The Way to True Happiness, Treatise
A TREATISE OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE.
EZECH. 11.19.
And I will giuegive them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you, and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will giuegive them an heart of flesh.
WE hauehave already spoken of the Natures, & office of the Lord, Christ. Now we come in such order, as we hauehave propounded to our selues, to speake of the Couenant it selfe, made with Christ in the behalfe of all his members. This Couenant is deliuered in this present Chapter. One parcell thereof being contained in the words of the Text. Before God had vndertaken for the outward estate of his people; here he vndertakes for their spirituall estate; where we hauehave to obserue: 1. The parties betweene whom this couenant is smitten. 2. The articles of agreement, or the matter vndertaken: For the first of these, 1. The party vndertaking is God, who is heere brought in by the Prophet Ezekiel, as on… entring into couenant that he will giuegive them all spirituall and sauing grace. 2. The parties with whom he couenants, and these are his Israel, whom he had chosen out of all Nations to be a people to himselfe, as before he tells them. These be the parties that concurre in this Couenant. Secondly, you hauehave heere the matter vndertaken by God, and that is to bestow sanctification, or sauing grace vponupon them. And this grace is set forth in the Text by all the causes of it. First the Efficient, and that is (as is said) God (I will put a new spir…t within you, and I will take, &c.) Secondly, the materiall cause, or the matter wherin this holinesse promised standeth, and that is deliuered in three particulars: 1. He will giuegive them (one heart) 2. a (new heart) 3. a (soft heart) a heart of flesh, insteed of an heart of stone. Thirdly, the formall cause, or the manner how hee will bestow these blessings; he (giues) this heart, he (puts) it within them, he takes away from them the stony heart, and giues them a heart of flesh. Lastly, we hauehave here the finall cause, or the end wherefore God will doe all this for them, viz. That they may walke in my Statutes, and keepe my Ordinances and doe them, &c. Thus you see who vndertakes, and what he vndertakes.
Before we come to handle the particulars propounded, and as it were to breake into the bowels of the Text: Let vsus consider of these two generals. First, how, and in what case the Lord findes his people, when hee comes to make couenant with them. Next, how farre-forth hee vndertakes for them, not onelyonly in outward blessings, out he promiseth them spiritualls too, as to change and mend the heart, that is, all his inside, for the heart is the chiefe part of man, the very fountaine of life, and of all morality whatsoeuer. For the first, wee see how God findes man disposed, when he first comes vponupon him with saluation, hee is quite out of order, out of ioynt, a meere confusion. And that is the first thing we would commend to your consideration.
That man is in a very ill case of himselfe for his soule, his spirituall estate is very miserable, Doctr. Man spiritually considered, is of himselfe most miserable, 1. Proued by Testimony.the frame of his heart is quite out of frame, till God comes to ioynt it. For proofe hereof, we hauehave Gods own testimony, Gen. 6.5. at such time as he came to feele mans pulse, and to looke into his inside, he saw that eueryevery imaginatiō of the thoughts of his hart was only euill continually. Look vponupon man in his inward disposition, in the immediate operations of his spirit, his imaginations, desires, purposes, are all euill and onelyonly euil, and euill eueryevery day, as the Lord there testifies. And thus we see it, in this present Scripture we now goe vponupon. When God comes to doe a cure vponupon the heart of man, hee finds it first parted into may diuisions, many turnings and windings eueryevery way, &c. All these must be pared off, and the heart turned the right way, being made one heart, and so pitcht vponupon God the right obiect: 2. he findes it an old heart, rotten and totterd, and therfore promiseth to put a new spirit into man. 3. he findes him sicke of the stone, hee will take out the stony heart out of their flesh, and giuegive them an heart of flesh. So that the heart of a man by nature, till it is renued and changed, is a diuided heart, a rotten and corrupted heart, as stony as any flint whatsoeuer: Thus is he for his inside here described.
