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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>A SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE HONOURABLE Hou&s;e of COMMONS: At their Publique Fa&s;t, Holden in MARGARETS We&s;tmin&s;ter. <HI>Febr.</HI> 24. 16 46./47.</P>
<P>By JOHN LIGHTFOOT <HI>Staffordien&s;.</HI> A Member of the A&s;&s;embly of Divines.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>S. I.</HI> for <HI>Andrew Crooke,</HI> and are to be &s;old at his Shop at the Signe of the <HI>Green Dragon</HI> in <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-yard, 1647.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="Parliamentary order">
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<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Die Mercurii</HI> 24. <HI>Febr.</HI> 1646.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>ORdered by the Commons A&s;&s;embled in Parliament, that Ma&s;ter <HI>Leigh</HI> doe from this Hou&s;e give thanks unto Ma|&s;ter <HI>Lightfoot,</HI> for the great paines he took in his Sermon hee Preached on this Day at <HI>Margarets</HI> We&s;tmin&s;ter before the Hou&s;e of Commons: And that hee doe de&s;ire him to Print his Sermon, wherein he is to have the like Priviledge in Printing of it, as others in the like kinde u&s;ually have had.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Hen. El&s;. Cler. Parl. D. Com.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<HEAD>TO THE HONOVRABLE Hou&s;e of COMMONS A&s;&s;embled in PARLIAMENT.</HEAD>
<P><HI>_VE&s;trum e&s;t imperare, no&s;trum ob&s;equi:</HI> Your Commands wrap|ed up in your De&s;ires I have de|&s;ired to obey, both to the Pulpit and the Pre&s;&s;e. Not that I can tender any thing ei|ther to your eares or eyes, which may be worth your acceptance, but that I cannot but mo&s;t readily tender obedience when you com|mand,
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and labour to &s;erve you, when you call for my &s;ervice. The &s;ubject of that houres Di&s;cour&s;e that I had then before you, and of this Booke, which is the &s;ame, was very well worthy your eyes and eares, if the managing of it had but fallen into a skilfull hand; [For what more needfull duty to bee urged or to be practi&s;ed, then <HI>Heart-communication.]</HI> But according to my poverty I was then ready to offer, and you were plea&s;ed to accept; and I hope for the like acceptance now. I humbly recom|mended the words then &s;poken to your hearts, and &s;o I doe now the &s;ame written: and as I de&s;ire to pre&s;ent them now writ|ten to your hands, &s;o doe I my &s;elfe, and all I am or can at your feet; as</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your poore humble devoted<LB>
Servant,
J. L.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
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<HEAD>A SERMON PREACHED Before the Honourable Hou&s;e of Commons, at their Monthly Fa&s;t, FEBRUARY 24. 1647.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>PSAL. 4. <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 4.</BIBL>
<Q>Commune with your owne Hearts.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_WHen I communed with mine owne Heart concerning what &s;ubject to di&s;cour&s;e upon before this Honourable and great Audience at this time, me thought this Text when it came to hand would be very &s;utable, both for the Auditorie, and for the Occa&s;ion, and for the age wherein we live, and for all the age that we have to live.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, for this Honourable Auditorie; for how fitting is it,
<PB N="2" REF="4">
that they that &s;pend &s;o much time in needfull Conferences a|mong them&s;elves about the affaires of Church and State, &s;hould be minded &s;ometimes of &s;pending &s;ome time in the as needfull conferences with their owne hearts, about the State and af|faires of their owne &s;oules?</P>
<P>Secondly, for this &s;olemne occa&s;ion; for how impo&s;&s;ible is it, that we &s;hould either deal with God, or with the&s;e weighty things that we have in hand, as we ought to doe, unle&s;&s;e wee commune with our owne Hearts, concerning our &s;elves, and concerning God, and concerning the&s;e things; with whom, and about which we have to deale?</P>
<P>Thirdly, for this age wherein welive: for how proper an an&s;wer and a check is this Text for all the inqui&s;itivene&s;&s;e and cen&s;oriou&s;ne&s;&s;e, that &s;o much raveth and rageth among&s;t us in the&s;e times: To an&s;wer Inqui&s;itivene&s;&s;e, by &s;ending men to en|quire after their owne hearts; and to check Cen&s;oriou&s;ne&s;&s;e, by minding men to examine their owne &s;elves.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, for our whole age that we have to live: for while we carry our Hearts about us, wee &s;hould carry this duty with us, I am &s;ure we carry the Obligation upon us, of <HI>Commu|ning with our owne Hearts.</HI></P>
<P>Thus doth the Text &s;uit to us, to our pre&s;ent occa&s;ion, and to our pre&s;ent times: The bu&s;ine&s;&s;e is, if our heart would but as well and truely &s;uit to the Text, and then a perfect harmony and uni&s;on were made. Now the Lord &s;o tune my tongue to your hearts, and your hearts to the Text, and all of us to the du|ty that the Text holdeth out, that I may &s;peak a word in &s;ea&s;on, you receive it &s;ea&s;onably, and all of us practi&s;e it all the &s;ea|&s;on of our lives, that I may have cau&s;e to ble&s;&s;e God that I met with &s;uch an Audience, you have cau&s;e to ble&s;&s;e God that you met with &s;uch a Text, and all of us finde cau&s;e to acknowledge that God hath been among&s;t us at this time of a truth. And &s;o in his name let us fall to worke.</P>
<P>THis P&s;alme by the tenour of it, doth &s;eem to be made up|on the Rebellion of <HI>Sheba</HI> the Son of <HI>Bichri,</HI> as the P&s;alme preceding is plaine by the Title of it, to have been made upon the rebellion of <HI>Ab&s;alom,</HI> which in&s;tantly preceded that re|bellion.
<PB N="3" REF="4">
The &s;tory of both you have in the &s;eventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth Chapters of the &s;econd of <HI>Samuel,</HI> and &s;ome references to both, you have in divers pa&s;&s;ages of this P&s;alme, as it goes along. In the fir&s;t Ver&s;e <HI>Da|vid</HI> &s;peaks to God, who had enlarged him before, in his for|mer troubles, cau&s;ed by his own &s;on, to relieve him now in his pre&s;ent di&s;tre&s;&s;e cau&s;ed by the &s;onne of <HI>Bichri.</HI> In the &s;econd Ver&s;e he &s;peaketh to <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>the men of Armes,</HI> and the <HI>men of dignity;</HI> that they would no longer de&s;pi&s;e the glorie of his Kingdom which God hath cho&s;en, nor follow after a Kingdom of vanity and fal&s;ehood, as was <HI>Ab&s;aloms</HI> and <HI>Sheba's.</HI> In the 4. Ver&s;e, he &s;peaks again&s;t the Cau&s;e and Occa&s;ion of the pre|&s;ent con&s;piracy; namely, the anger between the men of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and the men of <HI>Judah,</HI> mentioned, 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 19 43. where <HI>the words of the men of I&s;rael are fierce, but the words of the men of Judah were fiercer.</HI> This anger he &s;eeketh to calme, by that calme admonition in the beginning of the Ver&s;e, <HI>Be angry, but &s;in not:</HI> for &s;o might the word be very fitly rendred, and &s;o it is render'd by the LXX, by the Arabick and others; and as may be well &s;uppo&s;ed by the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Eph.</HI> 4. 26. And in the &s;eventh Ver&s;e he &s;peaketh out his own comfort and confidence, colle|cted &amp; taken up, upon the ob&s;ervation of a &s;pecial providence: That <HI>&s;ince the time that Corne, and Wine, and Oile had increa&s;ed</HI> to him, and been abundantly &s;ent him in by <HI>Naha&s;h, Machir,</HI> and <HI>Barzillai,</HI> as it is recorded, 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 17. 27, 28. The Lord had <HI>put gladne&s;&s;e into his heart;</HI> for now he perceived that the Lord and his owne people begun to look after him in his di&s;tre&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>If we thus apply the P&s;alme unto this occa&s;ion, then wee know to what per&s;ons to apply the Text, namely to per&s;ons, now in great divi&s;ions and differences among them&s;elves: to per&s;ons in fierie conte&s;tation and in heat of bloud about the man that &s;hould governe, and the manner of government, even to per&s;ons &s;o parallel to the temper, or di&s;temper rather of our pre&s;ent generation, that I would wee could as aptly take out the le&s;&s;on of the Text, as wee and tho&s;e per&s;ons doe re&s;emble one another; and as the Text doth fitly &s;uit both with them and us. But I &s;hall not be curious in this parallell and ap|plication, &s;ince the Text &s;o properly fitteth all per&s;ons, and the
<PB N="4" REF="5">
le&s;&s;on in it &s;uiteth all occa&s;ions. For there is none among men, not no occa&s;ions that a man can be about, to whom and when it may not be proper and pertinent to read this le&s;&s;on, <HI>Com|mune with your owne heart.</HI> In the Originall it is litterally or Syllabically thus <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Say in your heart:</HI> and &s;o it is clo&s;ely followed by the Greek; and &s;o it is taken by the Chal|dee: The Greek reads it with &s;ome difference of the Mood in|deed, and with one word added to the Clau&s;e, but to &s;uch a &s;en&s;e as this, for it readeth thus, <HI>What you &s;ay in your hearts:</HI> The Caldee renders the Text, and the words following it thus largely, <HI>Say your Prayers with your mouth, and your Petitions in your heart, and pray upon your beds, and remember the day of death evermore.</HI></P>
<P>But I &s;hall not trouble you with &s;uch varieties of glo&s;&s;es and interpretations which I might doe copiou&s;ly; I &s;hall &s;pare that labour, &s;ince the words them&s;elves doe &s;peak their owne &s;en&s;e, and our Engli&s;h hath very well and properly con&s;trued and in|terpreted them, <HI>Speak with,</HI> or, <HI>Commune with your own hearts.</HI></P>
