Gospel Fear, Sermon 4
SERMON IV. June 30. 1644.
2 Kings 22.19.
—Because thine heart was tender, &c.
TO let pass what formerly was delivered and to proceed.
Obj. I, but may some Soul say, this is the great thing that I find wanting in me, the want of a tender spirit; could I find my heart tender I could be comforted indeed, although I had many crosses, O but the hardness and insensibleness of my heart.
Answ. To that I answer thus: First, art thou sensible of thy hardness, then certainly there is some kind of tenderness; we cannot be sensible of hardness without Tenderness: dost thou account the want of tenderness to be one of the greatest evils that can come upon thee? many complain of hard times, O we have hard times saith this man, and the other man, O but I have a hard heart saith a poor Soul, and the hardness that is in my heart is a greater evil than all the hardness of the times; surely it is an argument that there is tenderness, in the heart that is so sensible of hardness; for you know where the Flesh by a disease is made Brawny and hard, it is not sensible at all, no not of its own hardness; but when once thou comest to be sensible of hardness, God hath begun to work Tenderness.
2. There is a two-fold hardness, there is the hardness of a Stone, and the hardness of Ice, God saith he will take away the heart of Stone: a stone you know, though the beams of the Sun shine never so hot upon it, it never yeilds upon that; but the Ice though it be very hard, yet when the warm beams of the Sun shine upon it the Ice melts, the Ice thaws; so though thy heart, thou feelest it hard for the present, I but when the beams of God's love at any time shine upon thy heart, when the beams of God's Grace manifested in the Gospel shine upon thee, how dost thou find thy heart working then? O then my heart doth begin to yield then my heart gives in unto God, that's a sign that it is not the hardness of a stone if the beams of God's love, and the Grace of God in the Gospel to thy soul can melt it; yea, if thou findest this in thy heart, that if God would but reveal his Grace to thee in his Son and shed abroad his love in thy heart, O thou thinkest thy heart would yield, and would go in and melt before him; I say, this is not the hardness of a stone, that is the hardness of heart which is so opposite to the Covenant of Grace. It is possible ones heart for the present may occasionally be hard, but yet if it be so, it will melt by the warm beams of the Sun: but it is the heart of stone that is so contrary to the Covenant of Grace.
3. A third Answ. thou feel'st thy heart that thou canst not mourn for thy sin, for that is that thou meanest when thou sayst thy heart is so hard; but now I put this to thee, at the time when thou, canst not mourn as thou dost desire, is not thy heart averse from sin, set against sin, and rather would choose (if it were put to thy choice) all the miseries in the World, than wilfully to commit any sin against God. And that not only because of the absolute necessity of it. But this comes from such a disposition in thy heart that is opposite to thy sin: Thou hast such an opposition unto sin as thou rather turnest from that, than from all other evils and afflictions in the World; now Peace be to thee if this be so, when thou thinkest that thy heart is so hard that thou canst not mourn for sin, yet there is comfort to thee notwithstanding thou canst not find that mourning thou dost desire, and that upon these two grounds.
First, it is an Argument of a great deal of Love to God, that though the Lord doth not make thee so sensible in regard of thy affections, of the bitterness of sin, and the evil of it, yet thy heart is strongly opposite to it. It is not such an Argument of Grace when the Lord fills the heart full with Anguish and sorrow and bitterness for sin, and then to have the heart turn from it. But for the heart to turn from the evil of sin, more than from the evil of any affliction, even at that time that it doth not feel so much of the bitterness of sin, nor of the displeasure of God for sin, I indeed, this argues much Grace.
