Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	harden_v	israel_n	pharaoh_n	2,701	5	10.6543	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41142	Wilfull impenitency, the grossest selfe-murder all they who are guilty of it, apprehended, tryed and condemned in these sermons, preached at Rochford in Essex not long before his death / by ... Mr. William Fenner ...	Fenner, William, 1600-1640.	1648 (1648)	Wing F712; ESTC R14613	82,808	158

to the child and see him brought up in religion they presently goe and put off the charge on the Father I pray you take the charge upon you so thou layest the charge at Gods doore when God gives thee any duty in charge thou layest it at his doore as though it stucke there and there thou lettest it lie not s●●ing about it to doe it God give me grace repentance is his gift and if he doe not give it I cannot repent I would but I cannot if he do not give it the speech is very good and becomes a godly soule that makes conscience of the meanes to say it but this is thy shuffling to lay it at Gods doore as though it stuck there God tels thee plainly it does not sticke at him he would have all to come unto repentance 2. Pet. 3.9 but thou wilt not come and this is the deceit of thy heart to shuffle it from thee In the third place is it so that the reason why thou dost not amend is not because thou canst not but onely because thou wilt not Oh then my Brethren learn to be humbled This point calls for great humiliation First here lies especially the pride of the heart not in mens cannots but their will nots when a soule does whatsoever it can reformes as much as it can uses as many meanes as it can and as often as it can this is not a proud heart but a proud heart is that especially which stickest at ●●will not If ye will not heare my soule shall weepe in secret places for your pride Jer. 13.17 marke for your pride if you will not he does not say if you cannot my soule shall weepe for your pride if ye stick at a cannot but if yee stick at a will not do not thinke this point does lift up mens wills no this point does as much beat at the humbling of the will as any point under heaven for here lies all the pride of the will and therefore here yee must be humbled Secondly here lies especially the hardning of the heart when a man stickes at a cannot he does not more and more harden his heart but onely stickes at the same hardnesse he had Beloved thou dost then harden thy heart when thou wilt not obey and therefore here 's most need of thy humbling to be humbled for thy will nots its said of Pharaoh he hardned his heart Exod. 9.34 what followes He would not let the children of Israel goe thy will nots these are they that harden thy heart doest thou complaine of the hardnesse of thy heart O goe and humble thy soule for thy will nots these are the hardners of thy heart nay let me tell thee thou hast no hardnesse of heart no more then an infant or a babe but onely that which thy will nots have made thee and therefore thou hast great reason to be humbled for thy will nots Thirdly here lies especially the stubbornnesse of the heart when a child that is commanded by his Parent to obey stickes at a cannot he obeyes as farre as he can but onely he sticks at a cannot he is not stubborne stubbornnesse is when one stickes at a will not if a man have a stubborne sonne which will not obey the voice of his Father Deut. 21.18 so here lies especially the stubbornenesse of thy heart and therefore here 's most humiliation required Fourthly here lies the greatest despisings of the Commandments of God authority is never so much despised as when men will not submit to it a father's despised when a sonne will not heare him and a master's despised when his servant will not do as he bids him nay a commandment cannot be despised but by wil nots it may be omitted and not obeyed by cannots but it cannot be despised but by will nots if yee shall despise my statutes so that ye will not do all my commandments c. Levit. 26.15 O what infinite reason hast thou to be humbled that despisest the Lord He cannot endure that men should despise him he can put up any other wrong rather then this that men should despise him but to be sleighted and despised he will not cannot endure it For three transgressions of Judah and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof because they have despised the law of the Lord Amos. 2 4. he will not turne away the punishment of this sinne when men do despise him what infinite need then hast thou to be humbled under thy will not thou despisest the commandment Here 's a word to you that are godly O what mercy hath the Lord shewed to you and how ought you to be thankfull never was there such mercy as this to shew mercy to the wilfull O woefull soule be his misery never so great hee 's not the fit object of mercy for though misery be mercies object yet joyn'd with wilfullnes it 's not to be pittied you have been as wilfull as any all cut out of the same rocke the Lord hath not onely helpt you to mercy and grace but also to a will to take it When Lot was unwilling to goe out of Sodome the Lord tooke him by the arme and carried him perforce now now see how the Text expresses it the Angels tooke hold of his hand the Lord being mercifull unto him and they brought him forth Gen. 19 16. As if he should say would you faine stay you shall not would you stand lingring to be consumed with fire and brimstone you shall not the Lord was mercifull to him whether he would or no So you had no mercy on your selves but the Lord had yee were wilfull against mercie and the Lord fastned mercy on you whether you would or no he commanded his loving kindnesse Psalm 42.8 goe mercy and seize on them goe loving kindnesse and make them take yee not as though God converted you against your wills for when he converted you your unwillingnesse was taken away but he made you of unwilling willing Oh the infinite mercy of God and the infinite cause you have to be thankefull In the fifth place to you that stand out in your wilfullnesse still is it so that yee sticke at a will not then be exhorted to be much in abasing your selves before the Lord your stoutnesse is intolerable that you dare set up the briars and thornes against God in battle down with them and be wise you harden your own hearts and disable your selves more and more for repenting of it ye despise the Lords name by the stubbornenesse of your froward will you can never be saved except your wils stoop before Christ will meddle with a soule hee 'l first aske art thou willing as he ask'd the blind man what wilt thou that I doe unto thee Lord saies he that I may receive my sight Luk. 18.41 So the first question he puts to thee is what wilt thou Lord that I may be humble converted purged if thou beest willfull though

