sometimes a wounding sometimes a bruising sometimes a breaking sometimes a renting sometimes a killing and sometimes an humbling and melting of the heart And this is it which God calls for in the Text from the Iewes as a meanes to prevent their utter destruction by the sword of the Caldeans whence the proposition which I shall in the first place insist on is this Doctr. 1 That the breaking up of sinfull hearts Is a singular meanes to prevent the breaking downe of a sinfull Nation THere are three things unto which I shall speake for the explication of this assertion Namely 1. What the right breaking of a sinfull heart is which is so availeable to prevent the breaking downe of a sinfull Nation 2. Some demonstrations that it is a preventing meanes 3. The Reasons why it is so For the first quaere what the right breaking up of a Quest 1. a sinfull heart is Be pleased to know that there is a twofold Breaking of a sinners heart Sol. 1. One is specious only and formall supersicie tenus The heart broken for sin 2 Wayes 1. Formally as Saint Bernard speakes as Artificiall Juglars seem to wound themselves but do not or as Players seeme to thrust themselves through their bodies but the sword passeth only through their clothes There is something done about sins but nothing is done against sins peccata raduntur sed non eradicantur as the same Auhor speaketh which he truely calls a Fiction and vanity As when men onely lop the Trees which thereupon in time grow the faster and thicker Against this breaking the Prophet of old much complained They in Isaiah hung downe their heads and afflicted their soules for a day but for all that they Esa 58. 5 3 still afflicted their poore brethren And they in Hosea did howle but yet they did still rebell against the Hosea 7. 14. Lord And they in Malachy did cry out and cover Malach. 2. 13. 11. the Altar with Teares and yet for all their pretended contrition they did profane the holinesse of their God And though the Pharisees did assume unto themselves a most mortified garbe of humbling especially in their dayes of Fasting disfiguring their faces as Christ reports of them yet their hearts were as loose as full of pride and covetousnesse and envie Matth. 6. 16. and opposition of Christ as ever 2. Another is serious and Reall which is acted most in the hidden man and pierceth like the word Hebr. 4. 12. even to the dividing of soule and spirit of which likewise there are two kindes one is stiled Attrition and the other is styled Contrition by the Schoolemen the former by our Casuists is called a legall breaking and the latter an Evangelicall breaking They difference them thus partly 1. By their objects Penall evill is the object on which Attrition doth worke and sinfull evill is the object on which Contrition worketh the one is conversant about passive evill that is the evill which wee suffer but the other is conversant about Active evill that is the evill which wee have done For sinne hath in it two qualities one to make us unhappie and this Attrition lookes at another to make us unholy and at this doth contrition look 2. By their causes legall Attrition is onely the pinching of servile feare and despaire for it seeth nothing but Sea all that will teare and distract the Conscience but Evangelicall contrition is the melting and lamenting of filiall Love and Hope The frownes of a Revenging Judge causeth that but the smiles of a gracious Father raiseth this In the one the heart is shivered by the flashes of Hell In the other the heart is melted by the beames of Heaven A stroke from guilt brake Judas's heart into despaire but a looke from CHRIST brake Peters heart into teares 3. By their effects an Attrite heart may for that space of time whiles the Conscience burnes and flames with wrath become negatively penitent Non proponit peccare It doth not purpose to sin the sensible anguish for former sinnings may suspend delightfull intentions for future sins but the contrite heart out of a contrariety of nature becomes positively holy proponit non peccare It doth Cordially purpose not to sin any more All which if I mistake not is the same that Cajetan aimes at when hee saith that Attrition produceth velleitatem an imperfect motion of the will but contrition produceth voluntatem a compleat and direct will against sin But this discourse I feare is too speculative for this dayes worke give mee leave therefore to open the nature of this penitentiall heart breaking in a more practicall and profitable way There are severall workings which ordinarily concurre to the full constituting of this heart-breaking worke whereof some are Antecedent some are formally ingredient and some are inseparably consequent 1. The Antecedent workings are such as previously lead the way to the Evangelicall breaking as Antecedents to heart breaking three the Needle doth to the threed and the breaking by the hammer doth to the melting by the fire by way of order only and not by causality These are principally three 1. A Notionall Irradiation The Lord never breakes a sinners heart before hee hath opened a sinners 1. Irradiation eyes the day breakes before the heart breakes light breakes to elevate the soule thus far to discerne and distinguish of evill till then sin is no burden to the Conscience nor trouble to the affections As no good wrapt up in darkenesse excites desire so no evill swath'd up in Ignorance strikes any trouble or sorrow unknowne things have not motive faculty because they are as non entia no things at all And therefore God ever keepes this method to make sin appeare to be sin and afterwards to humble and break our hearts for it 2. A practicall conviction which is nothing else but a personall application of guilt wrath without 2. Conviction which the notion of sin would be no trouble let me open my minde thus unto you That drunkennesse or swearing or whoredome or murder or Sabbath breaking c. are sins And that such persons who are guilty of them without Repentance shall not inherit the kingdome of God All this the sinner knowes already and yet is not troubled for as long as light rests in a bare Notion it is only an addition to his understanding It is no burden at all to his heart But when this light slips downe and chargeth this sinne and this wrath upon this very person and shines so clearely in this charge that the person cannot for his life deny it thou art a drunkard thou art this swearer c. And hereupon in the name of God arrests him with that wrath which God hath threatned unto that sinne and sinner now the sinner begins to consider and tremble and breake When Peter closed with the Jewes and convinced Acts 2. 