the sweet influence of his grace suffers him to take his full swinge in wickednesse and to run head-long without any restraint to his own ruin and destruction This I take to be the obduration of Pharaohs heart so frequently mentioned in the book of Exodus For it is said Exod. 8. 15. When Pharaoh saw that there was respite he hardned his heart and harkned not c. and v. 32. Pharaoh hardned his heart this time also c. and then Exod. 9. 12. it's said God hardned the heart of Pharaoh And 't is observable how he is threatned v. 14. I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart and upon thy servants and upon thy people c. So that first Pharaoh hardens and then God hardens Pharaoh hardens himself and God leaves him to himself Pharaoh hardens wilfully and God hardens judicially This I take to be the doom of the accursed fig-tree in the Gospel under which is comprised every barren Christian Leâ— no fruit grow on thee henceforward Mat. 21. 19. Iude 12. for ever These are thâ— trees Saint Iude speaks of whose fruit withereth without fruit twise dead pluck'd up by the roots Where the Method of Gods Iustice is very observable upon an obstinate and Apostate sinner First His fruit withereth he deserts his station grows weary of well doing and puts off the yoke of Christianity as if it were an intolerable burden Then without fruit The sap of grace is withdrawn and the soul becoms immediately barren Then twise dead dead naturally and dead spiritually For as the soul is the life of the body so is the Grace of God the life of the soul And lastly pluck'd up by the root not presently cast into the fire They may continue in the garden of Gods Church a long time after may participate of the dew of heaven of the holy Ordinances of God and external communion with his people But as never fruit comes of a tree that is pluck'd up by the râ—ots and so left So never any thing capable of Divine acceptation comes from a man thus miserably deserted The ground and foundation of this doctrine I conceive may be safely laid upon that maxime of our Saviour Habenti dabitur To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundance But whosoever hath not that is hath not improved his talent from him shall be taken away even that which he Mat. 13. 12. seemeth to have These are the several kinds or degrees of Obduration and this last I take to be the disease in its full height and malignity Secondly We are in the next place to look upon the cause of this disease and what is particularly instrumental unto it We say in Philosophy Animâ— sequitur temperamentum corporis The soul hath its operation according to the temper organs and disposition of the Body As there is no disease in the body so there is no distemper or depravity in the mind but is the effect and product of a certain particular cause So that as Infatuation of mind is a certain preparative unto judgement so there are certain preparatives and predispositions to Infatuation of mind Two sorts of evils there are â—n the world the evil of sin and the evil of punishment this of Infatuation is both it is hard to say whether hath the greater share in the composition This twisted evil as it arises from several causes so it is compounded of several ingredients In the general God himself may be said to harden according to that of the Apostle Rom. 9. 8. Whom he will he hardneth Not by any positive operation upon the mind as was said before but by a privative withdrawing or withholding of Grace No oâ—herwise then as wax being taken from the fire from being soft and pliable returns to its natural hardnesse and inflexibility And this is the just permission of Almighty God that such as will not conform unto him and walk in his ways should be left unto themselves to take their own precipitate and destructive courses For Instrumental Causes there are many To instance in some few for all the rest The first Medium unto Obduration I shall propound is The misunderstanding and abuse of secular prosperity and successe Thus Senacharibs best argument to perswade Ierusalem to revolt from good King Hezechiah is drawn from the successe of his sword upon the men and gods of Hamah Arpad and and Sepheruaim and from thence he 2 King 18. 34. 35. inferr'd that therefore the Lord of hosts should not deliver Ierusalem out of his hand And never underâ—tood the guilt of his Blasphemy nor the falacy of his argument nor the vanity of Nisrock his Idol till he felt the power of his maker and the stroke of Divine vengeance in the swords of his own Sons sheathed in his own bowels in the very Act and posture of his Idolatrous worship When the greatnesse of Nebuchadnezzars power and conquest lifted him up so high that he forgot he was a man God brought him down and humbled him into the very nature and condition of a beast There was a time when Dan. 4. Babylon was grown fat as the heyfer at grasse by eating up the inheritance of the Lord but it lasted not long for within a short time after Every one that went by Babylon Ier. 50. 