Sermon 24 February 1646, Sermon
A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable Houſe of Commons, at their Monthly Faſt, FEBRUARY 24. 1647.
PSAL. 4. verſ. 4.
Commune with your owne Hearts.
WHen I communed with mine owne Heart concerning what ſubject to diſcourſe upon before this Honourable and great Audience at this time, me thought this Text when it came to hand would be very ſutable, both for the Auditorie, and for the Occaſion, and for the age wherein we live, and for all the age that we have to live.
Firſt, for this Honourable Auditorie; for how fitting is it, that they that ſpend ſo much time in needfull Conferences among themſelves about the affaires of Church and State, ſhould be minded ſometimes of ſpending ſome time in the as needfull conferences with their owne hearts, about the State and affaires of their owne ſoules?
Secondly, for this ſolemne occaſion; for how impoſſible is it, that we ſhould either deal with God, or with theſe weighty things that we have in hand, as we ought to doe, unleſſe wee commune with our owne Hearts, concerning our ſelves, and concerning God, and concerning theſe things; with whom, and about which we have to deale?
Thirdly, for this age wherein welive: for how proper an anſwer and a check is this Text for all the inquiſitiveneſſe and cenſoriouſneſſe, that ſo much raveth and rageth amongſt us in theſe times: To anſwer Inquiſitiveneſſe, by ſending men to enquire after their owne hearts; and to check Cenſoriouſneſſe, by minding men to examine their owne ſelves.
And laſtly, for our whole age that we have to live: for while we carry our Hearts about us, wee ſhould carry this duty with us, I am ſure we carry the Obligation upon us, of Communing with our owne Hearts.
Thus doth the Text ſuit to us, to our preſent occaſion, and to our preſent times: The buſineſſe is, if our heart would but as well and truely ſuit to the Text, and then a perfect harmony and uniſon were made. Now the Lord ſo tune my tongue to your hearts, and your hearts to the Text, and all of us to the duty that the Text holdeth out, that I may ſpeak a word in ſeaſon, you receive it ſeaſonably, and all of us practiſe it all the ſeaſon of our lives, that I may have cauſe to bleſſe God that I met with ſuch an Audience, you have cauſe to bleſſe God that you met with ſuch a Text, and all of us finde cauſe to acknowledge that God hath been amongſt us at this time of a truth. And ſo in his name let us fall to worke.
THis Pſalme by the tenour of it, doth ſeem to be made upon the Rebellion of Sheba the Son of Bichri, as the Pſalme preceding is plaine by the Title of it, to have been made upon the rebellion of Abſalom, which inſtantly preceded that rebellion. The ſtory of both you have in the ſeventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth Chapters of the ſecond of Samuel, and ſome references to both, you have in divers paſſages of this Pſalme, as it goes along. In the firſt Verſe David ſpeaks to God, who had enlarged him before, in his former troubles, cauſed by his own ſon, to relieve him now in his preſent diſtreſſe cauſed by the ſonne of Bichri. In the ſecond Verſe he ſpeaketh to foreign the men of Armes, and the men of dignity; that they would no longer deſpiſe the glorie of his Kingdom which God hath choſen, nor follow after a Kingdom of vanity and falſehood, as was Abſaloms and Sheba's. In the 4. Verſe, he ſpeaks againſt the Cauſe and Occaſion of the preſent conſpiracy; namely, the anger between the men of Iſrael, and the men of Judah, mentioned, 2 Sam. 19 43. where the words of the men of Iſrael are fierce, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer. This anger he ſeeketh to calme, by that calme admonition in the beginning of the Verſe, Be angry, but ſin not: for ſo might the word be very fitly rendred, and ſo it is render'd by the LXX, by the Arabick and others; and as may be well ſuppoſed by the Apoſtle, Eph. 4. 26. And in the ſeventh Verſe he ſpeaketh out his own comfort and confidence, collected & taken up, upon the obſervation of a ſpecial providence: That ſince the time that Corne, and Wine, and Oile had increaſed to him, and been abundantly ſent him in by Nahaſh, Machir, and Barzillai, as it is recorded, 2 Sam. 17. 27, 28. The Lord had put gladneſſe into his heart; for now he perceived that the Lord and his owne people begun to look after him in his diſtreſſe.
If we thus apply the Pſalme unto this occaſion, then wee know to what perſons to apply the Text, namely to perſons, now in great diviſions and differences among themſelves: to perſons in fierie conteſtation and in heat of bloud about the man that ſhould governe, and the manner of government, even to perſons ſo parallel to the temper, or diſtemper rather of our preſent generation, that I would wee could as aptly take out the leſſon of the Text, as wee and thoſe perſons doe reſemble one another; and as the Text doth fitly ſuit both with them and us. But I ſhall not be curious in this parallell and application, ſince the Text ſo properly fitteth all perſons, and the leſſon in it ſuiteth all occaſions. For there is none among men, not no occaſions that a man can be about, to whom and when it may not be proper and pertinent to read this leſſon, Commune with your owne heart. In the Originall it is litterally or Syllabically thus foreign Say in your heart: and ſo it is cloſely followed by the Greek; and ſo it is taken by the Chaldee: The Greek reads it with ſome difference of the Mood indeed, and with one word added to the Clauſe, but to ſuch a ſenſe as this, for it readeth thus, What you ſay in your hearts: The Caldee renders the Text, and the words following it thus largely, Say your Prayers with your mouth, and your Petitions in your heart, and pray upon your beds, and remember the day of death evermore.
But I ſhall not trouble you with ſuch varieties of gloſſes and interpretations which I might doe copiouſly; I ſhall ſpare that labour, ſince the words themſelves doe ſpeak their owne ſenſe, and our Engliſh hath very well and properly conſtrued and interpreted them, Speak with, or, Commune with your own hearts.
It is not every ſpeaking in the heart that the Pſalmiſt here ingageth to; For the Foole ſpeaks in heart, and ſaith in his heart, there is no God, Pſalme 14. 1. The Epicure ſpeakes in his heart, and ſaith, I ſhall never be moved, Pſalme 10. 6. The Atheiſt ſpeaks in his heart and ſaith, Tuſh, God hath forgotten, he will never ſee it, Pſalme 10. 11. And theſe perſons to whom David ſpeaketh, if we hit the occaſion of the Pſalme aright, were ready enough to ſay in their heart, we will none of David, and nothing to doe with the ſonne of Jeſſe: But the Text enjoyneth ſuch a conference in the heart, as that the matters betwixt a man and his owne heart, may be debated to the very utmoſt, that the heart may be ſo put to it in communing with it, as that it might ſpeak its very bottome. Nor ſhall I trouble you with the divers acceptations of the word Heart, when it is uſed to ſignifie the ſpirituall part of man, or when it is taken in a ſpirituall ſenſe; elſe I might ſhew you that ſometimes it is taken for the whole frame of the Soule; ſometimes for the one faculty, the Underſtanding; ſometimes for the other faculty, the Will; and ſometimes for that which I may call a middle faculty, the Conſcience; but your owne hearts will readily tell you upon the reading of the Text, that the word Heart in it doth meane the laſt mentioned, the Conſcience, and that communing with a mans owne heart, is nothing elſe, but ſearching and trying of a mans owne Conſcience. And you will eaſily ſee, that the words hold out this needfull and uſefull Leſſon to us: That it is a Dutie of moſt ſpeciall concernment, Doct.for everie one of us to hold ſerious Communication and cleare Intelligence and Acquaintance with his owne heart. I may well repeat it, for it had need to bee inculcated againe and againe; And as that golden ſaying, Brethren let us love one another, is reported to have beene ever in the mouth of John the Evangeliſt, ſo had this as golden a ſaying, Brethren Commune with your owne hearts, as much need to bee ever in the mouth of the Miniſters; and this truth ever in the hearts of the people.
That it is a Duty of moſt ſpeciall concernment for every one of us, to hold ſerious Communication, and cleare Intelligence and Acquaintance with his owne heart.
This muſt be the ſubject of my Diſcourſe; and for the proving and clearing of this poſition, you ſee there lye before me theſe foure things. 1. To ſhew you that Communication and Intelligence may be had and held with a mans owne heart; this de poſſe. 2. That ſuch a Communication and Intelligence muſt be; this de jnre. 3. That this Communication and Intelligence with a mans owne heart is to be cleare and ſerious; this de fieri. And fourthly, that ſuch a ſerious & cleare Communication and Intelligence with a mans owne heart is of ſpeciall concernment; this de facto. I ſhall not be very large in theſe particulars, becauſe it is but to prove foure things, that I ſuppoſe are already granted. I ſhall apply my ſelfe the rather to be more copious in application.