<P>It is not every &s;peaking in the heart that the P&s;almi&s;t here ingageth to; For the Foole &s;peaks in heart, and &s;aith in his heart, there is no God, <HI>P&s;alme</HI> 14. 1. The Epicure &s;peakes in his heart, and &s;aith, <HI>I &s;hall never be moved, P&s;alme</HI> 10. 6. The Athei&s;t &s;peaks in his heart and &s;aith, <HI>Tu&s;h, God hath forgotten, he will never &s;ee it, P&s;alme</HI> 10. 11. And the&s;e per&s;ons to whom <HI>David</HI> &s;peaketh, if we hit the occa&s;ion of the P&s;alme aright, were ready enough to &s;ay in their heart, we will none of <HI>Da|vid,</HI> and nothing to doe with the &s;onne of <HI>Je&s;&s;e:</HI> But the Text enjoyneth &s;uch a conference in the heart, as that the matters betwixt a man and his owne heart, may be debated to the very utmo&s;t, that the heart may be &s;o put to it in communing with it, as that it might &s;peak its very bottome. Nor &s;hall I trouble you with the divers acceptations of the word <HI>Heart,</HI> when it is u&s;ed to &s;ignifie the &s;pirituall part of man, or when it is taken in a &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e; el&s;e I might &s;hew you that &s;ometimes it is taken for the whole frame of the Soule; &s;ometimes for the one faculty, the Under&s;tanding; &s;ometimes for the other faculty, the Will; and &s;ometimes for that which I may call a middle faculty, the Con&s;cience; but your owne hearts will readily tell
<PB N="5" REF="5">
you upon the reading of the Text, that the word <HI>Heart</HI> in it doth meane the la&s;t mentioned, the Con&s;cience, and that communing with a mans owne heart, is nothing el&s;e, but &s;ear|ching and trying of a mans owne Con&s;cience. And you will ea&s;ily &s;ee, that the words hold out this needfull and u&s;efull Le&s;&s;on to us: <HI>That it is a Dutie of mo&s;t &s;peciall concernment,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Doct.</NOTE> <HI>for everie one of us to hold &s;erious Communication and cleare Intelligence and Acquaintance with his owne heart.</HI> I may well repeat it, for it had need to bee inculcated againe and a|gaine; And as that golden &s;aying, <HI>Brethren let us love one ano|ther,</HI> is reported to have beene ever in the mouth of <HI>John</HI> the Evangeli&s;t, &s;o had this as golden a &s;aying, <HI>Brethren Com|mune with your owne hearts,</HI> as much need to bee ever in the mouth of the Mini&s;ters; and this truth ever in the hearts of the people.</P>
<P><HI>That it is a Duty of mo&s;t &s;peciall concernment for every one of us, to hold &s;erious Communication, and cleare Intelligence and Acquaintance with his owne heart.</HI></P>
<P>This mu&s;t be the &s;ubject of my Di&s;cour&s;e; and for the pro|ving and clearing of this po&s;ition, you &s;ee there lye before me the&s;e foure things. 1. To &s;hew you that Communication and Intelligence may be had and held with a mans owne heart; this <HI>de po&s;&s;e.</HI> 2. That &s;uch a Communication and Intelligence mu&s;t be; this <HI>de jnre.</HI> 3. That this Communication and In|telligence with a mans owne heart is to be cleare and &s;erious; this <HI>de fieri.</HI> And fourthly, that &s;uch a &s;erious &amp; cleare Commu|nication and Intelligence with a mans owne heart is of &s;peci|all concernment; this <HI>de facto.</HI> I &s;hall not be very large in the&s;e particulars, becau&s;e it is but to prove foure things, that I &s;up|po&s;e are already granted. <HI>I</HI> &s;hall apply my &s;elfe the rather to be more copious in application.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, that it is po&s;&s;ible for a man to hold a Conference and Communication with his owne heart, I &s;hould not need to prove it, if you would but put it to proofe within your owne &s;elves. And as hee ingeniou&s;ly proved that there is motion a|gain&s;t one that denyed it, by ri&s;ing out of his Chaire, and wal|king up and downe; So your hearts without mee would make this a&s;&s;ertion cleare, if you would but &s;eriou&s;ly and &s;oundly
<PB N="6" REF="6">
put them to it, that they and you might conferre together, I doubt not but many in this great Congregation have done this already, and have had many a holy and &s;olemne Di&s;|cour&s;e with their owne hearts, and conclude the truth of this matter by their owne experience as &s;oone as I name it. But as for &s;uch as have not had this practice, nor cannot conclude this by experience, that never heare nor feele their Con&s;cience &s;peakword to them: &s;hould there come over them &s;ome dread|full judgement, or &s;hould there come before them &s;ome horrid apparitions, or &s;hould there come unto them a &s;ure me&s;&s;age of an in&s;tant death as there did to <HI>Ezekiah;</HI> then if they will but turne their face a little to the Wall, retire their thoughts a&punc; little to their hearts, they may chance heare their hearts &s;peake &s;omething to them, which it may be they will like but ill, and there it may be they would feele by experience that there is &s;omething in them that would have talked with them hereto|fore if they would have talked with it.</P>
<P>But for the better clearing of this to you at this time, [at one time or other all mu&s;t have experience of the truth of it in a better manner or a wor&s;e] give mee leave a little to recall you a little, fir&s;t, to the viewing of &s;ome places of Scripture; and then to the viewing of your &s;elves within: or to the con|&s;ideration of the Frame and Fabrick of your owne &s;oules.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, you may &s;ee this a&s;&s;erted even by the experience of him in his owne particular that gives this le&s;&s;on here to all in generall, in <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 77. <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 6. <HI>I commune with my owne heart, and my &s;pirit maketh diligent &s;earch.</HI> Here <HI>David</HI> and his heart are talking together; and &s;ee what his heart &s;aith unto him in <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 16. 7. <HI>My reines in&s;truct me in the night &s;ea&s;on.</HI> For that the <HI>heart and reines</HI> doe &s;ignifie the &s;ame thing, when they are taken in a &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e, and that they &s;o taken, doe &s;ignifie the <HI>Con&s;cience,</HI> is a matter &s;o copiou&s;ly evident in Scripture that I need not to u&s;e any in&s;tances to prove it.</P>
<P>And &s;o in <HI>Iohn</HI> 8. 9. when our Saviour bids, <HI>who&s;oever is without &s;inne ca&s;t the fir&s;t &s;tone</HI> at the woman taken in adultery, it is &s;aid of the company pre&s;ent, that <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>they were convicted of their owne con&s;cience:</HI> The word in the Greeke doth properly &s;ignifie <HI>a conviction by argument.</HI> There
<PB N="7" REF="6">
was &s;omething within them that over-argued them, and talked and di&s;puted them cleane away. And &s;o in <HI>Rom.</HI> 2. 15. the con&s;ciences of the very Heathens &s;pake as it were within them, and gave in evidence either for them or again&s;t them, their thoughts either accu&s;ing or excu&s;ing, <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>inter &s;e in|vicem,</HI> as the vulgar Latine, as in a di&s;cour&s;e among them&s;elves.</P>
<P>But in the &s;econd place, con&s;ider and &s;tudy your &s;elves a lit|tle within, and you &s;hall find that the Lord hath made every one of our &s;oules of &s;uch a Frame and Fabricke, as that there is an <HI>Eccho</HI> in them: the &s;oule able to propo&s;e que&s;tions to it &s;elfe, and to give it &s;elfe an an&s;wer, Like <HI>Si&s;era's</HI> mother in the fifth of <HI>Iudges</HI> and the nine and twentieth &s;he asketh, <HI>why &s;tay the wheeles of my &s;ons chariot?</HI> And her wi&s;e Ladies an&s;wered her, <HI>nay &s;he an&s;wered her &s;elfe.</HI></P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e may I apply that phra&s;e in <HI>Deut.</HI> 4 39. <HI>Know therefore this day</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>and make a Returne or an an|&s;wer to thine owne heart.</HI> And to this purpo&s;e I cannot but ap|ply that glo&s;&s;e of the Chaldee Paraphra&s;t upon <HI>Gen.</HI> 2. 7. the latter part of that ver&s;e. And God made man of the du&s;t of the ground, and breathed into his no&s;trils the breath of life, and <HI>that in man became a &s;peaking &s;pirit.</HI> Mo&s;t true in every parcell. That that God breathed into man became a &s;pirit, or a &s;pirituall &s;ub&s;tance, and it became a &s;peaking &s;pirit, inabling men to talke and &s;peake one to another: and it became a &s;peaking &s;pirit <HI>within him,</HI> able al&s;o to &s;peake and conferre with it owne &s;elfe.</P>
<P>There are three parts of the &s;oule as I may &s;o expre&s;&s;e it, of di&s;tinct and &s;everall notion and con&s;ideration, as there are three things in the &s;un, light, heate, and motion: &s;o in the &s;oule, the un|der&s;tanding, the will, and the con&s;cience. The Con&s;cience lies as it were in the mid&s;t of the other two, as the <HI>Center of the &s;oule,</HI> or the <HI>mid&s;t of the heart,</HI> as <HI>Prov.</HI> 4. 21. whither there is conflux of what&s;oever is good or evill in either of the other faculties.</P>
<P>Now either of tho&s;e have its di&s;cour&s;e with it &s;elfe, and con&s;cience if it act aright, hath its conference with them both.</P>
<P N="1">1. The intellective Faculty of the Soule, or the Under&s;tan|ding, doth in a manner talke to the will when it offers it good
<PB N="8" REF="7">
or evill things to its choice or refu&s;all, and it doth in manner talke to it &s;elfe in every reflex it exerci&s;eth, when it doth not only attaine to the knowledge of things, but is al&s;o able to &s;ay to it &s;elfe <HI>I know, I know them,</HI> as 1 <HI>Ioh.</HI> 2. 3. <HI>Hereby we know that we know him.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. The Elective faculty of the Soule or the Will, doth con|ferre and debate with, and within it &s;elfe upon every Election or refu&s;all, when it doth either entertaine or lay a&s;ide, what is pre&s;ented to it by the under&s;tanding, chu&s;ing, or refu&s;ing, upon &s;uch a di&s;cour&s;e and argumentation with it &s;elfe as this; <HI>I chu&s;e it becau&s;e it is good, and I refu&s;e it becau&s;e it is evill.</HI></P>
<P>But 3. the <HI>Participle faculty of the &s;oule,</HI> as I may &s;o call it, or the con&s;cience, as it is lodged betweene the two other, &s;o it receives &s;omething from both, and returnes &s;omething to both: From the Intellective faculty it receives <HI>knowledge</HI> and <HI>memo|ry,</HI> and it is told by them that &s;uch and &s;uch things ought to be done, or they ought not to be done: And then it makes an an|&s;wer backe to them by <HI>conviction,</HI> and &s;ayes, <HI>I have done &s;uch things, or I have not done them.</HI> From the other faculty, or the Will, it receives moovedne&s;&s;e and affecting: and when that fa|culty of the &s;oule is moved or affected with the grievous or fearefull ca&s;e of another; the con&s;cience an&s;wers, <HI>why this ca&s;e is mine owne,</HI> and makes a returne to the affections by <HI>compun|ction,</HI> and &s;aies alas, <HI>what have I done in thus doing?</HI></P>
