said there when Christ was warning them to take heed of the world Ye cannot serve God and Mammon The Pharisees who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him this was against the grain their hearts were covetous and set upon the riches of the world and now whatever Christ speaks they despise and set at nought This is that which the Holy-Ghost doth warn us against and doth shew us that this is the great ground and cause why people hear the Word and profit not because their hearts go after their covetousness Ezek. 33.31 32. says the Lord there This people cometh unto thee as the people cometh and sit before thee as my people and they hear my words and they seem to be pleasing to them and they take delight in them and thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and they hear thy words and do them not why so for with their mouth they shew much love but their hearts goeth after their covetousness Their hearts goeth after the world and therefore whatever is spoken will do them no good and therefore Christ doth admonish us and advise us to take heed and beware of covetousness Luke 12.15 Well this is another impediment if we do desire to hear the Word to profit and edification let us get our hearts off from the riches of the world Fifthly To name no more Take heed also of having the heart filled with the cares and matters of this world if our hearts be filled with the world there will be no room for the Word to take place Just as if a Room be filled and taken up there is no room for others to come in If the world and business and occasions of the world come and take up the head and the heart here will be no room for the Word to take place it is just as it is in a great croud where there is a great noise if there be a great noise in the Street if one come and speak a word in your ear you cannot hear him because of the noise so if our hearts and ears be filled with the cares and the business of the world it makes such a noise as we cannot hear and therefore Christ tells us that these cares of the world are like Thorns in Matt. 13.22 He that receiveth seed among thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choak the Word and he becometh unfruitful Though we hear much and there be much Seed sown yet if it spring up among Thorns it will never come to any maturity and therefore hence it is that Christ by two Parables doth shew us how the occasions and businesses of the world doth hinder people from listening to the voice of Christ in his Word in Luke 14. There is one Parable of a great Supper that a great man made and invited many but they refused to come and made light of it And the other Parable you have in Matt. 22.5 concerning a King which made a Marriage Feast for his Son and invited his Guests and when the Feast was prepared they made light of it and would not come What was the Reason One must go to his Farm and another to his Merchandise one about this business and another about that and they could not attend to the Lords Voice in his Word Christ doth thereby shew us that the matters and cares of this world when they fill the head and the heart they do hinder us from attending upon God in his Word This is now another impediment which is to be removed if we would so attend upon the Word as to hear it with profit And truly Brethren to speak plainly I am afraid that this is one great cause why many do profit so little by hearing the Word they come reeking out of the world and their hands and heads and hearts are full of the world and by that means the Word comes to be unprofitable to them Oh! that we could therefore learn to understand the Lords Will to understand what are the impediments that hinder us from hearing the Word with profit and be careful to get them removed This is the second Direction how to hear the Word in a way of Faith Faith doth put us upon the removing those impediments that do hinder us from profiting by the Word Thirdly The Third Direction is this If we would hear the Word in a way of Faith so as we may profit by it it is to hear it as the very Word of God as if God should speak from Heaven to us immediately How would we hear the Word if God should speak to us immediately from Heaven with what reverence and attention would you hear how would you be careful to swallow up every Word that God should speak Brethren know this that God out of tenderness and respect to us speaks in another manner and way to us now instrumentally by man more mediately because we are not able to bear the immediate Voice of God as they said at Mount Sinai Let not God speak any more to us for we cannot bear it Now the Lord out of indulgency to us because we cannot bear his own immediate voice the Lord is pleased to speak to us by means and instruments by men that are like our selves now I say it is God that speaks to us by men it is God that speaks from Heaven to us by men therefore we are to hear the Word as if God from Heaven did speak to us as the Apostle speaks in Heb. 12.25 Take heed that ye refuse not him that speaks from Heaven This is the way now to profit by the Word and to hear it in Faith you shall find that Cornelius he heard in this manner when Peter came to Preach to him Cornelius attended to him as if God himself spoke to him in Acts 10.33 Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God as if we should hear God himself speak And you see what the advantage and benefit of it was it is said in vers 44. that while Peter yet spake these words the Holy-Ghost fell on all them that heard him By this means the Word was made profitable and effectual to them the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard it as if God himself had spoken to them And the like you read concerning the Thessalonians in 1 Thess 2.13 says the Apostle For this cause thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of man but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Ye received it not as the word of man though it was spoken by man but ye heard it as the very Word of God as if God himself spake from Heaven to you and therefore Brethren mind this when we come to