Firſt, that it is poſſible for a man to hold a Conference and Communication with his owne heart, I ſhould not need to prove it, if you would but put it to proofe within your owne ſelves. And as hee ingeniouſly proved that there is motion againſt one that denyed it, by riſing out of his Chaire, and walking up and downe; So your hearts without mee would make this aſſertion cleare, if you would but ſeriouſly and ſoundly put them to it, that they and you might conferre together, I doubt not but many in this great Congregation have done this already, and have had many a holy and ſolemne Diſcourſe with their owne hearts, and conclude the truth of this matter by their owne experience as ſoone as I name it. But as for ſuch as have not had this practice, nor cannot conclude this by experience, that never heare nor feele their Conſcience ſpeakword to them: ſhould there come over them ſome dreadfull judgement, or ſhould there come before them ſome horrid apparitions, or ſhould there come unto them a ſure meſſage of an inſtant death as there did to Ezekiah; then if they will but turne their face a little to the Wall, retire their thoughts a▪ little to their hearts, they may chance heare their hearts ſpeake ſomething to them, which it may be they will like but ill, and there it may be they would feele by experience that there is ſomething in them that would have talked with them heretofore if they would have talked with it.
But for the better clearing of this to you at this time, [at one time or other all muſt have experience of the truth of it in a better manner or a worſe] give mee leave a little to recall you a little, firſt, to the viewing of ſome places of Scripture; and then to the viewing of your ſelves within: or to the conſideration of the Frame and Fabrick of your owne ſoules.
Firſt, you may ſee this aſſerted even by the experience of him in his owne particular that gives this leſſon here to all in generall, in Pſal. 77. verſe 6. I commune with my owne heart, and my ſpirit maketh diligent ſearch. Here David and his heart are talking together; and ſee what his heart ſaith unto him in Pſal. 16. 7. My reines inſtruct me in the night ſeaſon. For that the heart and reines doe ſignifie the ſame thing, when they are taken in a ſpirituall ſenſe, and that they ſo taken, doe ſignifie the Conſcience, is a matter ſo copiouſly evident in Scripture that I need not to uſe any inſtances to prove it.
And ſo in Iohn 8. 9. when our Saviour bids, whoſoever is without ſinne caſt the firſt ſtone at the woman taken in adultery, it is ſaid of the company preſent, that foreign they were convicted of their owne conſcience: The word in the Greeke doth properly ſignifie a conviction by argument. There was ſomething within them that over-argued them, and talked and diſputed them cleane away. And ſo in Rom. 2. 15. the conſciences of the very Heathens ſpake as it were within them, and gave in evidence either for them or againſt them, their thoughts either accuſing or excuſing, foreign, inter ſe invicem, as the vulgar Latine, as in a diſcourſe among themſelves.
But in the ſecond place, conſider and ſtudy your ſelves a little within, and you ſhall find that the Lord hath made every one of our ſoules of ſuch a Frame and Fabricke, as that there is an Eccho in them: the ſoule able to propoſe queſtions to it ſelfe, and to give it ſelfe an anſwer, Like Siſera's mother in the fifth of Iudges and the nine and twentieth ſhe asketh, why ſtay the wheeles of my ſons chariot? And her wiſe Ladies anſwered her, nay ſhe anſwered her ſelfe.
To this purpoſe may I apply that phraſe in Deut. 4 39. Know therefore this day foreign and make a Returne or an anſwer to thine owne heart. And to this purpoſe I cannot but apply that gloſſe of the Chaldee Paraphraſt upon Gen. 2. 7. the latter part of that verſe. And God made man of the duſt of the ground, and breathed into his noſtrils the breath of life, and that in man became a ſpeaking ſpirit. Moſt true in every parcell. That that God breathed into man became a ſpirit, or a ſpirituall ſubſtance, and it became a ſpeaking ſpirit, inabling men to talke and ſpeake one to another: and it became a ſpeaking ſpirit within him, able alſo to ſpeake and conferre with it owne ſelfe.
There are three parts of the ſoule as I may ſo expreſſe it, of diſtinct and ſeverall notion and conſideration, as there are three things in the ſun, light, heate, and motion: ſo in the ſoule, the underſtanding, the will, and the conſcience. The Conſcience lies as it were in the midſt of the other two, as the Center of the ſoule, or the midſt of the heart, as Prov. 4. 21. whither there is conflux of whatſoever is good or evill in either of the other faculties.
Now either of thoſe have its diſcourſe with it ſelfe, and conſcience if it act aright, hath its conference with them both.
1. The intellective Faculty of the Soule, or the Underſtanding, doth in a manner talke to the will when it offers it good or evill things to its choice or refuſall, and it doth in manner talke to it ſelfe in every reflex it exerciſeth, when it doth not only attaine to the knowledge of things, but is alſo able to ſay to it ſelfe I know, I know them, as 1 Ioh. 2. 3. Hereby we know that we know him.
2. The Elective faculty of the Soule or the Will, doth conferre and debate with, and within it ſelfe upon every Election or refuſall, when it doth either entertaine or lay aſide, what is preſented to it by the underſtanding, chuſing, or refuſing, upon ſuch a diſcourſe and argumentation with it ſelfe as this; I chuſe it becauſe it is good, and I refuſe it becauſe it is evill.
But 3. the Participle faculty of the ſoule, as I may ſo call it, or the conſcience, as it is lodged betweene the two other, ſo it receives ſomething from both, and returnes ſomething to both: From the Intellective faculty it receives knowledge and memory, and it is told by them that ſuch and ſuch things ought to be done, or they ought not to be done: And then it makes an anſwer backe to them by conviction, and ſayes, I have done ſuch things, or I have not done them. From the other faculty, or the Will, it receives moovedneſſe and affecting: and when that faculty of the ſoule is moved or affected with the grievous or fearefull caſe of another; the conſcience anſwers, why this caſe is mine owne, and makes a returne to the affections by compunction, and ſaies alas, what have I done in thus doing?
And thus doth the ſoule hold a debate, conference, and communication within, and with it owne ſelfe: And thus in the firſt place is that particular ſomewhat cleared, de poſſe, that it is poſſible for a man to conferre and commune with his owne heart.
Secondly, That this is not only a poſſibility, but a duty, not only a may be, but a muſt be, the Text is enough to prove if we had no more to prove it: For the Holy Ghoſt doth here command the thing, & where the Holy Ghoſt commands, it creates a duty.
But we find this alſo enjoyned againe, and againe in other places of Scripture, though under other tearmes and expreſſions. As 1 Cor. 11. 28. Let a man examine himſelfe, and ſo let him care, &c. And 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your ſelves whether you be in the faith, &c. And that in Lam. 3. 40. Let us ſearch and and trie our wayes, &c. And that in Zeph. 2. 1. As it is rendred by ſome foreign, Excutite voſmet iterumque excutite, as ſome expreſſe it, Fanne your ſelves, and again fanne your ſelves; and divers other places that ſpeak not indeed the very ſame Language with the Text, yet ſpeake the very ſame ſenſe, and command the ſame thing, as a duty for every one of us, to commune with our owne hearts.
This duty lay upon Adam in his innocency, and ſo ſhould have continued upon him in that eſtate, had he continued in it. For God turned him into the Garden with a natural Law written in his heart, and a poſitive Law utter'd in his eares: This poſitive Law directed him onelyonly as concerning eating or not eating: but what muſt he be directed by, as concerning his generall converſation beſide? why Adam Commune with thine owne heart, and that will tell thee.
This duty lay alſo upon him when hee was fallen: and ſo doth it upon every one of us, though under the ſame fall with him. For though the purity, integrity, activity, and vigilancy of our Conſciences be utterly gone by our fall and ſinne; yet is not Conſcience it ſelfe utterly gone. It is ſo eſſentiall a part of the ſoule, that a ſoule cannot be a ſoule without it; and it is ſo inſeperable a part of man, that even death it ſelfe cannot divorce him and his Conſcience. So that though wee have not ſuch a Conſcience as Adam had before his fall; yet have wee a Conſcience; and though we cannot have recourſe to it, upon the ſame termes that he might have had to his, namely, as to a certaine rule; yet may we, and ought we to have recourſe to it upon other termes; namely, as being a Witneſſe, Iudge, and Moniter in the midſt of us.
