ciples that set them on work, may be but carnal and natural ones. When I see a person affected in the hearing of the word, or prayer, even unto tears, I cannot presently conclude, surely this is the effect of grace ; for it is possible, the pathetical quality of subject- matter, the rhetoric of the speaker, the very affecting tone, and modulation of the voice, may draw tears as well as faith working upon the spirituality, and deep concernment the soul hath in those things.
Whilst Austin was a Manichee, he sometimes heard Ambrose ; and, saith he, " I was greatly affected in hearing him, even, unto " tears many times :" howbeit, it was not the heavenly nature of the subject, but the abilities and rare parts of the speaker that so affected him. And this was the case of EzekiePs hearers, chap, xxxiii. 32.
Again, 3. These motions of the affections may rather be a fit and mood, than the very frame and temper of the soul. Now there is a vast difference betwixt these ; there are times and sea- sons, when the roughest and most obdurate hearts may be pensive and tender * : but that is not its temper and frame, but only a fit, a pang, a transient passion. So the Lord complains of them, Hos. vi. 4. " O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee ? O Judah, what shall " I do unto thee ? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as " the early dew, it goeth away." And so he complains, Psal. lxxviii. 34, 35, 36. " When he slew them, then they sought him : " and they returned and enquired early after God. And they re- " membered that God was their rock, and the most high God their " redeemer ; nevertheless they did natter him with their lips, and " lied unto him with their tongues." For had this remembrance of God been the gracious temper of their souls, it would have continued with them ; they would not have been thus wavering ; thus hot and cold with God, as they were. Therefore we con- clude, that we cannot infer a work of grace upon the heart, simply and merely from the meltings and thaws that are sometimes upon it. And hence, for your use, I shall infer, that,
Inference 1. If such as sometimes feel their hearts thawed and melted with the consideration of the sufferings of Christ, may yet be deceived ; What cause have they to Jear and tremble, whose hearts are as unrelenting as the rocks, yielding to nothing that is proposed, or urged upon them f How many such are there, of whom we may say, as Christ speaks of the inflexible Jews, " We have " piped unto you, but ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto " you, but you have not lamented?1'' Mat. xi. 17. They must in-
* Ma tantitm dicuntur inesse aninue, quce insuntyer moduvi quietis, i. e. These things alone are said to be in the soul, which are in it habitually.
SERM. XXV. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 313
evitably come short of heaven, who come so short of those that do .come short of heaven. If those perish that have rejoiced under the promises, and mourned under the threats of the word ; what shall become of them that are as unconcerned, and untouch- ed by what they hear, as the seats they sit on, or the dead that lie under their feet ? Who are given up to such hardness of heart, that nothing can touch or affect them ? One would think, the consideration of the sixth chapter to the Hebrews should startle such men and women, and make them cry out, Lord, what will become of such a senseless, stupid, dead creature as I am ? If they that have been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, miy, not- withstanding such high raised affections as these, so fall away, that it shall be impossible to renew them again by repentance, what shall we then say, or think of his estate, to whom the most pene- trating and awakening truths are no more than a tale that is told ? The tire and hammer of the gospel can neither melt nor break them ; they are iron and brass, Jer. vi. 28, 29-
Inference 2. If such as these may eternally miscarry ; then let all look carefully to their foundation , and see that they do not bless themselves in a thing of nought. It is manifest from 1 Cor. x. 12. that many souls stand exceeding dangerously, who are yet strongly conceited of their own safety. And if you please to consult those scriptures in the margin *, you shall find vain confidence to be a ruling folly over the greatest part of men ; and that which is the utter overthrow, and undoing of multitudes of professors.
Now there is nothing more apt to beget and breed this vain soul- undoing confidence, than the stirrings and meltings of our affec- tions about spiritual things, whilst the heart remains unrenewed all the while. For (as a grave divine *)* hath well observed) such a man seems to have all that is required of a Christian, and herein to have attained the very end of all knowledge ; which is opera- tion and influence upon the heart and affections.
Indeed (thinks such a poor deluded soul) if I did hear, read, or pray, without any inward affections, with a dead, cold, and unconcerned heart ; or if I did make a shew of zeal and affec- tion in duties, and had it not, well might I suspect myself to be a self-cozening hypocrite ; but it is not so with me, I feel my heart really melted many times, when I read the sufferings of Christ ; I feel my heart raised and ravished with strange joys and comforts, when I hear the glory of heaven opened in the gospel : Indeed if
* Gal. vi. 5, 4. John viii. 54. Rom. ii. 18, 19, 21. Mat. xxv. 11, 12. Mat, vii. 22. f Mr. Anthony Burgess.
S14 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE.. SERM. XXV.