36 37. them that they in particular crucified Iesus
neglected the worke or would not bee perswaded throughly to act the duty of Repentance The Lord saw this dangerous obstinacy and pitties it and strives with them to save their soules that they might by this meanes save their Countrey The way he spreads before them is expressed Partly in verse 1. If thou wilt Returne O Israel saith the Lord Returne unto me and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight then thou shalt not Remove q. d. leave thy sinnes and save all Thou hast made many overtures and semblances thereof by Fastings by confessings by prayings Adde now one thing more Repent in good earnest This will bee life to your solemnities and safetie to your Nation Partly in ver 3. Break up your fallow ground and sow not among thornes q. d. If you do not Repent you are undone if you doe repent but not throughly you wil be undone too hypocrisie in good duties as well as profanenesse in bad wayes may ruine a person and Nation A man may as surely be drowned in a ship that hath a leake as when he hath no ship at all Therefore pretend Repentance no longer but act it and when you doe act it act it not slightly but exactly become good and do good to purpose If you regard and follow this Counsell Then as in ver 1. you shall not remove but if you will not hearken unto it then as in ver 4. My fury shall come forth like fire and burne that none can quench it because of the evill of your doings The words of my Text containe in them the principall works of this day which are two 1. A serious humiliation unto which the Iewes are exhorted in these words Break up your Fallow ground 2. A dextrous Reformation delivered unto them by way of caution And sow not among thornes There must bee not a little rasing but a breaking nor a meere breaking but a breaking up and when that is done there must bee a sowing too but every sowing must not serve the turne It must bee such a sowing as may come to something It must not be a sowing among thornes The field which I am at this time to worke upon and goe over you see is very large there is much more ground in it then I can conveniently breake up and sow I shall though by that Gods assistance who only is the Maker and breaker of hearts set upon the whole worke and Hee in tender mercy so accompany and water and prosper His truths this day that all our Fallow grounds may bee broken up and then so graciously sowne in righteousnesse that wee and all the land may shortly Reape in mercy I begin with the first part Breake up your Fallow ground That these words are to be understood not literally but metaphorically I make no question that any who heares me doth question Interpreters though do vary something in their conjectures Tertullian by fallow ground understands the old Law which hee Adversus Iudaeos c. 3. saith is to be broken up by the new Law he meanes the Gospel an exposition much impertinent and too wide Cassianus understands by it the Heathens and Pagans and other secular persons nor is this conjecture apt to the Text. Cyprian drawes nearer to the sense who by fallow ground understands Mores popusi the conversations of the Iewes and Cyril of Alexandria who by it understands Animum sylvescentem an heart like the wildernesse wilde and destitute of all pious culture and Chrysostome yet more exactly by fallow ground understands cordis profundum the very Core and depths of a sinfull heart So then to stop all quotations the fallow ground The Fallow ground is the sinfull heart is nothing else but the sinfull estate of a person or Nation And it is very aptly so described by reason of that consimilitude which the one hath with the other For First Fallow ground is a barren piece of earth a Tohu and Bohu as at the first voyd of all excellency and beauty There is not one graine of good seed So resembled in three re in it nor any one delightfull flower such a desart is mans sinfull heart It is a very Inane Nihilum vanity and vanity no divine excellency is to be found there Not any one effect nor any one seed of spirituall inclination For this It may answer as the depth did for wisedome It is not in me Iob 28. 