Again, this is Comfort in the second place, because thou hast that which God doth most especially aim at in the making mens hearts sensible of sin, and to mourn for their sin: what doth God aim at in the mourning of men and womens hearts, but that thereby they might turn from their sin, and they might prize his mercy. God doth not delight to grieve the Children of men, he doth not so much care for your mourning, only so far as it may turn your hearts from sin, and cause you to prize his Grace: Now if thou art so sensible of the evil of thy sin, that it doth turn thy heart from it, and makes thee prize the Grace of God, then certainly thou hast that tenderness of heart the Scripture calls for, that which is the substance of it, and the main of it, that God doth accept of. If there be two men sick, one cries out of his pain, and he is in grievous dolour, and roars and shrieks out from the extremity of his pain, and sends to the Physitian, that he might come; there is another man is sick, and he is not in so great pain, he doth not roar and cry out so much as the other, but he doth so far apprehend the evil and the danger of his sickness, as he is willing to do all that possibly he can to send for the Physitian, and he is willing to part with all his Estate that he might have help: Now though he do not c…y out so much as the other, yet if he be so sen…ble as he is willing to do any thing he can, and would prize his healing more than he would all his Estate, this man may come to be healed as soon as the other, and he may have the Physitian come to help as soon as the other: So, some the Lord makes so sensible of the Evil of their sin, as they lie under the weight of their sin, and lie and roar under it in a dreadful manner; and the most that these can do it is to make out after Christ, to seek to him above all things for help, to be willing to part with all for Christ; and you have another, though not in that extremity of sorrow, yet doth apprehend Christ, and he prizes Christ above all: Now I say, thou hast the tenderness of heart that God doth work in the Covenant of Grace in those that he hath a Love unto, and he doth intend to save everlastingly. Now therefore comfort thy self in what thou hast heard concerning the excellency of a tender Spirit: And seeing it is so precious, labour to maintain it, that is a third use: If God hath given thee any tenderness of Spirit, it is a Jewel, it is more than if he had made thee an Emperor, or a Queen, as the last day you heard, therefore maintain it in thy heart; O labour to maintain thy tenderness, for know, though the Lord doth work tenderness in our hearts, yet except we be careful we are in a great deal of danger to grow hard again: have you never had experience of this, have you never had your hearts yielding and melting before God for a time, and yet within a little time you have felt your hearts more hardened? certainly if you be acquainted with your own Hearts you will feel this, and therefore while you feel God working Tenderness, O labour to maintain this, and desire the Lord to preserve this in your hearts, O Lord keep this in the thoughts and purposes of my heart for ever,
Quest. You will say, how should we maintain a Tenderness in our Spirit?
Ans. First thus, search much into the riches of God's Grace in the Covenant, labour much to understand the glorious Riches of the Covenant of Grace; ther's nothing doth more work Tenderness, nor more preserve Tenderness than the Glorious mercy of God in Jesus Christ. Those Heart-Blood-Mercies of God in Christ, O those tender Bowels of God's Mercies and Compassions in Christ, they are those that do both work and preserve Tenderness of Heart; and the more any Man or Woman doth converse in the meditation of those Mercies, in labouring to dive into these Mercies, the more they will get Tenderness, and preserve the Tenderness of their Hearts.
2. O take heed of falling into any known sin; ther's nothing will harden the Heart more than the falling into any known sin, or any gross sin: the dayly incursions of sin in the Saints, they do not harden, but if they fall into any great sin, this doth usually exceedingly harden their hearts for a long time, and a great deal of doo there is to gain their Tenderness again. It was so with David, he fell into a great sin, and his heart was hardened for almost a whole year together, for three quarters of a year his heart was very much hardned: And he had not that Tenderness as before; I said I would confess my sin, he said he would do it, but he lay in his sin, and did not confess it to purpose untill Nathan came unto him, and that was three quarters of a year before Nathan came unto him, all which time he lay in his sin, and his heart was much hardned from the fear of God in his Soul, take heed of gross sins. We read of Manna, though the Beams of the Sun would melt it yet the Fire would Bake it and harden it; so the Heart of a Christian is like Manna in this, indeed the Beams of God's Grace in Christ, and the Mercies of the Covenant do melt the heart, therefore you should keep your hearts under those Beams: but the Fire of any Lust doth bake and harden the Heart, take heed of Gross sins, of falling into them.
And indeed that one Argument might be enough, one would think, to keep a Gracious Heart from the strength of Temptation. There comes such a Temptation for the commission of such a sin, it may be the sin would be very suitable to thy Flesh; well, some men perhaps have some Arguments against it, others have other Arguments: perhaps thou art struck with fear and horror, and thy Conscience would fly in thy face, if thou shouldest commit it, but a Gracious Heart methinks should have this very prevalent; if I should give way to this sin, I should loose my Tenderness, my Heart would be hardened by this means, and one that knows what the sweetness of Tenderness is, methinks should be loath to loose his Tenderness, for the gaining of the whole World; whatsoever becomes of me, let me keep my Tenderness saith a Gracious Heart.