<P>And thus doth the &s;oule hold a debate, conference, and com|munication within, and with it owne &s;elfe: And thus in the fir&s;t place is that particular &s;omewhat cleared, <HI>de po&s;&s;e,</HI> that it is po&s;&s;ible for a man to conferre and commune with his owne heart.</P>
<P>Secondly, That this is not only a po&s;&s;ibility, but a duty, not on|ly <HI>a may be,</HI> but <HI>a mu&s;t be,</HI> the Text is enough to prove if we had no more to prove it: For the Holy Gho&s;t doth here command the thing, &amp; where the Holy Gho&s;t commands, it creates a duty.</P>
<P>But we find this al&s;o enjoyned againe, and againe in other places of Scripture, though under other tearmes and expre&s;&s;i|ons. As 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11. 28. <HI>Let a man examine him&s;elfe, and &s;o let him care,</HI> &amp;c. And 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. 5. <HI>Examine your &s;elves whether you be in the faith,</HI> &amp;c. And that in <HI>Lam.</HI> 3. 40. <HI>Let us &s;earch and</HI>
<PB N="9" REF="7">
and trie our wayes, &amp;c. And that in <HI>Zeph.</HI> 2. 1. As it is rendred by &s;ome <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Excutite vo&s;met iterumque excutite,</HI> as &s;ome expre&s;&s;e it, <HI>Fanne your &s;elves, and again fanne your &s;elves;</HI> and divers other places that &s;peak not indeed the very &s;ame Language with the Text, yet &s;peake the very &s;ame &s;en&s;e, and command the &s;ame thing, as a duty for every one of us, to <HI>com|mune with our owne hearts.</HI></P>
<P>This duty lay upon <HI>Adam</HI> in his innocency, and &s;o &s;hould have continued upon him in that e&s;tate, had he continued in it. For God turned him into the Garden with a natural Law writ|ten in his heart, and a po&s;itive Law utter'd in his eares: This po&s;itive Law directed him onely as concerning eating or not eating: but what mu&s;t he be directed by, as concerning his ge|nerall conver&s;ation be&s;ide? why <HI>Adam Commune with thine owne heart,</HI> and that will tell thee.</P>
<P>This duty lay al&s;o upon him when hee was fallen: and &s;o doth it upon every one of us, though under the &s;ame fall with him. For though the purity, integrity, activity, and vigilancy of our Con&s;ciences be utterly gone by our fall and &s;inne; yet is not Con&s;cience it &s;elfe utterly gone. It is &s;o e&s;&s;entiall a part of the &s;oule, that a &s;oule cannot be a &s;oule without it; and it is &s;o in&s;eperable a part of man, that even death it &s;elfe cannot di|vorce him and his Con&s;cience. So that though wee have not &s;uch a Con&s;cience as <HI>Adam</HI> had before his fall; yet have wee a Con&s;cience; and though we cannot have recour&s;e to it, upon the &s;ame termes that he might have had to his, namely, as to a certaine rule; yet may we, and ought we to have recour&s;e to it upon other termes; namely, as being a Witne&s;&s;e, Iudge, and Moniter in the mid&s;t of us.</P>
<P>I might &s;hew how the nearene&s;&s;e of our hearts unto us doth challenge this duty; and how the dearene&s;&s;e of our hearts unto us &s;hould claime it and enforce it: but I will conclude this, as <HI>Paul</HI> to <HI>Agrippa:</HI> Honourable and Chri&s;tian auditory, do you believe that this is a duty? I know you beleeve it: and I would that I and all that heare me this day, could as readily comply with the duty, as we cannot but readily confe&s;&s;e it, if we will but <HI>commune with our owne hearts</HI> about it.</P>
<P>Thirdly, the practi&s;e of this duty, or the communication
<PB N="10" REF="8">
with our hearts is to be &s;erious, &amp; the intelligence and acquain|tance we hold with them to be cleare; as the womans &s;crutiny for her groat in the Parable to &s;earch and &s;ift every corner of the heart, according to that of <HI>Solomon, Prov.</HI> 20. 27. <HI>The Spi|rit of man is the Candle of the Lord, &s;earching all the inward parts of the belly.</HI></P>
<P>You may ob&s;erve two Arguments u&s;ed, <HI>Gen.</HI> 44. the one by <HI>Jo&s;eph,</HI> and the other by his Steward, to impre&s;&s;e it upon the &s;ons of <HI>Jacob,</HI> that a &s;erious and true &s;earch would be made for that &s;ilver Bowle that they had &s;tolne: the one taken from the Cup it &s;elfe: <HI>Is not this the Cup in which my Ma&s;ter drinketh, and for which he will make a very trying &s;earch.</HI> And the other <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>Experiende ex|pertetur,</HI></NOTE> from <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> him&s;elfe: <HI>Know ye not that a man of my authority could make a very trying &s;earch.</HI> Two &s;uch kinde of <HI>Topikes</HI> may I take up for the proofe of the thing in hand, that the conference with our owne heart ought to bee with all &s;eriou&s;|ne&s;&s;e&punc; The one taken from the matter of that Conference, and the other from the temper of our hearts.</P>
<P N="1">1. The matter whereof we &s;hould or can commune with our hearts is mo&s;t &s;erious, and <HI>&s;ancta &s;anct&egrave;,</HI> it mu&s;t bee mo&s;t &s;eriou&s;ly done: As the two men that went to <HI>Emmaus,</HI> com|muned &s;adly, becau&s;e they communed of a very &s;ad matter, <HI>Luke</HI> 24. 17.</P>
<P>The onely matters that a man can or doth commune with his owne Con&s;cience about, are the matters and concernments of the &s;oule: For as the Con&s;cience lodgeth in the very Cen|ter of the &s;oule, as I &s;hewed before, &s;o there are the proper and the mo&s;t clo&s;e tran&s;actions of the &s;oule managed. It is the Center, as was &s;aid before, whither if there be any good in the &s;oule it flowes thither; and what evill there is in the &s;oule, it hath its Conflux thither al&s;o.</P>
<P>The under&s;tanding in its actings by knowledge and memo|ry; and the will in its actings by affections and de&s;ires, practi&s;eth upon and about things of an extrin&s;icall and forraigne Cogni|zance, as well upon things of a mans owne concernment, but the Con&s;cience medleth onely with ones owne concernment, and that concernment of the &s;oule. As naturall affection in the proper &s;en&s;e, or affection of a relative nature, moves not, nor
<PB N="11" REF="8">
acts not, unle&s;&s;e the thing pre&s;ented to it be of its owne intere&s;t: As a Father or Mother, &s;eeing the mi&s;ery or mi&s;carriage of o|ther mens children, their affections may be moved with it, but naturall relative affections, &s;tirre not till the &s;torie comes home to their owne Children. So is it with Con&s;cience, the know|ledge knoweth naturall, politique, forraigne, alien things, and the memory retaines them: &s;o the affections are taken up with forraigne, alien, naturall politique matters, and are moved with them: but the con&s;cience moves not, unle&s;&s;e the concernment come home to a mans owne &s;oule, and the mat|ter reach thither.</P>
<P>As I might exemplifie in <HI>Achan,</HI> if his Con&s;cience had been awake to have done its part, his carnall rea&s;on and knowledge told him, the Wedge of Gold, and the Babyloni&s;h Garment, would be a rich prize, and mend his e&s;tate very well: then his Will and Affections an&s;wer, I would I had them, and they con|&s;ent and put on to compa&s;&s;e them. Here are extrin&s;ick bu&s;ine&s;&s;es onely in agitation with the&s;e faculties about wealth and grow|ing rich: But then a good Con&s;cience if it had beene there would have &s;tepped in and an&s;wered: <HI>I but how will this comply with the good of my &s;oule?</HI> And &s;o might I in&s;tance in other things, as in mens de&s;iring riches, honours, plee&s;ures; their carnall Under&s;tandings and Wils, like <HI>Haman</HI> and <HI>Zere&s;h,</HI> ca&s;t and con&s;pire, and con&s;ent together to compa&s;&s;e what they de&s;ire, and it will be &s;o brave for their port, &s;o contentive to their per&s;ons, &s;o beneficiall to their po&s;terity: The&s;e are fine things, and ea&s;ily &s;wallowed, but they are but out-&s;ide things, there is not a word yet of the con&s;equent and concernment to the &s;oule: that con&s;cience mu&s;t take into con&s;ideration, or the con&s;ideration of that is quite layd a&s;ide: That is proper for con&s;cience only to act about, and to take to con&s;cience and con&s;ultation.</P>
<P>And thus it appeareth that our conference with our owne hearts had need to be &s;erious, becau&s;e the things that we can conferre with them a bout, only are of a mo&s;t &s;erious and weighty nature: <HI>viz.</HI> the things of the &s;oule only.</P>
<P>And &s;econdly, the needfulne&s;&s;e of &s;uch a &s;erious conference, will appeare al&s;o upon the con&s;ideration of the deceitfulne&s;&s;e
<PB N="12" REF="9">
of our owne hearts. Talke clo&s;e and home, and have cleare in|telligence with them, or el&s;e they will deceive us, they will tell us a thou&s;and lyes. As he in Story, who hearing a man talk to him&s;elfe as he walked along the high way, and que&s;tioning whom he talked withall, was an&s;wered, I talke to my &s;elf; why then &s;aith he, <HI>Cave ne cum malo loquaris, take heed thou talke not with one that is naught.</HI> You may re&s;olve upon this, when|&s;oever you come to Commune with your owne heart, that you have to deale with a very Cheat and a Je&s;uite, a <HI>Proteus,</HI> a Jugler; that if you put it not home to it, will not tell you one true Story among&s;t a thou&s;and: I &s;peak this by the &s;ad expe|rience of a ba&s;e, fal&s;e, co&s;ening, and deceitfull heart of mine owne: and I beleeve other mens hearts are of the &s;ame mettle. <HI>O wretched heart thou ha&s;t deceived me, and I have been de|ceived, thou ha&s;t been too &s;trong for me, and ha&s;t prevailed.</HI> But I &s;peak this al&s;o upon the Warrant of him that knoweth all hearts, even the Spirit of God, that di&s;cerneth the things of the Spirit, <HI>Jer.</HI> 17. 9. <HI>The heart is deceitfull above all things, and de&s;perately wicked, who can know it?</HI> Ah &s;ad <HI>Climax,</HI> de|ceitfull, and deceitfull above all things, wicked, and de&s;perate|ly wicked, and &s;o bad of both, that who can know it? Such a|nother mi&s;erable gradation ye have expre&s;&s;ed concerning the very &s;ame &s;ubject in <HI>Gen.</HI> 6. 5. <HI>The frame of the thoughts of mans heart was wholly evill, was onely evill, and was evill con|tinually.</HI></P>
<P>There is a mutuall or reciprocall cozenage betwixt a man and his owne heart, mentioned in Scripture: Sometimes a man deceives his owne heart, as <HI>James</HI> 1. 26. <HI>If any man among you &s;eem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but decei|veth his own heart.</HI> Sometimes a mans heart deceives him, <HI>E&s;a.</HI> 44. 20. <HI>A deceived heart hath turned him a&s;ide that he cannot deliver his &s;oul, nor &s;ay, Is there not alye in my right hand:</HI> And thus <HI>Mana&s;&s;eh again&s;t Ephraim, and Ephraim again&s;t Mana&s;|&s;eh, and both again&s;t Judah.</HI> Sometimes the man cozens his heart&punc; and &s;ometimes his heart cozens him, and alwayes both the&s;e cozenings help to undoe the poore Soule.</P>