I might ſhew how the neareneſſe of our hearts unto us doth challenge this duty; and how the deareneſſe of our hearts unto us ſhould claime it and enforce it: but I will conclude this, as Paul to Agrippa: Honourable and Chriſtian auditory, do you believe that this is a duty? I know you beleeve it: and I would that I and all that heare me this day, could as readily comply with the duty, as we cannot but readily confeſſe it, if we will but commune with our owne hearts about it.
Thirdly, the practiſe of this duty, or the communication with our hearts is to be ſerious, & the intelligence and acquaintance we hold with them to be cleare; as the womans ſcrutiny for her groat in the Parable to ſearch and ſift every corner of the heart, according to that of Solomon, Prov. 20. 27. The Spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord, ſearching all the inward parts of the belly.
You may obſerve two Arguments uſed, Gen. 44. the one by Joſeph, and the other by his Steward, to impreſſe it upon the ſons of Jacob, that a ſerious and true ſearch would be made for that ſilver Bowle that they had ſtolne: the one taken from the Cup it ſelfe: Is not this the Cup in which my Maſter drinketh, and for which he will make a very trying ſearch. And the other foreign Experiende expertetur,from Joſeph himſelfe: Know ye not that a man of my authority could make a very trying ſearch. Two ſuch kinde of Topikes may I take up for the proofe of the thing in hand, that the conference with our owne heart ought to bee with all ſeriouſneſſe▪ The one taken from the matter of that Conference, and the other from the temper of our hearts.
1. The matter whereof we ſhould or can commune with our hearts is moſt ſerious, and ſancta ſanctè, it muſt bee moſt ſeriouſly done: As the two men that went to Emmaus, communed ſadly, becauſe they communed of a very ſad matter, Luke 24. 17.
The onelyonly matters that a man can or doth commune with his owne Conſcience about, are the matters and concernments of the ſoule: For as the Conſcience lodgeth in the very Center of the ſoule, as I ſhewed before, ſo there are the proper and the moſt cloſe tranſactions of the ſoule managed. It is the Center, as was ſaid before, whither if there be any good in the ſoule it flowes thither; and what evill there is in the ſoule, it hath its Conflux thither alſo.
The underſtanding in its actings by knowledge and memory; and the will in its actings by affections and deſires, practiſeth upon and about things of an extrinſicall and forraigne Cognizance, as well upon things of a mans owne concernment, but the Conſcience medleth onelyonly with ones owne concernment, and that concernment of the ſoule. As naturall affection in the proper ſenſe, or affection of a relative nature, moves not, nor acts not, unleſſe the thing preſented to it be of its owne intereſt: As a Father or Mother, ſeeing the miſery or miſcarriage of other mens children, their affections may be moved with it, but naturall relative affections, ſtirre not till the ſtorie comes home to their owne Children. So is it with Conſcience, the knowledge knoweth naturall, politique, forraigne, alien things, and the memory retaines them: ſo the affections are taken up with forraigne, alien, naturall politique matters, and are moved with them: but the conſcience moves not, unleſſe the concernment come home to a mans owne ſoule, and the matter reach thither.
As I might exemplifie in Achan, if his Conſcience had been awake to have done its part, his carnall reaſon and knowledge told him, the Wedge of Gold, and the Babyloniſh Garment, would be a rich prize, and mend his eſtate very well: then his Will and Affections anſwer, I would I had them, and they conſent and put on to compaſſe them. Here are extrinſick buſineſſes onelyonly in agitation with theſe faculties about wealth and growing rich: But then a good Conſcience if it had beene there would have ſtepped in and anſwered: I but how will this comply with the good of my ſoule? And ſo might I inſtance in other things, as in mens deſiring riches, honours, pleeſures; their carnall Underſtandings and Wils, like Haman and Zereſh, caſt and conſpire, and conſent together to compaſſe what they deſire, and it will be ſo brave for their port, ſo contentive to their perſons, ſo beneficiall to their poſterity: Theſe are fine things, and eaſily ſwallowed, but they are but out-ſide things, there is not a word yet of the conſequent and concernment to the ſoule: that conſcience muſt take into conſideration, or the conſideration of that is quite layd aſide: That is proper for conſcience only to act about, and to take to conſcience and conſultation.
And thus it appeareth that our conference with our owne hearts had need to be ſerious, becauſe the things that we can conferre with them a bout, only are of a moſt ſerious and weighty nature: viz. the things of the ſoule only.
And ſecondly, the needfulneſſe of ſuch a ſerious conference, will appeare alſo upon the conſideration of the deceitfulneſſe of our owne hearts. Talke cloſe and home, and have cleare intelligence with them, or elſe they will deceive us, they will tell us a thouſand lyes. As he in Story, who hearing a man talk to himſelfe as he walked along the high way, and queſtioning whom he talked withall, was anſwered, I talke to my ſelf; why then ſaith he, Cave ne cum malo loquaris, take heed thou talke not with one that is naught. You may reſolve upon this, whenſoever you come to Commune with your owne heart, that you have to deale with a very Cheat and a Jeſuite, a Proteus, a Jugler; that if you put it not home to it, will not tell you one true Story amongſt a thouſand: I ſpeak this by the ſad experience of a baſe, falſe, coſening, and deceitfull heart of mine owne: and I beleeve other mens hearts are of the ſame mettle. O wretched heart thou haſt deceived me, and I have been deceived, thou haſt been too ſtrong for me, and haſt prevailed. But I ſpeak this alſo upon the Warrant of him that knoweth all hearts, even the Spirit of God, that diſcerneth the things of the Spirit, Jer. 17. 9. The heart is deceitfull above all things, and deſperately wicked, who can know it? Ah ſad Climax, deceitfull, and deceitfull above all things, wicked, and deſperately wicked, and ſo bad of both, that who can know it? Such another miſerable gradation ye have expreſſed concerning the very ſame ſubject in Gen. 6. 5. The frame of the thoughts of mans heart was wholly evill, was onelyonly evill, and was evill continually.
There is a mutuall or reciprocall cozenage betwixt a man and his owne heart, mentioned in Scripture: Sometimes a man deceives his owne heart, as James 1. 26. If any man among you ſeem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart. Sometimes a mans heart deceives him, Eſa. 44. 20. A deceived heart hath turned him aſide that he cannot deliver his ſoul, nor ſay, Is there not alye in my right hand: And thus Manaſſeh againſt Ephraim, and Ephraim againſt Manaſſeh, and both againſt Judah. Sometimes the man cozens his heart▪ and ſometimes his heart cozens him, and alwayes both theſe cozenings help to undoe the poore Soule.
Sometimes a man cozens his Conſcience with carnall reaſonings, as Achan did his, I ſhall be enriched, and I ſhall not be diſcovered: and as the rich man in the Goſpell did his, My purſe is full, and my Barnes are full, therefore ſoule take thine caſe: And ſo many and many man undoes his owne Soule by cozening his conſcience with the bribery of carnall reaſoning, I am yet in health, I may yet repent time enough, I ſhall not ſee evill, and the like, &c.
And on the other hand, the conſcience is as ready to cozen a man, and to tell him Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
Sometimes it deceives a man with halfe anſwers, as Ananias and Saphira would have done Peter, with halfe the money: and makes a man tane up with conviction only, which the wickedeſt man under heaven may have, and makes him to thinke that he hath ſorrow enough for his evill actions, when he hath only remembrance of them.
Sometimes it deceives a man with falſe anſwers, as Iacob deceived his Father with Kids fleſh inſtead of Veniſon; and makes a man beleeve he hath compunction enough for his evill actions, when he hath only ſome gripes of ſelfe love, or a feare of puniſhment, as was Ahabs humiliation.
Sometimes it deceives him with ſilence, and he thinkes all is well, becauſe it tels him nothing ill: as the Foole is counted wiſe when he is ſilent; and the Atheiſt thinkes God like himſelfe when he holds his peace, Pſal. 50. 21. ſo many a poore deceived ſoule thinkes his conſcience a good conſcience, and himſelfe in a good caſe, becauſe he heares no otherwiſe from his conſcience, for it is ſilent, and ſaies nothing at all to him.
Thus as it is in the Italian Proverbe,
Con arte e conjuganno ſi vive il mezzo anno,
Con juganno e con arte ſi vive l' altra parte.