3. Not only gross sins that a Christian may fall into, but Formality in Duty, that will harden thine Heart, thou wilt lose the Tenderness of thy Heart if thou growest to be formal in Duty, it must be thy care therefore to maintain thy Communion with God in holy Duties, not to be satisfied in a Duty, except thou hast some Sun-shine of God's Face upon thee in the Duty; and on the other side, except thou findest thy heart working towards God in the Duty. When Men and Women perform Duties meerly in a formal way, out of slavery to Conscience, because Conscience puts them upon them, they must needs do them: now they may do them, but their Hearts will grow harder and harder, and in time they will leave them off. Such kind of People that have no other Principles to perform Duty, but meerly because they must do them, they will leave them of in time; But when a Heart finds that it was wont to enjoy Communion with God in Duty: Duties are such as I was wont to have sweet converce with God in them, and therefore I perform them; and I cannot be satisfied in the performance of any except I feel God coming in to my Soul; I, this is the Soul indeed that will keep a Tenderness of Heart, when Grace is kept in exercise then the Heart will keep Tender.
4. Another Rule for the keeping thy Heart Tender is this; Take heed of Heart-hardning Company, of Slight Company, of Frothy Company, the going into the Company of such as have slight and vain Spirits, and especially such as have been and are Professors of Religion, and yet have slight and vain Spirits, they do mightily harden the Heart; But now the keeping the Company of such as have broken Spirits, and tender hearts before the Lord, Is of a great deal of efficacy to maintain the Tenderness of thy Heart. Many times when a Heart begins to be somewhat hardened, yet when by God's Providence thou comest into the Company of a soft broken-hearted Christian, whose Heart doth melt before the Lord, O it will set thy Heart a melting too, Company therefore with broken and melting-hearted Christians. In the Converse with Christians there is much power for the preserving of Tenderness of Spirit: to that end the Apostle Exhorts, Heb. 3.12. Take heed Brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil Heart of unbelief, in departing from the Living God, but exhort one another dayly, while it is called to day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin: Exhort one another; That is, get together into Converse with spiritual Christians that are lively and active, and stirring, and Exhort one another: why? Lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin. When Christians are got together, and are conversing of the goodness of God in Christ, of the great mysteries of the Gospel, and of the work of God upon their Hearts; and every one telling of the work of God upon their Hearts, and the dealings of God with them, it is a marvelous help to keep the Heart in a Gracious Tenderness.
And other means might be named, as,
5. Take heed of Earthliness and Worldliness: of letting out thy Heart too much after Lawful things, it will harden thy Heart: though the things themselves be Lawful, yet if thou lettest out thy Heart immoderately unto them, thou wilt in time grow earthly and stupid and senceless: as Earth we know will quickly be hardened to a Stone, so when the Heart goes out to Earthly things though in themselves Lawful, thou wilt quickly lose the Tenderness of thy Heart: A Worldly Christian can never be a Tender-Hearted Christian: —But this shall suffice for this Use.
Now seeing Tender-Heart is thus precious before the Lord, hence in the next place we have occasion to bewail, and that bitterly, the want of this Generally, not only among Men, but among Christians; O how little Tenderness of Spirit can the Lord find even among the Children of Men! O the hardness of Heart that is even come upon us! God's Name is fearfully dishonoured, his Law is wickedly violated, his Wrath is dreadfully revealed, his sore Displeasure with all severity is threatned, his Judgments they are Inflicted, and Ruine and Destruction is to be feared, and yet Mens Hearts are hardened yea the Bowels of Compassion of God are yearning, and Heart-Blood-Mercies of the Lord are Tendered, and most sweet Gracious Promises are revealed, and Heart-melting Promises and overcoming Goodness, that is manifested; yea the Grace of God is abundantly shed abroad in the World, and yet the Hearts of Men are hardened, the Hearts of Men are generally like unto the Hearts of that Creature that we read of Job. 41. about v. 24. the Text saith, his Heart is as firm as a Stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the neither-Milstone: truly the Hearts of most Men and Women are like the Heart of that Creature there spoken of, like unto the Smiths-Anvil, though we strike upon them again and again, yet never a whit the softer but the harder: they be like the Smiths Dog that lies under the Anvil, though sparks fly about his Ears, yet he can lie and sleep securely: Thus it is with many, though the wrath of God be never so dreadfully revealed from Heaven, and the sparks even fly about their Ears; yet their Hearts are hardened before the Lord, so hardened as they cannot Repent, Rom. 2.5. O wo, wo unto us, who have sinned against the Lord, but more wo unto us whose Hearts are hardened in our sin: Wher's the Spirit of Elias, the Spirit of David, the Spirit of Hezekiah, the Spirit of this Josiah? wher's the Spirit of Jeremiah and Daniel and other melting-Hearts, that we read of in Scripture they seem to be gone from the World, as if that Spirit had left the World. The Hearts of Men they are not only as Hearts