14. Secondly Fallow ground is usually an indigested Thicket lumbred all over with weedes and Briars and Thornes and Thistles that originall curse which befell the Earth for mans transgression And such a piece also is mans sinfull heart Though it bee but a barren Wildernesse for any good yet it is an ample Ocean for all that is evill and hurtfull The upper part of his field hath in it an abundance of thornes unprofitable thoughts hurtfull cares wounding errors and the lower part of his field is as full of stinking weedes vile affections as the Apostle calls them the best fruits of him are but as a briar to scratch himselfe and to catch and intangle others with sin Lastly Fallow ground is an hardned part of earth extreamly compacted by the influences of the sun and windes and by its owne native inclination so that it is not an easie thing to sever it and dispose it for a better use just so is a naturall or sinfull heart It is so troden and seared obdurated partly by the frequent repetition of sinful acts and partly by the intension of sinfull delights that it is not only defective of good but also very active against it unyeelding resisting and fighting against all heavenly counsels and motions The man is evill and will be so he is not good nor will he be so unlesse God by an insuperable vertue of his own spirit makes him to be so We have found what the fallow ground is let us in the next place inquire what the breaking of it up The breaking up what is Then the Fallow ground is broken up when the Husbandman comes with his Plow and enters that plow into it deepely enters it even into the Bowels of the ground and then rents and teares it and turns it upside downe Not in one Furrow but in every Furrow once twice perhaps thrice if need so requires Even so the sinfull heart is broken up when the Almighty and gracious God whom Christ calls the Husbandman comes with his Word and Spirit and Alta voce as St. Austine speaks or virtute magnifica Iohn 15. 1. as Ber. speaks enters into the heart or soule of a sinner by irresistable convincings and by efficacious humblings which are as rentings and tearings to the ground and by rooting up the dominion and love of all sins The Scriptures sometimes call this worke a touching sometimes a pricking sometimes a troubling Acts 2. 37. 1 Sam. 1. 5. Psal 34. 18. Prov. 18. 14. Isa 42. 3. Ioel 2. 13. 2 King 22. 19.
good may outrunne the due search of much evill Adde yet further That ingrained diseases are not easily stirred much lesse destroyed by one potion evills long in gathering and much baked into and setled in a State or Church are not so suddenly cured as vulgar people in their haste imagine shall I speake one thing more There is as much Art almost as sinne as much guilt as Guiltinesse The Lawes are ingenuous but offendors are fraudulent and subtile Sirs you deale with bold offenders and with cunning offenders too which if you looke not the better to it will quite delude and frustrate all your Religious and pious intentions Shall I tell you what I know and what the Countrey sighes and sheds Teares at that notwithstanding your Religious pittie to their soules yet their soules are as much abused as ever They have complained of some ill Ministers you hearken unto them but in the meane time the Minister exchangeth his living with another perhaps a far of unknowne to the people against whom there can bee for the present No legall exception and thus they perish still for want of bread Therefore Worthy Sirs Out with your plow againe you are by all these after-workes much more directed how to mannage and carry on your worke 4. Lastly Bee as earnest and active as possibly you can to send Labourers into the Field I meane 4. to plant all the Land with an heart-breaking ministery All will come to nothing unlesse this bee done Pluralities are Voted downe but what good will that bee when all comes but to this before that Order one bad man had two good livings and now two bad men have each of them one too good for them both I will say no more unto you but be serious and couragious in this worke in setling of a good Ministery with which joyne also an answerable Magistracie This to doe is your duty this is your honour this will bee our safety and happinesse This will bee Your great reward in Heaven Goe on thus in this breaking-worke and prosper There is no man ever did any thing for God and lost by it or to his Church but gained by it If you will goe on with an humble and unwearied zeale it shall shortly be said of this Parliament These were Scotlands Vmpire Irelands guard and revenge Englands preservation The Churches safety and religions glory And so I passe from the Plow to the seed from the plowing up of Fallow-grounds to the sowing of them being broken up expressed with its caution in the Text. And sow not among thornes c. Second Part. And sow not among Thornes THat a breaking up of the ground must goe before a sowing and then that a sowing must follow the breaking up is no question with any judicious man For as it were a vaine thing to sow when the ground is not broken up the seed would but be a prey so it were as foolish when the ground is broken up not to sow the labour would never prove an harvest breaking up of the ground being in it selfe only opus imperfectum respectivum a worke for another Sowing must follow breaking up worke And indeed as the Historian spake of the Emperor that he rather wanted vice then was vertuous so it may be said of a person and Nation if their Fallow grounds be broken up and yet be not sowen they are rather not wicked then good For Negatives alone make no estate to be gracious It must be some positive quality which gives perfection and denomination They say well in Philosophy that whiles the motion is passing from the Terminus a quo It is but in Fieri and till the terminus ad quem bee attained it is not in facto esse the worke is but on the way it is not at the end nor done The same is a truth in Divinity for cessation from evill is not sufficient Esay 1. 16 17. without an operation of good to pull downe wickednesse is not enough unlesse we also set up godlinesse Iosiah did pull downe Idols but then he did likewise restore and set up the true worship of God And our Saviour did not onely correct the false glosses wherewith the Pharisees had corrupted the law Matth. 5. 21 22 28 32 c. but also erected and established the true sense and genuine Interpretation of it Iehu to this day lies under the tongue and censure of Hypocrisie notwithstanding all his zeale against Baal and the Priests because after all this He tooke no care or heed to walke in the Law 2 Kings 10. 