but both sides inward peace and quiet This is notorious in matter of fact What with some is Religion with others is an abomination what with some is Devotion with others is Superstition what with some is Duty with others is absolutely unlawful and yet each equally well perswaded each equally well satisfied in their waves and actings One of these be sure must be in the wrong and yet their hearts as much assure and comfort them as theirs that are not So that in some cases it seemeth a man may do evil and yet his heart not condemn Him neither It is true in such where it self is deceived and mistaken it doth not How is it possible it should Our hearts are not infallible by art and education by company and custom they may be miserably abused and imposed upon In Christendom whole Kingdoms and Nations in Kingdoms numerous Sects and Parties let who will be in the right are sad examples of it What shall we say then Doth the heart neglect to do its part in such No even where it is thus it doth its duty to the utmost of its ability For tho it may err in judging of the evil it faileth not to condemn us for what it apprehendeth to be evil and flyeth in our faces if we attempt it In difficult and disputable cases an upright heart may be out as to which is the right and which wrong but if the man for any by ends shall forsake that which it telleth him is the right and espouse the wrong it certainly reproacheth and tormenteth him for it Let none say if this be all seeing it may be out as well as in what need we so much regard it For if in this case we have honestly done what we can to inform it then without scruple we may securely follow it For the reason but now suggested we are not hastily and implicitly to follow its verdict so we may be accessory to our own delusion but if we impartially and diligently weigh the ground of our perswasion we do all that is in the power of discreet and good men Then if our hearts should misguide us we need not question but that he who knoweth whereof we are made will mercifully forgive us So that if after that our hearts condemn us not we may have confidence towards God And let this suffice for the first Objection Object 2. The other is how our hearts can be said to condemn us when we do evil when as many who live in scandalous vices and immoralities are so far from any disturbance of mind they rather make a mock of it We read of some whose Consciences were seared with a hot iron of others 2 Tim. 4.2 who being past feeling Eph. 4.19 had given themselves over to lasciviousness and if we did not we live in an age can show us such who go on in wayes of gross and palpable wickedness with an uninterrupted sanguine security and are not in trouble as other men It is not to be denyed but that too oft it is so but the question is how such persons come to be so Were they so alwayes No it was time and long habit brought them to this they did not presently arrive to it Solomon describing the common Harlot telleth us She eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I have done no wickedness Having used her self to that course of life she was so lost to all sense of virtue and honour as to make nothing of it But in what a different manner doth innocent Thamer resent but an immodest sollicitation And I whether shall I cause my shame to go It is nothing but custom and oft repetion that lessen our apprehensions and abate our horrors for ill actions Great sins of any kind like the Indian smoke tho by degrees people may so inure themselves to it they cannot forbear it make every one sick at the first time of their taking it O what struglings and aversions are there before what commotions and inquieties afterwards They who have got over these and conquered them cannot but acknowledge themselves have sometimes felt them Yes and before they go out of the world in all probability will again Conscience tho like Abigail it saith nothing less or more while the wine is in the man while intoxicated with the strength and fulness of temptations when it findeth him come to himself and sober in retirement in affliction in danger in sickness then it will take the opportunity to tell him his own and make him hear of it It is a worm that never dieth tho it be trod upon at one time or other it will turn again and gnaw the man that serveth it so Our hearts are physically good tho not morally tho they delight in the sin they cannot avoid being disturbed at it tho they contribute to it yet so it is witness all our experience they condemn us for it This is the first thing we are here informed of that we cannot but disapprove of our selves when we take to and go on in any sinful course Taking that therefore now for granted let us proceed to consider the consequences of it However at present it may be hectored and outbraved despised and made light of it concerneth us seriously to mind it The thing doth not end here there is another-guess-one than our hearts that observeth and is displeased also God himself who confirmeth the Sentence and condemneth us too This is the truth that is here asserted in the other part of the Text which I am now to speak to that they whose hearts do thus condemn them in that state can expect nothing but to be condemned of God also He is greater than our hearts and Knoweth all things It is not said by the Apostle Syllabically if our heart condemn us God will condemn us too but it is at least Equivalently by an expression in which instead of such affirmation is elegantly couched the reason of it God is greater than our hearts and Knoweth all things A judicious interpreter looketh upon the former words as a Rhetorical aposiopesis If our heart condemn us a broken exclamation of astonishment at the dangerousness of such a condition to be supplyed with some such thoughts as these what is then like to become of us when God shall enter into judgment with us If we cannot answer our doings to our selves how shall we be able to answer them before him If our own Spirits frown on us and upbraid us how shall we be able to look on him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity And tho neither the vulgar nor we have translated it because in several Greek manuscripts there is none of it yet the common Copies before these later words put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for For God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things And so they contain three arguments for a serious regard to the rebukes and convictions of our own Consciences to make us sensible that if these be