11. was astonished and hissed at the sight of all her plagues And the same Prophet takes notice of some of Gods own people that were waxen fat and shined that overpassed the deeds of the wicked that did not Iudge the cause of the Fatherlesse c. and yet they prospered until the day of Gods visitation came Ier. 5. 28. 29. upon them Thus was Egypt groâ—n as a fair heyfer and her men in the midst of her as so many fatted bullocks and all to their own destruction as appears Ier. 46. 20. Thus was Iâ—surun grown fat and kicked he was grown thick and covered with fatnesse and mark what followed hereupon he presently forsook the God that made him and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation Deut. 32. 15. And therefore the Divine Omniscience foreseeing this evil consequent arising from blessings abused enters a caveat against it Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandments lest when thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly houses and dwelt therein and when thy herds and thy flockes multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplyed and all that thou hast is multiplyed then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God c. Deut. 8. 11. 12. 13 14. The Psalmist speaks very home and close to our purpose who describing the wickeds day of Sunshine saith Their eys stand out with fatnâ—sse they have more then heart couâ—d wish they are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued as other men pray observe the coâ—sequeâ—t Therefore pride compasseth them about like a chain violence covereth them
tell this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not 10. Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their eares and understand with their heart and convert and be healed 11. Then said I Lord how long And he answered untill the Cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the land be utterly desolate 12. And the Lord have removed men farre away and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the Land GOD at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets Heb. 1. 1. Somtimes viva voce by his own immediate audible voice as Exo. 19. 19. Somtimes by Consultations by Vrim according as was directed Numb 27. 21. Somtimes by manifesting his will and pleasure in a dream as to Pharaoh and to Joseph the Patriâ—rch Gen. 41. Somtimes by visions as here in this Chapter The whole Prophesie in general is called the vision of Isaiah the Son of Amoz a Isa 1. 1. and this in the Text is like Ezechiels wheel within a wheel b Eze. 1. 16. a vision within a vision These words of the Prophet are of a very sad and gloomy aspect as full of threatning as these times wherein we live and let this be observed from them in general That there is not in the whole booke of God a Text that Christ and his Apostles made so much use of for the convincement of obstinate and rebellious Hypocrites as thiâ— of this Prophet Isaiah So that however it may seeme to be an old stale obsolete threatning directed only uâ—… the Jews many hundred yeers ago yet if we consult the Evangelical History we shall find it owned and adopâ—… by Christ and by S. Paul as â—… when he preach'd to the Saints 〈◊〉 Rome as when he wrote unto tâ—… Romans from Corinthus a Mat. 13. 14. Mark 4. 12. Luke 8. 10. Ioh. 12. 41. Acts 28. 26. Rom. 11. 8. nay orâ—ginally to be the language of Chrâ— himself and dictated unto this Pâ—…phet long before his incarnation â—… will appear if we look well upon thâ— of John 12. 41. These things said Esâ—ias when he saw his glory and spake of him That is spake of him prophetically and saw his glory as S. Stephen did b Act. 7. 55. as the glory of the eternal Son of God So that I could have taken my Text out of either of the Evangelists out of the Acts of the Apostles or the Epistle to the Romans as well as out of this Prophet but that I desired to fetch my water as neer the spring head as might be It is but the language of the same holy Spirit in all these and sure the holy Ghost hath fixed a particular mark of observation upon that Text which he hath so frequently recorded and inserted in the Sacred volume To this may be added the near Relation and Correspondency between the Text and these times what was then but in minis is with us in poenis Isaiahs threatnings unto Israel are Gods visible executions in England To say nothing of the admirable State and Majesty wherein God appeared when he delivered this Message to his Prophet not much inferiour to that which was observed in the promulgation of the Law as appears v. 1. 2. 3. 4. 't is enough to startle and awaken us that it is First Of Judgement not of Mercy and Judgement as once the Psalmist sung a Psal 101. 