritual Life See Sermon on Mark 3.5 pag. 505 506 507. 2 dly From the Parties whom it may befal not only the open Wicked but in some measure God's own Children for God may harden two ways as a Judg and as a Father by way of Punishment and by way of Correction By way of Punishment again two ways totally and finally Some are totally hardned and have nothing of a soft Heart in them and yet not finally the dreadful Sentence of Obduration is not yet past upon them as it may be upon others and that during Life when God leaveth them to their own Hearts Counsels without any Check or Restraint of Providence or Purpose to reclaim them These three Kinds I must then speak of God's hardning the Wicked in general his final hardning and his hardning in part his own Children SERMON II. EXOD. IV. 21 I will harden his Heart that he shall not let my People go First OF God's hardning wicked Men in general as a Judg. The Causes of it are 1. Ignorance for Light and Love make the Heart tender Light is that which we are now to take notice of Light begets Tenderness as it discerneth Sin and maketh us sensible of it especially the lively Light of the Spirit Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died Sense of Guilt and Punishment soon flashed in his Face as in a Dungeon the Worms crawl as soon as Light is brought in Jer. 31.19 After I was instructed I smote upon my Thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the Reproach of my Youth Instruction breedeth Remorse and awakneth Men out of their stupid Security but while Men continue in their Ignorance they are stupid and sensless Now thus Men may be for a long time and yet afterwards God may make the Scales fall 〈◊〉 from their Eyes and open their Eyes and turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Acts 26.18 However affected and vincible Ignorance when Men are willingly ignorant and err in their Hearts that is when Men have powerful and enlightning Motives and yet remain ignorant this is very dangerous And for the present that Ignorance is one cause of their hardning is evident because the worst usually when they come to die are sensible their Mind is then cleared from the Fogs and Steams of Lust and Conscience being awakned they then feel their Load and a great weight of Sin lying upon them and most wish they had lived in a more strict and ready Obedience to God's Will 2. Unbelief There is an Hardness of the Heart against the Light and Offers of the Gospel when Christ is tendred but not received and the cause of that is Ignorance affected Ignorance and there is an hardning of the Heart against the Truth once received out of love of their temporal Peace Liberty and Safety of Life and Estate this cometh from Unbelief and want of a sufficient sense and sight of the World to come Which Hardness is caused by the Veaglement and Importunities of the Flesh craving its Satisfactions in the present World and denying or disbelieving the Blessedness to come If Men did believe Heaven and Hell they would be more pliable to God's Motions and more deaf to the Importunities of the Flesh but that this is a cause of hardning appeareth by Christ's chiding his Disciples for their Unbelief and hardness of Heart Mark 16.14 Afterward he appeared unto the Eleven as they sat at Meat and upbraided them with their Vnbelief and hardness of Heart because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen 3. Sinning against Light either by way of Omission or Commission This provoketh God to give us over to more hardness of Heart By way of Commission is easily granted but it is also by way of Omission Iames 4.17 To him that knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him it is Sin They will find it to be Sin in the sad Effects of it See Sermon on Mark 3.5 pag. 508. 4. Custom in Sinning See on Mark 3.5 pag. 504. 5. Small Sins may occasion this Judgment and harden the Heart as well as great Sins It is not easy to say which doth most indeed great Sins get into the Throne presently but small Sins insensibly and by degrees Psal. 19.13 Keep back thy Servant also from presumptuous Sins let them not have Dominion over me A small Sin may get the upper hand of a Sinner and bring him under in time and after that it is habituated by constant Custom so that he cannot easily shake off the Yoke and redeem himself from the Tyranny thereof as if a Man be addicted to any Vanity and foolish Delight These do not exercise Dominion over the inslaved Soul till they have gotten Strength by many and multiplied Acts. But presumptuous Sins by one single Act weaken the Spirit and give a mighty Advantage to the Flesh even almost to a compleat Conquest So that for the present little Sins do not harden the Heart so much as greater See Sermon on Mark 3.5 pag. 508. Now all these Causes concur to the hardning of the Heart and making it as a Stone but yet out of these Stones God can raise up Children to Abraham Secondly Of God's final hardning when God leaveth Men to perish and will no more treat with them Now here I shall shew 1 st That there is such a Dispensation 2 dly The Causes of it 1 st That there is such a Dispensation 1. It is an usual Dispensation for God to leave Men to perish in their Sins and that irreversibly even before Death and will be intreated no more for them It appears by many places of Scripture Rev. 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he which is filthy let him be filthy still Those which remain obstinate after many Warnings and Calls it is usual with God to give them over to their Lusts that they may be ripe for Hell Ezek. 3.27 He that heâ—â—eth let him hear and