notwithstanding the evidence of this truth The wisdome of the flesh which is enmity against God fills carnall mindes with many objections against it from all which I shall endeavour to vindicate it by answering them all in order THe first Objection is drawne those from Scriptures which say that they cannot From their own willingnesse they would but they cannot Is from their own desires they desire to do it but they are not able Is from their resolutions they purpose but whether they will or no they are feine to break their good purposes Is from their good endeavours as they say they labour against their sinnes and yet they are transported into them to sweare before they are aware to be overtaken in company c. We will answer them in order As to the first Objection from the Scriptures which say they cannot I answer Indeed the Scripture speakes of five Cannots First Of a naturall cannot every man is borne by nature under a cannot believe and a cannot see God But there is difference betweene thy cannot repent and thy doest not repent there is difference twixt these two The cause of thy cannot is one thing and the cause of thy doest not is another The cause of thy cannot is the carnalnesse of nature but the cause of thy doest not is the wilfulnesse of thy will The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse to him neither indeed can hee for they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 where the Apostle makes a different cause of a naturall mans cannot and his does not when he speakes of his cannot hee tells us the cause of that is because grace is spirituall and he is carnall Neirher indeed can hee because they are spiritually discerned but when he speakes of his does not you see he alledges a different cause of his does not The naturall man does not receive the things of the spirit of God they are foolishnesse unto him He counts them all foolish He is so wilfull in his own carnall reason that he counts it folly to deny it thou canst not do thus and thus dost thou say Why then wilt you count it folly to do so when a man crosses thee of thy will thou countst it folly to put it up I were a foole if I should be so precise as some be I were a foole if I should not suffer a little disorder in my house as long as I gaine by it This is meere wilfulnesse this and not a cannot is a cause of thy doest not Thou canst not indeed because thou art carnall but thy cannot is dead and not operative thy will is the cause of thy does not Like the wilfull blind blinde man Hee was blinde and would not open his eye-lids He could not see but his cannot lay dead for hee would not open his eye-lids his cannot is not operative till he will open his eye-lids If he could see yet he could not till he would open his eye-lids so thou wilt not open thine eyelids Secondly the Scripture speakes of a deliberate cannot when a man cannot do a thing onely because hee cannot finde in his heart to do it Thou canst not repent of this and that sinne and forsake it the truth is thy cannot is this thou canst not finde in thy heart to forgoe it Such a couse is so profitable and pleasing to thy flesh thou canst not finde in thy heart to abandon it thou canst not finde in thy heart to be friends with such a one to part with thy vanities or to abridge thy selfe of thine angry speeches when thou art stird c. Thou canst not finde in thy heart to do it As the Jewes you cannot believe sayes Christ because yee seeke honour one from another Joh. 5.44 they would feine be well thought of of all their acquaintance and therefore they could not finde in their heart to believe in Christ Oh that would make thee to be out of favour with the Pharisees and to be counted basely of in the World Therefore they could not finde in their heart to believe now this is no excuse thou canst not turne unto God thou canst not find in thy heart to part with thy lusts this is thy cannot Thirdly the Scripture speakes of a judiciall cannot as a rogue cannot go because for his loytering the Magistrate hath lockt him in the stockes This does not excuse thee one jot shall the villaine be wilfull in his loytering and then complaine of the Magistrate that he is not able to go about his worke I cannot go about my worke sayes hee and who bad him be so idle as not to go about it when he might Thou hast gone on may be wilfully in thy sinnes and now the Lord hath inflicted a judiciall cannot unto thee Thou canst not come out of thy sins nay the Lord hath cast this cannot upon thee in judgement he hath set thee in the stockes for thy wilfull security As the wicked Jewes they could not believe sayes the Text because Isaiah sayth hee hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts Joh. 12.39 40. could they excuse themselves for their cannot No the Lord had set them in the stocks for their wilfullnesse and security They could not believe for they had wilfully provoked the Lord to cast this cannot upon them in judgement Fourthly the Scripture speakes of a compounded cannot A cannot in sensu composito as we call it a cannot in a compounded sence As a drunkard cannot tender his family his poore Wife and children No as long as he lyes blowsing on the Alebench he cannot in a compounded sence he cannot Aristotle sets it out by sitting he that is sitting cannot walke that is as long as he is sitting he cannot walke As Christ sayth of a carnall man hee cannot bee my Disciple he cannot in a compounded sence he that commeth to mee and hates not father and mother and wife and children yea and his owne life cannot be my Disciple Luke 14.26 he cannot indeed as long as he stands upon these termes My father will not love me and my mother will not like me if I should be one of your Disciples my friends would not owne me I must do as I do or I cannot keepe my wife and children Indeed as long as thou standst on these termes thou canst not be a Disciple of Christ thou canst not in a compounded sence but if thou wouldst divide it thou mightst no man can serve two masters Mat. 6.24 marke compound them together and he cannot But if he would give over one he might serve the other thou canst not thou sayest No I yeeld thee in a compounded sence thou canst not thou canst not as long as thou art thus carelesse as thou art as long as thou favourest thy selfe in such and such lusts thou canst not The compounding of thy security and lazines with Religion that is the reason why thou