With deceit and cozenage men live halfe the yeare, and with cozenage and deceit they live the other halfe: one part of our lives we deceive our own hearts, and another part of our lives, our hearts deceive us: And thus our lives go on in a miſt and cloud of deluſion, we deceiving, and deceived, and all becauſe we hold not communication with our own hearts cloſe enough, and put them not to it home, as Ahab did Micaiah, to tell us the truth and nothing elſe, in the name of the Lord: And thus we ſee very good reaſon why the communication with our hearts ſhould be ſerious, and the intelligence we hold with them cleere.
Fourthly, That this is a duty of ſpeciall concernment, is even proved already ere we are aware, in the things that have been ſpoken, but give me leave to adde one or two things more: As,
1. That this is a duty of ſo great concernment, that it is naturally the firſt duty of all other of the Second Table: For as to know God, is properly and methodically the firſt duty of the firſt and great Commandement, ſo is this as properly and methodically the firſt duty of the Second: for as it is impoſſible to love God as we ſhould, unleſſe we firſt know him; ſo it is impoſſible we ſhould love our neighbour as our ſelves, unleſſe we firſt know our ſelves.
2. It is a ſine quânon, a duty or a matter, without which we can neither hear any condition as we ſhould, nor performe any duty as we ought. As a golden thread was to be twiſted with every twine and thread of the Ephod and Breaſt-plate, or it was not rightly made; ſo if this action of communing with our owne hearts be not intwiſted with every one of our actions, we can neither undergoe any thing, nor performe any thing is becomes us to do.
Firſt, How is it poſſible for a man either to beare proſperity, or endure adverſity unleſſe he ſeriouſly talke with his owne heart about his owne deſervings, and about theſe conditions: This was the way of David that gives the Counſell in the Text: when great proſperity and happineſſe accrews unto him, in the promiſe that the Lord makes to him and to his houſe, he ſits downe and talkes with his owne heart about his deſerving of no ſuch thing, Who am I, or what is my fathers houſe? 2 Sam. 7. 15. And on the other hand, when great adverſity lights upon him, and he is fallen into perplexity, the way he takes, is to ſit downe, and amongſt other things to have ſerious conference with his owne ſoule about the bearing of ſuch a thing; Why …rt thou caſt downe ô my ſoule, and why art thou ſo diſquieted within me? Pſal. 43. 5.
Secondly, As impoſſible is it to do any duty aright, and as we ought to do, unleſſe the practice of this duty go before it or along with it. Be they the ſpirituall duties we owe to God, or the externall duties we owe to his Worſhip, or the conſcientious duties we owe to our owne hearts, we cannot poſſibly performe them aright, unleſſe this ſalt be with the Sacrifice, unleſſe we commune with our owne hearts about them.
1. As for the ſpiritual duties we owe to God: as to ſerve him with an upright heart, 1 Chron. 28. 9. To walke before him with an humble heart, Mic. 6. 8. To offer to him a contrite heart. Pſal. 51. 17. To draw neare to him with a true heart, Heb. 10. 22. To receive his word with a good heart, Luk. 3. 15. and one for all, To love him with all our heart, Deut. 6. 5. How is it poſſible we ſhould rightly do theſe things, if we have not acquaintance with our owne heart? what difference is there betwixt ſerving a ſtrange God, and ſerving the true God with a ſtrange heart? Naball and Abihu are puniſhed for offering ſtrange fire to the true God, as well as Ahaz and Manaſſeh for offering true fire to afalſe God. Let me uſe the ſtile of the Apoſtle, How can men beleeve in him of whom they have not heard; ſo how can men ſerve him aright and heartily, with a heart they do not know?
2. As for the externall duties that we owe to Gods Worſhip, as our hearts are to go along with them, or elſe our performing of them is nothing, ſo are we to commune with our owne hearts upon them and in them, or elſe we ſhall never bring our hearts unto them: It was very pertinently written over the Temple doore at Delphos, foreign, Know thy ſelfe, for certainely no Temple duty can be well performed without ſuch a knowledge.
Canſt thou pray without acquaintance with thine owne heart: the very Hebrew word that ſignifieth Praying, tells thee no, for the word foreign that is commonly uſed to ſignifie to pray, doth properly ſignifie, To judge a mans ſelfe. Thinkeſt thou, thou canſt receive the Sacrament aright without the exerciſe of this duty? the Apoſtle tells thee nay, but let a man firſt examine himſelfe, and then let him eate, 1 Cor. 11. 28.
The like might I ſay of ſinging of Pſalmes which muſt be done with the Spirit; 1 Cor. 14. 15, Of beleeving, which muſt be done with the heart; Rom. 10. 10. Of repenting, of trembling at the Word, and of other ſuch duties, how is it poſſible they ſhould be done by us as they ſhould, if we have no acquaintance and communication with our own hearts how they ſtand to them and in them?
And laſtly, as for the duties we owe to our owne hearts, as waſhing them; Jer. 4. 14. Watching them; Pro. 4. 23. Humbling them; Lev. 26. 4. and the like: Who can do them, but he that conferres and is in acquaintance with his ownheart? waſh my heart? why, I never asked it, not ever tooke notice how ſoyled and poluted it was: Watch it? Why I never obſerved, nor it never told me of any danger it was in, nor what need it had to be watched and looked after; nor can I goe about to humble it, for it and I were never ſo well acquainted, as I to know how hard, how proud, how unhumbled it is. Muſt not theſe be anſwers of him that holds not intelligence with his owne heart? And muſt not this want of intelligence needs ſpoyle the offices that a man oweth to it? And thus you ſee in the fourth place, the great concernment of this duty of heart communication: And thus, though thus rudely and unskillfully, have I ſomewhat cleared the truth of the Doctrine in clearing theſe foure particulars. And now ſhall I crave leave in three particulars more to make uſe of it, and to bring it home to our ſelves by application.
Firſt, By way of juſt reproofe of thoſe that neglect and forget ſo ſpeciall a duty, and of ſo ſpeciall concernment.
Secondly, By way of exhortation and perſwaſion to every one to ſet ſeriouſly to the practice of this duty.
And thirdly By recommending to you ſome Quaeres and Interrogatories to propoſe to your hearts to practice this duty with them upon.
Firſt then, ſince it is thus, that communing with a mans owne heart is ſo ſpeciall, and ſo important a duty, it ſhewes …ſe 1.that they juſtly deſerve to be reproved that neglect this duty and hold no acquaintance with their owne hearts at all: And becauſe I will be ſure to aime this reproofe aright, I ſhall in the firſt place begin with my ſelfe, and mine owne heart, for there is a ſubject that I know, and am ſure deſerves reprooving. It may be I ſhall finde ſome Company in this Congregation, that will joyne with me in this matter, and that will finde my caſe theirs, and that will make my words to be their owne. There is a Patheticall Story of Origen, that when he had fallen into a foule Apoſtacy, and after ſome recoverie from it, came into a Congregation, and was deſired to preach; he tooke the Bible and opened it accidentally at the fiftieth Pſalme, and his eye fell firſt to read theſe words in the ſixteenth and ſeventeenth verſes of it; But unto the Wicked God ſaith, What haſt thou to doe to declare my Statutes, or that thou ſhouldeſt take my Covenant in thy mouth, ſeeing thou hateſt inſtruction, and caſteſt my words behinde thee? upon reading the words hee remembred his owne fall, and in ſtead of preaching he fell a weeping, and wept ſo bitterly, that he cauſed all the Congregation to weep with him.
The fore-part of the ſtory is too much mine owne caſe. I would you would make the latter part of it ſomewhat yours. I profeſſe I cannot read the words of my Text, but like Pharaoh's Butler after a long forgetfulneſſe, I muſt confeſſe my fault of that forgetfulneſſe to day; and I cannot ſpeak what I have ſaid upon this Text, but that I muſt ſubſcribe to the woman of Tekoas words in her ſpeech to David, that I ſpeake theſe things as one guilty myſelfe. Is any one here whoſe heart hath been a ſtranger to him, as my heart hath beene; and is any ones heart here as my heart is, deſirous to be ſenſible, & to be humbled for this our ſtrangenes, come give me thine hand, and let us joyne hand in hand, and heart to heart to give glory to God by Confeſſion, and to take ſhame to our ſelves in a juſt reproofe, for that we have ſo much neglected ſo great a duty, and for that we have ſo greatly forgotten ſo neare a concernment.