2. illustrated and amplified by comparison▪The holy Ghost proceedes yet further in other places to shaddow it out by many comparisons: As Ezek. 16. the whole Chapter throughout, and especially in the beginning, the estate of a man in his pure Naturals (as they say) is set out by the condition of a child new-borne. Now you know what thing a child is, when he is new come into the world, an impure thing, a poore, silly, impotent thing, that vnderstands little, and is able to do nothing to help it selfe. Thus it is in the natural birth, and thus it is also with eueryevery man in his spirituall condition: he is a creature, shiftles, helples, maim'd, impure, loathsom, &c. In other places, the holy Ghost goes further, and compare natural man not to a child, but to a very beast, that like as it was with Nebuchadnezzar, so it is with eueryevery mothers sonne by nature, he hath the shape indeed of a man, but the heart, of a beast: so saith the Prophet Ieremy. EueryEvery man by his owne vnderstanding is brutish, And Iob. 11.12, Vaine man (saith Zophar there) would faine be wise, and so esteemed, though man newborne be like a wild asses colt. He is wild, and therefore vnteachable; he is like a colt, and the colt of an asse, and the colt of a wild asse. EueryEvery word hath its weight to set forth the miserable estate of a naturall man; Nay, the holy Ghost, not onelyonly compares man to a beast, but makes him euen a compound of all the malignities of all hurtfull creatures: he partakes something of the lion, and somthing of the leopard, and something of the aspe, and something of the woolfe, (as we hauehave shewed you heretofore out of Esay.) Nay hee stayes not there, but goes further and compares man, in regard of spirituals, to a dead man, Ephes. Ye which were in trespasse and sinnes, &c. Now what is a dead carcasse but an vgly sight, a deformed thing especially if you look within it, there you shal find nothing but gore and blood and filth, and all manner of abomination. Nay further he is compared in holy Scripture, to a sepulcher, painted tombe, which containes not one, but many dead men: within it is nothing but darknes and confusion, and out of it comes nothing but stench and contagion. Thus the holy Ghost shewes by comparison,3 by effect. what man is in his naturall estate for his inside. He doth yet further acquaint vsus herewith by that appeares in his outside. How should one iudge of the tree, but by that wich it beares? how of the sap but by the fruits? Now for this, hearken to our Sauiour, Matth. 15.19. Out of the heart, saith he, proceed euill thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. These are the things that come from within, from the inside of a man, and breake out in his life and conuersation. Looke to the body of a man, and that you shall see subiect to blaines and sores of all sorts, which what do they else but speak what matter is within; the corruption of the soule doth, as it were, peepe out through the sores of the body. Looke againe to the liues of men; and there you shall discerne blasphemy in some, Atheisme in others, Adultery in others, &c. All these doe plainely euidence, what man is of himselfe.4. by the contrary medicines and prescriptions. Lastly, looke on such Lawes as God hath made against sinnes, there you shall see lawes against murder, lawes against adultery, lawes against blasphemy, &c: you shall find prohibitions of vnnaturall sins, of nameles abhorred sins, and all to acquaint vsus with that depth of wickednesse that is found in mans heart; for from the ill natures and manners of men sprang vp all these good Lawes. Yea, the Lord makes Lawes against those sinnes, which a heathen law-giuer held it needlesse, as against parricide, because hee thought that none could bee so inhumane as to fall into so foule a wickednesse, yet the Lord forbids it, so by his medicine he does vsus to know what are our dispositions: he forbids Atheisme, to tel vsus that we hauehave Atheistical natures, murder and adultery, because we hauehave murderous and adulterous natures, &c. All this serues to shew what is within. For our further vnderstanding of the point, wee will enquire into these three things. 1. In what sense man is said to bee corrupt.3. further explicated. 2. How far forth he is corrupted. 3. Whence it comes, and what is the reason of it. For the first, we must tell you that man cōmeth vnderunder a threefold consideration or capacity. 