27 28 31. of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart It is I think a true maxime that all true quarrell with evill ariseth from the love of good and therefore the defacings and displacings of the former ought to end in the advancings and setlings of the latter and verily it were a weake designe to undoe the one and yet not to doe the other because 1. Morall evills will not be cured but by contrary qualities A state like water though for a time heated yet will slip backe to coldnesse will warp about after a while to its corruptions if care be not taken for its perfecting and preservation too 2. Againe though a Nation bee somewhat lesse miserable because evill is removed yet it will not bee happy till good bee planted you shall finde besides this that the soule of the publike state will answer that of the person To whom as the presence of Nocivum what oppresseth him is a burden so the absence of Honestum as they speake what is convenient will certainely prove a complaint Both Religion and nature instruct us in this Religion puts men on for holinesse as well as pulls men off from sinfulnesse and nature hath ingrafted in it not onely Abyssus depths of distasts against apprehended evills but also Hiatus vast desires for all throughly apprehended good Neither will it receive satisfaction in the one without the other Yea ordinary policy can discerne in a Common-wealth as great an aptnesse to tumult where conveniencie is with held as there is to impatience where misery is felt shall I adde one thing more That in all publike changes and alterations these ever goe in the thoughts of the vulgar yea of all Confident expectations that some other thing must succeed in the place of any thing that is removed especially in matter of Religion where corruption is discerned on all sides the ordination and plantation of which if publike authority doth not take in hand you shall finde that ordinary heades will presume to doe the which what confusion it will make amongst people and future difficulties to your selves I leave to your Religious wisedomes to consider of So then it is evident de jure that a sowing ought to follow the breaking up But yet any kinde of sowing is not a sufficient consequent the direction is given in the Text with a Caution sow but sow not among thornes
by solemne confessions and humiliations To perish in the shewes of repentance is a bitter perishing It was a sad greeting which they found from Christ Lord say they we have heard thee preaching in our Synagogues we have eat and drunk in thy presence yet saith Christ unto them depart from me ye workers of iniquity verily I know you not So when we come to die and then come to judgement and say Lord we have heard thy Word we have fasted we have prayed we have afflicted our bodies and soules and yet Christ shall say depart I know you not yee heard my Word indeed but ye did not obey my Word ye confessed your sins but yee never forsook your sins ye gave on towards a little good but ye never became good you professed obedience but you never did care to walk in my wayes and therefore all that you have done shall never doe you any good would not this be a sad and heavy answer to our selfe-deluded soules Nay put the case that now after all our fastings the same judgement or a worse should befall us which befalls our poore Brethren in Ireland that the sword should break forth among us and all the unmercifull and sudden calamities of warre should beleaguer us that in a moment the Gospel should bee banished our liberties should be imbondaged our estates should be exhausted our lands should be dispossessed our houses should be burnt our coffers should be ransack'd our bodies should be tortured and our lives should be threatned Good Lord would we say is all our fasting and humbling come to this we looked for good and not for evill wee looked for peace and not for destruction why and the Lord might answer us when did you fast to me and when did you pray to me Indeed you prayed against judgements but you would never leave your sins which I told you often would pull downe judgements you would have had mercies but I could never perswade you to repent in good earnest you would trust to vaine thoughts of your owne you would never be humbled to purpose you would sow among thornes and see now what ye get by it O Christian thinke seriously of these things God hath called to England once againe often a longer time repent indeed turne from your evill wayes indeed be upright and holy indeed walk with me once at length in truth judgements have called warnings have called consciences still call dangers still call feares still call the Ministers of God as the Prophets of old still call and cry and beseech and weepe turne yet unto the Lord turne not feignedly but with all your hearts sow not among thornes yet Lord who believes our reports and calls the Prophet is reputed a foole and the Spirituall man mad men will be sinfull still they will perhaps one of ten thousand bee seemingly penitent and the issue I feare will bee this the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together Isai 1. 28. And while they be folden together as thornes they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry Nahum 1. 