4. A carnal worldly man may be very sorrowful when he cannot have heaven in his own way.
5. The disease of worldlings is very incident to great men, and it is a very hard matter to keep the heart of such open and free for Christ.
Doct. 1. That a man may go far, and be zealous and forward at first, and yet cool and fall away at last.
Witness this young man, who comes to Christ to learn of him the way of life, and that in such an humble and reverent manner, and makes profession that he hath kept the commandments from his youth ; and yet when Christ tells him what he must do more, he was troubled, and falls off. So Judas walked with Christ for a while, but afterwards proveth a traitor to him : John vi. 70, ' Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil ? ' When others were turning away from Christ, and were offended at his doctrine, he continues in Christ's com- pany, and yet a devil for all that. Judas was not carried away with the stream of the defection ; he kept the bag, and his temptation was not yet come, yet his heart was not sound. So ' Herod heard John gladly, and did many things,' yet afterwards put him to death : Mark vi. 20, ' Simon Magus, he believed, and when he was baptized, he con- tinued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done,' Acts viii. 13. Here was faith and solemn profes- sion and fellowship with Philip, and this not feignedly, but out of a sense and conviction of a power that accompanied his doctrine, and yet afterwards he discovered that he was but ' in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity,' ver. 23. The reasons of this are —
1. They take up religion upon foreign and extrinsic reasons, and when those reasons fail, their religion faileth also. As puppets moved hj the wires to which they are fastened, so they are moved by credit and esteem and countenance in the world ; they court religion while it hath a portion for them. Thus we read of some that followed Christ for the loaves : John vi. 26, ' Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles,
VeR. 22.] SEllMONS UPON MARK X. 17-27. 15
but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled ; ' and * ye rejoiced in his light for a season,' John v. 35. Curiosity and novelty made them rejoice in his light for a while. Vix queritur Jesus, propter Jesum. Religion is scarce received in the world for religion's sake. Now foreign things, as they are accidental to veWgion, 'possunt abesse et adesse, so must the respect built upon them be casual and accidental, and very uncertain, even as those reasons vary. Men upon these foreign reasons may be very zealous for a time, as interest will urge men more than conscience ; and when it is their interest to follow or promote such a way, they are vehement sticklers for it. Therefore the difference between false and sincere professors is not altogether taken from their zeal and outward diligence ; they may be exceeding zealous and forward upon the impulsion of false principles who have a base heart lurk- ing under it, because the motions of lusts disguised with religion are rapid and earnest, and byends have a powerful influence. Though lust be served, yet because it is in the way of religion, men's affec- tions are much aloft, and they may seem to have great fits and zealous pangs in the service of God, and yet all this comes to nothing.
2. Because they many times rest in externals without internal grace. This young man for outward conformity went very far. There is no- thing for external duties that a child of God doth but a hypocrite may do also ; he may pray, preach, confer, hear the word, though not in a holy and gracious manner. A painter may paint the external colour of fire, but not the internal virtue and heat of it, or the limbs, shape, figure, and colour of a man, but the life cannot be painted, there is no counter- feiting that ; so many men deceive themselves and others by a show of religion, and their diligence in external duties, when they are void of the truth and power of it ; the power of religion cannot be counter- feited. Now externals will in time be cast off, where there is not the root to feed them,
3. Because that internal affection which they seem to have to the ways of God is not rooted and fixed, only a slight tincture, that may easily be worn off: Luke viii. 13, 'They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.' At first men have some taste, and seem to feel some sweetness in the word, and that begets a little affection to it, and that affection begets profession, and that profession begets external reformation; so far it is good ; but in time they lose their relish and taste, and then their affection is gone and dried up, and then their leaf falls, and afterwards run from their pro- fession into profaneness and a plain distaste of the ways of God.