acquaintance together saith the Text and then he saith to Peter we are all here present-before thee to heare all things that are commanded thee of God and it was that passage Ezech. 33.3 there the people speake one to another saying Come let us goe up to the house of the Lord and heare what is the word that commeth from the Lord mark how they call one another together and rap at one anothers doore thus do you counsell men to come unto the Lord and heare his word they will never come under the power of the hammer else that they may bee stricken hale them and draw them to the ministery of the word that so what you cannot do privately that the word may do in publick Ioh. 5.4 there was an Angell went downe at a cortaine time into the poole of Bethesda and troubled the waters then whosoever first stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had now there lay a poore lame man at the brinke of the waters and because he was not able to step in every one stepped in before him and no man would help him mark how hee complaineth in the seventh verse I have no man saith he when the water is troubled to put me into the poole but while I am comming another steppeth downe before me he would faine have got in bâ— could not the word of God is like this poole of Bethesda when the word of God is opened and plainly and familiarly discovered when the spirit moveth upon the waters why put a poore soule into the water fling the soule of your child or your servant or your friend into the poole perswade what you may and compell those that are under you to come unto the word of God wheÌ„ the word of God is soundly revealed delivered why put a poore soule into the waters such a man hath a lame heart hee is lame in his practise and lame in his praying and lame in the performance of holy duties he is a cripple from his cradle why bring such of your neighbours and put them into the water and intreat the Lord to work upon them that the Angell may move from heaven and work conversion and salvation to the soules of them secondly as you must labour to bring them under the power of the word so secondly when God hath made knowne his word to the hearts of them follow you the blow as much as in you lyeth if there bee any exhortation settle it if there be any admonition presse it if there be any reproofe apply it home unto their soules strike thou while the iron is hot if thy child were touched and inlightned by the word when the Lord hath strucken his heart follow thou the blow when the Lord is pleased to smite his soule bring thou the blow home unto the heart of him remember that Deut. 6.7 there saith the Text these words which I command thee shall be in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children the word in the originall is thou shalt sharpen them thou shalt teach them that is thou shalt sharpen them upon the soules of thy children and upon the soules of thy servants the Ministers do what they can and you heare reproofes and exhortations and when you go out of the Church leave them in your stooles behind you but you should sharpen them and bring them home to the hearts of your wives and your children and servants and they that belong unto you you should follow the blow home when the Lord is pleased to exhort exhort you when the Lord is pleased to reprove reprove you it is no great matter haply to bring your children or servants under the word but when they are here they play and sport and talk and runne about as though there were no God here and therefore you should tell your children and servants it is the word of the Lord child and it is the word of the Lord servant it is not the word of man as you may think but it is the word of the Lord by which you shall one day be judged the Minister told you that God hateth a proud man and and a drunkard and an adulterer and a swearer why this was the word of the Lord thus bring the word home unto their soules and this is the way to bring them home unto God here that they may receive salvation hereafter we should use all the cords of mercy and love and anger and indignatioÌ„n that so if it were possible we might hale the soules of poore sinners to God oh blessed spirit of Saint Paul in this kind I wonder what is become of that love zeale that was in him as we may see in the 19. of the Acts he travells from place to place froÌ„ countrey to countrey he goes from house to house and rappes at every mans doore perswading men with all patience to be reconciled to God he dealeth as the nurse doth with her child the child cries and shrâ—ikes and wrawles and yet the nurse beares all so doth the Apostle Paul he met with much opposition here mocked there imprisoned there set in the stocks and scourged and yet he beares all with patience and perswades and beseeches men to be reconciled I say this power this zeale this love is gone if wee had hearts and hands and endeavours much more might be done in this case and God might work more mercifully with us powerfully by us for the conversion of poore sinners and this doth not lie only in the Ministers hands but Masters in yours and Officers in yours and so much shall serve for this poynt The next thing considerable in the Text is from the order first drawing then comming you cannot come unto me except my father draweth you the point is that God must first pluck us froÌ„ sin before we will fasten our soules upon the Lord Iesus it is evident Mat. 12.29 no man commeth into a strong mans house saith the Text unlesse he first bind the strong man first there must be binding and casting out before there can be taking of possession the house is the heart and the strong man is Satan the Lord must bind the one before he can take possession of the other the soule must be drawne before it will come to God however for the manner of this drawing it be divers God dealeth with some one way and some another some hee drawes with the cords of his mercy and some with the hookes of conscience yet this is certaine there must be a drawing before there can or will be a comming Gal. 3.22 it is said that all men are shut up under sinne c. Ioh. 1.12 As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sonnes of God now before the Lord Iesus can be received the bonds of sinne must be removed and the lock must bee opened before the Lord Iesus can come in and bee entertained but God doth loose these locks divers wayes as sometimes
