4. Again, Good company ivill preserve tenderness of heart, sortiur/ ourselves with those that are tender-hearted. For the soul will reason thus : Doth such a one make conscience of swearing, profaning the Sabbath ? and doth he mourn for the miseries of the church ? Then what a hard piece of dead flesh am I, that have nothing in me !
5. Again, If thou wouldst preserve tenderness of heart, by all means tahe heed of the least sin ar/ainst conscience, for the least sin in this kind makes way for hardness of heart. Sins that are committed against con- science do darken the understanding, dead the aflection, and take away life ; so that one hath not the least strength to withstand the least temptation. And so it comes to pass by God's judgment; for when^nen will live in sins against conscience, he takes away his Spirit, and gives up the heart from one degree of hardness to another. For the heart at first being tender, will endure nothing, but the least sin will trouble it. As water, when it begins to freeze, will not endure anything, no not so much as the weight of a pin upon it, but after a while will bear the weight of a cart ; even so at the beginning, the heart being tender, trembles at the least sin, and will not bear with any one ; but when it once gives way to sins against conscience, it becomes so frozen that it can endure any sin, and so becomes more and more hard. Men are so obdurate, having once made a breach in their own hearts by sins against conscience, that they can endure to commit any sin ; and therefore God gives them up from one degree of hardness to another. What will not men do whom God hath given up to hardness of heart ?
6. Again, If thou wilt preserve tenderness of heart, take heed of spivitual dmnkenness ; that is, that thou be not drunk with an immoderate use of the creatures ; of setting thy love too much upon outward things. For what saith the prophet ? ' Wine and women take away the heart,' Hosea iv. 11 ; that is, the immodei'ate use of anj' earthly thing takes away spiritual sense ; for the more sensible the soul is of outward things, the less it is of spiritual. For as the outward takes away the inward heat, so the love of one thing abates the love of another. The setting of too much love upon earthly things, takes away the sense of better things, and hardens the heart. When the heart is filled with the pleasures and profits of this life, it is not sensible of any judgment that hangs over the head ; as in the old world, ' they ate and drank, they married and gave in marriage, they bought and sold, while the flood came upon them and swept all away,' Mat. xxiv. 37. When a man sets his love upon the creature, the very strength of his soul is lost. Therefore in the Scripture, God joins prayer and fasting both together, Mat. xvii. 21 ; that when he would have our hearts raised up to heaven, we should have all use of earthly things taken away. Therefore
86 THE TENDER HEART.
when we are to go iiLout spiritual duties, we must cut ourselves short in the use of the creatures. Talk of religion to a carnal man, whose senses are lost with love of earthly things, he hath no ear for that ; his sense is quite lost, he hath no relish or savour of anything that is good. Talk to a covetous man, that hath his soul set upon the things of this life, he hath no relish of anything else ; his heart is already so hardened to get honour and wealth, though it be to the ruin of others, that he cares not how hard it become. Therefore we are bidden to take heed that our hearts be not overcome with drunkenness and the cares of this life, for these will make a man to be insensible of spiritual things, Luke xxi. 34.
7. Again, If thou wilt preserve tenderness of heart, take heed of liypncrmj ; for it causeth swelling, and pride makes the heart to contemn others that be not like unto us. They bless themselves that they live thus and thus, they think themselves better than any other ; and if they hear the minister reprove them for sin, they will shift it oft", and say. Oh, this belongeth not to me, but to such a carnal man, and to such a wicked person ; as the Scribes and Pharisees, who were vile h}pocrites, yet they were the cause of all mischief, and more hard-hearted than Pilate, an heathen man; for he would have delivered Christ, but they would not, Luke xxiii. 14, seq. So, take a Komish hypocrite, that can proudly compliment it at every word with enticing speech, yet you shall find him more hard hearted than Turk or Jew ; for full of cruelty and blood is the ' whore of Babylon.' There- fore, if thou wilt have tenderness of heart, take heed of hypocrisy.
8. Again, Above all things, take heed of r/reat sins, which will harden the heart ; for little sins do many times not dead the heart, but stir up the conscience ; but gi-eat sins do stond* and dull a man ; as a prick of a pin will make a man to start, but a heavy blow maketh a man for to be dead for the present. Therefore take heed of great sins. Thus it was with David. He sinned in numbering of the people, and for this his heart smote him ; but when he came to the great and devouring sin of Uriah and Bath- sheba, this was a great blow that struck him and laid him for dead, till Nathan came and renved him, 2 Sam. xii. 1. For when men fall into great sins, their hearts are so hardened, that they go on from sin to sin. Let us therefore be watchful over our own hearts, to i:)reserve tenderness. The eye being a tender part, and soonest hurt, how watchful is man by nature over that, that it take no hurt. So the heart, being a tender thing, let us preserve it by all watchfulness to keep blows from oif it. It is a terrible thing to keep a wound of some great sin upon the conscience, for it makes a way for a new breach ; because when the conscience once begins to be hardened with some great sin, then there is no stop, but we run on to commit sin with all greediness.