1. But solely and entirely of Judgement not a syllabe of mercy that I can find in it a sad I confesse but no unsafe Theam to awe and regulate a man into obedience and submission The Gospel it self stands surest upon this foundation and the seed ofGods word never thrives and prospers so well as where the surrows have been made by the terrors of the Law Secondly Of Judgement not upon the Nations of the earth at large upon Edom or Moab or Egypt or Caldea which elswhere have their several burdens denounced and by this prophet too but here the sad message is directed unto Judah the most selected Tribe of all his own people a people that God had ever dandled upon the lap of his mercy and distinguished from all the world by his visible care and protection over them Go and tell Thâ—… people c. and if Judgement begin aâ— Judah at the house of God what shall bâ— the end of those that obey not the Gospâ—… of God 1. Pet. 4. 17. Thirdly The Judgement here threatned is not like those which were onâ— propounded by God to Davids choise a 2. Sam. 24. 13. a Judgement of a day or a moneth or a yeer but a more lasting Iudgement which was not to be removed till the Cities were wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the Land were utterly desolate vers 11. Fourthly With the Continuance we have here a very dangerous Quality in the Iudgement A Iudgement not of blasting or mildew upon the fields or of murrain upon the flocks not upon the goodly pillars of the land Religion and Iudicature by removing them out of their places not upon the person of their King the joy of their hearts and the breath of their nostrils a Lam. 4. 20. all which are sore and heavie Iudgements but a judgement beyond all these a judgement upon the Heart Infatuation of Mind A judgement that hath no sense of judgement Make the heart of his people fat c. There is no plague like unto that of the heart Fiftly This infatuation is made by Prophets partly by false Prophets namely by the seduction of their false and byassed visions and partly by true Prophets namely by the hardning power of the divine Oracles on those that rebel against the convincement of that sacred light And lastly We may observe the Time when this sad message was delivered to the Prophet and by him denounced unto the people and that was In the same yeer that good King Vzziah died v. 1. A King that had deserved well of his people and of whose government none had cause to complain unlesse it were the Priest in one particular which is more then our Clergy could complain of in all the raign of our blessed Hezekiah who fell not so much the peoples martyr as the Priests In all which particulars the Vision of Isaiah is so visible a character of these times that any man that is not involved in this Iudgement of Infatuation may run and read it Which I mention for no other end but to alarum and awake the sensless and secure of our Age and Nation who never think themselves in danger till theâ— are surprized past all recovery and like men in a Consumption never think themselves sick till they find themselves dead The Text is a Commission given from the mouth of God himself Go and till this people c.
Country men 2. Cot. 11. 26. Our Condition not unlike that which is described by the same Apostle in another place Troubled we are on 1. Cor. 4. 8. 9. every side yet not distressed Cast down but not destroyed Perplexed but not in despair Persecuted but we hope in Christ not under the Doom in the Text not forsaken of our God In these pâ—rils and perplexities our securest way will be to betake our selves unto his shelâ—er and Protecton who is the Psal 65. 5. confidence of all the end of the earth and of them that are a far off upon the sea To thee therefore O merciful and gracious God do we resigne and recommend our selves our souls and bodies out Cause and all our Councels and designs beseeching thee to remove our sins as far from us as they have removed us out of thy favour O thou that sparedst Ninive in compassion to those many thousand innocents that were therein be pleased out of thine infinite mercy to spare those sinful Nations from whence we are and give not up thine heritage therein to such Confusion but turn us O God at the last and be gracious unto thy servants Oh satisfie us with thy mercies and that soon and do not suffer thy whole displeasure to arise upon us but do thou arise and have mercy upon Sion build thou the walls of our decayed Ierusalem and cause thy face again to shine upon thy Sanctuary among us So we that be thy people and sheep of thy pasture shall give thee thankes for ever and declare thy loving kindness from generation to generation Thus I have shewed the several kernels of this Pomgranate but to have insâ—sted particularly upon every one of them would have swelled this Treatise beyond its intended Bulk