10 But Sirs let us yet be perswaded to repent and to reforme our selves to purpose if ever we purpose to repent or would repent to purpose this is the time all within us all without us all abroad all at home beg it at our hearts O that God would work all his works in us that our selfe-reforming work may begin goe on hold out and abound that God may be reconciled to our selves and this sinfull land 2. To you of publique employment MAny excellent works are fallen into your hands some of them you have gone through with already and more we are perswaded had received their seale had not the excellency of your attempts raised against you the enmity of manifold oppositions and contradictions my humble and earnest intreaty of you is only this let not those remaining excellent works if it bee possible so much as in you lies for ever stick in the birth let them not die in meere intentions or propositions but strive to bring them unto their due and much desired perfection you have begun some things 1. About erronious Doctrines 2. Against superstitious practices 3. Against Idolatry and seducing Priests and Jesuits 4. With notorious delinquents and offenders 5. Against scandalous Ministers and Innovations 6. For the setling of a faithfull and laborious Ministry 7. For an honourable maintenance and encouragement of it O never let us stand to the courtesie of the vulgar 8. For the easing of tender consciences 9. For the vindicating of the Lords day 10. For the setling of all distractions and hopes of a Church-Reformation according to the Word of God against which malice it selfe cannot justly open its mouth 11. For the succouring and relieving of poore and distressed Ireland Hasten all that you can lest it prove too late Now God forbid that such works as these should ever fall to the ground after so many yeers misery after so many thousand prayers after so many gracious overtures which you have made let it not be said of you in these works as hee said of his owne Faciebam non feci he was doing of them but they were never done Take up your first thoughts and engage your hearts and resolutions and all your endeavours speedily and successefully to carry on at least this one work of all works a solid Reformation Beleeve me it is the work which will bring a blessing upon all your other works peruse that place well in Haggai 2. 18. Consider now saith the Lord from this day even from the day that the foundation of the Lords Temple was laid consider it vers 19. from this day will I blesse you Now whereas Zerubbabel might reply we would set to this work but that we are afraid of warlike opposition To this the Lord answers in Verse 22. and 23. I will overthrow the Throne of Kingdomes and I will destroy the strength of the Kingdomes of the Heathen and I will overthrow the Charrets and the Horses and the Riders And I will take thee Zerubbabel my servant and I will make thee as a Signet q. d. Look you to that work and I will assuredly look to your persons and safeties Now that you may effectually carry on all these great works and especially that of Church-Reformation so that all may be prosperous and in the event come to something make use of two Two Directions directions which I humbly propound unto you First strip your selves of all the things which will weaken your hearts and make your endeavours still slow and fruitlesse therefore First put off your sinnes or else they will put off your work evill men are seldome apt for or prove successefull in good attempts There is nothing which intricates our actions more than our sinnes which doe likewise ensnarle our souls Enterprises set upon either without God or against God are like arrowes shot up aloft which never doe good but many times
bee broken for your sinnes nothing that you doe shall finde favour with me all the rest is but as wood and fire the Lambe the Sacrifice of a Contrite heart which is that I look at and for is wanting Get thee behinde me said Jehu to the severall messengers what have you to doe with peace Confessions and prayers are the messengers of our soules to God but unlesse the sinful heart be broken they will never be messengers of peace If any of you would angle in a River would you throw in a naked line only would this be to any purpose Sirs I know well that if a Fast bee rightly performed it hath as many promises of blessings and mercies See Esay 58. As any religious duty whatsoever Nay and I thinke that you never read in all the Bible nor yet in experience of its right performance without some sudden and remarkeable Testimony of Gods gracious acceptance and answer But then breaking of hearts ever accompanied those prevailing and victorious Fasts as you may Reade in Iudges and Samuel and the Kings and Ezra and Nehemiah c. And for my part I should not scruple the assecution of any convenient mercy nor the diversion of any impendent evill if once with all our Fastings there were also a breaking up of our Fallow grounds If GOD could in this command our hearts we might then in some sense command our God 3. Thirdly Have wee not all of us sufficient cause to breake our sinfull hearts Should sinnes should calamities abroad should dangers at home breake hearts all these may then worke upon us our sins have broken the heart of CHRIST and are such as have broken off God from a people and have broken many Churches downe Can you bee ignorant of the professed Idolatry in this Land of the horrid blasphemies of the over-flowing drunkennesse of the Sabbaths profanation c. And if wee looke at calamities abroad why as Iacob said Ioseph is not and Simeon is not so may we say Bohemia is broken up and the Palatinate is broken up and IRELAND is breaking up and yet the hearts of sinfull England will not bee broken up Nay if wee looke at the dangers hovering like a Cloud over this Land and dropping already in manifold and sundry divisions in manifold plots in manifold and severall contradictions and even readie to breake forth O LORD let it not breake forth in a bitter intestine Warre amongst our selves where every mans sword shall bee against his brother and the Child may kill the Parent or the Parent kill his Child bowels sheathed in bowels No man scarce secure in his owne Family our sins are bringing this upon us and yet our hearts