yielded to them yet that doth not make it to be warrantable and lawful for us But in a word do we believe are we perswaded that whatsoever is not of Faith is sin If we be not fully perswaded of the lawfulness of a thing and yet do it it is sin And do we believe what the Text saith here That without faith it is impossible to please God Then if so be that we have not Faith to perswade us that such as do Preach are sent by Christ then I think we cannot act Faith in hearing the Word from them This is the first Direction about hearing in Faith namely that we be perswaded that those that we do hear be called and sent by Christ 2. A second Direction how to act Faith in hearing the Word is this namely we should be careful to remove all impediments that may hinder us in our hearing from enjoying the presence of Christ and our profiting by the Word for this is the work of Faith to put us upon the use of all lawful means to attain an end Faith will not expect the end but upon the use of means And so on the other side as it is the work of Faith to put us upon the use of means for the attaining of the end so to avoid all the impediments and hindrances that lye in the way to the attaining of the end when the Lord called Jacob to go to Bethel Gen. 35.1 2 3. that he might worship God there now Jacob that he might enjoy the Presence of God and Communion with God in Bethel in his drawing near to God there Jacob he removes impediments now he calls upon his houshold and all that were with him to put away the strange gods from among them and be clean says he and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make an Alter unto God c. And so at Mount Sinai God gave order to Moses that the people should be sanctified and purified when they should come to draw near to God and God should draw near to them Exod. 19.10 11. And so now when we are to draw near to God in the hearing of his Word we are to be careful to remove all impediments that may hinder our profiting by our hearing and this is the work of Faith Faith doth set a Soul a work to endeavour to remove all impediments Now there are divers impediments to be removed which will certainly hinder our profiting by the Word I shall name some few special ones which the Scripture hints to us As First This is one Malice in the heart to have the heart possessed with Malice towards one or another this will hinder us from profiting by the Word The Apostle Peter therefore expresly calleth upon us in 1 Pet. 2.1 2. Wherefore laying aside all malice c. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby As if he should say if you harbor malice in your hearts when you come to hear the Word you will not grow and profit by it if you entertain and allow malice in your hearts towards one another this malice may break out in the envy of the good and welfare of another and so the Apostle brings in that branch of malice envy and sometimes it breaks out in reviling and evil-speaking and therefore says the Apostle Lay aside all malice and envy and evil-speaking and so receive the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby As in Prayer if I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear my Prayer so in this case if we allow any sin in our hearts any malice towards one or another when we come to hear the Word God will not listen to us and we shall not profit by the Word this may be one cause why people hear so much and profit so little If so be they do allow malice and envy in their hearts and allow themselves to speak evil of others they cannot hear the Word to grow and profit by it no we are to exercise love in our drawing near to God love to God and love to the Word and love to the Saints and love to one another for if so be that we do not love them that we have seen or do see says the Apostle how can we be truly said to love God whom we have not seen 1 John 4.20 Therefore this is one thing Let us be careful to lay aside all malice and envy and evil-speaking if we do desire so to draw near to God in the hearing of the Word as to profit by it Secondly Another impediment that the Apostle hath in the same place of Peter is hypocrisy and guile this also must be laid aside or else we shall not receive the Word so as to grow and profit by it if we come to the hearing of the Word and do maintain guile and hypocrisy in our hearts and allow of it then we cannot profit or grow by the Word The Apostle Peter doth plainly hold forth that all guile and hypocrisy must be laid aside and so receive the Word as new born babes that ye may grow thereby Guile and hypocrisy doth hinder our profiting by the Word for this is now a kind of stumbling-block we draw near to God and have a stumbling-block in our hearts and says the Lord in Ezek. 14.7 If any man setteth up Idols in his heart and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me I the Lord will answer that man by my self Some do expound that place the word stumbling-block for the separating and withdrawing the heart from God Now there are two kinds of hypocrisy or guile that are to be laid aside in hearing the Word one is in respect of God the other is towards man the guile and hypocrisy towards God is this namely when as a man or woman doth seem to draw near to God in his worship attending upon his Word and yet notwithstanding the heart is not near God but afar off from him here is hypocrisy and dissimulation towards God This people says God draw near to me with their mouth and lips but their heart is far from me Isa 29.13 And so Christ tells the Scribes and Pharisees in Matt. 15.8 when as a man doth pretend to draw near to God as if he would know the Mind of God that he may do the Will of God and have no such intendment in his heart he comes to hear the Word what doth this hold forth but that he intends to do the word which he hears Now when the heart is not set to do the Will of God here is hypocrisy I remember Jeremiah speaks to that purpose in Jer. 52.20 For ye dissembled in your hearts says he when ye sent me unto the Lord your God saying pray for us unto the Lord our God and according to all that the Lord our God shall say to us we