The main thing I shall fix upon for my subject is the Doctrine of Spiritual Infatuation the epidemical disease and infection of these Times reserving the other considerations to be inserted and interweaved as subservient handmaids to this grand purpose or to be used as so many slight dashes in the pourtraicâ—ure of this ugly and deformed monster of this Age. Incrassa cor populi hujus Make the heart of this people fat The disease we have to do withal lies not in the Head it is not a vertigo or whimsey in the brain an error in opinion But 't is a desperate malignant humour thaâ— flies to the Heart the seat of the vital Spirits and the principal part of the whole body In that black roll of curses we read of Deut. 28. the greatest to my apprâ—hension is that which is set down v. 28. The Lord shall smite thee with madness and bliâ—dness and astonishment of heart And Salomon in that excellent prayer which he made at the Dedication of the Temple makes the knowledge and removal of this plague of the heart to be the characteristick note of true repentance and acceptation with God 1. King 8. 38. 'T is this part that is primum vivens and ultimum moriens as well in Grace as Nature And therefore since the Act of the Spiritual Physitian is so much concern'd in the preservation and recovery of this principal part that I may proceed with the more hopeful successe therein It will not be amisse to proceed after this method namely to shew 1. The disease it self 2. The Causes of it 3. The Symptomes of it 4. The most hopeful way of Cure of it First of the Disease We say in Physick that a disease is more then halfe cured when it is certainly known and disovered and more grand errors are committed by unwary assurances then by illiterate applications This of the heart is mentioned in Scripture with great variety of expressions That which we read so frequently in Scripture of the Sons of Belial men that lived in their generations Absque jugo without any yoke of Religion or Government upon them That which the Psalmist speaks of a people whose hearts were as fat as grease or as brawn according to the vulgar translation Psal 119. 70. That which the Prophet Ezekiel speaks of an Impudent stif hearted people Ezek. 2. 4. That which the Protomartyr Stephen speaks of a stiffnecked people and uncircumcised in heart and ears Act. 7. 51. That which S. Paul mentions of some whose consciences were cauterized and seared as with an hot iron 1. Tim. 4. 2. That which he calls elsewhere Blindness of heart in those who being past feeling have given themselves over unto licentiousness to work all uncleaness with greediness Eph. 4. 18. 19. That which he calls a strong delusion in those who are designed to believe a lie to their own destruction 2. Thess 2. 11. That which he calls the darkness and defilement of the mind and Conscience Tit. 1. 15. The same is the desperate disease of the fat heart in the Text. All these are but so many expressions of the same Malignitie in the Soul So that by the fat heart we are to understand such a Brawny obstinate and obdurate heart as no admonitions can reclaim or mercies move or threatnings regulate or motions mollifie an heart that hates to Psal 30. 17. be reformed that is wilfully resolved to subscribe to â—o command but to pursue with greediness and delight the full swinge of its own sensual and depraved inclinations We say in Philosophy Qualitates intenduntur remittuntur All Qualities admit of intensions and degrees For as in Artificial Contrivances one wheel insers the motion of another and one colour is a preparative to another till the cloth be dyed in Grain As in Matters Military a small defeat at first may be the occasion of a total Rout So in Matters Spiritual per sâ—elera ad scelus one iniquity is ordinarily the dore and preparative to another till at last the sin becoms of a scarlet dye and one Judgemâ—nt if not entertainâ—d as coming from the just hand of God becomes a fatal preparative to another till at last the soul becoms palseystricken and hath no sense at all of the hand that smiteth it Thus it fares with this Porosis tes Kardias This Infatuation or Obduration of the Heart â—s of several Kinds or Degrees I shall speak only of three of them unto which all maâ— be reduced First There is an obduration which is natural and common to the whole lump and masse of mankind The Prophâ—t Jeremy spâ—aks of a foreskin groâ—ing upon the heart which must be taken off Circumcise your selves to the Lord and take away the foreskins of your hearts Ier. 4. 4. Of which Spiritual Circumâ—ision the â—egal in the flesh was but a Type and figure the true Circuâ—cision being that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of man but of God Rom. 2. 29. With this foreskin about the heart is every man born into the world and 't is no shame for us to acknowledge the vilenesse of our natural pollution according as Ezechiel describes it Ezech 16. 4.