offended with us God is so much more The first is taken from his Being He is God The second from his Power He is greater than our hearts The third from his Omniscience He knoweth all things The first Argument here hinted for it is taken from his Being He is God God whose Deputies our hearts are and whose mind they speak These would not disturb or threaten us in the pursuit of any of our natural appetites did not he commission them So that I may say of their verdict what the Evangelist doth of Caiaphas's this speak they not of themselves but prophesie It is not their own doings but the word is in our hearts as a burning fire shut up in our bones and they are weary of forbearing Now who hath power enough to do this to make our selves fall foul upon our selves but God only I grant in some particular cases other things may do it an error a disease may sometimes be sufficient and put the heart upon condemning when God doth not We see it in some weak and melancholy persons who in the bitterness of their souls cry out that they are castaways past the day of Grace c. whom if they deal sincerely in the grounds of their complaint and say all we may well hope better things of But this is rare and accidental where it is universal there must be more than so in it And so it is with men about things materially moral it is not the case of here and there one but of every one to be so affected Parthians and Medes and Elamites the dwellers in Mesopotamia and Judaea and Cappadocia c. Jews and Gentiles Christians and Heathens Ancient and Modern Civil and Barbarous have all the same sentiments Here the whole world is of one language and do as much agree about what is vertuous and vicious what is good and evil as what is clean and foul what is sweet and bitter They show the work of the Law written in their hearts their Consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts either accusing or else excusing them Now who can write there in such manner upon all but only he who hath created all This is that which the Jewish Doctors mean by their separate intelligence the ancient Schoolmen by their Intellectus agens Adam de Morisco by Elias's Raven when they speak of the manifestation of the Law of Nature they are but so many affected obscure expressions to signifie that it is from the God of Heaven And if it be he we may be sure he doth not use lightness his word shall not be yea and nay he will not say one thing to men in this world and the contrary in that which is to come but what he condemneth by our hearts here he will condemn by himself there So that if these condemn us as long as we go on in these things and do not reform we have no reason to imagine that God will not deal with us in the same manner That is the first argument intimated for the proof of it taken from his Being He is God God who now setteth the heart on work and teacheth it to do so The second Argument he useth for it is taken from his Power He is greater than our hearts If we could struggle so as to bear or break through the sharpest stings of these yet his indignation will be heavier and more intollerable How light soever they may make of it whose own are yet asleep to be under but the positive condemnation of Conscience is of it self a deplorable and very fearful circumstance How comfortless and unhappy do we see this thing alone can make men when it seizeth their awakened Souls and throughly possesseth their imagination How doth a dart strike through their liver and a fire burn in their bowels How doth it drink up all their moisture and make their faces gather paleness How doth it break their restless bones and sometimes quite overturn their Understandings Racks are more tolerable Death it self hath been often flown to by them that were under it as the more eligible I mention not these outragious violences of Spirit as things either necessary or commendable as some would make them in the conversion of a Sinner No they proceed not from any such causes as should deserve it Ignorance or Despair Ignorance of the nature of the Gospel Covenant or Despair of what it promiseth to the Sinner when he repenteth being the usual wombs that bear them and Paps that give them suck All that I hint it for is only to show you what a Hell it is to be but under the Condemnation of our own hearts But let no man fancy as some perversely have been broaching that this is the only Hell As terrible as this is there is the same difference between it and that which shall come after as between the sentence pronounced against the Malefactor which sometimes doth not so much as change his Conntenance and the execution that taketh away his life When Conscience tormenteth men so it is not by any proper efficiency of its own by the exercise of any natural power For it is but an opinion or judgment of our state as to eternity that it is dangerous and damnable When it hath represented this it hath not more that it can do But God is greater What that only threatneth he fulfilleth What that only maketh us fear he will make us feel Now he being provoked by these very things our hearts are we have great reason to be concerned if they condemn us tho at present we suffer not any alteration by it For if we go hence in that state God will condemn us too and then we shall not come off so He is greater than our hearts And that is the second Argument The last by which he goeth about to prove the importance of our hearts condemning us is taken from Gods omniscience He Knoweth all things Our hearts know more ill of us than all the world besides but he much more than they None knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man that is in him none knoweth so much of them as that doth but yet there are abundance of things that even that for want of minding or memory knoweth but imperfectly and confusedly But there is not a word in our tongue but he knoweth it altogether nor a thought in our heart that he understandeth not afar of He discovereth much sin by us we do not observe he remembreth much sin by us we have forgotten and so knoweth more cause for our condemnation than our hearts can possibly represent to us And therefore if they know enough by us to condemn us we cannot but conclude God doth much more Our hearts in their evidence against us in matter of-fact we may be sure speak nothing but the truth but they are not able to speak the whole truth Who can understand his errors and therefore if they out of their broken notes draw up such an enditement
SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL JVLY 5. 1691. By R. Meggott D. D. Dean of Winchester and Chaplain to Their Majesties Published by Her Maiesties Special Command LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCI I. Epistle of S. John 3.20 For if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things ONE would be apt to think that we of our Profession should not speak with so little effect as generally we do considering the Matter and Substance of our Message We exhort you to nothing but that which you your selves as oft as you are serious judge meet and necessary reprove you for nothing but that for which even your own ingenuity doth so too and cannot but confess you are to blame for The things are all so equal and reasonable that not only the Modest and Vertuous but the very Loosest and Wildest sort of People are not without regrets and reluctancies in their violations of them What aileth thee O thou Sea that thou flyest We see no affections or passions in any of the other Creatures but what have some foundation it is not for nothing that the Hare runneth at the sight of the Dog or the Lamb trembleth at the approach of the Wolf so that if those horrors for evil actions that are woven into our constitutions should be in vain and without any ground it would have been an error and miscarriage in our very Creation which seeing we cannot in the least discover in any of the rest of the works of God but that in wisdom he hath founded them all why should we suspect and mistrust it here We may much rather conclude that he who hath given instincts to Birds Beasts Fishes proper and useful for the preservation of themselves from mischief hath placed Conscience in the immortal part of man for the same end namely to forewarn him of the things that tend to his eternal ruine Let no one then despise these involuntary throbbings and recoilings of his heart upon the irregularities of his conversation they are not the products of a childish or artificial superstition but the prognosticks of a real danger How else should come such consternations in our minds at things so agreeable to our inclinations If our Spirits upon such occasions speak not good things concerning us but evil it is but what they have first received from the Lord if they accuse and cast us whatsoever they bind on earth is bound in heaven They are but the Eccho's of that sentence which the Judge of all the world whose Deputies they are at that time doth pass on us and therefore if these have ought against us we may be assured he hath much more This is the Doctrine our Apostle delivereth in the Text if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things In which words here are two practical truths to be took notice of The One is supposed and this is that we cannot but disapprove of our selves when we take to and go on in any sinful courses our own hearts forbear not to condemn us for them The Other is asserted and this is that if our hearts do condemn us so long as we abide in that state we can expect nothing but to be condemned of God also He is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things That which I would first propound to your consideration is what is here supposed That we cannot but disapprove of our selves when we take to and go on in any sinful courses Our own hearts forbear not to condemn us for them I need not tell you that the word heart in Scripture is not ordinarily to be understood literally of that part of our body called so but metaphorically of the powers of the Soul In this sence it is sometimes put for the understanding so Rom. 1.21 their foolish heart was darkned Sometimes for the will so Mat. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Sometimes for the memory so Psalm 119.11 Thy word I have hid in my heart Sometimes for the Conscience so Eccles 7.22 Thine own heart knoweth also that thou thy self hast cursed others And in this last acceptation you are to take it here that our heart condemneth us that is in the Hebrew way of speaking which St. John useth and hath no precise peculiar word for it our Consciences Not that you are to conceive of this as a distinct being of it self subsisting separate from any of these faculties I have mentioned that were as fantastick as to imagine death to be a person but the operation and result of these in conjunction about our moral actions So it is that when they are evil and unjustifiable we cannot reflect on them without inquietude and dissatisfaction Among mankind some are Fools and some are Lunaticks by the same means and in the same measure that a man may be without Reason he may be without Conscience too but when ever this is whole and sound the other abideth so also It is as natural to us as that is being indeed but the maxims and the use of it The whole element of Fire may as soon be quenched by the spitting of a Child or the Wind blow out the light of the Sun that ruleth the day as any violence or sophistry as long as we are our selves be able to extinguish it I grant it doth not constantly make the same noise in us Sometimes it is as the alarum of a Clock that goeth aloud and waketh us with its warnings at other times as the hand of the Dyal that pointeth silently to the figure without striking but either as one or t'other here it is immovably fixed in every one of us to record and judge our actions The high as well as the low the gay as well as the melancholy the bold as well as the timerous have its company No greatness can daunt it no pleasures can charm it no advantages can bribe it from performing its office This the daily experience of all ranks and degrees of people doth so manifestly prove that I should not choose any longer to insist on it were it not for the clearing of these two things I. How our hearts can be said to condemn us when we do evil when as such as walk contrary one to another in things of mighty moment pertaining to God and to their duty neither have any regret for what they do but both sides inward peace and quiet Secondly How our hearts can be said to condemn us when we do evil when several that live in scandalous vices and immoralities are yet so far from any trouble of mind about it they rather make a mock of it The first objection to be answered is how our hearts can be said to condemn us when we do evil when as such as walk contrary one to another in things of mighty moment pertaining to God and to their duty neither have any regret for what they do