will do it Your heart was not right says he ye pretended and said whatever the Lord our God shall say we will do but ye did dissemble This is one kind of hypocrisy and guile when a Soul doth dissemble with God and seem to worship God and yet the heart is far from God pretend to come to know the Mind of God and yet have not a full purpose and resolution of heart to do what God shall reveal and make known to be his Will And then there is another kind of hypocrisy and guile which is towards men when as a man doth pretend love to his Neighbour and kindness and friendship in Word and Lip and yet there is no reality at all in the heart The Apostle John speaks of this very thing says he 1 Joh. 3.8 My little Children let us not love in word neither in tongue but in deed and in truth It is not a love in deed and in truth when as our Brother or Neighbour stand in need of supply and help and we shut up our bowels towards him here is dissembling we pretend love and there is no reality Now says the Apostle if you will hear the Word so as to profit by it you must lay aside all guile and hypocrisy this may be another great cause and reason why people do come and hear much and profit little because they harbour guile and hypocrisy in their hearts therefore this you must be careful also to lay aside Thirdly Another impediment which the Holy-Ghost also points at in Scripture which doth hinder us from profiting by the Word is this when we come to hear with our hearts royled with passion and anger and wrath when we come to hear and have our spirits in a storm as it were with passion then we may hear and hear but shall not profit by our hearing for now the heart and spirit is like a joynt or bone out of the Socket now it hath no ability to act its part to do what lay upon such a Member to do So 't is in this case when the heart and spirit is in a royle it is put out of joynt and frame by passion and being disturbed now 't is unfit to attend upon God to hear what God shall speak Now a mans passion may be disturbed one of these two ways so as to be put out of frame to attend upon God to hear the Voice of God in his Word 1. Sometimes by some pinching Providence of God some afflicting Hand of God upon him which doth pinch and disturb the spirit and put it into a royle now a man or woman being thus disturbed in his spirit is unfit to hear what God speaks though he speak to him in a way of mercy and grace you have an instance for this in Exod. 6.9 And Moses spake so unto the Children of Israel but they hearkned not unto Moses How did he speak to the Children of Israel See vers 6.7 8. Wherefore say unto the Children of Israel I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians and will rid you out of their bondage and I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God which brought you out from under the burden of the Egyptians and I will bring you in unto the land which I did sware to give it to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it you for an heritage I am the Lord. And Moses spake so unto the Children of Israel but they hearkned not unto Moses for anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage Through the Providence of God it came to pass that they were oppressed under Egyptian power and when Moses came to speak of inlargement and deliverance they were oppressed and their spirits were filled with anguish and trouble and now let the Lord speak in never such a gracious manner by his Prophet they could not attend to him for anguish of spirit 2. And so sometimes the spirit may be put into a royle and passion for some small petty cross some kind of vexation which others do occasion when they cross them and vex them and thereby their spirits are put out of order and now they are unfit to attend upon God You have an instance for this in 1 Sam. 1.6 7. concerning Hannah it is said there that her adversary provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb and she went up to the House of the Lord and she wept and did not eat she could not tell how to keep the Feast to wait upon God in his Ordinances Why because her spirit was vexed and did fret So you may observe it if your spirits be put out of order as sometimes they are upon a small occasion observe it the Devil is wont to take such opportunities when you are about to draw near to God in any Ordinance then to minister some occasion or other to put you into a fret possibly a little thing out of the way will do it sometimes the misplacing of a Pin will disturb the spirit and sometimes the Husband may take some offence against the Wife and the Wife against the Husband or against the Servants or Children and the Spirit is royled and now you come to hear you shall not profit because now your spirits are royled with passion and this is another impediment and here may be also one great reason why people come and hear and hear and profit little because many times their spirits are royled with passion and this also must be removed Fourthly Another Impediment that must be removed if you will hear the Word to profit then take heed that your hearts do not go after covetousness be not inordinately set upon the riches of this world bent and resolved to be rich in the world truly this will be an impediment and will hinder you from waiting upon God in his Word this will be like Thorns to choke the Word for now the Word is that which doth cross and thwart us in our reaches after the riches of the world The Word tells us of other riches that are more true Riches now when a mans heart is set upon the riches of the world he cannot then yield to what is spoken just like the rich man we read of in Matt. 19. The rich man comes to Christ to know what good thing he shall do to inherit eternal life Go says Christ in ver 21.22 sell that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven And it is said he went away sorrowful because this was contrary to his grain his mind and heart was set upon riches and he could not yield to this Word of Christ And our hearts are ready to scorn and slight and despise what is spoken if our hearts be set upon the riches of the world as you may read in Luke 16.14 't is