5. 6. For till we are clenâ—ed of this filthinesse and this foreskin be taken away the heart of man is abominable and disobedient and to every good work avâ—…se and reprobaâ—e Of this speaks the same Prophet also in another place A new heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh Eâ—ech 36. 26. So that when God is said to harden any mans heart it is not to be understood of any positive act or operation upon the heart making that haâ—d and impenetrable which before was soft and pliable but according to the Coâ—nsel of hâ—s most just and holy will by way of Nâ—gation or rathâ—r preterition he passeth by the vessels of wrath and leaves them as he found them with their natural hardnesse and drynesse upon them No otherwise then as the earth is somtimes parched and made fruitlesse not by any positive curse buâ— as it was in Eliahs time when the clouds were withheld from pouring their rain upon it Thus we read of Sihon King of the Amorites that when the Israelites would have passed peaceably through his territory paying not only for their meat but for their water and pawning their Deut. 2. 2â— faith only to passe along the high way without turning eâ—ther to the right hand or to the leâ—t It is said that God hardned his Spirit and made his heart obstinate Deut 2. 30. that is he lest him to be ruined by his own natural peevish and unfriendly disposition in opposing that people which he saw God Almighty owned by his visible power and protection God hardned his heart non induâ—endo malitiam sed propter peccata praecedentia subtrahendogratiam saith Aequinas 2. There is a second kind of Obduration which is Casual and Volâ—ntary the work of a mans own wilful and pernicious industry A kind of poison extracted out of many venomous and destructive simples A custom contracted by the iteration and repetition of many vitious and ungodly actions Now though hardnesse be the quality of all iron in general yet there is an apparent difference between the hardness of iron in the Ore and the hardness of iron in the Anvil That in the Ore is hard by nature That in the Anvil is hardned by designe and growes harder every day by a constant multiplication of strokes upon it That in the Ore is malleable and easily broken in pieces That in the Anvil is so obdurate that it resisteth all the strokes that are made upon it Just so is it with a mans heart That which by nature was but Pollution by induâ—gence and improvement becomes poison That which by nature was but a skin about the heart by custom becoms a stone in the heart Humors when they are tough and compacted are purged out of the body with greater difficulty and a complication of sins is not easily dissolved in the soul For as in the Natural Constitution that which is but a slimâ— visious humour in the stomack is by the heat of the body compacted into gravel and by the continual accâ—ssion of this grâ—…e substance is digested into a stone in the reins or in the bladder which grows there to such a magâ—itude that it becomes a disease which is seldome cured but with extreme paine and hazard of the patient Just so is it with the Spiritual Coâ—stitution That which by nature was but a pronesse and propensitie unto evil by the strength of Custom and encouragement of Delight becoms a second nature a Necessitie whereby a man is so far ensnared and fettered with the cords of his own twisting that he becoms prisoner and slave unto himself and his own corrupt affections and without great grace and mâ—rcy is never redeemed into the glorious liberty of the sons of God I shall instance only in that cheap and daring provocation the sin of â—…rsing and swearing which makes up a great part of some mens Language Were it certainly revealed from heaven to the common swearer that the next oath he swore he should incur the sentence of Dathan and Abiram and be carried away quick to Hell I perswade my selfe he were not able to forbear so powerful and predominant is the strength of a depraved custom in the soul And truly though custom in some cases may be a good plea in Law yet I am sure 't is a very bad one in Divinity A man that should be arraigned at the bar of Iustice for taking a purse upon the high wey or for picking a pocket at a sermoâ— and should plead at the bar under this form My Lord I pray be good to me 't is a Custom I have gotten and would leave but I cannoâ— Would not all the world cry shame on him away with him to Execution Certainly the case is the same between God and us Are we born down with the strength of custom The more our guilt and shame that to the high dishonour and provocation of a merciful God could be conteâ—t to sin over the same sins for ten twenty thirty yeers together without ever taking notice that we were in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity And truly he that shall favour himself in any wicked way and indulge unto any pleasing transgression with a purpose to persevere therein Does apparently strengthen himself in his wickednesse delivers up the possession of himself to that Devil whose name is Legion and makes Mar. 5 9. way for a third kind of obduration which follows in the next place to be spoken of 3. There is a third kind of Obduration and that is Divine and Iudicial the just reward of the former obstinacy For when the Donor of every good and Ezech. 