1. In regard of his naturall disposition and endowments, as we vse to consider him in Philosophy. 2. as we take him in a politicke state, as a member of the commonwealth. 3. in a spirituall sense, as he is taken in Diuinity. In this place we consider him not as the Philosophers describe him; for so, we yeeld him to be a noble creature, endued with vnderstanding, with a reasonable appetite, with affections capable of diuine obiects, with apprehensions and operations suitable to his nature, being able to compare, connect, discourse, deduct, to remember, and performe other noble parts and actions. Thus if you take man in genere entis, as they say, as he is Gods Creature, the work-manship of his hands, there is nothing amisse in him, as he comes from God. Neither doe we consider him here, in a ciuill sense, as, that he is of such a state, such a descent, such authority in the common-wealth, endued with such and such morall vertues, &c: for in this respect wee giuegive him his due according to his place and condition, religion makes not a confusion, but a distinction of persons according to their degrees and orders. Therefore wee dismisse these two considerations of man for present, not medling with him as he is set out by naturall or morall Philosophers, but as he is taken by Diuines, as he referres to God, to Gods Image, to Gods Law, &c; and in this sense, we say that man is in a very poore and miserable condition.
The second Quaere is, how far forth man thus taken is to be faulted?
For answer to this: If you speake of Goodnesse first, he is depriued of all Good, not naturall or morall, but spirituall, I meane, there is no sauing goodnes in him at all: There is no vnderstanding left in him, no knowledge of heauenly things, no louelove or feare of God, which is spirituall, he hath made forfeiture of all these in his fall by Adam. Next, he is depriued, not onelyonly of all actuall goodnes, but 2. of all ability to recouer himselfe. 3. of all willingnesse to be restored. 4. lastly, (which is the height of his misery) bad though he be, yet he would faine seem good, he would be accounted wise, though he be brutish, and as a wild asse-colt. Thus for goodnes, he is voyd of all, he is depriued of the Glory of God, as saith the Apostle. Next, forbadnes, he is prone to all wickednesse, though neuer so abominable. EueryEvery man ('tis true) is not a murtherer, eueryevery man is not a theife, eueryevery man is not a drunkard or adulterer, but eueryevery man hath an adulterous nature, a drunken nature, an adulterous, an atheisticall nature, and may bee drawne at some times to an high degree of these detestable euils, he hath the seeds of all sin in himselfe, and not so only, but he hath also a disposition to cherish and foment these sins, these seeds of sin, according to that of Eliphaz, Iob, 15.15, 16. Behold, he puteth no trust in his Saints: yea, the heauens are not cleane in his sight: How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? As the fish that liues by the water, sucks it in: so doth man euen feed vponupon corruption, he drinkes it in, as a fish doth water.
Thirdly, though he be thus enclined to all euill, yet he will acknowledge none, he will needs seem to be godly, when he is godlesse, and would be reputed full of all goodnesse, when indeed he is empey of grace, and full of all corruption.
But the third thing wee hauehave to enquire of, is, whence miserable man is brought to so bad a passe, as hath beene spoken? and here hee must blame none but himselfe, for the euill that is befalne him: For the diuell could not compell him to sinne, much lesse did God any way necessitate him: it was mans owne doing alone, by his owne wilfull disobedience in breaking the commandements of God, he forfeited all sauing goodnesse, and drew vponupon himselfe all euill and misery. And thi… is the vnhappy condition of all the sonnes of Adam, who being a publike person, his sinne was publike, and the infection thereof common to all his wretched posterity. Hence is it, that there is in eueryevery one the seed and spawne of all sinne, a disposition to eueryevery wickednesse, Reas. which euill disposition is daily drawne into act, partly by the actiuity of mans nature, partly by the connaturalnesse of sin with him, and partly by the power, that now since the fall Satan hath ouer man.