Behold beloved among your ſelves, and regard, and wonder marvellouſly; for I can tell you a ſad ſtory in your eares, which ye will not beleeve though it be told you. I have lived theſe forty yeares, and ſomewhat more, and carried my heart in my boſome all this while, and yet my heart and I are as great ſtrangers and as utterly unacquainted, as if we had never come neare one another: And is there none in this Congregation that can ſay the like?
He ſpake very good ſenſe and much piety in it that complained that he had lived ſo many yeares above threeſcore, and had been a Student in the Scripture all his time, and yet could never attaine to take out that Leſton in the firſt Verſe of the nine and thirtieth Pſalme, That he ſhould not offend with his tongue. But it is to ſpeake a thing of monſtrouſneſſe and amazement to ſay that a man ſhould live ſo long a time as I have done, nay as ſome doe, to threeſcore, to foureſcore yeares, and yet never to get into acquaintance, and to communication with their owne hearts: who could believe ſuch a report? and yet how common is this amongſt men?
I remember it was a wonder to me before I knew this City, to heare of Families living ſo neare together all their lives, as but one Chimney back between them, and yet their doores opening into ſeverall ſtreets, and the perſons of thoſe Families never knowing one another, or who they were. And mee thought that paſſage of Martiall was a ſtrange one when I firſt met with it, Quiſquam eſt tam prope tam proculque nobis; and that obſervation of the Jewes remarkable, that ſometime two Verſes in Scripture be joyned as cloſe together for place as cloſe can be, and yet as diſtant for ſenſe and matter as diſtant may be: and that relation of Seneca wondrous, if I miſſe not my Author, that a man through ſickneſſe did forget his owne name: and that of the Naturalliſts as wondrous, that there is a Beaſt, that as he is eating his meat, if he but once turne his head from it, he forgets it. But now a ſad experience within mine owne ſelfe hath leſſned theſe wonders, and doth make a thouſand of ſuch ſtrangeneſſes as theſe ſeeme nothing; for I and my heart were borne together, grew up together, have liv'd together, have laine together, have alwayes been together, and yet have had ſo little acquaintance together, as that we never talked together, nor converſed together; nay I know not my heart, I have forgotten my heart. Ah my bowells, my bowells, that I could be grieved at the very heart▪ that my poor heart and I have been ſo unacquainted. And is not the ſame caſe yours too? I appeale to our owne hearts, if they will but ſpeake, and I beſeech you put them to it. How inquiſitive ever were we after their eſtate, or how it goes with them, amongſt all the inquiſition that we make after other things. We are falne into an Athenian age, as Act. 17. 21. ſpending our time in nothing more then in telling, or in hearing newes, or ſome new thing: How goe things here, how there, how in one place, how in another: But who is there that is inquiſitive, How are things with my toore heart? Wee are ever and anon lighting upon one or other of our acquaintance: and take a turne with them in the Hall, or turne aſide with them in the ſtreet, and enquire, What newes? how doe things goe? But who turnes aſide with his owne heart into a private retiredneſſe, or falls into Diſcourſe with that, and enquires, Ah poore heart, how goe things with thee? We ſtick not to tell how much money we ſpend in new Books, and how much time we ſpend in reading them; but it it is a ſhame to tell how little time we ſpend, and how little paines we take in reading over and peruſing our owne hearts.
As it is ſomtimes uſed in your Houſe Honourable and Honored, to put a queſtion whether a queſtion ſhall be put, ſo I beſeech you apply the Text, Commune with your owne hearts, whether you have communed with your own hearts: you ſpend much time day after day worthily and piouſly in conferring and communing among your ſelves about the things of Church and State; but wh… time doe you ſpend either day or night in conferring or communing with your Conſciences about the affaires of your ſoules? You Ladies and Gentlewomen, that beſtow ſo much time in viſiting and conferring with your glaſſes and your friends, what time doe you beſtow in viſiting and conferring with your owne hearts and ſoules?
You that ſpend ſo much time in converſing and conferring with others about the matters of your Callings and Imployments, what time have you taken up, or doe you imploy, in converſing with your ſelves about the matters of your neareſt concernment?
I am the bolder to aske this queſtion, becauſe my Text leads me to ſpeak to your hearts, and it is a queſtion that you muſt once anſwer.
Weigh but in the Ballance of a ſerious conſideration, what time you have ſpent otherwiſe, and what time you have ſpen in this, and for many ſcores or hundreds of houres or daye that you owe to your hearts in this duty, can you write fifty? or goe to the heap of your whole life, and where there ſhould have been twenty meaſures imployed about this buſineſſe, can you finde ten? Or where there ſhould have been fifty veſſells full of this duty, can you find twenty?
It was a ſenſeleſſe and a ſenſuall will that the Epicure made, that bequeathed to his Player, to his Cook, to his Jeſter, and to ſuch as fed and forwarded his carnall Delights, Talents and Pounds, but Philoſopho obolum, a halfe penny onelyonly to him that would have taught him wiſedome. Is not the diſtribution of our time and converſe much after the ſame proportion? Dayes and yeares beſtowed upon the affaires of the world and worldlineſſe, moneths and weeks ſpent and laid out in converſe with friends and ſtrangers, but ſcarce a minute in converſe with a mans owne heart.
There are foure things eſpecially that cauſe this ſtrange and ſenſeleſſe ſtrangeneſſe and unacquaintance betwixt a man and himſelfe, and they are theſe:
1 Idleneſſe; when men will not take the paines to put their heart to it to diſcourſe with them. Heart-communication is not an caſie worke, and few there be that for idleneſſe will undertake it.
2 Careleſſeneſſe of their owne ſoules: And ſo they are not carefull to diſcuſſe with them the things that concerne them.
3. Worldlineſſe; which takes up all the time and thoughts that ſhould be laid out upon the heart: As Hoſ. 4. 11. and as it was with him, 1 Kings 20. 40.
And 4 Readineſſe to be deceived; Decipi vult populus, men love leaſing, as Verſe 2. of this Pſalme: and as by our fall, Et bonum perdidimus & voluntatem, we not only loſt good, but alſo the will to it: So in our firſt deception by Satan; we had not onelyonly a deceit put upon us, but a deceiveableneſſe, nay a readineſſe to be deceived put into us.
And thus, as Tempora quaedam ſurripiuntur, quaedam cripiuntur, quaedam excidant: ſo it is with the care of, & converſe with our owne hearts. What the Palmer-worme of Idleneſſe leaves, the Locuſt of Careleſſeneſſe eateth: and what the Locuſt leaveth, the Canker-worme of Worldlineſſe devoures: and what that Canker-worme leaveth, the Caterpillar of readineſſe to be deceived hath conſumed: and thus hath all converſe and communication with our owne hearts been eaten up.
It is recorded of Jobs friends, that when they came to him, and knew him not, he was ſo changed, that they wept and rent their garments, Iob 2. 12. I would this might be the concluſion of this firſt Uſe or Application, or the fruit of all that I have ſpoken hitherto: Look upon your owne hearts, doe you know them? when had you and they any talke together? how much of your time have you ſpent in communication with them? Have you not been ſtrangers? have you not been unacquainted? have you not forgotten them? Be humbled, bemoan, be affected that you have been ſuch ſtrangers, and lay your hands upon your hearts, and reſolve to be ſo no more.
And that is the ſecond way that I would apply my ſelfe and Uſe 2.the Text to you, and that is by way of exhortation, to incite you, and by ſupplication to entreat you, to apply your ſelves ſeriouſly unto this duty held out in the Text. It is ſtrange that we ſhould need to be exhorted or entreated to ſuch a thing as this, to be acquainted with our owne hearts, as that is ſtrange in 2 Cor. 5. 20. that men ſhould need beſeeching to be reconcil'd to God: but it is ſo true, that we need beſeeching and entreating, that by what ſhall I beſeech and entreat it ſo as that I may prevaile in my entreatie. I beſeech you by the Lord, by the Bowels of mercy to your owne ſelves, by your hearts, by your ſoules, by any thing, by all things moſt deare unto you, be no more ſtrangers to your own hearts; vindica te tibi, acquaint your ſelves with your ſelves; and as Abraham to Lot, let not us fall out, for we are brethren: ſo bee not forraigners to your owne hearts, for they are your owne. By what may I move you, or what words or Arguments may I take up to perſwade you.
Thinke but of theſe two or three particulars, for I ſhall ſpare to mention more.