of Iron, hard; but as Stones: There is difference between the hardness of Iron, and of Stone; Iron though it be very hard, yet if you put it into Fire it will yield, and you may have the Fire so hot as to melt it; But if you put the Stone into Fire it will never yield, but rather burst and fly in your face; and so many are not only as hard as Iron, but they are as Stone, that when they are put into the Fire, even then they yield not, but are ready to fly in the Face of God in a desperate manner when they are in the Fire, and rather will complain of God, and of the hardness of the ways of God, and of his severity, than of the wretchedness of their own Hearts. Ye shall see that the Hearts of Men are not only as Iron, but as Stone, yea worse than Stone; for we read that the Stones did cleave asunder at the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Bonaventure though a Papist, yet he hath a meditation upon this, and he cries out thus, Lord thou hast said that thou wilt take away the Heart of Stone, and give an Heart of Flesh; But Lord give me an Heart of Stone, that is, that I may be made sensible of the Glorious things of Christ; for I read that the Stones did cleave in sunder as if they were sensible of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ; but I cannot be sensible when I hear and read of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, therefore Lord give me an Heart of Stone: a great deal of hardness there is in the Hearts of Men, and this is a sore and a great evil. Luther hath such an expression: As, saith he, the contrite Heart is the Sacrifice that is so acceptable unto God, so the hard Heart is the Sacrifice that is so acceptable to the Devil. And that I might shew a little unto you the evil of a hard Heart, and some Convictions of it; the evil of the hardness of Heart
1. First is this, Certainly if thou hast a hard Heart, thou art a wicked Man, Proverbs 21.29. A wicked Man hardeneth his Face, but as for the Ʋpright, he directeth his way; so that the hardening of the Face thats but only an expression of the hardness there is in the Heart, which is opposed to the uprightness of man.
2. Yea and then Secondly, know that it is one of the most dreadful Judgments, that can be inflicted upon a Sinner in this World; for the Lord to give them up to a hard Heart, of all Judgments that are in the World, that a Christian is capable of in this Life, this is one of the greatest, for the Lord to give him up to a hard Heart: As when God would manifest his wrath upon Pharaoh, the Text saith, he hardened his Heart, he gave him up to a hard Heart: and so in Jo. 12.40. Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaias said again, he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their Hearts, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their Heart, and be converted; and I should heal them: These things said Isaias, when he saw his glory and spake of him. This Place is quoted out of Isa. 6. and in the Gospel it is quoted two or three times, as a most dreadful Judgment of God upon sinners, for the Lord to give them up to hardness of Heart: It is a grievous misery to be sick of the Stone, O how dreadful are the shriekings of Men that have the Stone in the Bladder or Kidnies; But to have a Stone in the Heart it is a great deal worse than to have a Stone in thy Bladder; And if thou wert acquainted with the things of God, thou wouldst account it so, even a greater misery,—If the Stone were in the Bladder, and thou hadst all the Pain of it, if it might be but a means to soften thy Heart, thou wouldst rather rejoyce in it, and bless God for it; But this stoniness, hardness of Heart, it is the dreadfullest Judgment of God that can be upon a Man or Woman here, except they should be sent presently quick down to Hell; yea, it may prove to be a greater Judgment, for by this means thou mayst be heaping up wrath against the day of wrath: and that's the third thing of the evil of a hard Heart: Those that have their Hearts hardened, all the course of their Lives, it is nothing but heaping up wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. 2.4. Those Men and Women that live in the World with hard Hearts, they are continually Treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, O how dreadful will their condition be at the last:
4. Those whose Hearts are hardened, all the Word of God, and the Ordinances of God then do not prevail with them: whatsoever they hear, whatsoever is reveal'd to them. All the Heart-melting Mercies of God in the Gospel: all those Heart-breaking Truths that do discover the evil of sin, and the like, it doth them no good, but serves only to increase their sin, and Condemnation, if so be they continue in the hardness of their Hearts. And this is a sad condition for a Man or Woman to be in this Estate, that all those Heart-breaking Mercies of God in Christ, and Heart-breaking Truths that are revealed in the Word, and all those that God doth use to sanctifie for so much good to some, that those should serve for the agravation of my sin, and of my Condemnation. The Text tells us that all those that saw all the miracles of Christ in Mat. 6.52. they considered them not, they wrought not upon them, because of the hardness of their Hearts: nothing works upon a hard Heart. You think now were Christ alive again upon the Face of the Earth, and did we see Christ work miracles, then our Hearts would be brought in; Nay, if thou hadst been alive among those Jews, and seen Christ and those miracles that he did; If thou hadst this Heart, they would never work upon thee; so that a hard Heart will stand out against all means of Grace whatsoever.