to inâ—â—rict many judgements upon the people of Israel because they had not walked in his statutes after the Lord had done this yet 〈◊〉 tells them in the 16. Verse if they would walke in his wayes he would be a Sanctuary unto them he would make them better than ever they were and hee would doe better for them than ever hee did but how will hee doe this Why saith he I will take away that stony sturdy heart which is in them and will give them a frameable heart and a teachable heart which shall yeeld to whatsoever I cammand and then they will be able to cast away all those evills which they have embraced and performe all those holy duties which they have neglected the heart which God takes away from them cannot be meant the heart it selfe the naturall facultie of willing and the heart which hee gives them cannot be meant the bare faculty it selfe but the rebellious disposition that was in the faculty the Lord removeth and that same teachable frameable disposition he putteth into the facultie whereby their hearts should be carried to that which was pleasing to God comfortable to themselves I intend to speake of two things concerning Gods taking away of this same stony heart and giving a heart of flesh unto his people first that God doth this that hee is the Author of it secondly I will speake of the circumstance of time when God doth this when he thus workes upon the hearts of his chosen sometimes sooner sometimes later and this same circumstance of time when the Lord doth this is double first in regard of the meanes the Lord doth thus worke upon the hearts of those which belong to the election of grace when hee gives them the meanes of salvation when they have the Sunne-shine of the Gospell shining in their faces The second circumstance of this time is in regard of the men whom the Lord will thus worke upon some sooner some later some in all ages some in their young and tenderage some in their middle age and some though very few in their old age First I will speake of the Authour of this and that is God hee takes away the stony heart and gives a heart of flesh to his servants The Doctrine out of the words is The taking away of the indisposition of the soule to any good dutie and the fitting framing and disposing of a soule to performe any spirituall service is the alone worke of God hee removes the indisposition of the soule and hee puts the disposition to any good into the soules of his the case is cleare if we reason after this manner what is a stony heart A stony heart is a sturdy unteachable heart uncapeable and indisposed to any good what is a heart of flesh it is a lowly teachable pliable heart wiling to receive any impression that God stampes upon it who takes away the one The Lord who gives the other The Lord. So that both the remooving of the stony heart is the Lords worke and the giving of the fleshy heart is the Lords worke also I will take away their stony heart and I will give them a heart of flesh Nay the Lord doth make it his chiefest prerogative to doe this worke for a poore sinner Ezek. 36.25 Ezeck 36.25 I will powre cleane water upon you saith the Lord and yee shall be cleane from all your â—ilâ—hinesse and your Idols I will cleanse you A new heart also will I give you and put a new spirit within you I will take away the stony heart and I will give you a heart of flesh and therefore wee shall take notice of it this great worke of conversion is compared with the worke of creation God onely created man and God onely converteth a man how was it when darkenesse was over the face of the earth Let there bee light said the Lord and there was light the same God that created light the same God doth shine in our hearts nay this worke of conversion is sayd to be one of the greatest workes of God as if God did the best he could doe for a poore sinner when hee converts him To whom is the arme of the Lord revealed saith the Prophet Esay that is to whom is the utmost power of the Almighty God revealed the Lord putteth forth his whole strength upon poore sinners when he converts them unto himselfe The power of Gods strength the depth of Gods wisedome and the riches of Gods mercy is discovered in this worke of conversion here is power against all power and strength above all strength for the Lord doth not meete with the soule of a sinner in the worke of conversion as hee did in the worke of creation with the world for when he made the world hee met with nothing to resist him but he onely spoke the word hee commanded and it was made but when the Lord commeth to meete with the soule of a poore sinner to open his eyes and convert him unto himselfe and bring him home hee meeteth with the whole frame of all creatures opposing and resisting him the divell and the world without and sinne and corruption within when the Lord comes to convert a firmer hee meetes with all these with sinne Sathan and the world resisting him and therefore here must needs be power against all strength that opposeth him here must needs bee wisedome against all pollicie that resists him and here must needes be wonderfull mercy against all weakenesse and miserie 1 Cor. 14.24 and therefore 1 Cor. 14.24 there saith the Text If all prophesie and there come in 〈◊〉 that beleeveth not or unlearned he is rebuked of all and judged of all and so are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so he will fall downe on his face and worship God and say plainely God is in you indeede here the Text faith when the Lord commeth to speake home to a poore sinner a poore soule he comes into the Congregation though he be simple the word is wise and powerfull and that discovereth what is in his heart man is not able to doe this but God can doe this and then the soule will say God is in you in deede as who should say Here is God or else I had never beene humbled or else my sinnes had never beene subdued or else my soule had never beene wrought upon the sinner that is strucken with this worke he professeth plainely that here is the stroake of God and power of God and wisedome of God which was able to discover all things that were in my heart and take 〈◊〉 this stubborne heart of mine Oh this is 〈◊〉 â—orle of God indeede The grounds of the point why it is necessary that God should be the Author both of taking away the stony heart and giving the heart of flesh are these if we doe but consider the nature of the stoninesse and the fleshinesse of the heart it will appeare that God onely can take away