must take it as spoken to our selves and here is now the act of Faith to make that particular which is spoken in general This is now a Fourth direction I shall name but one more and so conclude Fifthly If we would hear the Word of God in Faith so as to profit by it then we should act Faith variously according to the several kinds or parts of the Word for you know there are divers parts in the Word as now there is a Word of Doctrine and a Word of Promise some are Commands and some are Threatnings now I say we should act Faith upon the Word variously according to the several parts of it as now for example if so be that we meet with a word of Doctrine as concerning the Creation of the World that was made out of nothing or the Resurrection of the Dead that every person shall be raised again or concerning the Trinity of persons in the Godhead or the union of two natures in one person or our being justified by Faith in the Righteousness of Christ c. These things are Doctrinal now Faith is to be acted here Namely by giving our assent to the truth thereof by believing of it as faithful and true He that receiveth his Testimony hath set to his seal that God is True John 3.33 And by Faith we believe that the World was created out of nothing this is acting of Faith upon this part of the Word by giving our assent to it and believing of it to be true because the Lord hath spoken it possibly we cannot understand it how there should be three persons in one essence and that the same Body shall be raised again that is mouldered into Dust we cannot understand the reason of it but because God hath spoken it we should believe it But then there is another part of the Word that contain Promises now how should Faith act upon the Promises namely by leaning and resting with expectation upon the Lord for the performance of them being perswaded that God can do it and that God will perform what he hath spoken just like Abraham Rom. 4.20 21. God had made him a promise to give him a Son in his old Age Flesh and Blood would have disputed against this promise but saies the Apostle He was strong in Faith giving Glory unto God he believed that God would perform what he had spoken it was against Flesh and Blood Sarah was Old and he was a Hundred years old or there-about he might have said how can these things be and refused to believe it no but he gave Glory to God by believing Thus we are to act Faith upon that part of the Word Another part of the Word is Commands The word of Command how is Faith to act there Namely in a way of Obedience we should yeild Obedience to what God Commands though it may be very hard to us Just as Abraham did God commanded him to go out of his own Country and to go into a Land he knew not whither Abraham by Faith obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went and so God commanded him to offer up his Son Isaac Abraham acted Faith in a way of Obedience to the Command And then another part of the Word is Threatning and how is Faith to act upon the Threatnings Namely thus in a way of fear to endeavour to avoid those Judgements that are threatned in Hebrews 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moâ—ed with fear prepared an Ark to the saving of his House c. Truly thus I say Faith is to 〈◊〉 set a work and to act variously according â—o the several parts of the Word of God There are several parts of the Word of Goâ— now the whole word of God is the Objeâ—â— of Faith but yet notwithstanding Faith doâ—â— act variously according to the variety oâ— the parts of the Word Now it is the wisdom of Christians to exercise Faith sutably according to that part of the Word that Faith is exercised about And thus Brethren I have briefly given you four or five Directions how we are to exercise Faith in hearing of the Word that so we may not hear without profit that so we may please God in our hearing for without Faith it is impossible to please God Brethren and Beloved I must not enlarge but in a word It hath been the complaint of most Christians and possibly some here present their want of profiting by the Word Oh! I hear and hear but the Lord knows I do not profit this is the matter of your complaint well now you may go home and lay your hand upon the Sore the Lord hath discovered to me this day the great Cause why I have profited no more under the Word that I have heard so often I see now it is for want of the exercise of Faith I have heard my duty but the Lord knows I have exercised Faith but little and therefore I say here is matter of humiliation for us before the Lord we should lye low in the presence of the Lord for our so little acting of Faith in our hearing the Word of God And Oh! therefore for the future as we do desire that the Lord may be pleased with our hearing so let us be careful to exercise Faith in our hearing you have heard the Directions I shall not need to repeat them but go home and consider them and be careful to put them in practice that you may be acting and exercising Faith in hearing the Word for without Faith it will be impossible for you to please God Though you should hear Sermons never so often if you neglect to act and exercise Faith you will not profit by them nor please God in your hearing And so now I have done with this particular namely how we are to exercise Faith in hearing the Word it remains that we should speak about exercising Faith in our partaking of the Lords Table But thus much shall suffice for the present SERMON IX Hebrews XI 6. But without Faith it is impossible to please him THE words of the Text is a Proposition I have spent some time in the handling of it we came by way of inference to this That if it be impossible to please God without Faith then it doth concern us every one in all the duties and services that we perform to be acting and exercising of Faith not only without the Grace of Faith but without the exercise of Faith we cannot please God and therefore to this end we came to lay down some Directions how we may come to exercise Faith in those Duties that we perform that so we may please God we gave you some Directions the last time about the exercise of Faith in hearing of the Word I come now to lay down some Directions about our partaking of the Lords-Supper in Faith That Faith is requisite and necessary to our partaking of the Lords-Table that I think is out of doubt and