1. How ſad a thing it is for a man to carry a conſcience within him, that is altogether dumbe and can ſay nothing, or that when it ſpeakes, tels him lies and nothing elſe: you grieve for this in your children, be affected with this in your owne ſoules.
2. Your hearts by diſuſance of conferring with them may even be utterly loſt to you, as if you had no heart at all. I have read of ſome that have come to ſuch a paſſe, as namely thoſe in Hoſ. 7. 11. Ephraim is like a ſilly Dove without a heart.
3. Time will come when your hearts will ſpeake, and ſhall ſpeak the truth to you, though you wil not put them to it to do ſo now: as Hab. 2. 3. At an appointed time it ſhall ſpeake and it ſhall not lye: It may be in this life by terrours, certainly after death by a gnawing worme, the dumbeſt, ſtupideſt, and moſt ſenſeleſſe conſcience that is now upon earth, ſhall be put to it to ſpeake and to ſpeake out to him, that had the leaſt care or thought to put it to ſpeake as the Text injoynes. Thou wilt not ſtraine thine heart to ſpeake to thee, and to tell thee the truth now: but God will wrack it, and ſhall make it ſpeak and not be ſilent, and How will thine heart endure then, when the Lord ſhall come to deale thus with thee? as Ezek. 22. 14. Men will not make their hearts to heare, nor to give them a faithfull anſwer, but as Eſay 26. 11. They will not ſee, but they ſhall ſee: They will not heare, but they ſhall heare: they will not anſwer according to truth, but a time ſhall come when they ſhall anſwer. Put them to it betimes, your ſelves by a conſcienſcious communication, leſt God put them to it by a wracking horror.
I ſhall not go about to give rules how a man and his heart ſhould come to talke, and how they ſhould talke together, I would I could learne the leſſon my ſelfe; only give me leave to mention ſome things to you which cannot chuſe but be very conducible to ſuch a purpoſe.
As 1. uſe Retiredneſſe: This thing this verſe teacheth, when it directs to commune with our owne hearts upon our beds. And this Iſaac practiſed, when for his Meditation he went into the ſolitarineſſe of the fields, Gen. 24. 63. As when Moſes was alone in the wilderneſſe, and there ſtudying on God, God comes to him, and talkes with him, Exod. 3. So when we get alone purpoſely to ſtudy our hearts, it is a great deale more probable that our hearts will come to us, that we may entertain diſcourſe with them, then in the crowd of company and imployments. Set ſome time apart out of your publique or particular occaſions, to deale with your hearts, and to talke with them, as David after the publique buſineſſe is done, turnes home to viſit and to bleſſe his owne houſe, 2 Sam. 6. 20.
2 Put on Reſoluteneſſe to put your hearts to it, and to heare even the worſt that they can ſpeake to you: as Eli to heare the word of the Lord from Samuel, be it what it would bee it never ſo bitter. Men are naturally and generally unwilling that their heart ſhould tell them all it knowes, and what it ought. And as it was a very ſtrange, and a very ſad prayer, that is made by the Prophet Hoſea for the women of Ephraim, Hoſ. 9. 14. Give them, O Lord, what wilt thou give? Give them a miſcarrying wombe, and drie breaſts: A miſerable thing to women as may be, yet ſuch a Petition for them as there could not bee a fitter in their preſent poſture; for the children borne were but borne to the ſlaughter.
So it is a very ſad & doleful condition to a man as poſſibly can be, to have his conſcience dull & dumb, or to be telling him nothing but what is falſe: and yet there are thouſands that account this the beſt poſture and condition, that their conſcience can be in, and they cannot finde in their hearts, and they will not take the paines to have it in any other temper, nor would they have it ſpeake any other wayes to them: Ah but let a righteous and a wakefull conſcience ſmite me, and not ſuffer me to ſin, but tell me of it: this balme in the end will not breake my head, and I ſhall rejoyce at laſt in ſuch ſtroaks.
3. Take opportunity by any wakening of Conſcience, that puts it to ſpeake, to keep it waking and ſpeaking; If any piercing Sermon, or Fright, or Croſſe, or ſome ſuch thing, do rowze your heart at any time, and ſet it a talking and telling you the truth, doe like Benhadads ſervants by Ahab, catch at the opportunity, plye it and keepe it ſpeaking, and let it not grow dumbe againe: If you let it alone never ſo little, like the Diſciple in Matth. 6. 40, 4…. it will bee aſleep and ſpeechleſſe in a trice againe. I have knowne him that hath had ſometime very faire and familiar ſociety and communication with his own heart, and they have diſcourſed ſeriouſly and truely one to another, have asked queſtions, and given anſwers without deceiving; when ſomething or other hath come between, and interrupted a while this friendly converſe, and my beloved was gone my heart got out of the way, and neither it, nor a word from it to be found againe.
4. When your hearts and you are talking together, doe it as if you were talking together at Gods dreadfull Tribunall: as if you were, and as you muſt once bee, debating the caſe there. Charge it as Paul doth Timothy, 2 Tim. 4. 1. as before God and the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, that it ſpeake the truth, and that there be no diſſembling betwixt you. Before them muſt you once debate the matter to the very bottome, doe it as before them continually.
And now for concluſion of all, and for our third application I ſhall crave leave to leave ſome few propoſalls and Interrogatories Vſe 3.with you for your owne heart; that as Elijah before his departure out of the world, left a Letter behinde him for Joram the King of Judah to ruminate upon when Elijah was gone, 2 Chron. 21. 12 So before we part, I beſeech you take from me ſomething along with you, to commune and confer with your hearts about, when you and I ſee not each other, and when you are alone.
I ſhall doe herein by you as an Iſraelite did by the Prieſt, when he would have him to enquire ſomething for him of the Lord by Urim and Thummim: I ſhall put my queſtions into your hands, and ſhall leave you to goe to the Oracle of your owne hearts, and to take their anſwer.
Some generall things I would propoſe to all of you in generall, and ſome particulars to ſome particulars. I might to all in generall deſire you to queſtion with your owne hearts, you that have been preſerved in theſe ſad times, and you that have been Spectators of the ſad judgements that have been upon us, what betterings you have had by all theſe judgements, and what thankfulneſſe you have ſhewed for your preſervation.
But the firſt queſtion that I would deſire every one that heareth me this day, to propoſe to his owne heart is but this; Heart how doſt thou? A few words, but a very ſerious queſtion. You know this is the firſt queſtion, and the firſt-ſalute that we uſe one to another, Sir how do you? I would you would as conſtantly practiſe it with your own hearts, Heart how doſt thou doe? how is it with thee for thy ſpirituall eſtate? Get but a true anſwer from your heart upon this quaere, and then you will ſee that I have ſome cauſe & reaſon why I propoſe this queſtion: I know what the anſwer of moſt hearts will be, before the quaere is propoſed, namely, that it will be either like Eliſha's about Benhadad, No danger of death, though he dyed preſently; or like the Phariſees in the Goſpel, Lord, I thank him, I am not as other mens hearts are. Tell that heart I believe it not, tell it you believe it not: examine it further, preſſe it like Ahab to Mioaiah againe; leave it not, like Dalilah, till you have its utmoſt: Get a right, and direct, and reall anſwer to this queſtion, and then anſwer me whether it were not worth the asking. This is but the very ſame quaere in ſubſtance that the Apoſtle propoſeth, 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your ſelves whether yee bee in the faith.
Secondly, propoſe this queſtion to every one of your hearts; heart what wilt thou do? or, Heart what doſt think wil become of thee and me? As that dying Roman once ſaid, Animula vagulae blandula, &c. Ah poore, wretched, miſerable ſoule, whither art thou and I a going, & what wil become of thee, when thou & I ſhall part? This very thing doth Moſes propoſe to Iſrael, though in other termes, Deut. 32. 29. Oh that they would conſider their latter end. And oh that you would propoſe it conſtantly to your hearts to conſider and debate upon. Would you but diſpute theſe two queſtions every one with his owne heart, and put his Conſcience to it to give its cleare opinion in theſe matters, or to ſpeak the verie truth, what it thinks concerning your preſent and future eſtate, I ſhould thinke I had gained exceeding much by this diſcourſe that I have made, and that I have ſpent this houre exceeding happily.
And now Honourable, and moſt Honoured, give me leave to levell the laſt things I have to ſpeake at your hearts onelyonly, and to leave my cloſing up of all that I would ſay, cloſed up in your boſomes. I would faine commend ſomething to the ſerious conference of your ſelves and your owne hearts, when they and you are together alone; and they are but theſe three things; What hath beene done for you, what hath beene done before you, and what you have to doe.
