Confideration 1. Whose word is that which cannot gain entrance into your hearts? Is it not the word of God which you defpife and flight? « Thou "cafteft my word behind thy back," Pfal. 1. 17. O what an affront and provocation to God is this! You defpife not man, but God; the great and terrible God, in whofe hand your breath and foul are: This contempt runs higher than you imagine. Confideration 2. you Confider, that however the word hath no power upon you, the commandment cannot come home to your hearts; yet it doth work, and comes home with power to the hearts of others: Whilft are hardened, others are melted under it; whilft you fleep, others tremble; whilst your hearts are faft locked up, others are opened. How can you choose but reflect with fear and trembling upon thefe contrary effects of the word; efpecially when you confider that the eternal decrees, both of election and reprobation, are now executed upon the fouls of men, by the preaching of the word; fome believe, and others are hardened. Confideration 3. That no judgment of God, on this fide hell, is greater than a hard heart and stupid conscience under the word; it were much better that the providence of God fhould blaft thy eftate, take away thy children, or destroy thy health, than harden thy heart, and fear thy confcience under the word: So much as thy foul is better than thy body, so much as eternity is more valuable than time, fo much is this fpiritual judgment more dreadful than all temporal ones. God doth not inflict a more terrible ftroke than this upon any man in this world. O therefore, as you love your own fouls, and are loth to ruin them to all eternity, attend upon every opportunity that God affords you; for you know not in which of them the Lord may work upon your hearts. Lay afide your prejudices against the word or the weakneffes and infirmities of them that preach it; for the word works not as it is the word of man, as it is thus neat and elegant, but as it is the word of God. Pray for the bleffing of God upon the word; for except his word of blefling go forth with it, it can never come home to thy foul. Meditate upon what you hear; for, without meditation, it is not like to have any effectual operation upon you. Search your fouls by it, and confider whether that be not your very cafe and ftate which it defcribes; your very danger whereof it gives warning. Take heed, left after you have heard it, the cares of the world choke what you have heard, and cause those budding convictions which begin to put forth, to blaft and wither. Carefully attend to all those items and memorandums your confciences give you under the word, and conclude that the Lord is then come nigh unto you. Secondly, Let this be matter of ferious confideration and caution to all fuch as have only felt fome flight, tranfient, and ineffectual operations of the gospel upon their fouls: The Lord hath come nigh to fome of our fouls; we have felt a ftrange power in the or dinances, fometimes terrifying, and fometimes tranfporting our hearts; but, alas! it proves but a morning-dew, or an early cloud, Hof. vi. 4. We rejoice in the word, but it is but for a feafon, John iii. 25. Gal. iv. 14, 15. They are vanishing motions, and come to nothing. Look, as in nature there are many abortives, as well as perfect children, fo it is in religion; yea, where the new creature is perfectly formed in one foul, there be many abortives and mifcarriages in others; and there may be three reafons affigned for it, viz. Firft, The fubtilty and deep policy of Satan, who never more effectually deceives and deftroys the fouls of men, than in such a method, and by fach an artifice as this; for when men have once felt their confciences terrified under the word, and their hearts at other times ravifhed with the joys and comforts of it, they now feem to have attained all that is neceffary to converfion, and conftitutive of the new creature; these things look fo well like the regenerating effects of the Spirit, that many are easily deceived by them. The devil beguiles the hearts of the unwary by fuch false appearances; for it is not every man that can diftinguish betwixt the natural and spiritual motions of the affections under the word : It is very frequently feen that even carnal and unrenewed hearts have their meltings and tranfports, as well as fpiritual hearts. The fubject-matter upon which the word treats, are the weighty things of the world to come; heaven and hell are very awful and affecting things, and an unrenewed heart is apt to thaw and melt at them: Now here is the cheat of Satan, to perfuade a man that thefe muft needs be fpiritual affections, becaufe the objects about which they are converfant are fpiritual; whereas it is certain the objects of the affections may be very fpiritual and heavenly, and yet the workings of a man's affections about them may be in a mere natural way. Secondly, The dampening efficacy of the world is a true and pro per cause of these abortions and miscarriages under the word, Luke viii. 12, 13, 14. There are hopeful and promifing beginnings and buddings of affections in fome perfons, especially in their youth; but when once they come to be engaged in the world, how foon are they damped and quenched! As the cares of a family grow on, fo does the care of falvation wear off. It is not as it was wont to be, What fhall I do to be faved? How fhall I get intereft in Chrift? VOL. II. But what shall I eat, and drink, and wherewith fhall I, and mine, be maintained? Thus earth justles out heaven, and the prefent world drowns all thoughts of that to come. Good had it been for many men, they had never been engaged fo deep in the world as they are; their life is but a conftant hurry of bufinefs, and a perpetual diverfion from Chrift, and things that are eternal. Thirdly, and lastly, The deceitfulnefs and treachery of the heart, which too eafily gives way to the defigns of Satan, fuffers itfelf to be impofed upon by him, is not the leaft caufe why fo many hopeful beginnings come to nothing, and the effects of the word vanifh. Pride and felf-love are very apt to over-rule every little good, and flight or undervalue every ill that is in us; and fo quickly choke thofe convictions that begin to work in our foals. But oh! that fuch men would confider, that the dying away of their convictions is that which threatens the life of their fouls for ever; now is the bud withered, the bloffom blafted: and what expectation is there of fruit after this, except the Lord revive them again? The Lord open men's eyes to difcern the danger of fuch things as thefe are! Jude 12. Heb. x. 58. Yet I deny not but there are many stands and paufes in the work of converfion; it feems to die away, and then revives again; and revive it muft, or we are loft. But how many are there who never recover it more. This is a fore judgment of a moft terrible confequence to the fouls of men ! Thirdly, In the last place, let it be a word of counfel and advice to them, upon whom the word works effectually and powerfully; to whofe hearts the commandment is come home to revive fin, and kill their vain hopes; and thefe are of two forts. 