First▪ I say, it is by reason of the excellency and act…uity of mans nature. Hee was made of God, the most noble creature of all, and according to that of the Philosopher, the best things corrupted are m…de worst; man being depraued, of the best of Gods creatures, becomes the worst. Hee hath by nature a working spirit, that neuer lies still, which as now, being without the guidance of sauing grace, runnes wilde, as it were, and wanders out of the right way, like a clocke out of order, the faster it strikes, the worse; like a Coach without a guide, the faster it runnes, the worse; like a Ship without a Pylot, the swifter it is, the worse; So mans soule since the fall, the faster hee goes, the further he erres from the right way.
Secondly, it proceeds from the connaturalnesse of sinne with man, it is become euen a part of himselfe, as if he were transformed into it, I mean it in a morall, not natural sense, for it goes with him, whersoeuer hee goes, it eates with him, it sleepes with him, &c. It is in man, as in its owne place, hence it troubles him not, he groanes not vnderunder the burthen of it, an Element in its own place waighes not.
Thirdly, man is made thus miserable, by being put (by Gods iust iudgement vponupon him for his sinne) vnderunder the power and tyranny of Satan, who inspires him with all wickednesse, and leads him captiue at his pleasure, so that hereby mans wickednesse is become more then humane, euen diabolicall, according to that of Iames, chap. 3.15. The wisdome of the flesh is not only earthly, and sensuall, but euen diuellish also. Mans wit is now diabolicall, and himselfe ready and apt to commit such foule sins as a man of himselfe would neuer doe, but that the diuell doth act and edge him.
You see by this time, my brethren, how ill it stands with a man in his naturall estate and condition. There are diuers inferences to be made of this point.
And first it serues, to discouer the miserable Vse. 1 pride, and delusion of all carnall persons, that beare themselues in hand, that they are better then others, and that their inside is the best part of them, whereas you see by this point, that the worst piece of a man is in the midst, and that his heart, and whole frame of his imaginations, is altogether euill continually; yet vaine men will not sticke to boast of the goodnesse of their hearts, and that although they are not booke-learned, &c. cannot talke and discourse of this and that, or remember a Sermon as soone as others can, yet they meane as well as the best,Mans pride confuted,… by m derne Christ… who most cry out of the… side. and they hauehave as good hearts as any of them all. They louelove God aboue all, and their neighbour as themselues, and what can any man doe more? O miserable delusion, that men should not onelyonly stand out before men in this manner, but euen dare to appeale to God in his name, that though they want these, and these trappings and accoutrements of ostentation, yet hee know…s their hearts to be good to him-ward. Lo, here is the very height of error and delusion: here sinne & Satan do euen exceed themselues, either in impudency, if knowing their own wicked inside they dissemble it, or else in selfe-deceit, if they know it not. This is certaine, that the inside of a man is altogether poysoned and depraued: witnesse those that can best iudge of the point, that doe most obserue themselues, that are of the quickest to…ch and liueliest apprehensions, Gods dearest seruants, with whom there is nothing more frequent, then continually to complaine of their inside, they are sicke at heart, their principall trouble lyeth at the heart. The pride, reuengefulnesse, hypocrisie, the wicked naughtinesse of their hearts, this is it that tires them most, and euen makes them cry out in the words of the Apostle: O wretched man that I am, who shall …eliuer mee from the body of this death? Lo, thus it is with the best Christians, they hauehave more adoe with their owne hearts, then with all the world againe, and are more put to it to resist corruption, then to deale with all their other enemies whatsoeuer.
2. Ancient Physicians in the world.2. If you consult the best of those wee read of in holy Scripture, we shall find them crying out of their hearts, as Dauid, Psal. 43. Why art thou cast downe my soule, and why art thou disquieted within mee? Dauid was a man of an excellent spirit, and yet all his busines lay at home, he was most of all troubled with himselfe, and therefore it is that in another place, he cryes out: Lord, cleanse mee from my secret sins, Psal. 19. This was Dauid. The like you may see, if you consult his sonne Salomon. Who can say, his heart is cleane, saith he, though a man may wash his hands, and make all faire for the outside, yet no man can deny, that hath gotten any insight into himselfe, but that his heart is foule and filthy.