5. A Heart that is hard, it makes preparation to any kind of sin whatsoever, it is prepared I say for any sin. If thou beest kept from any sin it is only because thou hast not a fit Temptation. It is not out of Fear of God that thou art kept from it. If thy Heart be hard, thou art lyable to all Temptations, and to the grossest sins in the World. Thus you have it Eph. 4.19. who being past feeling, have given themselves over to Lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness: mark how this is laid as the foundation of Lasciviousness, who being past feeling; it were Impossible, as if he should say, that they would be so greedy of their Lust, but that they are past feeling; But when a Man is past feeling, then he grows quickly (if Temptation comes) to be Lascivious, to work uncleanness, and that with all greediness, and this all because he is past feeling. —And as it is a preparation to the greatest sin, so indeed, when men shall go on in great sins, it is a sign that they are past feeling, Wantons, unclean Persons, that go on in their sins. I say it is an Argument that they are past feeling.
6. Another evil of a hard Heart, is, that it maketh way to great misery, to great Afflictions, to great Judgments; whosoever thou art that hast a hard Heart, thou art upon the brink of some vile sin, or of some fearful Judgment: or it may be thou art upon the brink of both, this you have in Prov. 29.1 and Chap. 28.14. happy is the Man that feareth always, but he that hardens his Heart shall fall into mischief, and in Chap. 29.1. he that being often reproved, hardeneth his Neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without Remedy. When thy Heart can give the rebound to God's Word, and to the Admonitions of thy Peace, and those that admonish thee, thou hardenest thy self against them! O tremble before the Lord; for the Lord saith here, thou shalt suddenly be destroyed, and there shall be no remedy.
7. And further know, that the Lord hath sworn the destruction of a hard-Hearted sinner, Heb. 3.8. Harden not your Hearts as in the Provocation in the day of Temptation in the Wilderness: A special Aim of the Apostle it is to exhort them that their Hearts be not hardened; then he goes on in v. 11. So I sware in my wrath, that they shall not enter into my Rest. The Lord swares against a hard-Hearted Man: the Lord hath sworn thy destruction, if so be that thy Heart continues hard, thou art in such a condition as for ought thou knowest, thy Ruine and destruction is sworn by the Lord; O therefore take heed of continuing long so in the hardness of thy Heart, lest God's Oath comes out against thee particularly.
8. And farther know, that when thy time of Destruction comes, if thy Heart be hard, the Heart of God will be hardened against thee when thou comest to be under his stroke: As the Lord will be froward with those that walk frowardly according to the Scripture-Phrase, so the Heart of God is hardened against a hard Heart; thou hast a hard Heart, so that when God calls thee by his Word, when God reveals those Truths unto the that might even melt the Heart of a Devil, ye thy Heart is hardened; God calls upon thee to beware of such and such sins, and thy Heart is hardened: Well, is thy Heart hardened when thou comest to the Word of God? just it were with the Lord, if when thou shouldst be in the sorest Affliction, and shouldest be there crying to the Lord for mercy, that the Lord might harden his Heart against thee, and indeed he doth threaten to turn like for like to those that harden themselves against him: Ezek. 7.12. They made their Hearts as an Adamant Stone saith be, &c. and v. 13. Therefore it is come to pass that as he cryed and they would not hear, so they cryed and I would not hear: they hardened their Hearts against me, and I hardened my Heart against them saith he: and Indeed when the Heart is hardened against the Word of the Lord, when he comes in his wrath, I say, he in just Judgment hardens his Heart against them. We have a suitable Scripture further for that in the Book of the Lamentations c. 3. 65. It is thus in your Books, Give them sorrow of Heart, thy curse unto them: the Word that is translated sorrow of Heart, is a word that signfies a Covering, give them covering of Heart; so Arias Montanus terms it, give them a covering of Heart, and so Interpreters upon the Place tell us, that this Word here sometimes signifies a Disease in the Body, a Disease upon the Heart, when there is a hard Film about the Heart that doth cover it, so as it keeps all kind of Cordials, or nourishment, or whatsoever should come to comfort the Heart, it keeps it from it; give them such a Disease in the Heart, and thy Curse with them. Those now that have that hardness of Heart as will keep off the Commands of God from them, and the Truths of God that they shall not work upon them; It is just with God to give them such a Covering upon their Hearts in the time of their affliction, as no Comfort shall come into them. You are in your Health and Prosperity, and you hear those Truths, that God expects your Hearts should melt and be sensible at, but you are not; well, when you come to your affliction, the Lord may send such a Curse, that thou mayest have that brawniness round about thy Heart, that whatsoever is said for thy Comfort, should never reach thy Heart: As whatsoever is said now for thy contrition doth never reach thy Heart? And is this any other but Justice. O this would be a fearful Curse of God upon Men, if it should be so!