one Be zealous to reduce them from their errours Let there be a hatred of Popery and a Pity to Papists a hatred of Abomination but not a hatred of Enmity Prov. 29.27 An unjust man is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the Wicked A Sermon Preached November 5. 1676. Micah 6.5 O my People remember now what Balak King of Moab consulted and what Balaam the Son of Beor Answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal that ye may know the Righteousness of the Lord. THese words are a part of God's Plea against Israel for their ingratitude in departing from their obedience to him Their backsliding had raised an Evil report upon God as if he were harsh and severe and had not dealt well with them Therefore God justifieth his Providence what injury had he done to them wherein had he wearied them What had they to lay to his charge verse 3. Oh my People what have I done to thee and wherein have I wearied thee Testifie against me The matter concerneth us for the General Sin of this Nation is that we are grown weary of God but we have as little reason as they had injuries he had done none to them but on the contrary vouchsafed many rare and singular favours He instanceth first in his redeeming them from Egypt where they were dealt with as Slaves and Bond-men vers 4. For I brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the House of Servants Surely a deliverance from Spiritual or Temporal Bondage should be an Eternal bond upon us to be for God The Second instance is his Conduct of them in the Wilderness under Moses and Aaron vers 4. And I sent before thee Moses Aaron and Miriam When God giveth a People such Governors both in Church and State who do not only adhere to true Religion but countenance it in others yea set their whole heart to propagate it it is a great mercy not to be forgotten The Third Instance is that in the Text his bringing them into Canaan notwithstanding the designs to root them out by the way O my People remember now what Balak King of Moab consulted c. In which words 1. Observe the matter what is recomended to their remembrance in two things First The Plot betwixt Balak and Balaam Secondly The many good things that fell out between Shittim and Gilgal 2. The End why it is recommended to their remembrance that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. First For the Matter First The plot between Balak and Balaam 1. What Balak consulted how to ruine Israel and bereave them of God's favour and protection Therefore he sent for Balaam to curse them hoping that by this Wizards Inchantments and Predictions the matter would be easie 2. What Balaam Answered 1. Somewhat by way of Prophesie 2. Somewhat by way of Counsel 1. By way of Prophesie he found that to curse Israel was a fruitless endeavour and God over ruled his Tongue to bless them 2. By way of Counsel he perswaded Balak to feast them to induce them to Idolatry and Fornication 2. The Second part of the matter which is commended to their remembrance is what happened between Shittim and Gilgal Shittim was the place where they went astray after Baal-Paeor Numb 25.1 And the place where they did abide until after Moses his Death And from whence Ioshua removed them to Iordan where they passed over to Gilgal and there the Lord renewed his Covenant with them by Circumcision Iosh. 5.2 Therefore the Lord willeth his People here to remember the things that befel them from Skittim to Gilgal What these things were may be seen by the History following 1. Though many warped and committed such hainous whoredoms with Baal-Paeor the State and Body of the Church was still preserved 2. That God led them on dry foot through Iordan and at length brought them into Canaan the Land of promise And 3. there anew confirmeth his Covenant with them And 4. the slaying of Balaam their pernitious enemy in the intervail between their going from Shittim to Gilgal Numb 31.8 Balaam also the Son of Beor they slew with the Sword Secondly The end That ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. It implyeth here both his Mercy and his Fidelity His Mercy which strove with their wickedness and overcame their evil with his goodness His faithfulness in keeping his Covenant and his Promises for though some of the People did Perish for that they fell into this wickedness with Baal-Poeor yet those that cleaved to the Lord remained alive This was just as they were entring into the promised Land Doct. That old Mercies especially National Mercies should not be