3. By Diuine, test, in the 1. Prophets.3. Consult with the Prophets, and they will assure you the same thing. The heart of man, saith Ieremy, is deceitfull, aboue all things, and desperately euill, 2. and the Son of God.who can know it? Ierem. 17. If you will heare the iudge himselfe speake, he tells you, Mathew 15. that from within a man, commeth euill thoughts, theeuish thoughts, murtherous thoughts, adulterous thoughts, blasphemous thoughts, &c. Nay, will you heare God himselfe determining the point? you hauehave heard it already, Gen. 6. The whole frame of the imaginations of the heart of man is onelyonly euill, and that all the day. Thus you hauehave heard what these can say to the point, that are best able to iudge of it, therefore here is the height of all pride and error, and misery too, that man being so blinde, so bad, so farre out of the right way, and euen so starke naught as he is, hee seeth it not, he feareth not, but being deade, takes himselfe to be aliue, and which is the height of misery, hee is stuft vp with selfe deceit and conceit, both at once.
As this Doctrine discouers the vnhappinesse of Vse. 2 ignorant persons, that ouerweene themselues: so it may serue in the second place, to humble vsus all (euen the best in the Church) in the sight, and sence of our miserable estate by nature.
First, if we looke vponupon man as he is in himselfe, till God vndertake the oute of him, the Lord hath made a full description of him, in that fore-mentioned, and so often alledged place. Gen. 6.Gen. 6. expounded. EueryEvery imagination of mans heart, is altogether euill continually. Heere the wickednesse of mans inside is set forth by all the dimensions, the bredth, length, and depth of it. 1. For the breadth and latitude, it is said, that the whole frame, the whole platforme, the whole piece of mans inside is euill, (as it were easie to shew in the particulars, …f time would giuegive leaue.) If you looke to his vnderstanding. First, mans minde is stuft vp with conceit and deceit, with error and pride, being subiect to blindnesse, more then humane; for the diuell so sits in mans heart and blinds it, that hee hath not the heart of a man in him, as that Wise-man acknowledgeth, Pro. 30. Take the experience of it, when you will: deale but with men a little in worldly businesses in things of this life, in affaires secular, and they will tell you a very sensible tale, and answer to very good purpose: but turne your talke awhile to things spirituall, and you shall heare them speake as if they were not reasonable creatures, or had not common sense in them, so vnskilfully wil they here quit themselues. And what wee say for the vnderstandings of men, the same is true also of their memorie which like vntounto a grate retaineth that which is lothsome and vnusefull, but lets goe that that is sweete and seruiceable. Of this you may make the same tryall, as of the former. Tell a man a tale of any thing worldly, that pertaines to this present life, hee can goe along with you in eueryevery thing, and rehearse the whole discourse after you againe to a tittle: but bring this man to the house of God, set him vnderunder a Preacher, that handleth the word of God neuer so plainly, powerfully, methodically, yet he cannot carry away one sentence hardly of the sermon: so that a man would wonder what shift such a one can make to forget all, and not to remember, no not one of those lessons that hauehave beene deliuered, but that if you meet him at the Church doores, and demand of him what he hath learned, hee can remember nothing at all. Wee may say as much for the will and affections, which stand all quite crosse and contrary to God. The will is nothing else but peruersenesse and peeuishnesse, ready to stand against that which God commandeth, in that very name, because God commands it. It is reason enough to men, therefore to louelove a thing, because God hates it, and to hate a thing because he loues it. Thus into what part or roome soeuer of the soule you looke, nothing is to be found but rottennesse and corruption, disorder and confusion. Thus you see what a bredth of wickednesse there is in mans heart: Followes next the depth of it, when the Lord saith, mans thoughts and imaginations of his heart are euill, indefinetly, that is, he is subiect to all manner of euill: by nature eueryevery man stands subiect to murder, subiect to adultery, blasphemy, and what not? And as his thoughts are euill, so it is said they are onelyonly euill, without the mixture of any good therewithall. True it is, there are found in man, some naturall principles, some cōmon notions, but it is a very disputable question, whether they are to be ranked & reckoned among rudera or rudimenta, i. e. whether they belong to the old rubbish or to a new foundation: certainly, how euer it is, man hath in him by nature no good thing that tends to saluation, nothing that will doe him that good. These princples in speech tend rather to a common good, that men may liue safely vponupon earth, than any personall, priuate good to helpe a mans selfe to heauen. The imaginations and thoughts of mans heart are eutll, and onelyonly euill: there is the depth of his wickednesse.
