1. First, What an excellent tliin;/ a tender heart is. God hath promised to dwell in such an heart, and is it an excellent thing to have God dwell in our hearts, as he hath promised, Isa. Ivii. 15, ' For thus saith ho that is high and excellent, he that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is the Holy One : I will dwell in the high and holy place, and with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart ? ' So Isa. Ixvi. 2, ' To him will I look, even to him that is poor and contiite in spirit, and doth tremble at my words.' Now God having promised to dwell where there is a soft heart, and no hardness, no rocks to keep him out ; can God come into a heart without a blessing ? Can he be separated from goodness, which is good- ness itself ? When the heart therefore is pliable and thus tender, there is an immediate communion between the soul and God ; and can that heart be miserable that hath communion with God ? Sm'ely no.
2. Secondly, Consider that this doth Jit a man fur the end for which he was created. A man is never fit for that cud for which he was made, but when he hath a tender heai-t ; and what are we redeemed for, but that we should serve God ? And who is fit to be put in the service of God but he that hath begged a tender heart of God ?
3. Thirdly, To stir you up to labour for this, consider that a tender heart is fit for any blessedness. It is capable of any beatitude. What makes a man blessed in anything but a tender heart ? This will make a man to hear the word, to read, to shew mercies to others. ' Blessed are the poor in spirit,' saith Christ, ' for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' A tender heart is blessed, because that only heareth God's word, and doth it ; and it is always a merciful heart, and therefore blessed.
4. Again, Consider the wretched estate of a heart contrary, that is not tender, and icill not yield. Oh what a wonderful hardness would the heart of man grow to, if we do not follow it with means to soften it ! What a fearful thing was it to see what strange things fell out at Christ's death, what dark- ness there was, what thunders and lightnings. The veil of the Temple rent, the sun was turned into, darkness, the graves opened, and the dead did rise, yet notwithstanding none of these would make the hypocritical Pharisees to tremble, but they mocked at it, although it made a very heathen man confess it the work of God, Mat. xxvii. 45-54. For a ceremonial hvpocrite is more hard than a Turk, Jew, or Pagan. All the judgments of God upon Pharaoh were not so great as hardness of heart. The papists, after they have been at their superstitious devotion, are fittest for powder- plots and treasons, because their hearts are so much more hardened. What fearful things may a man come to, if he give way to hardness of heart ! He may come to an estate like the devil, yea, worse than Judas, for he had some sensibleness of his sin ; he confessed he had sinned in betraying the innocent blood. But many of these hypocrites have no sensibleness at all, w^hich is a fearful thing. Eli's children hearkened not to the voice of their father, because that the Lord had a purpose to destroy them, 1 Sam. ii. 25. So it is in this case a shrewd sign that God will destroy those that are so insensible that nothing will work upon them. But these hypocrites shall be sensible one day, when they shall wish they were as insensible as in their lifetime they were. But it will be an unfruitful repentance to repent
THE TENDER HEAKT. 43
in liell ; for there a man shall get no benefit by his repentance, seeing there they cannot shake off the execution of God's judgment, as they shake off the threatenings of his judgments here. Well, to this fearful end, before it be long, must every one that hath a hard heart come, unless they repent. Therefore let every one be persuaded to labour for a tender, pliable, yield- ing, and sensible heart here, else we shall have it hereafter against our wills, when it will do us no good ; for then hypocrites shall be sensible against their wills, though they would not be sensible in this life.
And thus I have done with the first inward cause in Josiah that moved God so to respect him, namely, tenderness of heart.
THE ART OF SELF-HUMBLING.
SERMON II.
Because tJiine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words ar/ainst this place, and against the inliabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me, d-c.—2 Cheon. XXXIV. 27.
Of tenderness of heart, the first inward cause in Josiah, which moved God to pity him, so as he should not be an eye-witness of the fearful calami- ties to come upon his land and people, is largely spoken in the former sermon ; w'herein is also shewed how it is wrought, preserved, discerned, recovered when it is lost ; what encouragements we have to seek and labour for it, with some other things which I will not here repeat, but fall du*ectly upon that which follows, ' And thou didst humble thyself before God.' In which words we have set down the second inward cause in Josiah, that moved God to shew mercy unto him ; the humbling of himself. ' And thou didst humble thyself before God.' Tenderness of heart and humbling a man's self go both together ; for things that are hard will not yield nor bow. A great iron bar will, not bow, a hard stony heart will not yield. Now, therefore, humbling of ourselves, the making of us as low as the gi'ound itself, is added unto tenderness ; for the soul being once tender and melting, is fit to be humbled, yea, cares not how low it be abased, so mercy may follow. For the better unfolding of the words, we will con- sider,