<P>Sometimes a man cozens his Con&s;cience with carnall rea|&s;onings, as <HI>Achan</HI> did his, <HI>I &s;hall be enriched, and I &s;hall not be
<PB N="13" REF="9">
di&s;covered:</HI> and as the rich man in the Go&s;pell did his, <HI>My pur&s;e is full, and my Barnes are full, therefore &s;oule take thine ca&s;e:</HI> And &s;o many and many man undoes his owne Soule by cozening his con&s;cience with the bribery of carnall rea&s;oning, I am yet in health, I may yet repent time enough, I &s;hall not &s;ee evill, and the like, &amp;c.</P>
<P>And on the other hand, the con&s;cience is as ready to cozen a man, and to tell him <HI>Peace, peace, when there is no peace.</HI></P>
<P>Sometimes it deceives a man with halfe an&s;wers, as <HI>Ananias</HI> and <HI>Saphira</HI> would have done <HI>Peter,</HI> with halfe the money: and makes a man tane up with conviction only, which the wickede&s;t man under heaven may have, and makes him to thinke that he hath &s;orrow enough for his evill actions, when he hath only remembrance of them.</P>
<P>Sometimes it deceives a man with fal&s;e an&s;wers, as <HI>Iacob</HI> deceived his Father with Kids fle&s;h in&s;tead of Veni&s;on; and makes a man beleeve he hath compunction enough for his evill actions, when he hath only &s;ome gripes of &s;elfe love, or a feare of puni&s;hment, as was <HI>Ahabs</HI> humiliation.</P>
<P>Sometimes it deceives him with &s;ilence, and he thinkes all is well, becau&s;e it tels him nothing ill: as the Foole is counted wi&s;e when he is &s;ilent; and the Athei&s;t thinkes God like him|&s;elfe when he holds his peace, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 50. 21. &s;o many a poore deceived &s;oule thinkes his con&s;cience a good con&s;cience, and him&s;elfe in a good ca&s;e, becau&s;e he heares no otherwi&s;e from his con&s;cience, for it is &s;ilent, and &s;aies nothing at all to him.</P>
<P>Thus as it is in the <HI>Italian</HI> Proverbe,
<Q><L>Con arte e conjuganno &s;i vive il mezzo anno,</L>
<L>Con juganno e con arte &s;i vive l' altra parte.</L></Q>
With deceit and cozenage men live halfe the yeare, and with cozenage and deceit they live the other halfe: one part of our lives we deceive our own hearts, and another part of our lives, our hearts deceive us: And thus our lives go on in a mi&s;t and cloud of delu&s;ion, we deceiving, and deceived, and all becau&s;e we hold not communication with our own hearts clo&s;e enough, and put them not to it home, as <HI>Ahab</HI> did <HI>Micaiah,</HI> to tell us
<PB N="14" REF="10">
the truth and nothing el&s;e, in the name of the Lord: And thus we &s;ee very good rea&s;on why the communication with our hearts &s;hould be &s;erious, and the intelligence we hold with them cleere.</P>
<P>Fourthly, That this is a duty of &s;peciall concernment, is even proved already ere we are aware, in the things that have been &s;poken, but give me leave to adde one or two things more: As,</P>
<P N="1">1. That this is a duty of &s;o great concernment, that it is na|turally the fir&s;t duty of all other of the Second Table: For as to know God, is properly and methodically the fir&s;t duty of the fir&s;t and great Commandement, &s;o is this as properly and me|thodically the fir&s;t duty of the Second: for as it is impo&s;&s;ible to love God as we &s;hould, unle&s;&s;e we fir&s;t know him; &s;o it is impo&s;&s;ible we &s;hould love our neighbour as our &s;elves, unle&s;&s;e we fir&s;t know our &s;elves.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is a <HI>&s;ine qu&acirc;non,</HI> a duty or a matter, without which we can neither hear any condition as we &s;hould, nor performe any duty as we ought. As a golden thread was to be twi&s;ted with every twine and thread of the Ephod and Brea&s;t-plate, or it was not rightly made; &s;o if this action of communing with our owne hearts be not intwi&s;ted with every one of our acti|ons, we can neither undergoe any thing, nor performe any thing is becomes us to do.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, How is it po&s;&s;ible for a man either to beare pro&s;peri|ty, or endure adver&s;ity unle&s;&s;e he &s;eriou&s;ly talke with his owne heart about his owne de&s;ervings, and about the&s;e conditions: This was the way of <HI>David</HI> that gives the Coun&s;ell in the Text: when great pro&s;perity and happine&s;&s;e accrews unto him, in the promi&s;e that the Lord makes to him and to his hou&s;e, he &s;its downe and talkes with his owne heart about his de&s;erving of no &s;uch thing, <HI>Who am I, or what is my fathers hou&s;e?</HI> 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 7. 15. And on the other hand, when great adver&s;ity lights up|on him, and he is fallen into perplexity, the way he takes, is to &s;it downe, and among&s;t other things to have &s;erious confe|rence with his owne &s;oule about the bearing of &s;uch a thing; <HI>Why <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">rt thou ca&s;t downe &ocirc; my &s;oule, and why art thou &s;o di&s;quie|ted within me? P&s;al.</HI> 43. 5.</P>
<P><PB N="15" REF="10">
Secondly, As impo&s;&s;ible is it to do any duty aright, and as we ought to do, unle&s;&s;e the practice of this duty go before it or along with it. Be they the &s;pirituall duties we owe to God, or the externall duties we owe to his Wor&s;hip, or the con&s;cienti|ous duties we owe to our owne hearts, we cannot po&s;&s;ibly performe them aright, unle&s;&s;e this &s;alt be with the Sacrifice, un|le&s;&s;e we commune with our owne hearts about them.</P>
<P N="1">1. As for the &s;piritual duties we owe to God: as to <HI>&s;erve him with an upright heart,</HI> 1 <HI>Chron.</HI> 28. 9. <HI>To walke before him with an humble heart, Mic.</HI> 6. 8. <HI>To offer to him a contrite heart. P&s;al.</HI> 51. 17. <HI>To draw neare to him with a true heart, Heb.</HI> 10. 22. <HI>To receive his word with a good heart, Luk.</HI> 3. 15. and one for all, <HI>To love him with all our heart, Deut.</HI> 6. 5. How is it po&s;&s;ible we &s;hould rightly do the&s;e things, if we have not ac|quaintance with our owne heart? what difference is there be|twixt &s;erving a &s;trange God, and &s;erving the true God with a &s;trange heart? <HI>Naball</HI> and <HI>Abihu</HI> are puni&s;hed for offering &s;trange fire to the true God, as well as <HI>Ahaz</HI> and <HI>Mana&s;&s;eh</HI> for offering true fire to afal&s;e God. Let me u&s;e the &s;tile of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>How can men beleeve in him of whom they have not heard;</HI> &s;o how can men &s;erve him aright and heartily, with a heart they do not know?</P>
<P N="2">2. As for the externall duties that we owe to Gods Wor|&s;hip, as our hearts are to go along with them, or el&s;e our per|forming of them is nothing, &s;o are we to commune with our owne hearts upon them and in them, or el&s;e we &s;hall never bring our hearts unto them: It was very pertinently written over the Temple doore at <HI>Delphos,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Know thy &s;elfe,</HI> for certainely no Temple duty can be well performed without &s;uch a knowledge.</P>
<P>Can&s;t thou pray without acquaintance with thine owne heart: the very Hebrew word that &s;ignifieth <HI>Praying,</HI> tells thee no, for the word <GAP DESC="foreign"> that is commonly u&s;ed to &s;ignifie <HI>to pray,</HI> doth properly &s;ignifie, <HI>To judge a mans &s;elfe.</HI> Thinke&s;t thou, thou can&s;t receive the Sacrament aright without the ex|erci&s;e of this duty? the Apo&s;tle tells thee nay, but <HI>let a man fir&s;t examine him&s;elfe, and then let him eate,</HI> 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11. 28.</P>
<P>The like might I &s;ay of &s;inging of P&s;almes which mu&s;t be
<PB N="16" REF="11">
done with the Spirit; 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14. 15, Of beleeving, which mu&s;t be done with the heart; <HI>Rom.</HI> 10. 10. Of repenting, of trem|bling at the Word, and of other &s;uch duties, how is it po&s;&s;ible they &s;hould be done by us as they &s;hould, if we have no ac|quaintance and communication with our own hearts how they &s;tand to them and in them?</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, as for the duties we owe to our owne hearts, as <HI>wa&s;hing them; Jer.</HI> 4. 14. <HI>Watching them; Pro.</HI> 4. 23. <HI>Humbling them; Lev.</HI> 26. 4. and the like: Who can do them, but he that conferres and is in acquaintance with his ownheart? <HI>wa&s;h my heart?</HI> why, I never asked it, not ever tooke notice how &s;oy|led and poluted it was: <HI>Watch it?</HI> Why I never ob&s;erved, nor it never told me of any danger it was in, nor what need it had to be watched and looked after; nor can I goe about to humble it, for it and I were never &s;o well acquainted, as I to know how hard, how proud, how unhumbled it is. Mu&s;t not the&s;e be an|&s;wers of him that holds not intelligence with his owne heart? And mu&s;t not this want of intelligence needs &s;poyle the offices that a man oweth to it? And thus you &s;ee in the fourth place, the great concernment of this duty of <HI>heart communication:</HI> And thus, though thus rudely and unskillfully, have I &s;omewhat cleared the truth of the Doctrine in clearing the&s;e foure parti|culars. And now &s;hall I crave leave in three particulars more to make u&s;e of it, and to bring it home to our &s;elves by appli|cation.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, By way of ju&s;t reproofe of tho&s;e that neglect and for|get &s;o &s;peciall a duty, and of &s;o &s;peciall concernment.</P>
<P>Secondly, By way of exhortation and per&s;wa&s;ion to every one to &s;et &s;eriou&s;ly to the practice of this duty.</P>
<P>And thirdly By recommending to you &s;ome <HI>Quaeres</HI> and <HI>In|terrogatories</HI> to propo&s;e to your hearts to practice this duty with them upon.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t then, &s;ince it is thus, that communing with a mans owne heart is &s;o &s;peciall, and &s;o important a duty, it &s;hewes <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e</HI> 1.</NOTE> that they ju&s;tly de&s;erve to be reproved that neglect this duty and hold no acquaintance with their owne hearts at all: And becau&s;e I will be &s;ure to aime this reproofe aright, I &s;hall in the fir&s;t place begin with my &s;elfe, and mine owne heart, for there
<PB N="17" REF="11">