3. Consider a little of the length and continuance of it, as it is there described by God, the imaginations of his heart are onelyonly euill, and that continually, eueryevery day, or all the day (as the word may be rendred) there is not an houre in the day or a minute in the houre, wherein mans heart is not deuising of euill, it attends him in all whatsoeuer he does, wheresoeuer he goes, when he lyeth downe at night, sinne lieth downe with him, when hee wakes againe, sinne wakes with him, when he trauels, it goes along with him, when he dines, it sits downe with him, when he comes to Church, sinne beares him company, yea, it comes with a man to the Lords Table, yea, into the pulpit too, doe what he can to the contrary, it dogs him at heeles in all his wayes; mingles with all his prayers, runnes along in his best seruices, all which (for the matter) may bee good and commendable, but for the manner, there is a tainture of sinne in all his actions. Thus you hauehave seene that the whole frame of mans heart by nature is naught, starke naught, wholy naught, only naught, eueryevery day and all day naught.
But 2 how is it with him, when God giues him his grace, and regenerates him.
Surely, then the matter is much amended with him, but yet there still remaines in him that which may humble and pull him downe, whether you looke to euill or good. First, he stands strongly inclined still to euill, the dregs of his old disease, of his former distemper, do yet still sticke by him, and he is disposed to it, being cured but in part. See this in Dauid: who would euer hauehave thought that so many afflictions, which hee had suffered, so many mercies as he had receiued, so many vows as he had made, so many parts of holy Scriptures as he had penned, &c: that after all this, so many dregges of adultery, of treachery, of murder, should hauehave beene left remaining in him? and yet when Dauid remits his strict watch, and holds not so euen a hand ouer his owne heart, how fouly doth he fall, how shamefully doth he sinne against the Lord? In him you see the seedes of all euill are left in the best of Gods children, and are apt to breake out. And secondly for good, all that the regenerat man doth, is imperfect, it fares with him as with a crazy, weak man, that is new come out of his sicknes, eueryevery small matter distempers him. He findes it a very hard matter to raise vp his heart to a little heate in that which is good, and what adoe is there to hold it when he hath it? How easie a thing is it to slacke his pace, to remit of his heate before it bee well kindled. And for his performances, how faint and feeble do they come from him, his prayers are cold, his purposes vnsettled and vncertaine: now he will, and now againe he will not, one while he hath a good motion in his mind, and anone he is quite off againe, he lets goe his hold, his deuotions flag, &c: like the strings of an instrument, which, set in it neuer so good tune, lock it vp, when you hauehave don, neuer so safe, yet when it comes next to be vsed, you must tune it anew, and straine vp the strings again, else you will hauehave no good musick: And so it is with the heart of a Christian, he must be euer dealing with it, if he would hauehave it kept in any good frame, for he can neuer finde it, as he left it: now perhaps it is in good plight, and anone quite off the hookes, set quite backward, so that a man must begin againe with it to raise it vp to the former pitch. Oh let the due consideration of all these things layd together, make you humble and low in your owne eyes, mercifull to other offenders, and thankfull to God, and to Christ, for affording vsus such meanes, and such medicines to amend vsus.