in the text for Christ having taught a spirituall and an heavenly Sermon the Pharisees murmured and said Is not this Iesus the sonne of Ioseph whose father and mother we know how is it then that he saith he came down from heaven Iesus when he perceived their murmuring said unto them Why murmur you among your selves and that he might prevent the offence that the feeble ones might take at the example of the Pharisees he saith unto them No man can come unto me except my father draweth him as though he had said be not you troubled and perplexed because these great scollers do not beleeve my doctrine and embrace it it is not in them willing but in mee drawing do not you think ill of my doctrine of salvation because your wise men and your brave men will not beleeve it for I tell you though these have had arguments propounded to perswade them to this yet they cannot embrace my doctrine and beleeve unlesse my father draweth them they have had their hearts convinced and their mouths stopped but yet all this will not do unlesse my father draweth them Secondly this kind of caution except my father draweth him no man come unto mee is implyed that if my father doth draw him he will come and the Papists themselves confesse this that a man may have this morall drawing arguments perswading and reasons alluring to come unto God and receive mercy from him and yet he may not come but they that have this drawing meant in the text they will undoubtedly come no man comes unto mee except the father which hath sent mee draweth him and therefore whosoever the father doth draw he shall come and certainly will come and therefore this drawing that is meant here is not a morall drawing by outward perswasions thus much for the clearing of this poynt namely that a morall and externall drawing is not to be understood in the text This will not serve the turne there is more in it than so we must therefore search further into the nature of this word drawing and God is said to draw a poore sinner unto himselfe in the second place when he is not only pleased to enlighten a mans mind and offer arguments to his understanding and lay truths and propound promises unto him for this will not doe it this is only an outward drawing but when the Lord is pleased to put a new power into the soule of a sinner and with all to carry the will to the object propounded that it may embrace it when God is pleased not onely to offer good things to the soule but to enable the soule to lay hold upon the things offered not only to offer Christ and salvation but to work effectually upon the heart and make it able to give entertainment to Christ then the Lord is said to draw a sinner unto himselfe from sinne and corruption and this is tearmed an internall kind of drawing and this is meant here in the text it is not only the propounding of arguments to move and pluck the soule but the Lord doth by his effectuall power draw the soule from sinne and bring it unto himselfe And therefore observe two things touching this internall drawing namely that there is a seperation first wrought betweene sinne and the soule the union that is betweene finne and the soule is broken Secondly that when the soule is once severed and broken off from sinne then it comes to a right set to a right frame and disposition towards God and then it goeth no further but here it stoppeth and this is that which I call plucking and drawing of a poore sinner from his corruptions to God in both which actions the will of the creature is wrought upon plucked from sinne and set towards God and of it selfe it doth not move at all I expresse it thus look as it is with the wheele of a clock or the wheele of a Iack that is turned aside and by some contrary poyse set the wrong way He now that will set this wheele right must take away the contrary poyse and then put the wheele the right way and and yet the wheele doth not goe all this while of it selfe but first there is a stopping of the wheele and a taking away of the poyse and secondly the wheele must be turned the right way and all this while the wheele is only a sufferer so it is with the soule of a man the heart of a man and the will of a man and the affections of a man they are the wheeles of the soules of men the Lord Iesus made them at the first to runne to heaven-ward and to God-ward but when Adam sinned then the poyse of corruptions prevailed so farre forth over them that they drew the heart the mind the will of man from God and made it runne the wrong way to the divell-ward and to hell-ward now when the Lord commeth to set these wheeles aright he must take away the poyse and plummet that made them runne the wrong way that is the Lord by his almighty power must over-power those sinnes and corruptions which harbour in the soule and have dominion over the soule as for example if a man have a covetous heart insomuch that the world will not suffer him to heare and pray and performe any good duty then God must pull away that plummet he must pluck the soule from that sinne and then he must draw it to himselfe that is he must draw it to Godward and to Zion-ward and make it to be at his command that Gods spirit as a new plummet may carry it and order it and now it doth nothing all this while God must first take away the contrary plummet that drew the soule aside and then the frame of the soule will be to God-ward it will be in a right frame and order it will runne the right way and all this while the will is only a sufferer and this I take to be the meaning of the text That God by a holy kind of violence rendeth the soule of a poore sinner and withall by his almighty power stops the force of a mans corruptions and makes the soule teachable and framable to the will of God it makes it to lie levell and to be at Gods command and this is done by a holy kind of violence and so much for these poynts of speculation without which I could not well open the poynt But now we see the bottome of the poynt namely that God doth by a holy kind of violence pluck and draw men from their corruptions unto himselfe The next thing to be considered is the meanes whereby God thus haleth the soule and draweth the heart of a poore sinner unto himselfe and the meanes are foure 1 1. The first work of the Lord is this he lets in a light into the foule of a poore sinner and discovereth unto him that he is in a wrong way and tells him there is another way that he must walk in if