I would firſt have deſired you to debate ſeriouſly with your owne hearts, What the Lord hath done for you. But here my labour is happily prevented, and the worke is better done to my hands, then my hands can doe it. I ſhall onelyonly adde this, that if you ſhould write ſuch a Book as the Prophet Eſay did, Eſay 8. 1, 2. A great Roll of a Book, and yet nothing written in it but this word, Maher-ſhalal-haſh-baz over and over againe, from beginning to end: ſo a great Book, and nothing in it but this written, what God hath done for the Parliament of England, it would fill a great Volume to write what he hath done: and when you have written what you can, you can never write enough.
But ſecondly, I ſhall deſire you ſeriouſly to commune with your owne hearts, of What London hath done for you. London the mirrour and wonder of Love, Zeale, Conſtancy, and Bounty to you and your cauſe: London, the Arke that hath kept you ſafe, in this deluge of bloud that hath over-flowed the Nation: London, your Ophir and Indies that hath ſupplyed you with maſſes of Money and Plate in all your wants: London, your banke and ſtock of men and hearts: London, your ſo much, that you had not been what you are, if it had not been for London: London, that under a Parliament hath preſerved a Nation: and London, that under God hath preſerved a Parliament. Was it ever ſeen, or could it ever be related, that any City under heaven ever did, as London hath done in love and kindneſſe to your Cauſe and you? What one among you can looke into his owne heart, but he muſt needs find London written there?
And now your friend Lazarus is ſick; your faithfull, conſtant and loving London complaines ſhe is not well: She finds and feeles ſome ſore diſeaſes breeding in her Bowells, that are like to undoe her: She comes to you to crave your help, and powres her complaints into your boſome. Might I not ſay, as the Jewes once to Chriſt, You deſerve to doe for her? But I ſhall onelyonly ſay, Commune with your owne heares what London hath done for you, and I need ſay no more.
If any one ſhall thinke that I am now beſides the marke, and ſpeak of a matter that I have nothing to doe withall, I ſhall produce my warrant to ſpeake what I doe, and referre to a proofe and teſtimony of what I ſpeak.
My firſt Warrant is your gratitude, that is ſo ready to bee thankfull to thoſe that have ſhewed you kindneſſe, that you will not take it unthankfully from thoſe that doe minde you who have ſhewed it.
My ſecond is, the obligation, that you and I, and all the Nation ſtand in to London, who hath been to us all ſuch a ſtay, and Wall, and Sanctuarie in our troubles, as ſhe hath been, that for Londons ſake who can hold his peace?
But thirdly for my Scripture warrant for this, I ſhal deſire you to turn to a Sam. 24. where the Servants of David doe account it a duty as it ſeems, for they practiſe it accordingly, to tell David of the kindneſſe that Jabeſh Giliad had ſhewed to Saul, though he knew it before.
And as for the proofe of what I have ſpoken, I ſhall deſire, whoſoever thinks I am beſides my marke, but to turne to his owne heart, and there lay downe a leafe, till his heart and he doe meet alone, and then to read and ſtudy impartially. What London hath done for the Parliament of England, and then let him judge of what I ſay.
I know your gratitude will be ready to ſay ſtill with David, in 2 Sam. 9. Is there yet any of the kindred of Jonathan, that hath ſhewed us kindneſſe, that we may ſhew them the kindneſſe of the Lord againe?
Why yes, I beſeech you in the third place, Commune with your owne hearts what the Miniſtorie of England hath done for you. My Warrant for the moving of this unto you, beſides your gratitude, I may ſhew from divers of your owne Orders, and expreſſions. For in how many of your addreſſes and deſires to the City or Countrey for the raiſing of moneyes, men, or Horſes, have you ſtill laid much upon the hands and fidelity of the Miniſters, to promote the Worke, and to ſtirre up their ſeverall Congregations to it? And I beſeech you now Commune with your owne hearts, how they have diſcharged that truſt and performed your Injunctions: And in your thoughts take up an account how they have behaved themſelves in that matter, and whether they have not been exceeding faithfull.
Have not theſe Trumpets, and theſe poore Pitchers had their ſhare, and a good ſhare too, in bringing downe the walls of Jericho, and the Campe of Midian? Have not they, like that Story in Ezekiel 37. if I may ſo expreſſe it, Prophecied you up an Army. The Witneſſe of theſe things is in the whole Kingdome, and a witneſſe of them is in your owne boſomes, and there I leave the conſideration of them to bee laid to heart.
But now where is this Miniſterie of England, that have been ſo faithfull, ſo uſefull to the cauſe in hand, and ſo forward to forward it upon all occaſions? how are theſe reall ſons of Zion now brought low, deſpiſed, oppreſſed, and trod under foot in many places of the Land? Their Miniſterie by many ſcandalled for Antichriſtian, their perſons vilified, ſometimes violenced and indangered, their ſubſiſtence impaired, their quiet interrupted, their families impoveriſhed; the function of the Miniſterie how neerely undone? Now I beſeech you commune with your owne hearts what the Miniſterie of England hath done for you, and what others have done to it; and then conſider what you have to doe.
A ſecond thing that I would humbly recommend to the ſerious and ſad debate and communication of your hearts, is, What hath been done before you.
And here I cannot but take up a little of the ſtile and manner of expreſſion that is uſed by Paul, when hee was to plead his caſe before Agrippa, Acts 26. 2. I thinke my ſelfe happy, moſt noble Senate, that ſince my Lot is fallen to ſpeake unto you from this place, that my Lot hath fallen upon ſuch a day, as that it is now but foureteene dayes to the time that you have appointed to humble your ſelves before God for ſome of the maineſt things that I am to ſpeake about. I know that they that are reſolved to debate of theſe matters to the full, betwixt themſelves and their owne hearts, and betwixt themſelves and GOD on that day, will patiently give mee leave at this time, as by way of a preparation Sermon, to ſpeake the more freely concerning thoſe things that you are reſolved that Day to bee humbled for.
I ſay againe therefore, I beſeech you ſeriouſly Commune with your owne Hearts what hath beene done before you.
I ſhall tell you one of the ſaddeſt ſtories that I am perſwaded is to be found in any Record, or in any experience upon the earth, and that is about the violation of our Covenant.
It is not yet foure yeares ſince we entred into as Solemne a Covenant as ever did Nation; and will it bee believed in the next Generation [if our guilt upon it doe not make it too evident] Or would it bee believed in any remote parts of the world [but that the fame of it is blowne through all Nations] that in ſo ſhort a time, after ſo Solemne an Obligation, and the Parliament that brought on the Covenant ſitting, the Covenant ſhould bee ſo forgot, as wee dolefully ſee dayly that it is.
I would I might ſay onelyonly that it is forgot: for if it were forgot onelyonly, there might bee ſome more excuſe, but it is ſet up as a ſigne to bee ſpoken againſt, nay a Sword is gone through the very ſoule of it, in ſuch a kinde of violation as I think no Storie can parallel. I ſhall inſtance onelyonly in two things:
1. Wee vowed againſt Error, Hereſie and Schiſme, and ſwore to the God of Truth and Peace, to the utmoſt of our power to extirpate them, and to root them out; theſe Stones, and Walls, and Pillars were witneſſes of our Solemne Ingagement. And now if the Lord ſhould come to enquire what wee have done according to this Vow and Covenant, I am amazed to thinke what the Lord would finde amongſt us; Would hee not finde ten Schiſmes now for one then; twenty Hereſies now for one at that time; and forty Errours now for one when wee ſwore againſt them? Was there ever more palpable walking contrarie to God, or more deſperate croſſing of a Covenant? If we had ſworne, to the utmoſt of our Power, to have promoted and advanced Errour, Hereſie, and Schiſme, could theſe then have growne and come forward more, then now they have done, though we ſwore againſt them?