Vse. 3 Is it so, that mans inside is thus bad, as hath been shewed? Learne we all from hence what to do for our selues, and what for our friends. For our selues first, labour to get a better heart, a better inside. Most people are all for the outside, to hauehave their faces faire, their skin smooth, &c: but let vsus learne to beginne at the right end, to get the heart made good, this is the source and spring of all our actions, therefore make that cleane first; to what purpose is it to wash the bucket, so long as the spring is foule: Behold, the heart is the fountaine, the wel-spring of all, therefore begin there, if you desire to hauehave your outside good, your conuersation cleare. The heart is the chiefe part of a man, it is Gods roome, where he abides, his bed-chamber, where hee lodges. Yee are the Temples of the holy Ghost, saith Paul. Now a neate man would hauehave his court lye clean, much more his ha…, his parlour, but most of all his bed-chamber, the heart is Gods bed-chamber, therefore giuegive all diligence to get a new heart, a cleane heart. This you are not able to doe of your selues, for the heart is like that stable, the Poet speakes of; it is an infinite worke to cleanse it of all those thoughts, euill lusts, euill dreames, &c: wherewith it is pestered. Therefore you must goe to him which is both the heart-maker, and the heart-mender, and that is God alone, as here in the text. I will giuegive you a nea… heart, and I will renew a right Spirit within you, I will doe it. None but God can come at the heart: none but his medicines can effect the cure: none but the father of Spirits can alter and renue our spirits. To him therefore must we runne and pray in the words of Dauid, Create in me a cleane heart, O God, &c; intreate him to vndertake the cure, carry his owne couenant to him, and say, Lord, here is thine own promise, the bargaine thou hast made with mee, and confirmed often to mee in the Sacrament, &c:
Secondly, you must waite vponupon God in the vse of his owne meanes and ordinances. Wherewithall, saith Dauid, shall a young man, (whose heart is vainest and foulest) cleanse his wayes? by taking heed thereto according to thy Word, Psal. 119.9. It is the Word that cleanseth our inside, therefore we must bee carefull to reade it, heare it, lodge it in our hearts, apply it close to our consciences, and then it will heale our hearts. Hence is it that the word is cōpared to leauen, which a woman takes and puts into three peckes of meale, and it leaueneth the whole lump: so the word must be hid in the heart till it hauehave seasoned it. This the Apostle Iames exhorts to, setting it forth by another comparison, Chap. 1.20. receiu (saith he) the engrafted Word that is able to saue your soules. A graft that is set into a stocke, altereth the nature thereof: so the heart when the word is stockt, grafted, and, as it were, moulded thereunto. But wee can stand no longer vponupon this.
Secondly, learne hence what to doe for your friends too, you that be parents, first, see what is to be done for your children. It is your great care for most part, to hauehave them for the outside, proper, fine, well featured, sightly, but the worst part in them is the heart, and there you must beginne, if you would hauehave them doe well. Folly is knit vp, Prou. 22.15.saith Salomon, in the heart of a childe, but the rod of correction, &c. There is a heape of folly, a bundle of corruption in the heart of a child. How shall wee come at it now, and get it out. First, pray to God to doe a cure vponupon them. Secondly, bring them to the ordinances. Thirdly, whet Gods Law vponupon them at home. Lastly, giuegive them all due instruction, shew them all good example, correct them also, as there is neede, and thus shall you fetch out their folly, saith Salomon, So heere is a lesson for you Magistrates: Doe you see what a thing man is in himselfe? There is in eueryevery one by nature, the seeds of treason, the seeds of rebellion, the seeds of murther, and of all kinde of wickednesse, which seeds will certainely break out into the lips and liues of men, if you labour not by your authority to represse it and keepe it in. Man is a wilde and wicked creature of himselfe, if he be not held vnderunder. Your townes, your diuisions, your shires will be all ouer-runne with Atheisme, with popery, with murther, whoredome, blasphemy, if you bestirre you not in labouring to restraine them. Indeed, it is not in your power to take corruption out of mens hearts, but it is in your power to keepe it in, and confine it: For which cause it is, that Magistrates are in Scripture phrase, called Lords of restraint. (So the originall hath it) because they are to keep sinne out of mens tongues and hands, though they cannot keepe it out of their hearts. Yea, as fire in the Ouen is best quenched by smothering and shutting of it vp, so is sinne much quailed by restraint.