〈◊〉 16. 17. perfect gift finds his Taleâ—ts abâ—sed his silver and gold and the fair jewels of his mercy made the fuel and matter of more licentious provocation his Grace turned into wantâ—nnesse the motions of his good Spirit vilified and rejected no abatement of sin no improvement in Grace notwithstanding all his stripes and Fatherly Corrections When he sees the heart of a man so wedded unto his own way that with Ahab he sets 1. King 21. 25. himself to work wickednesse in the sight of the Lord And with Absolom is not ashamed to commit a barbarous and horrid wickednesse in the sight of 2. Sam. 16. 22. all Israel and the Sun When a man is grown so strangely habituated unto wickednesse that he can as well forbear to eate or drink or sleep as the contrivance and prosecution of his malicious designs And so desperately resolved as to make a Covenant with Esay 28. 15. Death and to be at an agreement with Hell cannot endure to think of being reformed and therefore declines and hates any thing that may tend to his Conversion Then as a just reward and punishment of this wilfulness God delivers up such a man unto himself withdraws
to behave himselâ— proudly against the ancient the base against the honourable and the people to be oppressed every one by another which is an accursed condition as full of torment and vexation to an ingâ—niouâ— spirit as of absurdity confusion If he hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of us delivered us up to spiritual drunkenness and madness and blasted all our Treaties perhaps for the secret insincerity of our specious disguises Isa 15. 14. Ier. 13. 13. If he hath suffered our people to be eaten up like bread our blood to be made as cheap as water our metropolis to become a portion for sozes our stately pallaces and Temples to be a quarter for horses or a receptacle for thieves and rebels and the overflowings of ungodlines to proceed so far as to quench the light of our Israel by taking away the joy of our hearts and the breath of our nostrils in the life of our Soveraign And notwithstanding all this hath closed Isa 29. 10. the eys of our Prophets and rulers with the spirit of a deep sleep of senslesness security which is the map of our present misery and confusion sure there is great wrath gone out from the Lord against us it concerns every man to enquire after the secret Achan of his own bosom there is great reason to suspect we are under the immediate power and enchantment of a general Infatuation And therefore since the first ground and bottom of infatuation is from a stumbling block of our own laying in the secret depravities and reservations of the heart Let the people no longer charge the errors and infelicities of the times on the prophets nor the prophets on the people but let all look well into our selves and we shall find matter of high provocation both in the prophets and in the people And therefore laying a side all bitternesse and evil speakings against each other Let us turn our charges and clamours into prayers for each other the people sor the prophets that they may be more faithful sincere in the administration and execution of their sacred function and the prophets for the people that they may be more diligent in knowing and more conscionable in practising what is delivered unto them out of the sacred Oracles the people for the prophets that they may be burning and shining lamps in the sanctuary of God and the prophets for the people that they may be translated from the kingdom of darknes into the glorious light and liberty of the sons of God That so both people and prophets may twist and concâ—r in their utmost endeavours to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. and both be brought nearer to God to serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear To all these instruments of Infatuation I shall add but one more and that I take to be expresly set down in the Text namely The sincere preaching of the good word of God Go first and tell this people and afterwards make the heart of this people fat that is deliver my message sincerely unto this people though I know before-hand they will grow more obstinate and obdurate upon the hearing of it The prophet Isaiah compares the word of God to Rain and Snow As the rain cometh down and Isa 55. 