Ye know farther, that God hath a time to make Men sensible in spite of their Hearts, one way or other they shall have their Hearts brought to some kind of Tenderness, so as to be sensible of the evil of sin, and of the greatness of that God they have to deal withal. There is a two-fold kind of Tenderness;
That which comes from a right Temper of the Flesh, and that which comes from the soreness of the Flesh. The Saints of God have a sensibleness, but their sensibleness is the sensibleness of a right Temper of their Hearts, and that doth them no hurt at all; they are sensible of God's threats, and sensible of the Promises, but there is a joy in their sensibleness. But wicked men that are not now sensible, the Lord hath a time that he will make them sensible; the Lord will make their Hearts sore, and then they shall be sensible: Ezek. 21.7. And it shall be when they say unto thee wherefore sighest thou, that thou shalt answer for the tidings, because it cometh: and every Heart shall melt, and all Hands shall be feeble, and every Spirit shall faint, and all Knees shall be weak as Water, behold it cometh, and shall be brought to pass saith the Lord God. Every Heart shall melt. We here in my Text have an example of a Gracious melting-Heart that God accepts, but if your Hearts do not melt by the Word, God will melt your Hearts hereafter by some dreadful tidings of some fearful Judgments of his: and so you have it Jer. 9.7, 8. Therefore thus saith the Lord of Hosts, behold I will melt them and try them, for how shall I do for the Daughter of my People. If so be when you hear the Word, your Hearts do not melt, the Lord hath a time in spite of your Hearts to melt you. And therefore to conclude this, in shewing the Evil of a hard Heart, with that Text that we have in Job 9.5. who hath hardened his Heart against him and hath prospered? So I say to every Man or Woman that hath a hard Heart, who hath hardened his Heart against the Lord and hath prospered? Thou mayest go on, and please thy self in thine own ways, and think that thou wilt have thy will, and you will do thus and thus; let them say what they can, but know, there was never any that hardened his Heart against the Lord that hath prospered. What's become of all hard Hearted-Sinners that have ever liv'd in former times? Give me any one example of any Man that ever hath hardened his Heart against the Lord and hath prospered, but ruine and misery and eternal Destruction is the end of him.
But you will say, I hope we have no hard Hearts, we do acknowledge that it is a fearful Judgment to have a Heart hardened against the Lord.
No; are not your Hearts hardened against the Lord? then O how is it that you are so quiet in your sin! Certainly that Man or Woman hath a hard Heart that can be so quiet in any way of known sin: Thou art Conscious to thy self of such and such sins as thou livest in, and yet thou canst eat and drink, and go into Company and be merry; O hard Hearted-sinner that art hardened in thy sin! If thy Heart were Tender, if so be thou hast fallen into any sin, as its true, we are all sinners, that must be acknowledged; But certainly, it would be as a Moat in thy Eye: there may be a great deal of dirt upon ones hand and that may not trouble one, but a little Mote in ones Eye that will trouble one very much.
Again, Men have hard Hearts or otherwise the Word of God, and the works of God would gain their Hearts unto the Lord, but it doth not. We see at this day those blessed Truths of God that are revealed more clearly and fully than ever they were since the World began, and yet they gain but very few Men, and the great works of God wherein God appears the most Glorious, yet they do not gain Mens Hearts; surely their Hearts are very hard.