The like wee may say to the Ministers: The heart is the worst part in a man, what should wee of the Ministery therefore do, rather then by applying all good medicines thereunto, to labour the cure of it, dealing still with the heart as much as may be in all our discourses. And first with our owne hearts: for, hee that will deale with other mens hearts to purpose, must first practice vponupon his owne, try the medicines vponupon himselfe, wh…ch he desites should proue effectuall to others. Water will ascend no higher then it descends: and words will hardly come to the heart, which come not from the heart. Secondly, leuell at the heart of the hearers, like as when a man would strike his enemy dead, he aymes not at his legges or feet, but bendeth the stroke at his heart. I deny not, but you may profitably cut out some branch of sinne, to inueigh against, or take some particular sinne, as drunkennesse, swearing, lying, or the like to deale with all: and vsually this takes best with our common hearers, who are much affected herewith, but the maine businesse lyes about the heart, with it must we be dealing, if we meane to doe good, for there is the fountaine of all sinnes. And therefore like as if I would fall a tree, it is not my next course to get vp to the top thereof, or to lop off the branches, but I must hew at the root, and so with the same labour, the whole tree would be ouer-turned so is it here, go to the root, originall sinne, and the bed thereof, mans heart.
Vse. 4: Comfort to such poore soules as vponupon sight of the euill of their inward man, are cast downe and discouraged thereat, and are ready to thinke there are none so bad as themselues. There are two things whereof I would aduertise eueryevery afflicted conscience, thus deiected in the sense of his owne naughtinesse. First, that you smother not your doubts and temptations out of an opinion, that euer, body would hate you, cry shame on you, spit in your face, and detest you, in case you should vtter and disclose those darke, hideous and horrible thoughts that are in your heart. Secondly, take heed you thinke not your case to be singular. (as vsually Satan would perswade men) as if there were neuer any such person so bad as your selues, so haunted and troubled with wicked thoughts, as you are. Beleeue it, there is no temptation so hideous, but the diuell dare offer it to the best of Gods people: yea, to our Sauiour Christ himselfe, whom he shamed not to trouble with temptations to presumption, to diffidence, to couetousnesse, to Idolatry, yea, to that monstrous Idolatry, as to dethrone God his Father, and to set vp the diuell for God, by falling downe and worshipping him. What euil thoght is it then thou art pestered with that neuer man had? though they be thoughts of blasphemy, thoughts of Athisme, thoughts of Idolatry, diuellish thoughts; Satan is so shamelesse, that he may, and will offer it to any man, though neuer so holy and high in Gods fauour. Therefore neuer say thy case is singular, that art thus troubled, and thinke not thou art alone herein; I tell thee, the same may be my case, or any ones in the Church: For by nature, there is neuer a better of vsus. Wee are all cut out of the same cloth, the sheeres onelyonly going betweene, therefore neuer hold thy state desperate, whateuer thy malady be, but runne to the Physician for cure, who vndertakes here in the Text to giuegive spirituall, as well as outward blessings, grace, as well as goods, I will giuegive you one heart, and I will put a right spirit into you, &c. carry all thy hellish, hidious, diabolicall thoughts and temptations to him be they as black as hell, be they as bad as the diuell, bring them to him, and intreat him, to set all right and straight within you, and to bring your hearts to a better point, according to his couenant.