10. 11. the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void c. And yet as the same frosty snowy weather that is health to the sound is a burthen to the weak and crazy Constitution As the same refreshing shower which bringeth up the grasse and corn bringeth up the weeds and tares also So the same good word 1. Cor. 15. 15. 1. of God never returns in vain our Labour cannot be in vain in the Lord It may be in vain in respect of your conversion It will not be in vain in respect of your Conviction It may be in vain in respect of your humiliation It will not be in vain in respect of your Obduration It may be in vain in respect of your Regeneration and Salvation It will not be in vain in respect of your Iudgement and Câ—ndemnation Moses was assured before-hand from the mouth of God himself that all his embassies and transactions with Pharaoh should produce no other effect but to render him more obstâ—nate and resolved not to subscribe to the command of God in the dismission of his people yet Moses is sent unto him that the hardnesse of Pharaohs heart as well as the greatness of Gods power might be known unto the world There was message upon message and if these were not enough there was miracle upon miracle and if these concerned him not there was plague upon plague like wave upon wave beating upon himself his servants and the whole Nation of the Egyptians and yet notwithstanding all this we find the heart of Pharaoh hardned into a proverb and an instance of an obdurate spirit unto all posterity What shall we say then Is there unrighteousnesse with God in sending Prophets to the ruin of a people Is there mors in olla Is there death in the Prophets pot Is there poyson in the sincere milk of Gods word I shewed before that corruption in the hearts of the people might occasion corruption in the prophets but can the stench and infection of that corruption extend it self so far as to â—aint the good word of God No certainly Let God be true though every man a Lyar and let his word be ever sacred and immutable though all the world should be convicted and condemned by it Heaven and earth shall passe away but his word shall not passe away that is accordâ—ng as the Rev. 6. 14. scripture comment else where The heavens shall passe away as a scroul when it is rouled together and the Elements 2. Pet. 3. 10. shall melt with fervent heat This goodly Ball of Earth shall be crumbled into nothing and all the gaudy vanities we so much dote on shall passe away like a smoke But not one jot or tittle of that word which may save and must judge us shall passe away or be changed And therefore to prevent any mistake that may arise in a businesse of so great concernment It may not be impertinent to shew first the innocent Quality of Gods word in its own nature Secondly The different operation of this word per accidens in some hearers Thirdly The Reason of this different operation Fourthly what Cautions and Counsels may be needful to prevent its hardning quality in our selves First that we may have no quarrel against the preaching of the word what ever exception lies against the preachers we must know The word of Mark 4. 1. Pet. 22. God is alwaies good seed what ever the ground
the hearts are already prepossed There is mammon a covetous worldly divel and there is Bâ—cchusâ—a swâ—…ish drunken divel and there is Venus a lalciviâ—uâ— uncleâ—n divel there is revenge a raging foming divel These and many more have taken possession of the soul insomuch that there is no room for any Evangelical guest so that would you know the reason why our sermons are duri sermones hard sayings iâ— is from dura corda because your hearts are hard heartâ— Totum durum est quiâ—quid imperatur invitis Every thing is hard and severe to a man that hath no inclination to obey Quot genera preceptorum tot adversariorium So many precepts as we find in the Decalogue so many enemies hath the carnal and licentious liver Such is the power and predominancy of deliberate and resolved wickedness that men had rather deny the Gospel it self thâ—n themselves and their own destâ—uctive lusts Malunt execrari legem quam emendari mentem they had rather the Law it self were abolishâ—… accursed then their own ungodly minds reformed bear a greater hatred to the clear commands of God then to their own vilenesse so that Cui aniâ—…us perversus est nec Moses nec Prophetaeâ—nec unus e mortuis prodest Nor is this all the damage or miscariage That our pâ—eaching is in vain to such men and the good seed lost because the stony ground will not suffer it to take root no the mischief of all mischiefs is the good seed is lost and the stony ground becoms more stony not hearing aâ—d no undâ—rstanâ—ing as in the text but here is hearing turned into hardning not stones chang'd inâ—o bread as was once expected from our Saviour but here is bread