forgotten that we may know God's uprightness in keeping his Covenant and Gracious Promises 1. I shall give you an account of this Instance of mercy which the Text offereth 2. What observations may be thence deduced 3. Why such kind of mercies should not be forgotten First To give an account of this Instance of Mercy in the Text 1. What Balak consulted Let us state his design for this Plot that he laid was most dangerous and wicked and the most likely to obtain his desire For if he could have obtained from God a Curse upon Israel he might soon have vanquished them There are many ways which the Devils Instruments take to mischief Religion Sometimes by fomenting and promoting divisions among themselves that they may first ruine one another and then become a Prey to their common Adversaries Gal 5.15 If ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another It beginneth in calumniating and defaming one another And then within a while it breaks out into open fewds and that breedeth mischief and persecution The Devil hath an hand in all this And many times his instruments as Sanballat and Tobiah set up a party among the Iews to weaken their hands in the work Nehem. 6. Sometimes by sowing divisions between them and their rulers The Devil knoweth what an advantage it is to Religion to have the countenance of Princes and on the other side how jealous they are of their Authority and Prerogatives Therefore by his instruments he seeketh to prejudice and prepossess them against those that profess Religion in strictness and Power Thus Amaziah the Priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam the King of Israel saying Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel and the Land is not able to bear all his words Amos 7.10 As if he had inticed the People from their Duty and made them enemies to his Authority And this by clancular insinuation when Amos was neither called nor heard So Saul against David 1 Sam. 24.9 Wherefore hearest thou Mens words saying Behold David seeketh thy hurt So Haman against the Iews Esther 3.8 There is a People scattered abroad and dispersed among the People in all the Provinces of thy Kingdom and their Laws are
should be broken off Alas whosoever readeth the carriage of this people in the Wilderness towards God he shall still find Grace striving with sin and the goodness of God overcoming the evil of Man and his fidelity prevailing above their unthankfulness and unfaithfulness And the character of this people in the Wilderness is just our own in travelling to Heaven how often do we forfeit the blessing of God's presence but he is not severe upon every failing and upon repentance he is willing to renew covenant with us and set us in joint again nothing hurteth us more than the sinful provocations of God's people have no hand in them or if you have been accessory to publick guilt bemoan it and humble your selves before God and be more awful and tender for the future and you will find God to be a merciful God III. Why such kind of Mercies should not be forgotten Here I will prove First That Man is apt to forget the great mercies of God especially national Mercies Secondly That yet these Mercies should not be forgotten both because of God's command and the profit of remembring them First That Man is marvellous apt to forget these benefits Therefore there are so many cautions that we forget them not In private mercies Psal. 103.2 Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Deut. 8.11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day and verse 14. That thy heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt from the House of Bondage So we have many Precepts Deut. 8.2 Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years 1 Chron. 16.12 Remember his marvellous works which he hath done his wonders and the judgments of his Mouth And so many charges and complaints Jud. 8.34 The Children of Israel remembred not the Lord their God who had delivered them out of the hands of their Enemies on every side Psal. 78.11 they forgot his works and his wonders that he had shewed them and Psal. 106.13 They soon forgot his works And all this is no more than needeth for Man's memory is a bad friend to benefits Injuries are written in Marble but benefits in the Water Now as these cautions charges and accusations do respect all Mercies so especially more eminent Mercies for it is said He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred Psal. 111.4 The great miraculous works of his Providence should make such impression upon Men as never to be forgotten but recorded and reported for ever As for great deliverances God hath appointed Ordinances for a memorial such as the Passover or the Lord's Supper to remember our Redemption by Christ for by these works God maketh himself a name by doing great things for his people 2 Sam. 7.23 Redemption from the tyranny of Antichrist is not to be forgotten 2. That yet these mercies should not be forgotten partly because God hath commanded the contrary as we have seen It is not only a sin to forget