[1.] Did you ever lay down the buckler before God, and say, I have done foolishly ; I will do so no more ? Were you ever feelingly con- vinced, and your lusts powerfully subdued ? Did you ever say, as Paul, Acts ix. 6, 'Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? ' Every man carrieth on his opposition against God till he be brought to yield by a mighty Spirit breaking in upon him. When were the wings broken that you could fly no longer ? the will subdued, that you said. Lord I have too long stouted it out against thee, so that you were willing to be at peace with God ? Isa. xxvii. 5, ' Let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.' Were you ever forced to cry quarter ? Didst thou ever apprehend God ready to smite and give fire upon thee, and then in a submissive posture did entreat him to stay his hand ?
[2.] What effect hath the word upon you ? Isa. Ixvi. 2, ' To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.' It is a great part of sensibleness to tremble at the word. What meltings and yieldings of heart do you express? Doth it put you upon recourse to God ? 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27, ' Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me,. and didst rend thy clothes and weep before me, I have even heard thee, saith the Lord.' Didst thou ever humble thyself before the Lord, to clear up matters between God and thy soul, and to get thy doubts resolved, and thy lusts mortified ?
[3 ] What pliableness has there been in thee to the Holy Ghost's motions ? A man that hath a tender heart yieldeth to the motions of the Holy Spirit : Ps. xxvii. 8, ' When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' There is a quick echo to God's voice : Isa. vi. 8, ' I heard the voice of the Lord saying. Whom shall I send ? and who will go for us ? Then said I, Here I am ; send me.^ There is not only a readiness to obey, but he offers himself to the work. When we grow lazy and backward in holy things, and hang off, it is a high degree of hardness of heart.
Use 2. Exhortation.
1. To press us to beware of hardness of heart ; it is a grievous sin, I shall use three arguments —
[1.] It depriveth you of grace. (See before, p. 205.)
214 SERMONS UPON MAUK HI. 5. ,
[2.] It imfitteth you for duty while we are under the power of it. An hard heart is forced and superstitious. With what coldness and formality did David pray during the suspension of God's grace ! We come into God's presence with great backwardness and. reluctancy while we are under the power of a liard heart.
[3.] It fitteth for judgment. The heart growetli harder and harder, and the mind blinder and blinder, till it be cast into an utter indis- position and impossibility of repentance. Hardness of heart turns a man into a beast, nay, into a devil ; and according to our sin so is God's wrath : Rom. iii. 5, 'After thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.'
2. To press us to come out of this evil frame of spirit. Argu- ments—
[1.] As long as the lieart is hard you are very remote from the com- forts of the gospel. Christ came ' to heal the broken-hearted,' Luke, iv. 18. So Mat. ix. 12, 13, ' They that be whole need not the physician, but they that are sick : I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' You are full of sin, but not sick ; as a toad is full of poison, but the toad is not sick, because it is natural to him. Will a physician go about to cure a toad ? Men lie under a great weight of sin, yet they sleep, and eat, and drink, and trade, and look as well as ever, feel no pain, nor anything to trouble them. These men have no need and will to be cured, and, of all men, are most properly said to be dead in trespasses and sins ; they neither break an hour's sleep, nor abate one drachm of their carnal delights, but are heart-whole. The physician hath no desire to meddle with them that will not take what he prescribeth, as carnal men will not submit themselves to God's directions.
[2.] You are very remote from the work of the gospel. As God maketh a way for his anger, so he maketh a way for his mercy and grace. The heart is fitted and prepared for the Spirit's residence. It is softened before it is quickened : Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27, ' I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh ; and I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.' The vital spirit is not infused till the body be organised and formed. God made Adam out of the dust of the ground, and then breathed into him the breath of life. The Spirit of grace coming into the tender heart maketh way for itself.