is a &s;ubject that I know, and am &s;ure de&s;erves reprooving. It may be I &s;hall finde &s;ome Company in this Congregation, that will joyne with me in this matter, and that will finde my ca&s;e theirs, and that will make my words to be their owne. There is a Patheticall Story of <HI>Origen,</HI> that when he had fallen into a foule <HI>Apo&s;tacy,</HI> and after &s;ome recoverie from it, came into a Congregation, and was de&s;ired to preach; he tooke the Bible and opened it accidentally at the fiftieth P&s;alme, and his eye fell fir&s;t to read the&s;e words in the &s;ixteenth and &s;eventeenth ver|&s;es of it; <HI>But unto the Wicked God &s;aith, What ha&s;t thou to doe to declare my Statutes, or that thou &s;houlde&s;t take my Covenant in thy mouth, &s;eeing thou hate&s;t in&s;truction, and ca&s;te&s;t my words behinde thee?</HI> upon reading the words hee remembred his owne fall, and in &s;tead of preaching he fell a weeping, and wept &s;o bitterly, that he cau&s;ed all the Congregation to weep with him.</P>
<P>The fore-part of the &s;tory is too much mine owne ca&s;e. I would you would make the latter part of it &s;omewhat yours. I profe&s;&s;e I cannot read the words of my Text, but like <HI>Pha|raoh's</HI> Butler after a long forgetfulne&s;&s;e, <HI>I mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e my fault of that forgetfulne&s;&s;e to day;</HI> and I cannot &s;peak what I have &s;aid upon this Text, but that I mu&s;t &s;ub&s;cribe to the wo|man of <HI>Tekoas</HI> words in her &s;peech to <HI>David,</HI> that <HI>I &s;peake the&s;e things as one guilty my&s;elfe.</HI> Is any one here who&s;e heart hath been a &s;tranger to him, as my heart hath beene; and is any ones heart here as my heart is, de&s;irous to be &s;en&s;ible, &amp; to be humbled for this our &s;trangenes, come give me thine hand, and let us joyne hand in hand, and heart to heart to give glory to God by Confe&s;&s;ion, and to take &s;hame to our &s;elves in a ju&s;t reproofe, for that we have &s;o much neglected &s;o great a duty, and for that we have &s;o greatly forgotten &s;o neare a concern|ment.</P>
<P>Behold beloved among your &s;elves, and regard, and wonder marvellou&s;ly; for I can tell you a &s;ad &s;tory in your eares, which ye will not beleeve though it be told you. I have lived the&s;e forty yeares, and &s;omewhat more, and carried my heart in my bo&s;ome all this while, and yet my heart and I are as great &s;trangers and as utterly unacquainted, as if we had never come
<PB N="18" REF="12">
neare one another: And is there none in this Congregation that can &s;ay the like?</P>
<P>He &s;pake very good &s;en&s;e and much piety in it that com|plained that he had lived &s;o many yeares above three&s;core, and had been a Student in the Scripture all his time, and yet could never attaine to take out that Le&s;ton in the fir&s;t Ver&s;e of the nine and thirtieth P&s;alme, <HI>That he &s;hould not offend with his tongue.</HI> But it is to &s;peake a thing of mon&s;trou&s;ne&s;&s;e and a|mazement to &s;ay that a man &s;hould live &s;o long a time as I have done, nay as &s;ome doe, to three&s;core, to foure&s;core yeares, and yet never to get into acquaintance, and to communication with their owne hearts: who could believe &s;uch a report? and yet how common is this among&s;t men?</P>
<P>I remember it was a wonder to me before I knew this City, to heare of Families living &s;o neare together all their lives, as but one Chimney back between them, and yet their doores o|pening into &s;everall &s;treets, and the per&s;ons of tho&s;e Families never knowing one another, or who they were. And mee thought that pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Martiall</HI> was a &s;trange one when I fir&s;t met with it, <HI>Qui&s;quam e&s;t tam prope tam proculque nobis;</HI> and that ob&s;ervation of the Jewes remarkable, that &s;ometime two Ver&s;es in Scripture be joyned as clo&s;e together for place as clo&s;e can be, and yet as di&s;tant for &s;en&s;e and matter as di&s;tant may be: and that relation of <HI>Seneca</HI> wondrous, if I mi&s;&s;e not my Author, that a man through &s;ickne&s;&s;e did forget his owne name: and that of the Naturalli&s;ts as wondrous, that there is a Bea&s;t, that as he is eating his meat, if he but once turne his head from it, he forgets it. But now a &s;ad experience within mine owne &s;elfe hath le&s;&s;ned the&s;e wonders, and doth make a thou&s;and of &s;uch &s;trangene&s;&s;es as the&s;e &s;eeme nothing; for I and my heart were borne together, grew up together, have liv'd together, have laine together, have alwayes been toge|ther, and yet have had &s;o little acquaintance together, as that we never talked together, nor conver&s;ed together; nay I know not my heart, I have forgotten my heart. Ah my bowells, my bowells, that I could be grieved at the very heart&punc; that my poor heart and I have been &s;o unacquainted. And is not the &s;ame ca&s;e yours too? I appeale to our owne hearts, if they will but
<PB N="19" REF="12">
&s;peake, and I be&s;eech you put them to it. How inqui&s;itive ever were we after their e&s;tate, or how it goes with them, a|mong&s;t all the inqui&s;ition that we make after other things. We are falne into an <HI>Athenian</HI> age, as <HI>Act.</HI> 17. 21. &s;pending our time in nothing more then in telling, or in hearing newes, or &s;ome new thing: How goe things here, how there, how in one place, how in another: But who is there that is inqui&s;itive, <HI>How are things with my toore heart?</HI> Wee are ever and anon lighting upon one or other of our acquaintance: and take a turne with them in the Hall, or turne a&s;ide with them in the &s;treet, and enquire, What newes? how doe things goe? But who turnes a&s;ide with his owne heart into a private retired|ne&s;&s;e, or falls into Di&s;cour&s;e with that, and enquires, <HI>Ah poore heart, how goe things with thee?</HI> We &s;tick not to tell how much money we &s;pend in new Books, and how much time we &s;pend in reading them; but it it is a &s;hame to tell how little time we &s;pend, and how little paines we take in reading over and peru|&s;ing our owne hearts.</P>
<P>As it is &s;omtimes u&s;ed in your Hou&s;e Honourable and Honored, to put a que&s;tion whether a que&s;tion &s;hall be put, &s;o I be&s;eech you apply the Text, <HI>Commune with your owne hearts,</HI> whether you have communed with your own hearts: you &s;pend much time day after day worthily and piou&s;ly in con|ferring and communing among your &s;elves about the things of Church and State; but wh<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="2 letters"> time doe you &s;pend either day or night in conferring or communing with your Con&s;ciences a|bout the affaires of your &s;oules? You Ladies and Gentlewo|men, that be&s;tow &s;o much time in vi&s;iting and conferring with your gla&s;&s;es and your friends, what time doe you be&s;tow in vi&s;iting and conferring with your owne hearts and &s;oules?</P>
<P>You that &s;pend &s;o much time in conver&s;ing and conferring with others about the matters of your Callings and Imploy|ments, what time have you taken up, or doe you imploy, in conver&s;ing with your &s;elves about the matters of your nea|re&s;t concernment?</P>
<P>I am the bolder to aske this que&s;tion, becau&s;e my Text leads me to &s;peak to your hearts, and it is a que&s;tion that you mu&s;t once an&s;wer.</P>
<P><PB N="20" REF="13">
Weigh but in the Ballance of a &s;erious con&s;ideration, what time you have &s;pent otherwi&s;e, and what time you have &s;pen in this, and for many &s;cores or hundreds of houres or daye that you owe to your hearts in this duty, can you write fifty? or goe to the heap of your whole life, and where there &s;hould have been twenty mea&s;ures imployed about this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, can you finde ten? Or where there &s;hould have been fifty ve&s;&s;ells full of this duty, can you find twenty?</P>
<P>It was a &s;en&s;ele&s;&s;e and a &s;en&s;uall will that the Epicure made, that bequeathed to his Player, to his Cook, to his Je&s;ter, and to &s;uch as fed and forwarded his carnall Delights, Talents and Pounds, but <HI>Philo&s;opho obolum,</HI> a halfe penny onely to him that would have taught him wi&s;edome. Is not the di&s;tribution of our time and conver&s;e much after the &s;ame proportion? Dayes and yeares be&s;towed upon the affaires of the world and worldline&s;&s;e, moneths and weeks &s;pent and laid out in con|ver&s;e with friends and &s;trangers, but &s;carce a minute in con|ver&s;e with a mans owne heart.</P>
<P>There are foure things e&s;pecially that cau&s;e this &s;trange and &s;en&s;ele&s;&s;e &s;trangene&s;&s;e and unacquaintance betwixt a man and him&s;elfe, and they are the&s;e:</P>
<P N="1">1 Idlene&s;&s;e; when men will not take the paines to put their heart to it to di&s;cour&s;e with them. Heart-communication is not an ca&s;ie worke, and few there be that for idlene&s;&s;e will under|take it.</P>
<P N="2">2 Carele&s;&s;ene&s;&s;e of their owne &s;oules: And &s;o they are not carefull to di&s;cu&s;&s;e with them the things that concerne them.</P>
<P N="3">3. Worldline&s;&s;e; which takes up all the time and thoughts that &s;hould be laid out upon the heart: As <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 4. 11. and as it was with him, 1 <HI>Kings</HI> 20. 40.</P>
<P>And 4 Readine&s;&s;e to be deceived; <HI>Decipi vult populus,</HI> men love lea&s;ing, as Ver&s;e 2. of this P&s;alme: and as by our fall, <HI>Et bonum perdidimus &amp; voluntatem,</HI> we not only lo&s;t good, but al&s;o the will to it: So in our fir&s;t deception by <HI>Satan;</HI> we had not onely a deceit put upon us, but a deceiveablene&s;&s;e, nay a readine&s;&s;e to be deceived put into us.</P>
<P>And thus, as <HI>Tempora quaedam &s;urripiuntur, quaedam cripiun|tur, quaedam excidant:</HI> &s;o it is with the care of, &amp; conver&s;e with
<PB N="21" REF="13">
our owne hearts. What the Palmer-worme of Idlene&s;&s;e leaves, the Locu&s;t of Carele&s;&s;ene&s;&s;e eateth: and what the Locu&s;t lea|veth, the Canker-worme of Worldline&s;&s;e devoures: and what that Canker-worme leaveth, the Caterpillar of readine&s;&s;e to be deceived hath con&s;umed: and thus hath all conver&s;e and com|munication with our owne hearts been eaten up.</P>
<P>It is recorded of <HI>Jobs</HI> friends, that when they came to him, and knew him not, he was &s;o changed, that they wept and rent their garments, <HI>Iob</HI> 2. 12. I would this might be the conclu&s;i|on of this fir&s;t U&s;e or Application, or the fruit of all that I have &s;poken hitherto: Look upon your owne hearts, doe you know them? when had you and they any talke together? how much of your time have you &s;pent in communication with them? Have you not been &s;trangers? have you not been unacquain|ted? have you not forgotten them? Be humbled, bemoan, be affected that you have been &s;uch &s;trangers, and lay your hands upon your hearts, and re&s;olve to be &s;o no more.</P>