against us as is sufficient eternally to undo and destroy us how shall we be able to stand before him to whom all things are naked and bare Our hearts may acquit us and yet it is not impossible but God may condemn us So St. Paul thought I know nothing by my self saith he my own heart doth not accuse me 1. Cor. 4.4 yet am I not hereby justified I may be mistaken he that judgeth me that is ultimately and unerringly is the Lord. And if when our own hearts acquit us it is not impossible but God may condemn us surely if our hearts condemn us we have no pretence for the presumption that God will acquit us When a man is condemned by a Judge who was his friend or near relation every one will conclude the thing was plain and he deserved it certainly Here the Judge is not only our friend but our very selves We are very apt to think well of our selves that we are sincere Penitents Believers when it may be there is no reason for it but if ever we think ill of our selves that we are hypocritical prophane atheistical we may conclude there is a great deal of reason for that more always than appeareth to us and all this is open to the eye of God Upon this account the Apostle here reckoneth there is so much danger of him whose heart condemneth him because that God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things This is the sense of the words I have read to you which being delivered by way of supposition with an If a thing that may be or may not be I am unwilling to dismiss you while I have pressed you to consider of it every one as to his own particular It cannot reasonably be imagined that we should all of us be in one and the same state there must needs be of both sorts among us And as I doubt not but there may be several whose hearts testifie for them and condemn them not so it must be a very extraordinary Assembly where there is not cause enough to fear that there are many whose hearts cannot but rise up against them and do None can say any thing to this but your selves and what can be more becoming you at this time especially when some of you this morning already have others are going to eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup than carefully and strictly examine your selves about it Lorius hath a fancy that when our Saviour stooped down and wrote on the ground while the Scribes and Pharisees were asking him the question What should be done to the Woman taken in adultery that he did it so miraculously that each of her accusers when they looked upon it read all their own particular sins there and that this was that which made them slink away so one by one abashtd and out of countenance What he imagineth they did by Miracle every one of us if we will moy do without one If we would look but where we ought every one into our own bosomes there we may see if not each distinct fact that we have done yet however the great and common habits in which we live O search and see then commune with your own hearts and be still awfully mind the report these make to you It is said of Herod Luke 3.20 that to all the evil that he had done he added yet this above all that he shut up John in prison John was he that reproved him for his vices he that admonished him of his sin he that called him to repentance and to shut him up in prison is called an adding to his evil above all What ever your actions have been any of you whatsoever the course of your lives to shut your eyes against this burning and shining light to stop your ears at this voyce crying within you to detain the truth which this telleth you in unrighteousness is to be guilty of a sin much like to that If we will not hear thee O thou vice-gerent of God within us If we will not hear thee O thou Guardian Angel of our better part when thou tellest us our faults between thee and us alone we shall be worse to thee than even Heathens and Publicans But of all that neglect or refuse to take notice of it I must by no means omit to remember you that there are none who do it with so much danger to themselves as you whom the providence of God hath placed in higher stations and raised above the common rank of men This is all the Monitor that many such as you if you fall into temptations can rely upon Your quality and condition of life maketh it more than ordinary difficult for them whose Office it is to watch over your souls to admonish you and there are several cases wherein your servants for Jesus sake can scarce without exceeding their Commission be particular So that if you gag this faithful Officer within and will not suffer him to speak you will be in greater hazard of miscarrying than those in a meaner station But him you have always with you which will in any wise rebuke you and not suffer sin upon you but as there is occasion say such things to you as no other either may or can To end then Hear this all ye people give ear all the Inhabitants of the Earth both high and low rich and poor together When ever you find this checking advising warning you by all the terrors of the Lord I would perswade by all the kindness you have for your selves I would beseech you to give an ear to it When it smiteth you count it for a kindness when it reproveth you be thankful as for a blessing Instead of accosting it as Ahab did Elijah Hast thou found me O mine Enemy salute it as David did Abigail Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that sent thee this day to meet me It really deserveth it at your hands It 's design is not to torment you before the time but to save you from the wrath to come receive it then accordingly not as a Spy or a busie Informer but as an Apostle as an Angel of God So treating it you will have praise of the same at last and rejoyce in its testimony By this way you may so improve their judging you as to prevent your being judged by the Lord and make their condemning you now a means of God's acquitting you in the Great Day FINIS