changed into stones the bread of life and the food of the soul changed into putrefaction and obdurâ—tenesse of spirit And now if any man shal ask me Sir I pray resolve me what do you think is the reason why my heart is so refractory and impenetrable after the hearing of so many good sermons after so many solemn applications to the means of grace c. Truly Sir my answer must be because you have heard so much to so little purpose Every sermon you have heard every convincement you have checkt repulsed is one blow more upon the Anvil of your heart and the oftner or the longer you have been in the furnace of affliction without refining and reforming the error of your mind the the more you are hardned to your own destruction And that I do not speak this of my self I shall give you authority for it I shall make my instance in those Gentils S Paul speaks of Rom. 1. who certainly were not without the knowledge of God sor it is said v. 21. Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God but held the truth of God in unrighteousness v. 18. therefore God gave them up unto uncleanesâ— v. 24. and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge so God gave them over to a reprobate mind v. 28. how far their mind was reprobate we learn v. ult Who knowing the judgement of God that they which commit such thâ—ngs are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them The Scribes Pharisees had so great a prejudice against our Saviours doctrine and such a malicious hatred against his person the growth of his Gospel that they resolved beforehand if any man should confesse him to be the Christ he should Iohn 12. 11. be put out of the Synagogue And this they execute upon a poor man who being born blind was guilty of no other crime but of having the eys of his body and of his mind both opened together by a miracle And so far were they from being converted by his gracious words and miracles that tâ—ey resolve to put Lazarus to death who had been an instance of his power and mercy for no other reason but that because of him many of the Iews went away believed on Iesus I cannot imagine what should be the reason that men are grown so liberal of their excommunications executions both in England Scotland unlesse it be upon some Ieâ—…ish principle because they either will not or cannot see their own blindnesse and seduction Of such as these doubtless our Saviour speaks Ioh 2. 39. for judgement am I come iâ—to this world 〈◊〉 they which see noâ— might see and they which see might be made blind Theâ—e is a strange sâ—irit of slumber fallen upon this age a deep sleâ—p from the Lord I fear hath seized those who brag of nothing more then of strange visions and revelations from God And most justly for when men are resolved afoâ—chand to reâ—el against the light as Iob speaks Iob 24. 13. with the Pharisees and Lawyers to reject the counsel of God against themselves Luk. 7â— 30. It is just with God to seal up their eys that they shall never receive the benefit of another convincement to bow down their backs alway that they shall never look up to heaven more with any comfortable assurance of mercy to make that word of his which is a piercing word dividing asunder between the joynts marrow to be a hardning word making the heart of flesh as hard impeneâ—rable as the Adâ—mant it self So that a twofold design there is in the Gospel of Christ one whereof is proper and natural that is to propound the way of life and salvation the other is unnatural and accidental which is to be the occasâ—on of greater blindnesse condemnation by the wilfulnesse obstinacy of unbelievers Thus ye see what the god of this world cannot effect by the baits and snares of abused prosperity what the tempter cannoâ— bring about by his secret instigations and illusions nor Simon Magus and his prophets by their spells and sorceries is at last completed by the profaniâ—g of an holy ordinance This drives the nail to the head and without a miracle of mercy fastens the obstinate and obdurate hearer to his eternal lost condition And therefore some short counsel and caution in a businesse of so much concernment cannot be thought super fluous or unnecessary I do not know any admonition so of en insisted on by our Saviour as this He that hath ears to hear let him hear But beside this general two cautions we have from him in particular concerning hearing The one Mat. 4 24. Take heed what ye hear The oâ—her Luk. 8. 18. Take heed how ye hear Take heed what for the matter Take heed how for the manner The first concerns my self as well as you and all those of our function For if ye must take heed what ye hear we must also take heed what we preach But this being beside my Text I shall noâ— insiâ—t upon it only I shall say thus much That he that shall sâ—aâ—tâ—r from the Pulpir chaf and tarâ—s and wild gourds insteed of wheat may