<P>And that is the &s;econd way that I would apply my &s;elfe and <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>U&s;e</HI> 2.</NOTE> the Text to you, and that is by way of exhortation, to incite you, and by &s;upplication to entreat you, to apply your &s;elves &s;e|riou&s;ly unto this duty held out in the Text. It is &s;trange that we &s;hould need to be exhorted or entreated to &s;uch a thing as this, to be acquainted with our owne hearts, as that is &s;trange in 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 5. 20. that men &s;hould need be&s;eeching to be reconcil'd to God: but it is &s;o true, that we need be&s;eeching and entrea|ting, that by what &s;hall I be&s;eech and entreat it &s;o as that I may prevaile in my entreatie. I be&s;eech you by the Lord, by the Bowels of mercy to your owne &s;elves, by your hearts, by your &s;oules, by any thing, by all things mo&s;t deare unto you, be no more &s;trangers to your own hearts; <HI>vindica te tibi,</HI> acquaint your &s;elves with your &s;elves; and as <HI>Abraham</HI> to <HI>Lot,</HI> let not us fall out, for we are brethren: &s;o bee not forraigners to your owne hearts, for they are your owne. By what may I move you, or what words or Arguments may I take up to per|&s;wade you.</P>
<P>Thinke but of the&s;e two or three particulars, for I &s;hall &s;pare to mention more.</P>
<P N="1">1. How &s;ad a thing it is for a man to carry a con&s;cience
<PB N="22" REF="14">
within him, that is altogether dumbe and can &s;ay nothing, or that when it &s;peakes, tels him lies and nothing el&s;e: you grieve for this in your children, be affected with this in your owne &s;oules.</P>
<P N="2">2. Your hearts by di&s;u&s;ance of conferring with them may even be utterly lo&s;t to you, as if you had no heart at all. I have read of &s;ome that have come to &s;uch a pa&s;&s;e, as namely tho&s;e in <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 7. 11. <HI>Ephraim is like a &s;illy Dove without a heart.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Time will come when your hearts will &s;peake, and &s;hall &s;peak the truth to you, though you wil not put them to it to do &s;o now: as <HI>Hab.</HI> 2. 3. <HI>At an appointed time it &s;hall &s;peake and it &s;hall not lye:</HI> It may be in this life by terrours, certainly after death by a gnawing worme, the dumbe&s;t, &s;tupide&s;t, and mo&s;t &s;en&s;ele&s;&s;e con&s;cience that is now upon earth, &s;hall be put to it to &s;peake and to &s;peake out to him, that had the lea&s;t care or thought to put it to &s;peake as the Text injoynes. Thou wilt not &s;traine thine heart to &s;peake to thee, and to tell thee the truth now: but God will wrack it, and &s;hall make it &s;peak and not be &s;ilent, and <HI>How will thine heart endure then, when the Lord &s;hall come to deale thus with thee?</HI> as <HI>Ezek.</HI> 22. 14. Men will not make their hearts to heare, nor to give them a faithfull an&s;wer, but as <HI>E&s;ay</HI> 26. 11. <HI>They will not &s;ee, but they &s;hall &s;ee:</HI> They will not heare, but they &s;hall heare: they will not an&s;wer ac|cording to truth, but a time &s;hall come when they &s;hall an|&s;wer. Put them to it betimes, your &s;elves by a con&s;cien&s;cious communication, le&s;t God put them to it by a wracking horror.</P>
<P>I &s;hall not go about to give rules how a man and his heart &s;hould come to talke, and how they &s;hould talke together, I would I could learne the le&s;&s;on my &s;elfe; only give me leave to mention &s;ome things to you which cannot chu&s;e but be very conducible to &s;uch a purpo&s;e.</P>
<P>As 1. u&s;e Retiredne&s;&s;e: This thing this ver&s;e teacheth, when it directs to <HI>commune with our owne hearts upon our beds.</HI> And this <HI>I&s;aac</HI> practi&s;ed, when for his Meditation he went in|to the &s;olitarine&s;&s;e of the fields, <HI>Gen.</HI> 24. 63. As when <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was alone in the wilderne&s;&s;e, and there &s;tudying on God, God comes to him, and talkes with him, <HI>Exod.</HI> 3. So when we get alone purpo&s;ely to &s;tudy our hearts, it is a great deale more
<PB N="23" REF="14">
probable that our hearts will come to us, that we may entertain di&s;cour&s;e with them, then in the crowd of company and im|ployments. Set &s;ome time apart out of your publique or par|ticular occa&s;ions, to deale with your hearts, and to talke with them, as <HI>David</HI> after the publique bu&s;ine&s;&s;e is done, turnes home to vi&s;it and to ble&s;&s;e his owne hou&s;e, 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 6. 20.</P>
<P N="2">2 Put on Re&s;olutene&s;&s;e to put your hearts to it, and to heare even the wor&s;t that they can &s;peake to you: as <HI>Eli</HI> to heare the word of the Lord from <HI>Samuel,</HI> be it what it would bee it never &s;o bitter. Men are naturally and generally unwilling that their heart &s;hould tell them all it knowes, and what it ought. And as it was a very &s;trange, and a very &s;ad prayer, that is made by the Prophet <HI>Ho&s;ea</HI> for the women of <HI>Ephraim, Ho&s;.</HI> 9. 14. <HI>Give them, O Lord, what wilt thou give? Give them a mi&s;car|rying wombe, and drie brea&s;ts:</HI> A mi&s;erable thing to women as may be, yet &s;uch a Petition for them as there could not bee a fitter in their pre&s;ent po&s;ture; for the children borne were but borne to the &s;laughter.</P>
<P>So it is a very &s;ad &amp; doleful condition to a man as po&s;&s;ibly can be, to have his con&s;cience dull &amp; dumb, or to be telling him no|thing but what is fal&s;e: and yet there are thou&s;ands that ac|count this the be&s;t po&s;ture and condition, that their con&s;cience can be in, and they cannot finde in their hearts, and they will not take the paines to have it in any other temper, nor would they have it &s;peake any other wayes to them: Ah but let a righ|teous and a wakefull con&s;cience &s;mite me, and not &s;uffer me to &s;in, but tell me of it: this balme in the end will not breake my head, and I &s;hall rejoyce at la&s;t in &s;uch &s;troaks.</P>
<P N="3">3. Take opportunity by any wakening of Con&s;cience, that puts it to &s;peake, to keep it waking and &s;peaking; If any pier|cing Sermon, or Fright, or Cro&s;&s;e, or &s;ome &s;uch thing, do rowze your heart at any time, and &s;et it a talking and telling you the truth, doe like <HI>Benhadads</HI> &s;ervants by <HI>Ahab,</HI> catch at the op|portunity, plye it and keepe it &s;peaking, and let it not grow dumbe againe: If you let it alone never &s;o little, like the Di&s;ciple in <HI>Matth.</HI> 6. 40, 4<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">. it will bee a&s;leep and &s;peech|le&s;&s;e in a trice againe. I have knowne him that hath had &s;ome|time very faire and familiar &s;ociety and communication with
<PB N="24" REF="15">
his own heart, and they have di&s;cour&s;ed &s;eriou&s;ly and truely one to another, have asked que&s;tions, and given an&s;wers without deceiving; when &s;omething or other hath come between, and interrupted a while this friendly conver&s;e, and my beloved was gone my heart got out of the way, and neither it, nor a word from it to be found againe.</P>
<P N="4">4. When your hearts and you are talking together, doe it as if you were talking together at Gods dreadfull Tribunall: as if you were, and as you mu&s;t once bee, debating the ca&s;e there. Charge it as <HI>Paul</HI> doth <HI>Timothy,</HI> 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4. 1. as before God and the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that it &s;peake the truth, and that there be no di&s;&s;embling betwixt you. Before them mu&s;t you once debate the matter to the very bottome, doe it as before them continually.</P>
<P>And now for conclu&s;ion of all, and for our third applicati|on I &s;hall crave leave to leave &s;ome few propo&s;alls and Inter|rogatories <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>V&s;e</HI> 3.</NOTE> with you for your owne heart; that as <HI>Elijah</HI> before his departure out of the world, left a Letter behinde him for <HI>Joram</HI> the King of <HI>Judah</HI> to ruminate upon when <HI>Elijah</HI> was gone, 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 21. 12 So before we part, I be&s;eech you take from me &s;omething along with you, to commune and confer with your hearts about, when you and I &s;ee not each other, and when you are alone.</P>
<P>I &s;hall doe herein by you as an I&s;raelite did by the Prie&s;t, when he would have him to enquire &s;omething for him of the Lord by <HI>Urim</HI> and <HI>Thummim:</HI> I &s;hall put my que&s;tions into your hands, and &s;hall leave you to goe to the Oracle of your owne hearts, and to take their an&s;wer.</P>
<P>Some generall things I would propo&s;e to all of you in gene|rall, and &s;ome particulars to &s;ome particulars. I might to all in generall de&s;ire you to que&s;tion with your owne hearts, you that have been pre&s;erved in the&s;e &s;ad times, and you that have been Spectators of the &s;ad judgements that have been upon us, what betterings you have had by all the&s;e judgements, and what thankfulne&s;&s;e you have &s;hewed for your pre&s;ervation.</P>
<P>But the fir&s;t que&s;tion that I would de&s;ire every one that hea|reth me this day, to propo&s;e to his owne heart is but this; <HI>Heart how do&s;t thou?</HI> A few words, but a very &s;erious
<PB N="25" REF="15">
que&s;tion. You know this is the fir&s;t que&s;tion, and the fir&s;t-&s;alute that we u&s;e one to another, Sir how do you? I would you would as con&s;tantly practi&s;e it with your own hearts, Heart how do&s;t thou doe? how is it with thee for thy &s;pirituall e&s;tate? Get but a true an&s;wer from your heart upon this <HI>quaere,</HI> and then you will &s;ee that I have &s;ome cau&s;e &amp; rea&s;on why I propo&s;e this que&s;ti|on: I know what the an&s;wer of mo&s;t hearts will be, before the <HI>quaere</HI> is propo&s;ed, namely, that it will be either like <HI>Eli&s;ha's</HI> a|bout <HI>Benhadad,</HI> No danger of death, though he dyed pre&s;ently; or like the Phari&s;ees in the Go&s;pel, Lord, I thank him, I am not as other mens hearts are. Tell that heart I believe it not, tell it you believe it not: examine it further, pre&s;&s;e it like <HI>Ahab</HI> to <HI>Mioaiah</HI> againe; leave it not, like <HI>Dalilah,</HI> till you have its ut|mo&s;t: Get a right, and direct, and reall an&s;wer to this que&s;tion, and then an&s;wer me whether it were not worth the asking. This is but the very &s;ame <HI>quaere</HI> in &s;ub&s;tance that the Apo&s;tle propo&s;eth, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 13. 5. <HI>Examine your &s;elves whether yee bee in the faith.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, propo&s;e this que&s;tion to every one of your hearts; <HI>heart what wilt thou do?</HI> or, <HI>Heart what do&s;t think wil become of thee and me?</HI> As that dying Roman once &s;aid, <HI>Animula vagulae blandula, &amp;c.</HI> Ah poore, wretched, mi&s;erable &s;oule, whither art thou and I a going, &amp; what wil become of thee, when thou &amp; I &s;hall part? This very thing doth <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> propo&s;e to <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> though in other termes, <HI>Deut.</HI> 32. 29. <HI>Oh that they would con&s;ider their latter end.</HI> And oh that you would propo&s;e it con&s;tantly to your hearts to con&s;ider and debate upon. Would you but di&s;pute the&s;e two que&s;tions every one with his owne heart, and put his Con&s;cience to it to give its cleare opinion in the&s;e mat|ters, or to &s;peak the verie truth, what it thinks concerning your pre&s;ent and future e&s;tate, I &s;hould thinke I had gained exceeding much by this di&s;cour&s;e that I have made, and that I have &s;pent this houre exceeding happily.</P>