his Word but his Works and partly also because of the profit 1. That we may be more deeply possessed of the goodness of God The Ear doth not affect the Heart so much as the Eye and what is felt leaveth a greater impression upon us than what is talked of for experience giveth us a more intimate perception of things The King of Syria said We have heard that the Kings of the House of Israel are merciful Kings 1 Kings 20.31 A rumour and report giveth incouragement but actual experience silenceth all contradiction when I can say I know God is not unmindful of his people but relieveth them in their great streights and watcheth over their welfare As the Apostle Acts. 10.34 Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons Psal. 140.12 I know that the Lord will maintain the right of the poor and the cause of the afflicted Unquestionably God will undertake the patronage of his distressed Servants when all other hopes fail them meaning when God did signally defend them and watch over them 2. To incourage us to walk in his ways It is our forgetfulness of God's goodness that maketh us so disobedient and unthankful to him Psal. 78.7 That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments Nothing breedeth a careful uniform obedience to his commands so much as a grateful remembrance of his Mercies Alass as our thankfulness is abated so is our obedience God's authority sways the Conscience but God's love inclines the Heart Therefore mercies should be remembred 3. To fortifie us against all oppositions and temptations Deut. 7.18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt It is a great comfort to Faith to look back upon the former manifestations of God's power and good will towards his People We have manifold fears and infirmities upon us when we see the power or suspect the craft of our Enemies but let us remember former experiences and that will be an allay to them When we see the continuance of his judgments so many years and in so many forms frequently varied but still lying upon us we are filled with many sad thoughts and reasonings of unbelief but we may soon suppress and silence them by the thoughts of God's power and love heretofore and the evidences of his love and good will and fidelity to all that depend upon him Former dealings raise our hearts to the expectation of future mercies Vse is to press us to this remembrance 1. Of the great Christian Mercies that concern the whole common-wealth of Believers such as the Birth Death Resurrection and Ascension and Intercession of the Lord Jesus these are the standing Dishes at a Believer's Table the constant food for our Faith Mercies never out of season these are mercies so general and beneficial that they should never be forgotten but remembred before God we should always bless God for Jesus Christ and desire that the knowledge of these things may be perpetuated to after Ages Eph. 3.21 Vnto him be glory in the Church by Iesus Christ throughout all Ages World without end Amen 2. For National Mercies so far as they concern either the first planting or the restoring of Christs Religion or the maintenance of it against the eminent open attempts or secret plots of Antichristian Adversaries These should be remembred by us partly to awaken our zeal that religion thus owned may not die upon our hands partly to shew our esteem both of the Religion and the mercy of God in owning it partly that we may beg the continuance of it for every thanksgiving is an implicite prayer partly that we may embolden our selves against all the difficulties we may be exposed unto in owning the true profession
another World they would sooner discern their mistake How miserably will you bewail your selves when you have lost Eternity for poor Temporal things What comfort will it be to you that you have been Merry lived in Pomp and Ease It is better to believe than try To prevent the misery than experiment it Now for means to help you Vse I. Frequent Recollection For thereby you come to your selves Luke 15.17 And when he came to himself he said How many Hired Servants of my Fathers have Bread enough and to spare and I perish with Hunger Many are so busie about their vanities that they cannot find that they are Men or think what business they have to do in the World nor where they must dwell for ever Self-communing would be an hopeful means to undeceive them Isa. 46.8 Remember this and shew your selves Men bring it again to mind O ye transgressors And elsewhere the Prophet sheweth what reasonings we should use with our selves Isa. 55.2 Surely this would be one means to wean you from Carnal Vanities and to deaden the Gust and Tast of them to your Souls most men debase their reason to the service of their Appetites and Lusts their pleasure and business is the pleasing and gratifying of the Flesh Rom. 13.14 All their care is to Eat well and Drink well to be well Fed and well Clad and to make a fair shew in the Flesh and live in Worldly Pomp All their business is to gather in provision for the satisfying of their present Lusts they spend their