will not breake for these sinnes The God of all Wisdome and mercies breake our hearts that so this judgement may not doe that which all our forreigne enemies hitherto could not doe Breake downe our Church and Nation 4. And if judgements should breake in upon sinners before hearts are broken for sins good Lord what where are they Dudilius relates a sad story of Bochna a woman who had but two sonnes and whiles she was walking with the one towards the River she heard the other crying out and hastning back shee found a knife sticking in him which kild him quickly then she returnes to her other child thinking to solace her selfe in an onely child but he in her absence was fallen into the river and drowned both lost at once Ah Sirs we have but two children a Soule and a body what an heavie losse will it bee to lose both these at once To bee cut off by an angry enemie and to be cast off by a mighty God! To lose a life and at the same time to lofe an eternall life To lose safety and salvation at once T is true that if a sinners heart be broken by grace there is no question of mercy but when an impenitent sinners life is broken by judgment his hopes are gone and his breaking of it for ever 5. Fifthly Wee shall assuredly be broken off if we be not broken up Beloved There are two vile malignities in an unbroken heart First It is one of the greatest of spirituall judgements ô said a Reverend man once if I must be put to my option I had rather be in Hell with a sensible heart then live on earth with a reprobate minde so I say an hardned and unbroken heart is in some respect a judgement worse than Hell for as much as one of the greatest sins is farre greater in evill then any of the greatest punishments Secondly It is the immediate and unavoydable forerunner of the greatest of temporall judgements He that hardens his heart shall be destroyed suddenly and that without remedy Prov. 29. 1. Observe that place There is no lesse then destruction which is not a particular and imperfect dammage but it is a compleate ruine and this destruction is certaine shall not may perhaps bee destroyed but when Suddenly I but the sinner wil shift it off withstand it No but hee shall bee destroyed without remedy His destruction shall not be prevented you may reade all this in the old World and in Pharaoh and in the Iewes before the Babylonian Captivitie and afterwards in the Roman divastation which hath lasted these 1600 yeares 6. But now where are our broken hearts I know not what to say my heartakes within mee ô that it could bee broken because hearts are generally unbroken Sinners are secure Consciences are seared wickednesse is bold sinnes are a delight and pastime God is not seene nor feared in his judgements in His warnings in His dealings Reformation is abhorred Humiliation most know not what it meanes and if they doe it is distasted Serious thoughts of our sinfull wayes who takes them up sufficient time for selfe-examination who makes it for himselfe every man runnes on in his course loves as hee did lives as he did And never knew a trouble in his soule nor a teare in his eye either for his owne or for the sins of others all his dayes And what will the end of all this be O that God would pittie us this day and breake our hearts for us though it bee so irksome and contrary to our flesh and bloud It is better said a Father to dye one death then to live and feare all deaths better it is to suffer the heart to bee broken then to expose our selves to all sorts of Judiciall eternall breakings ô Lord said dying Fulgen. Dapaenitentiam postea indulgentiam make mee a penitent sinner and then let me find thee an indulgent Father Never looke for great mercies for long mercies for any mercies with unbroken hearts we are not good we can doe no good we can expect no good till our sinfull hearts be broken O Christians be perswaded this day to get broken hearts God can do it for you and will doe it for you if you will but use the means and seeke unto him spare time and
Interpreters abound in their opinions concerning For the sense of the words these thorns By them Chrysostome understands Idols as entangling and piercing as the sharpest of Briars and thornes Origen and Hierom by the thornes understand covetousnesse and the cares of the world which likewise are scratching and wounding others understand all our sinfull corruptions ' there are spinae in corde saith Bernard thornes in our hearts as well as in our Fields and some understand by the thorns mixtures of worship crept into the worship of God amongst the Iewes as Sanctius and others But with the favour of all these and yet with submission I conjecture that these words Sow not among Thornes are a proverbiall speech and suggest onely this unto us That as the Iewes were to breake downe what was evill in themselves and the Church and State so they were to set upon the doing of all good in private and publike In such a manner and order as that their pains and endeavours might not come to nothing but might prove effectuall and successefull be to some good purpose indeed c. As an Husbandman who sowes will so sow that hee may reape and not loose his seed and labour and therefore will not sow among Thornes For this were an improper worke and would prove in the event utterly unprofitable It is a thousand to one if ever his seed comes up for Thorns have a stealing withdrawing and frustrating quality or if it doth come up yet it will be lost it cannot be gathered there is no comming at it with sithe or sickle Thornes have an hindering malignity as well as a stifling power From this exposition I observe onely this proposition Namely Doct. 2 That all penitentiall and reforming worke must bee so managed and acted that it may not prove a vaine and fruitlesse worke but may come to be a