3. Surely Mens Hearts are hard, because their Hearts are Proud: A proud Heart is always a hard Heart, so much Pride as there is, certainly so much hardness there is in the Heart, Dan. 5.20. But when his Heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in Pride: proud Men and stout Men that are set upon their wills, such Men as are wilful in their ways, and proud and stout, they are Men and Women of hard Hearts.
Again, surely the Hearts of Men are mighty hard: it appears in this, in that they can so easily come into God's presence, and confess their sin before God, and judge themselves worthy to be destroyed for their sin; and yet they can go away and live in their sin after all this; her's most dreadful hardness of Heart: and how ordinary is this at this time! We have many days of Fasting and Prayer, and there we come and tell God as it were stories of our sin, we make confession of our sin at large, and when we have confest such and such sins that we are guilty of, we judge our selves for our sins, and yet after all this, what sins are amended? Let any Family come in and say, O Lord, since these fasting days such and such sins have been confest, and we have judged our selves for them, and through thy Grace they have been amended. I am afraid but few Souls can be able to say thus, as in the presence of God: Certainly in the day of a Fast, either you do thus or you do not. If the Minister do meet with you, then you joyn with him and say Amen to his Confessions. If the Minister do not meet with your particular sins, then if you have a Heart to s…nctifie a Fast to God as you ought, you will get alone in private and confess those sins that were not confest in publick. I appeal to you as from the Lord, have you kept such Fasts? have you observed in the Ministers Prayer whether he hath met with your particular sins or not? and if he have not, have you gone alone, and examined your Hearts in private what sins you are guilty of? have you been judging your selves for them, and yet not reformed them? Certainly if you have not done this, you have not known what it is to keep a Fast; and if you have done thus and continue still in the same sin, this notes fearful hardness of Heart! what to come into God's presence, and open our sins, and yet not to set our selves with all our might against them; surely our Hearts are very much hardened before the Lord.
Again, the very mercy of God hardens Men; the more Men have the shine of God's Mercy the more they are hardened in their sin. You have many that in times of their Affliction, they are like to Iron that seems to be yieldable, but let their Afflictions be over, and then they are as hard as before, their Hearts are like Clay that the Beams of the Sun doth harden them.
Yea, certainly its a sign we have hard Hearts in that we are no more sensible of the miseries of our Brethren in other parts, they cry to us for help, we hear of their doleful complaints and cries, they are spoyld of their Goods, their Wives ravished before their eyes, and they cast out of all; and yet little Bowels of mercy towards others: because our tables are full, and we lie soft and at ease, we take not unto Heart the miseries of our Brethren, neither the publick calamities of the Church. I dare appeal to this great Congregation, to every particular Soul, how far hast thou taken to Heart the publick affairs of the Church at this time. We know that the Church of God doth suffer much, now do these things go to thy Heart? canst thou get alone & bewail in the sorrow of thy Spirit, and thy Heart melt and dissolve into Tears when thou hearest of the miseries of thy Brethren, and the publick calamities of the Church? But now when these things do not touch thee, and thou art not sensible at all of them, but thou canst go on and be merry, and follow the World; and because there is nothing upon thy skin for the present, therefore …ou art sensible of the miseries of no other. S…ely thou art a hard-Hearted Man or Woman, and therefore tremble before the Lord.
And thou that art thus, all the Comfort that was said concerning a Tender-Heart the last day, it is to be feared that thou hast no Lot nor Portion in that business.
But it may be that some of you may say, I bless God that my Heart is not thus hard, I find a sensibleness in my Heart of these things.
I, but this may be far from the sensibleness of Spirit that was here in Josiah, and therefore that should have been the next Use of Examination; whether our Hearts be Tender in a Spiritual way? that is a work of the Holy-Ghost sanctifying our Hearts.
We are to know first, there may be a softness of Heart that may come from softness of Nature.
2. There may be some flashy workings of Heart by hearing of the Word.
And there may be some sensibleness of the Heart by the knowledg of the Law.
As for the First, A Plum, or a Cherry may be soft without, but hard within.
And so Secondly, we know that Ice may be Thaw'd in the day, and Froze again in the Night.
And Thirdly, for the terrors of the Law, we know that the Marble-Stone in wet Weather may melt as it were, and seem to trickle down with Tears, but a stone still.
FINIS.
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End of the text · Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel Fear (1674)