days and cares for nothing else which is that living after the Flesh Rom. 8.13 That sowing to the Flesh Gal. 5.8 which the Scripture condemneth And what is the reason of all this Because they are inconsiderate Never consider whence am I whither am I a going What shall become of me to all Eternity Psal. 119.59 I thought on my ways and turned my Feet unto thy Testimonies They are like Children hunting after Butter-flies and when they have them their gawdy Wings melt away in their Hands and there remaineth nothing but an ugly Worm The Worm of Conscience the Worm of Disappointment Oh recollect thy self is this to make Eternal things our scope 2. Let us often compare together the condition of the present and of the future Life All things that are liable to the view of Sense soon pass away whether Comforts or Crosses The Good and Evil of the present World are soon over accordingly should be our carriage towards them 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. Now consider how unreasonable it is the Soul should be drawn away by Transitory things from those which are Eternal The things we doat upon are not worthy to be compared with the greatness and duration of those things to which we are invited by the Promises of the Gospel It may be you have Health and Strength and Wealth now but how long will you have it We are not sure of the enjoyment of these things the next day How soon may they be withered The prosperity of the wicked is cut down as Grass withered as the Green Herb Psal. 37.2 But things unseen will be yours to all Eternity God is an everlasting Portion Psal. 73.26 My Flesh and my Heart faileth But God is the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever Christ's Redemption is an everlasting redemption Heb. 9.12 He entred in once into the Holy place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us God and Christ will be yours to day and will be yours to all Eternity Those things which are seen if they do not perish may be taken from you Mat. 6.19.20 We are not sure to get it but you are sure to leave it Iob 1.21 But these other things cannot be taken from you Luke 10.42 One thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her The Devil cannot and God will not take it from you 3. Improve your experience of the vanity of this World Psal. 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandments are exceeding broad Vain light Hearts pass over these things and get no profit by them They find the Creature vanity and vexation of Spirit yet run out as greedily after it as they did before Psal. 49.13 This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings They are sensible of the folly of their Ancestors but are not mended by it they have Eyes to see but not an Heart to see Deut. 29.2 3 4. Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your Eyes in the Land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and to all his Servants and to all his Land The great Temptations which thine Eyes have seen the Signs and those great Miracles yet the Lord hath not given you an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to Hear unto this day 4. Be sure when you are tempted to revive this meditation upon your Hearts That things seen are Temporal and things unseen are Eternal As 1. When any Temptation cometh to draw your Hearts to give contentment to the Flesh for a season As for Instance when you are tempted to please your Eye your Taste your Sensual Desire or to wrong your Souls for Wealth and Honour remember these are not Eternal Pleasures Riches Honours And shall I dare run the hazard of wronging God or my Soul for a little present satisfaction Leave my fatness and sweetness to rule over the Trees What! hazard Eternal things for Temporal trifles 2. When tempted by the bitterness of the Cross to relent in Gods Cause Say as Basil's Forty Martyrs that were kept naked in the open Air in a cold Night to be burn'd next day Sharp is the cold but sweet is Paradice Troublesome is the Way but pleasant is the end of the Journey Let us endure a little cold and the Patriarchs Bosom will soon warm us Stephen saw Heaven opened and that fortified him against the Showers of Stones from the People Act. 7.51 'T is for such a season 5. Beg the light of the Spirit 'T is necessary for us both with respect to things seen and unseen 1. Seen That we may apprehend the vanity of the Creature Psal. 90.92 So teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Psal. 49.4 I will incline mine Ear to a Parable I will open my dark saying upon the Harp David is describing the vanity of Worldly prosperity And also to see things unseen Eph. 1.17 18. That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of him The Eyes of your Vnderstanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the Hope of his â—alling and what the Riches of the Glory of his Inheritance in the Saints Our Wisdom Natural is Carnal and Sensual Iam. 3.15 Either for Riches Pleasures or Honours Prov 23.4 Labour not to be Rich cease from thine own Wisdom Reason catereth for the Body