SEKMON II.
Now wh&n they lieard this, they loere pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall lue do t — Acts ii. 37.
Use 1. If it be so that this is the method of God in conversion, let us not hinder nor smother so good a work ; for so far as this is cherished, we are in our way home to God. Let us not hinder it by omitting hearing, meditation, application. First, Hearing. It is a sign men have a mind to remain in the hardness of their hearts when they will not come to the means that might soften them : Zech. vii. 11, 12, ' But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear ; yea, they made their hearts as an ada- mant, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his S{)irit by the former prophets. Therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.' The way to harden the heart is to refuse the means. The word would keep alive some notions and thoughts of God that would not let us sleep in sin. Secondly, Medi- tation and consideration, without which all availeth nothing, unless we debate points between God and ourselves in secret. All actions require time and space for their operations. A sudden glance without musing bringeth nothing to perfection ; as a hen tliat soon leaveth her ne.st. All arguments must be holden in the view of conscience, applied close to the soul : Ps. cxix. 59, ' I considered my ways, and turned my feet to thy testimonies.' A man may take fire in his hand, and presently throw it away without being burnt or hurt. The greatest matters in the world will not work upon him that will not think of them : Dent, xxxii. 46, ' Set your hearts to all the words which I testify among you this day.' Things will never go to the quick till the heart be set on them : Hosea vii. 2, ' And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness ; now their doings have beset them about, they are before my face.' Tiiere the business stops. Men will not ttdce it into their thoughts. There is a time when you shall con-
248 SERMONS UPON ACTS II. 37, 38. [SeR. II.
skier, and not be able to look off : Ps. 1. 21, ' These things hast thou done, and I kept silence ; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as th3'self ; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.' You will not think of it now, but then you cannot choose but think of it ; you will have nothing to occupy your thoughts but your sins, and the sad effects of them. If it be so irksome to think of hell, what will it be to feel it? Now we cannot prevail with you to bestow a few sober thoughts upon eternity, but then you shall do it without entreaty. As a man that hath the stone and the gout, he cannot foi-get the pain, if he would never so fain ; though now you cast off all thoughts of your condition, and therefore live peaceably in your sins, the time will come when you shall remember them. Thirdly, Application, and urging our own souls with the truths heard: Jer. viii. 6, 'I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done ? every one turneth to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle;' Kom. viii. 31, 'What shall we say to these things ? ' Job v. 27, ' Hear it, and know it for thy good ; ' Heb. ii. 3, ' How shall we escape if we neglect so great salva- tion ? ' We will not let the word come close and home to our own consciences. Rouse up thine own heart, and bring home the stroke of the word, or else it proveth not effectual. Self-love puts by the blow, and thrusts it to others, as if they were unconcerned.
2. Let us not hinder this work of compunction by way of commis- sion. There is something that we cherish iu ourselves that hinders this piercing of the heart.
[1.] A misconceit of God's anger against sin ; this is one great means to hinder the power of the word. Men think that God doth make no great reckoning of their sins, that it will not be so bad with them as others say; indeed, that we care not for sin, it is no wonder we have not such a lively indignation against it. Oh, but ' God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,' Hab. i. 13. His nature sets him against it. Any man that hath but a spark of the divine nature in him, how doth he hate sin ! Lot's righteous soul was vexed from day to day ; and if man, how much more God ! If God make no great reckoning of sin. why hath he punished it so severely, as in drowning the whole world, burning of Sodom, bringing such calamities upon his people as we cannot read them with dry eyes ? Why is ' his wrath revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men ' ? Eom. i. 18. If God make so little reckoning of sin, why is it that little infants, that are free from all actual sins, die ?, Rom. v. 14, ' Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression.' And many times with great gripes and pains, such as would make a man's heart grieve to see it. If God make so little account and reckoning of sin, why is it that little sins to appearance are chastised with so great punishments ? Adam for eating an apple, Uzzah for touching the ark, the Bethshemites for look- ing into the ark, 1 Sam. vi. 19, 20 ; Ananias and Sapphira struck dead in the place for a lie, Zachary for unbelief struck dumb. Why are his people, the dearly beloved of his soul, so dreadfully punished ? Prov. xi. 31, ' Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner.' If God make so little reckoning; of