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A49464
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A sermon preached before His Majesty at Whitehall March 27th 1664 by ... B. Lord Bishop of Lincoln.; Sermons. Selections
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Laney, Benjamin, 1591-1675.
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1665
(1665)
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Wing L348; ESTC R17615
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15,955
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41
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A SERMON Preached before His Majesty AT WHITEHALL March 27th 1664. BY The Right Reverend Father in God B. Lord Bishop of Lincoln LONDON Printed for Timothy Garthwait at the Kings-Head in S. Paul's Church-yard 1665. St MARC 4.24 Take heed what you hear TO take heed is always good but most necessary when danger is least suspected we have therefore more need to look to our hearing because of all other things we may think that hath least need of it If it had been a Caveat upon the Tongue Take heed what you say there is reason enough for that for the tongue is a world of iniquity Jam. 3.6 it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of Nature But for hearing that seems a harmless innocent thing meerly passive no man the worse for it And this makes us sit down securely to hear any thing But take heed Hearing is no such harmless thing Though hearing ill be not doing ill yet at length it may bring us to it it is a door to let it in upon us We are all set in the midst of Temptations and Enemies and cannot be safe unless we have a watch and guard upon the passages As David considering the mischiefs that came by intemperate and unadvis'd speaking wisely resolv'd to set a watch at the door of his lips Dixi Custodiam I said I will take heed to my ways that I offend not with my tongue So another guard will be as necessary at the ear that nothing go in or out in at the ear or out at the mouth that may betray us to our Enemies If we look not to our ears they will soon become guilty of the corruptions of the heart as when we hear the flatterer it corrupts our judgment of our selves the tale-bearer or slanderer it corrupts our judgment of others If we hearken to profane filthy atheistical communication it poisons the whole man for evil words corrupt good manners Thus the ear by letting in may prove as ill as the tongue by letting out a world of iniquity too A little care here will prevent a great deal of mischief take it at large for it is good for all Persons for all Places for all Times But the Caveat of the Text comes neerer to us it follows us to Church where we think our selves out of all danger and yet nearer to the very business we come about the hearing of Gods Word an imployment so safe from danger that we think no care is to be taken unless it be to get a place to hear in For concerning this hearing is the advice given upon occasion of the Parable of the Sower that went before wherein our Saviour himself interprets the Seed to be God's Word and the Soil in which it was sown to be the Hearers Of four several sorts but one came to good It is a great odds and yet I wish it were not often greater three to one of the Hearers miscarried and the fault was only in the hearing It is therefore very seasonable for us that are come to hear and especially at this time of Lent when there is more of this Seed sown then at any other time of the year Where the loss will be more the care should be greater Take heed what you hear This is the Argument whereof with Gods blessing we are now to treat COncerning our care about hearing it will not be amiss to bestow the first part of it about the meaning of the Words St Luke relates the same passage with some difference Take heed how you hear That which is quid here is quomodo there The diff 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will be Whether St Mark should expound St Luke or St Luke St Mark for in relating matter of fact the truth must be one though the words differ And yet the words do not so differ but that in Scripture the one is sometimes taken for the other quid for quomodo and quomodo for quid Gen. 2.19 God brought all the beasts of the field and fouls of the air to Adam to see what he would call them What that is How there is quid for quomodo On the other side Luk. 10.26 we have quomodo for quid What is written in the Law how readest thou How that is What readest thou Though this promiscuous use of the phrases will serve to reconcile the Evangelists that they might mean the same thing in different words yet will it not serve to find out which that meaning should be It will be a safe course therefore to take both in for though vi verborum we can not yet which is lawful in a Preacher vi consequentiae we may for they are so close woven together that one cannot well go without the other It will be to no purpose how we hear unless we hear what we should and it will be to as little to hear what we should if we care not how we hear it If we take them both in they will compleat our care in the two parts of it and also make two Points of the Sermon What we hear and How we hear 1. Take heed what But how can that be given in caution to the Hearer which is not in his power for it is wholly at the choice of the Speaker what we hear When the Ear is open it must hear what is spoken whether it be good or bad True if the Precept had been given to the Ear so it must be but it is given to the Hearer to him that bath an Imperium and ruling of that and all the other senses If the reason or will shall command the Eare will open or shut like or dislike It is not simple hearing the Sense it self is not capable of advice but mix'd Heb. 4.2 St. Paul gives the reason why the Gospel being preach'd to the Jews did not profit them because not mix'd with Faith in them that heard it It is not simple hearing but mix'd with a more noble part of the Soul that guides it And so to take heed what you hear is in effect to take heed what Faith and Credit you give to that you hear for so it follows in the Verse With what measure you mete in shall be measur'd to you the benefit will answer to the care measure for measure But what different measure can there be of that which differs not Gods Word is from everlasting unchangeable The grass may wither and the flower thereof may fade away saith St. Peter but the word of the Lord endureth for ever and this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you 1 Pet. 1. ult 1 Pet. 1. ult Though Gods word be one in it self yet that one hath been made known to the world in different wayes and Degrees and so requires a hearing proportionable to them God who at sundry times Heb. 1.2 and in divers manners spake in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken by his Son And likewise that which