1. 1. Embryo's under the firft workings of the spirit. 2. Complete births of the fpirit, regenerated fouls. First, Embryo's that are under the first workings of the fpirit in the word. O let it not feem a mifery, or unhappiness to you, that the commandment is come, and fin revived, and your former hopes overthrown. It must be thus, if ever God intend mercy for you. Had you gone on in that dangerous fecurity you were in before, you had certainly been loft for ever: God hath stopt you in that path that leads down to hell, and none that go in there do ever return again, or take hold of the paths of life. O! it is better to weep, tremble, and be diftreffed now, than to mourn without hope for ever. Let it not trouble you that fin hath found you out; you could never have found out the remedy in Christ, if you had not found out the difcafe and danger, by the coming of the commandment. And I befeech you carefully to obferve, whether the effects and operations of the word upon your hearts be deeper and more powerful than they are found to be in fuch fouls as mifcarry under it the commandment comes to them, and fhews them this or that more grofs and ftartling fin. Doth it come to you, and thew you not only this or that particular fin, but all the evils of your heart and life; the corruption of your natures, as well as the tranfgreffions of your lives? If fo, it promifes well, and looks hopefully and comfortably to you. The commandment comes to others, and ftartles them with the fears of damnation for their fin: it puts them into a grievous fright at hell, and the everlasting burnings: but doth it come to thee and difcover the infinite evil that is in thy fin, as it is committed against the great, holy, righteous, and good God, and fo melts thy heart into tears for the wrong that thou haft done him, as well as the danger into which thou haft brought thyfelf? This is a hopeful work, and may encourage thee. It comes to others, and greatly shakes, but never destroys and razes the foundation of their vain hopes: if it fo revive fin as to kill all vain hopes in thee, and send thee to Chrift alone, as thy only door of hope, fear not; thefe troubles will prove the greatest mercies that ever befel thee in this world, if thus they work, and continue to work upon thy foul. Secondly, Others there are upon whom the word hath had its full effect as to converfion. O blefs God for ever for this mercy; you cannot fufficiently value it! God hath not only made it a convincing and wounding, but a converting and healing word to your fouls; he hath not only revived your fins, and killed your vain hopes, but begotten you again to a lively hope; fee that you be thankful for this mercy. How many have fate under the fame word, but never felt fuch effects of it? As Chrift faid in another cafe, there were many widows in Ifrael in the time of Elijah, but unto none of them was the prophet fent, fave unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, to a certain widow there, Luke iv. 46. So I may fay, in this cafe, there were many fouls in the fame congregation, at the fame time, but unto none of them was the word fent with a commiffion to convince and fave, but fuch a one as thyfelf; one as improbable to be wrought upon as any foul there. O let this beget thankfulness in your fouls; and let it make you love the word as long as you live: "I will never forget thy precepts, for by them "thou haft quickened me," Pfal. cxix. 93. But above all, I befeech you make it appear that the commandment hath come home to your hearts, with power to convince you of the evil of fin, by your tendernefs and care to fhun it as long as you live. If ever you have feen the face of fin, in the glass of the law of God; if your hearts have been humbled and broken for it in the days of your trouble and diftrefs, certainly you will choofe the worft affliction rather than fin: It would be the greateft folly in the world to return again to iniquity, Pfal. lxxxv. 8. You that have seen so much of the evil that is in it, and the danger that follows it; you that have had such inward terrors and fears of spirit about it, when that terrible reprefentation was made you, will be loth to feel those gripes and diftreffes of confcience again, for the best enjoyment in this world. Bleffed be God if any word has been brought home to our hearts, which hath been inftrumental to bring us to Chrift! SERMON XXII. The Teachings of GOD opened, in their Nature and Neceffity, JOHN yi. 45. It is written in the Prophets, And they shall be all taught of God, Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. HOW OW neceffary to our union with Jefus Chrift, the application of the law, or coming home of the commandment to the heart of a finner is, we have heard in the last difcourfe; and how impoffible it is, either for the commandment to come to us, or for us to come to Chrift without illumination and inftruction from above, you fhall hear in this. This fcripture hath much of the mind of God in it; and he that is to open it, had need himself to be taught of God. In the foregoing verfes, Chrift offers himself as the bread of life unto the fouls of men against this doctrine they oppose their carnal reason, ver. 41, 42. Chrift ftrikes at the root of all their cavils and objections in his reply, ver. 43, 44. "Murmur not among yourselves: "no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me ❝ draw him;” q. d. you flight me because you do not know me; you do not know me because you are not taught of God; of these divine teachings, the prophets of old have spoken, and what they foretold is at this day fulfilled in our fight; fo many as are taught of God, and no more, come unto me in the way of faith: it is impoffible to come without the teachings of God, ver. 44. It is as impoffible not to come, or to mifcarry in their coming unto me, under the influence of these divine teachings, ver. 45. The words read, confift of two parts, viz. 1. An allegation out of the prophets. 2. The application thereof made by Chrift. First, An allegation out of the prophets: "It is written in the CC prophets, And they fhall be all taught of God." The places in |