successefull and profitable work It must not be a sowing among Thorns but such a sowing which may in the issue produce an harvest for as good never a whit as never the better You read in Scripture of many Sowers 1. The evill man did sow Tares wee have had of Foure sorts of sowers late many such Sowers not onely professed Priests and Jesuites but some also amongst ourselves who have sowen Popish Arminian Socinian and superstitious Tares 2. The cunning man and he sowes divisions and dissentions There have been and still are too many who sow division twixt the King and the Parliament twixt Ministers and Ministers twixt Ministers and people twixt people and people 3. The foolish man and hee sowes hee cares not what in respect of the seed nor where in respect of the soyle nor when in respect of the time and so all is lost and comes to nothing 4. The wise man who in his sowing lookes to the seed that it bee good and cleane and to the soyle that it bee prepared and right and to the season that it bee fit upon which through Gods blessing the seed sowen takes roote prospers and proves an harvest Of this I now speake in the proposition which whither you limit it to a Repentance that is personall or extend it to a Reformation that is Nationall holds true in both and the Text will beare both The one and the other must bee so dispersed that it may not prove vaine and lost but effectuall and successefull Sirs Though penitentiall workes rightly done are never without successe and blessing yet pretendingly penitentiall agents may so carry on these works materially good that they may never prove formally and eventually good or beneficiall and therefore you read in Scripture that many prayings and fastings and solemne meetings and teares and other doings have found no acceptation with God nor wrought any subjective alterations in persons nor change from misery to mercy in a Nation read the Prophets concerning the Jewes and that will be testimony sufficient In sixe cases they prove in the event to bee nothing but onely a sowing amongst thornes 1. When they are but externall not acted by any inward principles the effects rather of art and parts then of the heart and grace Shels not kernells teares of the eyes but not teares of the heart prayers of the lips but not of the soule Shadowes and pageants of Repentance seeming to bee so to the eye of man but not heart-workings which onely are interpreted to be true and solid to the eye of God The Swanne in the Law was white in fethers yet reputed uncleane and unmeet for sacrifice because the skinne under them was black Religious workings you know stand in Gods account according to the quality of the worke-man the heart of whom is all in all for acceptance or rejection God reputes nothing done which the heart doth not Art may take man more than nature but with God the more art the lesse acceptance A painted Repentance which is onely externall will doe our selves and the Nation as much good as a painted sword as a painted staffe and as painted Fire That will not cut this will not helpe the other will not heate no more will a meerely externall Repentance prevent any judgements or obtaine any mercies 2. When they are but partiall A putting down of some sinnes and a keeping up of other sinnes will bee as vaine as to cure the Palsey and yet to neglect the plague or as to mend the pumpe and yet to neglect the leake Iehu's Golden Calves made an end of him though hee made an end of Baals Images and Priests And so in the doing of good it will come to nothing though some good bee done and yet the best good is neglected The Pharisees did many acts of Righteousnesse but lost them and themselves because they opposed and rejected Christ who was the chiefest and only Righteousnesse There is beloved such a naturall concatenation twixt all vices and so there is amongst vertues That they in a formall working ever include an universall hatred or an universall love No man can be interpreted good who is at defiance with any knowne particular good nor doth hee cease to bee wicked who doth not hate and oppose every knowne evill particular and exclusive actings in the one and in the other serve onely to the disacceptance of the workes and to the greater condemnation of the persons Though Imbecility shall never bee any prejudice to our works yet subtiltie and partialitie shall 3. When they are but circumstantiall though a multitude of lesser evills bee crushed if yet the greater are spared to survive This Reformation will prove like Sauls discretion with the Amalekites Read Ier. 48. 10. who spared the fattest and destroyed the poorest but he lost the kingdome by it Circumstantiall reformations I grant are more easie and quicke but those which are most deepe are ever most safe a Cloath will stoppe up the wound as soone and perhaps sooner then the plaister but the plaister which searcheth to the quicke heales much better If the Tree bee starke