2. And ſo in the ſecond place wee entred into as Solemne an ingagement for Reformation in matters of Religion, and this was the joyfull ſound that ſtirred up the hearts of the people, and this was their hopes: five or ſix yeares agoe it was proclamed, and betwixt three and foure yeares agoe it was Covenanted; and our hearts danced within us for the hopes wee had in this particular. But what hath beene done? I looked, ſaith God, for Grapes, and behold ſowre Grapes, and nothing elſe. When Reformation was firſt ſpoken of, wee had Order and Ordinances, but now how is the one loſt and the other ſlighted? Wee had then Sacraments, full Congregations, a followed Miniſterie, and frequented Churches; but now Sacraments laid aſide, Congregations ſcattered, the Miniſterie cryed downe, Churches emptie, Church doores ſhut up, equeſtres Samnitum in ipſo Samnio: If you look for a Reformation upon our Covenanting for Reformation, how little to bee found, and how much cleane contrary: Goe to the Iſles of Chittim, and from thence paſſe over to Keder in the Eaſt, ſearch all the Stories that are to bee found, and enquire in all Nations under the whole Heavens, whether the like things have beene done in any Times, in any Nation, and yet have theſe things been done before your eyes.
Give me leave to relate unto you a Story out of the Turkiſh Hiſtorie, and to apply it:
Uladiſlaus the King of Hungarie, having made a League with Amurath the great Turke, and ſolemnly Covenanted and Sealed to Articles thereof in the Name of Chriſt, was afterward perſwaded to breake it, and to goe to warre againſt Amurath. Being in the heate of the fatall Battaile at Varna, the Turke drawes out the Articles of the League out of his Boſome, and ſpreads them towards the Crucifix which hee ſaw in the Chriſtians Banner, with theſe words; Now Chriſt, if thou be a God, as they ſay thou art, revenge the wrong done unto thy Name by theſe thy Chriſtians, who made this League in thy Name, and now have thus broke it.
And accordingly was this wretched Covenant-breach avenged with the death of Uladiſlaus, and almoſt all his Armie.
Should Chriſt ſpread our Covenant before us, upon the ſame accuſing termes as hee ſpread his before Chriſt, what could wee anſwer? Or if Satan ſhould ſpread our Covenant before God againſt us, as Hezekiah did the Aſſyrians Letter, what could wee ſay for our ſelves in ſo horrid and ſo plaine a caſe? If the Lord ſhould implead us, and ſpeak ſuch bitter things as theſe againſt us, you have ſuffered the Solemneſt Covenant to bee thus broken that ever was ſworn unto by men: The horrideſt Hereſies and Errors have grown amongſt you, that ever did among a Nation; as glorious a Church as was under Heaven, is thus neare ruined before your eyes: And the gloriouſeſt Goſpel that ſhone upon earth is almoſt deſtroyed, and you look on? How could wee anſwer, or hold up our faces before the Lord: But how muſt Iniquity lay her hand upon her mouth, and not bee able to ſpeak a word?
I goe not about to charge the guilt of theſe things upon your Conſciences, farre bee that from you, farre is that from mee; I onelyonly deſire to preſſe the thoughts of theſe things upon your hearts, that you may ſeriouſly bee moved, and ſeriouſly affected with the conſideration of ſo high and of ſo dangerous import, and may ſadly Commune with your owne hearts what you have to doe.
3. This is the third thing that I would humbly leave with you, and recommend unto you to ruminate upon; and to debate with your owne hearts, Not that I thinke to offer you any thing as your Direction; I am the leaſt able for that of any that ſpeak unto you, but that I would minde you a little of thoſe things that you have to doe withall.
You have in your tranſacting three things of the niceſt and tendereſt handling and medling with, that can come to hands of mortall men: and thoſe are, the worke of God, the life of ſoules, and complaints of poor and oppreſſed ones. Who is ſufficient for any of theſe things? and yet all theſe things do now lye upon your hands.
1. You are to doe, and are in doing the worke of God; that is, to build his Houſe, to maintaine his Truth, and to execute his Juſtice, for ſo let mee ſtile it: things of the higheſt Honour and Concernment that can bee intruſted in the hands of men: you had need to bee truely ſenſible, and clearely and conſcienciouſly to apprehend how great this worke is that you are about, and to diſcourſe, and debate with your hearts againe and againe, how great a taske there lies upon you.
2. How many thouſands, nay millions of ſoules, and their eternall Eſtate now lyes upon your hands, of the ſoules of the preſent and the future Generations? Onus ipſis Angelis formidandum. Oh how it does concerne you moſt intimately to conſider of it, and lay it to heart.
I ſhall humbly recommend to your hearts to debate and to determine upon one Queſtion, that I may name no more, which I cannot, I dare not goe about to determine. And that is this: there are now many, and many Congregations in this our Land, that either for want of meanes, or through unquietneſſe of Sectaries, or Malignants, want Paſtors and have done long; and this want ſtill encreaſeth in the Kingdome dayly: And ſo in divers places of the Kingdome people runne Riot, and doe what ſeems good in their owne eyes, for want of Miniſters, and of Execution of Juſtice among them. Now at whoſe hands the bloud of theſe ſoules, who in this caſe cannot but be in miſerable danger, will be required; when Miniſters were in thoſe places, when Juſtices were in their places, we know then to whom the charge of thoſe Soules belonged; but now I beſeech you ſeriouſly to Commune with your owne hearts, where the bloud and life of thoſe ſoules lies chargeable now.
3. You have to doe with the Complaints of poore and oppreſſed ones; things of as dangerous an edge, if put up to heaven againſt any perſon, as any other whatſoever.
There is a great crie in Egypt, complaining in every Angle of the Kingdome; ſome for want of pay, ſome for want of Juſtice, too many through the Preſſures of Publicans through the Kingdome, the unjuſt Exactors of your juſt Taxations, that lay on burthens of their owne, and either for their owne advantage or revenge, multiply Preſſures, and create Complaints in every quarter.
Honourable and Honoured, theſe three things are thoſe things that you have to deale withall: and upon the import of thoſe three things, give mee leave to repreſent theſe two particulars to you.
1. That theſe things will admit of no delaying; nor doing the Worke that concernes them any negligence: For 1. the Church by delaies may bee ruined, Truth may bee quite loſt, Soules may be undone and periſh, Sinnes are growing high and complaints lowd. Now Lord come before Lazarus dye. 2. A little, and a little delay ſtill, may chance at laſt to cauſe a Decree to paſſe in the Court of Heaven, that there ſhall bee no healing at all: So did delay in the matter of Reformation, in the ſecond of Judges. There Chriſt at Bochin tells the people, that whereas hee had undertaken to Conquer Canaan for them, and had done hitherto, and had waited hitherto, that they would expell the Canaanites, and ſettle Reformation, and they had not done it, hee would now henceforward Conquer no more for them.
2. Theſe things will not admit the Worke that concerneth them to bee done by halfes. The Worke of the LORD muſt bee perfect, and CHRISTS floore throughly purged. God abhorres Monſters in Sacrifices in the Leviticall Law, and ſo doth he in matters of Reformation; all exceſſe or defect, beyond or ſhort of his Will ſuits not with his Worke. A Word is enough to the Wiſe. I leave all to the ſerious Communication of you with your owne hearts; and you and your hearts, and all that hath beene ſaid to the bleſſing of our good God. And I ſhall onelyonly crave leave to relate and apply one ſtorie more, and ſo have I done.
It is reported of a poore Macedonian, that having his Cauſe pleading at the Barre before King PHILIP, the King in the meane while ſitting in a ſleepie Poſture upon the Beneh; and at laſt paſſing a ſleepy Sentence againſt the man, and caſting him in his Cauſe, the poore man cryes out, I appeale, I appeale. This wakes the King, and makes him to ſtart up: Appeale? ſayes hee, To whom canſt thou Appeale beyond mee? Am not I the King? The poore man anſwered; I Appeale from King PHILIP aſleep to King PHILIP awake.
If there bee any heart here that is moved or raiſed any whit againſt mee for any thing that I have thus freely ſpoken, I firſt Appeale to the knower of all hearts, before whom I ſtand, who knoweth with what heart I have ſpoken it.
But againe I appeale from that heart aſleep, as it lyes muffled in Pride or Peeviſhneſſe, or Selviſhneſſe, or Selfe-Intereſts, or any other diſtemper or Paſſion; to that heart, when it ſhall bee awaked, either by Grace, or by Juſtice, or by the ſummons of Death, or by the ſound of the laſt Trumpe, when that heart and mine muſt both appeare before the Tribunall of him that knowes all hearts.
Now to that great Judge, the King Eternall, Immortall, Inviſible, the onelyonly Wiſe GOD, be Honour, and Glorie for ever and ever. AMEN.
FINIS.
End of the text · John Lightfoot, Sermon 24 February 1646 (1647)