<P>And now Honourable, and mo&s;t Honoured, give me leave to levell the la&s;t things I have to &s;peake at your hearts onely, and to leave my clo&s;ing up of all that I would &s;ay, clo&s;ed up in your bo&s;omes. I would faine commend &s;omething to
<PB N="26" REF="16">
the &s;erious conference of your &s;elves and your owne hearts, when they and you are together alone; and they are but the&s;e three things; <HI>What hath beene done for you, what hath beene done before you, and what you have to doe.</HI></P>
<P>I would fir&s;t have de&s;ired you to debate &s;eriou&s;ly with your owne hearts, <HI>What the Lord hath done for you.</HI> But here my labour is happily prevented, and the worke is better done to my hands, then my hands can doe it. I &s;hall onely adde this, that if you &s;hould write &s;uch a Book as the Prophet <HI>E&s;ay</HI> did, <HI>E&s;ay</HI> 8. 1, 2. <HI>A great Roll of a Book, and yet no|thing written in it but this word, Maher-&s;halal-ha&s;h-baz</HI> o|ver and over againe, from beginning to end: &s;o a great Book, and nothing in it but this written, what God hath done for the Parliament of England, it would fill a great Volume to write what he hath done: and when you have written what you can, you can never write enough.</P>
<P>But &s;econdly, I &s;hall de&s;ire you &s;eriou&s;ly to commune with your owne hearts, of <HI>What London hath done for you. Lon|don</HI> the mirrour and wonder of Love, Zeale, Con&s;tancy, and Bounty to you and your cau&s;e: <HI>London,</HI> the Arke that hath kept you &s;afe, in this deluge of bloud that hath over-flowed the Nation: <HI>London,</HI> your <HI>Ophir</HI> and <HI>Indies</HI> that hath &s;up|plyed you with ma&s;&s;es of Money and Plate in all your wants: <HI>London,</HI> your banke and &s;tock of men and hearts: <HI>London,</HI> your &s;o much, that you had not been what you are, if it had not been for <HI>London: London,</HI> that under a Parliament hath pre&s;erved a Nation: and <HI>London,</HI> that under God hath pre&s;er|ved a Parliament. Was it ever &s;een, or could it ever be related, that any City under heaven ever did, as <HI>London</HI> hath done in love and kindne&s;&s;e to your Cau&s;e and you? What one among you can looke into his owne heart, but he mu&s;t needs find <HI>Lon|don</HI> written there?</P>
<P>And now your friend <HI>Lazarus</HI> is &s;ick; your faithfull, con|&s;tant and loving <HI>London</HI> complaines &s;he is not well: She finds and feeles &s;ome &s;ore di&s;ea&s;es breeding in her Bowells, that are like to undoe her: She comes to you to crave your help, and powres her complaints into your bo&s;ome. Might I not &s;ay, as
<PB N="27" REF="16">
the Jewes once to Chri&s;t, <HI>You de&s;erve to doe for her?</HI> But I &s;hall onely &s;ay, <HI>Commune with your owne heares what</HI> Lon|don <HI>hath done for you,</HI> and I need &s;ay no more.</P>
<P>If any one &s;hall thinke that I am now be&s;ides the marke, and &s;peak of a matter that I have nothing to doe withall, I &s;hall produce my warrant to &s;peake what I doe, and referre to a proofe and te&s;timony of what I &s;peak.</P>
<P>My fir&s;t Warrant is <HI>your gratitude,</HI> that is &s;o ready to bee thankfull to tho&s;e that have &s;hewed you kindne&s;&s;e, that you will not take it unthankfully from tho&s;e that doe minde you who have &s;hewed it.</P>
<P>My &s;econd is, <HI>the obligation,</HI> that you and I, and all the Na|tion &s;tand in to <HI>London,</HI> who hath been to us all &s;uch a &s;tay, and Wall, and Sanctuarie in our troubles, as &s;he hath been, that for <HI>Londons</HI> &s;ake who can hold his peace?</P>
<P>But thirdly for my Scripture warrant for this, I &s;hal de&s;ire you to turn to a <HI>Sam.</HI> 24. where the Servants of <HI>David</HI> doe account it a duty as it &s;eems, for they practi&s;e it accordingly, to tell <HI>Da|vid</HI> of the kindne&s;&s;e that <HI>Jabe&s;h Giliad</HI> had &s;hewed to <HI>Saul,</HI> though he knew it before.</P>
<P>And as for the proofe of what I have &s;poken, I &s;hall de|&s;ire, who&s;oever thinks I am be&s;ides my marke, but to turne to his owne heart, and there lay downe a leafe, till his heart and he doe meet alone, and then to read and &s;tudy impartially. <HI>What London hath done for the Parliament of England,</HI> and then let him judge of what I &s;ay.</P>
<P>I know your gratitude will be ready to &s;ay &s;till with <HI>Da|vid,</HI> in 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 9. Is there yet any of the kindred of <HI>Jonathan,</HI> that hath &s;hewed us kindne&s;&s;e, that we may &s;hew them the kindne&s;&s;e of the Lord againe?</P>
<P>Why yes, I be&s;eech you in the third place, <HI>Commune with your owne hearts what the Mini&s;torie of England hath done for you.</HI> My Warrant for the moving of this unto you, be&s;ides your gratitude, I may &s;hew from divers of your owne Orders, and expre&s;&s;ions. For in how many of your addre&s;&s;es and de|&s;ires to the City or Countrey for the rai&s;ing of moneyes, men, or Hor&s;es, have you &s;till laid much upon the hands and fide|lity
<PB N="28" REF="17">
of the Mini&s;ters, to promote the Worke, and to &s;tirre up their &s;everall Congregations to it? And I be&s;eech you now <HI>Commune with your owne hearts,</HI> how they have di&s;charged that tru&s;t and performed your Injunctions: And in your thoughts take up an account how they have behaved them|&s;elves in that matter, and whether they have not been excee|ding faithfull.</P>
<P>Have not the&s;e Trumpets, and the&s;e poore Pitchers had their &s;hare, and a good &s;hare too, in bringing downe the walls of <HI>Jericho,</HI> and the Campe of <HI>Midian?</HI> Have not they, like that Story in <HI>Ezekiel</HI> 37. if I may &s;o expre&s;&s;e it, <HI>Prophecied you up an Army.</HI> The Witne&s;&s;e of the&s;e things is in the whole Kingdome, and a witne&s;&s;e of them is in your owne bo&s;omes, and there I leave the con&s;ideration of them to bee laid to heart.</P>
<P>But now where is this Mini&s;terie of <HI>England,</HI> that have been &s;o faithfull, &s;o u&s;efull to the cau&s;e in hand, and &s;o for|ward to forward it upon all occa&s;ions? how are the&s;e reall &s;ons of <HI>Zion</HI> now brought low, de&s;pi&s;ed, oppre&s;&s;ed, and trod under foot in many places of the Land? Their Mini&s;terie by many &s;candalled for Antichri&s;tian, their per&s;ons vilified, &s;ometimes violenced and indangered, their &s;ub&s;i&s;tence impaired, their quiet interrupted, their families impoveri&s;hed; the functi|on of the Mini&s;terie how neerely undone? Now I be&s;eech you commune with your owne hearts what the Mini&s;terie of <HI>England</HI> hath done for you, and what others have done to it; and then con&s;ider what you have to doe.</P>
<P>A &s;econd thing that I would humbly recommend to the &s;e|rious and &s;ad debate and communication of your hearts, is, <HI>What hath been done before you.</HI></P>
<P>And here I cannot but take up a little of the &s;tile and man|ner of expre&s;&s;ion that is u&s;ed by <HI>Paul,</HI> when hee was to plead his ca&s;e before <HI>Agrippa, Acts</HI> 26. 2. I thinke my &s;elfe happy, mo&s;t noble Senate, that &s;ince my Lot is fallen to &s;peake unto you from this place, that my Lot hath fallen up|on &s;uch a day, as that it is now but foureteene dayes to the time that you have appointed to humble your &s;elves before
<PB N="29" REF="17">
God for &s;ome of the maine&s;t things that I am to &s;peake a|bout. I know that they that are re&s;olved to debate of the&s;e matters to the full, betwixt them&s;elves and their owne hearts, and betwixt them&s;elves and GOD on that day, will patiently give mee leave at this time, as by way of a preparation Sermon, to &s;peake the more freely concer|ning tho&s;e things that you are re&s;olved that Day to bee humbled for.</P>
<P>I &s;ay againe therefore, I be&s;eech you &s;eriou&s;ly <HI>Com|mune with your owne Hearts what hath beene done before you.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hall tell you one of the &s;adde&s;t &s;tories that I am per|&s;waded is to be found in any Record, or in any experience upon the earth, and that is about the violation of our Cove|nant.</P>
<P>It is not yet foure yeares &s;ince we entred into as Solemne a Covenant as ever did Nation; and will it bee believed in the next Generation [if our guilt upon it doe not make it too evident] Or would it bee believed in any remote parts of the world [but that the fame of it is blowne through all Nations] that in &s;o &s;hort a time, after &s;o Solemne an Obligation, and the Parliament that brought on the Covenant &s;itting, the Covenant &s;hould bee &s;o forgot, as wee dole|fully &s;ee dayly that it is.</P>
<P>I would I might &s;ay onely that it is forgot: for if it were forgot onely, there might bee &s;ome more excu&s;e, but it is &s;et up as <HI>a &s;igne to bee &s;poken again&s;t,</HI> nay a Sword is gone through the very &s;oule of it, in &s;uch a kinde of vio|lation as I think no Storie can parallel. I &s;hall in&s;tance onely in two things:</P>
<P N="1">1. Wee vowed <HI>again&s;t Error, Here&s;ie and Schi&s;me,</HI> and &s;wore to the God of Truth and Peace, to the utmo&s;t of our power to extirpate them, and to root them out; the&s;e Stones, and Walls, and Pillars were witne&s;&s;es of our So|lemne Ingagement. And now if the Lord &s;hould come to enquire what wee have done according to this Vow and Covenant, I am amazed to thinke what the Lord would
<PB N="30" REF="18">