naught and good for no service It is bettter to cut it downe to the Roote then to hire men many dayes to out off the limbes There are three great mischiefes in all circumstantiall and slight acts One is The greatest causes of wrath are not met with Note A second is in a short time all the plashed evills will by a new influence from their rootes sprout up againe And the third is That when these evils once feele their strength and regaine their opportunity they will become more evill and mischievous then ever Histories and experiences witnesse enough of this Popery was hot in former Kings times but when it got out the bit by the death of Edward the sixth it burst out with more burnings and flaming cruelty in Queen Maries dayes 4. When they are only Coactive I meane such actings unto which there is little or no concurrence of a judicious and active will but are rather the sparkles which are forced out by the collision of flints elicited rather by the impressions of appearing and urging evills like Pharahos Obedience which was forced out of judgements and nothing else Marriners in a storme are very pious but then in a Calme turne as wicked as before the Iewes in their straites were as pliable as could bee desired they would part with any thing and do any thing for God but when the Sunne arose this vaine Cloud and dew were gone and scatterd If a Cloud of wrath bee it which puts us on to be and to do good a few beames Hosea 6. 4. of temporall safety will finde us flat and strangers againe The Acts of men doe spring sometimes from feare and sometimes from love those of feare may bee more strong and stirring for the present like a floud which runnes more violently then a River but those of love are most acceptable and constant voluntary acts though sometimes more slow yet are at all times more successefull Iohn in the Gospell ranne faster then Peter yet being at the Sepulcher Peter went farther then Iohn Iohn lookes downe but Peter goes downe an Arrow flies swifter and a man walkes slower yet a man may sooner walke to the marke then the Arrow can hit it Sirs No private or publike work of Reformation will come to good which is derived onely from a feare of evill and not from a love of good when the circumstances of evill are of the evill heart will shew it selfe evill again 5. When they are hypocriticall and vaine-glorious done by our selves and for our selves It is a strange thing to observe how the spirits of men are ballanced and mounted and keepe paralell with the ends which they propound unto themselves The Art and strength and length of our workings are ever moulded in our owne aimes and respects One man acts for God another acts for himselfe the workes of the one are blest and prosper the attempts of the other quickly languish and are blasted As vitious acts are under GODS curse so vaine-glorious acts are out of his blessing Sinceritie humble sinceritie is that which gives life findes acceptance and is crowned with successe If a man in his religious performances of praying and fasting and humbling of himselfe should seeke not God but himselfe as the Pharisees did his vaine glory would purchase onely the applause of men and rejection with God all his workes will bee lost and come to nothing Verily you have your reward said Christ a poore reward to have breath for breath And so in publike attempts if you should not entirely seeke God His Glory His Truth His Worship but your selves your worke will never prosper It will rest onely on your owne parts to act it and on your own strength to consummate and perfect it and what blessed issue can bee expected where weak man is left alone to bee the Author and finisher of great actions 6. Lastly when they are fickle and inconstant begun perhaps with some fervency but then laid aside by as much tepidity An aguish zeale hot in attempting but cold in effecting One day to act like penitents and the next day to live like sinners one while humbling and praying and after a while cursing and swearing Sometimes offering all our service and strength for CHRIST and Religion and See Hosea 6. 1 4. suddenly intent only to our owne delights and wayes forgetting like them who are much in complements all our zeale and professions What a vanity will this prove What harvest will insue when the Husbandman will one houre sow an handfull of seed and a weeke after goe home and do nothing It is observed in Nature that many remisse acts which have no proportion to effects and some strong acts soone remitted will equally come to nothing If there be to weake a strength in the root or if all the strength shootes out at once little or no fruit will follow yet this deceit cleaves much to mans heart that it wil either be constantly bad or else inconstantly good It hath some degrees of heate to begin but wants that prudence of patient endeavour and comming to finish and perfect like him in the Gospel who began to build but did not make an end Whereupon results a vanity and successelesnesse to our workes the ripenesse of which is betrayd many times more by our owne remissenesse then by others oppositions they sticke and dye in the birth because wee continue not in our strength to helpe and bring them forth I see that the time and your wearied patience call upon mee to hasten and finish Give mee leave to make some usefull application of all this and then I have done the application shall bee in this as in the former part a word First To all of us and then Secondly To you of great employment and publike service 1. To every one of us Vse 1 WEE stand here this day before the Lord and seeme to doe the worke of a solemne Fast-day We confesse Our sinnes Wee pray Wee humble our selves and professe that wee will Repent and reforme and obey the Lord Here hath been much seed sowne prayers are seed Teares are seed Sermons are seed But if all this sowing should bee but a sowing amongst thorns if all this should be so managed by us that our prayers that our confessions that our hearings that our resolvings should come to nothing and prove nothing If after once twice thrice many humblings we yet should not be humbled if after all the changes which befall our times our hearts yet should not be changed but sins remaine as strong and judgements remain as neare If after all this God should not be reconciled unto us our transgressions should not be pardoned judgements should not be withdrawn mercies should not be sent downe what a bitter and sad thing would this be for a man to perish though hee prayes and to bee destroyed though he fasts and a Nation to be made a curse and an hissing and a desolation after it hath seemed to meet the Lord