finde among&s;t us; Would hee not finde ten Schi&s;mes now for one then; twenty Here&s;ies now for one at that time; and forty Errours now for one when wee &s;wore again&s;t them? Was there ever more palpable walking contrarie to God, or more de&s;perate cro&s;&s;ing of a Covenant? If we had &s;worne, to the utmo&s;t of our Power, to have promo|ted and advanced Errour, Here&s;ie, and Schi&s;me, could the&s;e then have growne and come forward more, then now they have done, though we &s;wore again&s;t them?</P>
<P N="2">2. And &s;o in the &s;econd place wee entred into as Solemne an ingagement for Reformation in matters of Religion, and this was the joyfull &s;ound that &s;tirred up the hearts of the people, and this was their hopes: five or &s;ix yeares a|goe it was proclamed, and betwixt three and foure yeares agoe it was Covenanted; and our hearts danced within us for the hopes wee had in this particular. But what hath beene done? <HI>I looked,</HI> &s;aith God, <HI>for Grapes, and behold &s;owre Grapes,</HI> and nothing el&s;e. When Reforma|tion was fir&s;t &s;poken of, wee had Order and Ordinances, but now how is the one lo&s;t and the other &s;lighted? Wee had then Sacraments, full Congregations, a followed Mi|ni&s;terie, and frequented Churches; but now Sacraments laid a&s;ide, Congregations &s;cattered, the Mini&s;terie cryed downe, Churches emptie, Church doores &s;hut up, <HI>eque&s;tres Samnitum in ip&s;o Samnio:</HI> If you look for a Reformation upon our Covenanting for Reformation, how little to bee found, and how much cleane contrary: <HI>Goe to the I&s;les of</HI> Chittim, <HI>and from thence pa&s;&s;e over to</HI> Keder <HI>in the Ea&s;t,</HI> &s;earch all the Stories that are to bee found, and enquire in all Nations under the whole Heavens, whether the like things have beene done in any Times, in any Nation, and yet have the&s;e things been done before your eyes.</P>
<P>Give me leave to relate unto you a Story out of the Turki&s;h Hi&s;torie, and to apply it:</P>
<P><HI>Uladi&s;laus</HI> the King of <HI>Hungarie,</HI> having made a League with <HI>Amurath</HI> the great Turke, and &s;olemnly Covenanted and Sealed to Articles thereof in the Name of Chri&s;t, was
<PB N="31" REF="18">
afterward per&s;waded to breake it, and to goe to warre a|gain&s;t <HI>Amurath.</HI> Being in the heate of the fatall Battaile at <HI>Varna,</HI> the Turke drawes out the Articles of the League out of his Bo&s;ome, and &s;preads them towards the Cruci|fix which hee &s;aw in the Chri&s;tians Banner, with the&s;e words; <HI>Now Chri&s;t, if thou be a God, as they &s;ay thou art, revenge the wrong done unto thy Name by the&s;e thy Chri&s;ti|ans, who made this League in thy Name, and now have thus broke it.</HI></P>
<P>And accordingly was this wretched Covenant-breach avenged with the death of <HI>Uladi&s;laus,</HI> and almo&s;t all his Armie.</P>
<P>Should Chri&s;t &s;pread our Covenant before us, upon the &s;ame accu&s;ing termes as hee &s;pread his before Chri&s;t, what could wee an&s;wer? Or if <HI>Satan</HI> &s;hould &s;pread our Cove|nant before God again&s;t us, as <HI>Hezekiah</HI> did the <HI>A&s;&s;yrians</HI> Letter, what could wee &s;ay for our &s;elves in &s;o horrid and &s;o plaine a ca&s;e? If the Lord &s;hould implead us, and &s;peak &s;uch bitter things as the&s;e again&s;t us, you have &s;uffered the Solemne&s;t Covenant to bee thus broken that ever was &s;worn unto by men: The horride&s;t Here&s;ies and Errors have grown among&s;t you, that ever did among a Nation; as glorious a Church as was under Heaven, is thus neare ruined be|fore your eyes: And the gloriou&s;e&s;t Go&s;pel that &s;hone upon earth is almo&s;t de&s;troyed, and you look on? How could wee an&s;wer, or hold up our faces before the Lord: But how mu&s;t Iniquity lay her hand upon her mouth, and not bee able to &s;peak a word?</P>
<P>I goe not about to charge the guilt of the&s;e things upon your Con&s;ciences, farre bee that from you, farre is that from mee; I onely de&s;ire to pre&s;&s;e the thoughts of the&s;e things upon your hearts, that you may &s;eriou&s;ly bee moved, and &s;eriou&s;ly affected with the con&s;ideration of &s;o high and of &s;o dangerous import, and may &s;adly <HI>Commune with your owne hearts what you have to doe.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. This is the third thing that I would humbly leave with you, and recommend unto you to ruminate upon; and to
<PB N="32" REF="19">
debate with your owne hearts, Not that I thinke to offer you any thing as your Direction; I am the lea&s;t able for that of any that &s;peak unto you, but that I would minde you a little of tho&s;e things that you have to doe withall.</P>
<P>You have in your tran&s;acting three things of the nice&s;t and tendere&s;t handling and medling with, that can come to hands of mortall men: and tho&s;e are, <HI>the worke of God, the life of &s;oules, and complaints of poor and oppre&s;&s;ed ones.</HI> Who is &s;uffici|ent for any of the&s;e things? and yet all the&s;e things do now lye upon your hands.</P>
<P N="1">1. You are to doe, and are in doing the worke of God; that is, to build his Hou&s;e, to maintaine his Truth, and to execute his Ju&s;tice, for &s;o let mee &s;tile it: things of the highe&s;t Honour and Concernment that can bee intru&s;ted in the hands of men: you had need to bee truely &s;en&s;ible, and clearely and con&s;cienciou&s;ly to apprehend how great this worke is that you are about, and to di&s;cour&s;e, and de|bate with your hearts againe and againe, how great a taske there lies upon you.</P>
<P N="2">2. How many thou&s;ands, nay millions of &s;oules, and their eternall E&s;tate now lyes upon your hands, of the &s;oules of the pre&s;ent and the future Generations? <HI>Onus ip&s;is Angelis formidandum.</HI> Oh how it does concerne you mo&s;t intimately to con&s;ider of it, and lay it to heart.</P>
<P>I &s;hall humbly recommend to your hearts to debate and to determine upon one Que&s;tion, that I may name no more, which I cannot, I dare not goe about to determine. And that is this: there are now many, and many Con|gregations in this our Land, that either for want of meanes, or through unquietne&s;&s;e of Sectaries, or Ma|lignants, want Pa&s;tors and have done long; and this want &s;till encrea&s;eth in the Kingdome dayly: And &s;o in divers places of the Kingdome people runne Riot, and doe what &s;eems good in their owne eyes, for want of Mini&s;ters, and of Execution of Ju&s;tice among them. Now at who&s;e hands the bloud of the&s;e &s;oules, who in this ca&s;e cannot but be in mi&s;erable danger, will be required; when Mi|ni&s;ters
<PB N="33" REF="19">
were in tho&s;e places, when Ju&s;tices were in their places, we know then to whom the charge of tho&s;e Soules belonged; but now I be&s;eech you &s;eriou&s;ly to Commune with your owne hearts, where the bloud and life of tho&s;e &s;oules lies chargeable now.</P>
<P N="3">3. You have to doe with the Complaints of poore and oppre&s;&s;ed ones; things of as dangerous an edge, if put up to heaven again&s;t any per&s;on, as any other what|&s;oever.</P>
<P>There is a great crie in <HI>Egypt,</HI> complaining in eve|ry Angle of the Kingdome; &s;ome for want of pay, &s;ome for want of Ju&s;tice, too many through the Pre&s;|&s;ures of Publicans through the Kingdome, the unju&s;t Exactors of your ju&s;t Taxations, that lay on burthens of their owne, and either for their owne advantage or revenge, multiply Pre&s;&s;ures, and create Complaints in every quarter.</P>
<P>Honourable and Honoured, the&s;e three things are tho&s;e things that you have to deale withall: and upon the import of tho&s;e three things, give mee leave to re|pre&s;ent the&s;e two particulars to you.</P>
<P N="1">1. That the&s;e things will admit of no delaying; nor doing the Worke that concernes them any negligence: For 1. the Church by delaies may bee ruined, Truth may bee quite lo&s;t, Soules may be undone and peri&s;h, Sinnes are growing high and complaints lowd. Now Lord come before <HI>Lazarus</HI> dye. 2. A little, and a little delay &s;till, may chance at la&s;t to cau&s;e a Decree to pa&s;&s;e in the Court of Heaven, that there &s;hall bee no healing at all: So did delay in the matter of Re|formation, in the &s;econd of <HI>Judges.</HI> There <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> at <HI>Bochin</HI> tells the people, that whereas hee had underta|ken to Conquer <HI>Canaan</HI> for them, and had done hi|therto, and had waited hitherto, that they would ex|pell the <HI>Canaanites,</HI> and &s;ettle Reformation, and they
<PB N="34" REF="20">
had not done it, hee would now henceforward Conquer no more for them.</P>
<P N="2">2. The&s;e things will not admit the Worke that con|cerneth them to bee done by halfes. The Worke of the LORD mu&s;t bee perfect, and CHRISTS floore throughly purged. God abhorres Mon&s;ters in Sacrifi|ces in the Leviticall Law, and &s;o doth he in matters of Re|formation; all exce&s;&s;e or defect, beyond or &s;hort of his Will &s;uits not with his Worke. A Word is enough to the Wi&s;e. I leave all to the &s;erious Communication of you with your owne hearts; and you and your hearts, and all that hath beene &s;aid to the ble&s;&s;ing of our good God. And I &s;hall onely crave leave to relate and apply one &s;to|rie more, and &s;o have I done.</P>
<P>It is reported of a poore <HI>Macedonian,</HI> that having his Cau&s;e pleading at the Barre before King PHILIP, the King in the meane while &s;itting in a &s;leepie Po|&s;ture upon the Beneh; and at la&s;t pa&s;&s;ing a &s;leepy Sen|tence again&s;t the man, and ca&s;ting him in his Cau&s;e, the poore man cryes out, <HI>I appeale, I appeale.</HI> This wakes the King, and makes him to &s;tart up: <HI>Appeale?</HI> &s;ayes hee, <HI>To whom can&s;t thou Appeale beyond mee? Am not I the King?</HI> The poore man an&s;wered; <HI>I Appeale from King</HI> PHILIP <HI>a&s;leep to King</HI> PHI|LIP <HI>awake.</HI></P>
<P>If there bee any heart here that is moved or rai&s;ed any whit again&s;t mee for any thing that I have thus freely &s;poken, I fir&s;t Appeale to the knower of all hearts, before whom I &s;tand, who knoweth with what heart I have &s;poken it.</P>
<P>But againe I appeale from that heart a&s;leep, as it lyes muffled in Pride or Peevi&s;hne&s;&s;e, or Selvi&s;hne&s;&s;e, or Selfe-Intere&s;ts, or any other di&s;temper or Pa&s;&s;ion; to that heart, when it &s;hall bee awaked, either by Grace, or by Ju&s;tice, or by the &s;ummons of Death,
<PB N="35" REF="20">
or by the &s;ound of the la&s;t Trumpe, when that heart and mine mu&s;t both appeare before the Tribunall of him that knowes all hearts.</P>
<CLOSER>Now to that great Judge, the King Eternall, Immortall, Invi&s;ible, the onely Wi&s;e GOD, be Honour, and Glo|rie for ever and ever. <HI>AMEN.</HI></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
