them nothing of moment than others do who preach serious and solid Divinity which converts the soul and makes a new creature Secondly they have no need to seek farther the Scriptures are so full and compleat It is able to make a man wise to salvation and perfect unto all good works it is given by inspiration from God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction c. 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. Yea the holy Ghost to make it more amiable hath given it these titles viz. a lanthorn to direct us a medicine to heal us a guide to conduct us a bit to restrain us a sword to defend us water to wash us fire to inflame us salt to season us milk to nourish us wine to rejoyce us rain to refresh us a treasure to enrich us and the key to unlock heaven-gates unto us so naming the word all things that we might only desire it instead of all things Men talk much of the Philosophers stone that it turneth copper into panaces the herb that it is good for all diseases of catholicon the drug that it is instead of all purges of Vulcans armour that it was an armour of proof against all thrusts and blowes and other the like but whatsoever they did vainly attribute to these things for bodily good we may with full measure ascribe justly to the Scripture for spiritual Augustine Tanta facta sunt quanta tunc fieri debuerunt tanta scripta sunt quanta nunc legi debuerunt His salubriter parva corriguntur parva nutriuntur magca oblectantur ingenia Nay saith he the Scriptures are so fit and full Ut in eis quotidie proficerem sic eas solas ab ineunte pueritia usque ad decrepitam senectutem maximo otio summo studio meliore ingenio conarer addiscere Thirdly their flocks if they be wise and godly as new-born babes desire only to be fed with the sincere milk of the Word contained in the Old and New Testament which are the two Brests of the Church that they may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 Fourthly God abhors that his seeds-men the Ministers and so they pretend themselves to be should sowe any thing but the immortal seed of his Word Mat. 13.19 1 Pet. 1.23 1 John 3.9 which makes him so often complain against those false prophets who ran when he never sent them and spake out of their own hearts and not from the mouth of the Lord Jer. 23. his words are He that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully what is the chaff to the wheat is not my word like a a fire saith the Lord and like an hammer that breaketh the rook in pieces ver 16.28 29. which words speak home to them if they had but the grace to apply it But let them hear the Apostle The weapons of our warfare saith Paul are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. Sect. 8. Gods word may be compared to a Cannon with bullets whereas wit and humane eloquence is but like a Piece charged only with powder which may make a great noise but throweth not down sin The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart Heb. 4.12 whence it is the Apostle so frequently opposeth his Preaching to these Verbalists who preach themselves and not Christ that deliver not the word of God but Poetry Roman History the sayings of Orators Philosophers c. I le give you two or three instances of many I wish they would minde his words We preach not our selves saith he but Christ Jesus the Lord neither do we handle the Word of God deceitfully 2 Cor. 4.2 5. nor have we shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God Act. 20.27 and again When I came unto you brethren my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of mans wisdome but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdome of men but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2.4 and again In declaring unto you the testimony of God I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified which things also we speak not in the words which mans wisdome teacheth but which the holy Ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual ver 2 13. and again Christ sent me to preach the Gospel not with the wisdome of words lest the crosse of Christ should be made of none effect chap. 1.17 and lastly I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1.16 But how contrary to the Apostle are these men in every thing They preach themselves and not Christ they deliver not the Word of God but Poetry Roman History the sayings of Orators Philosophers c. not in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power but with the enticing words of mans wisdome and the rarities of humane eloquence Saint Paul was not ashamed of that preaching which the world counted foolishness 1 Cor. 1.18 21 23. But these are yea they dare not make use of Moses or the Prophets or the Evangelists or the same Saint Paul overmuch lest it should be thought they have more grace than wit and lesse learning than religion They strive so to be accounted great Scholars and curious Preachers that they are ashamed of the Gospel of Christ and scorn to deliver things so common counting such plain preaching no better than foolishness 1 Cor. 1.18 though God calls their witty Preaching foolishness and is pleased by that Preaching which they so sleight to save them that are saved verse 18 to 30. But your fine wits who prefer their sins before their souls care not for such course stuff neither can these Amnons of the people eat other cakes then such as are of Tamars baking And therefore they swarm together to hear an eloquent Rhetorical Preacher as those Idolaters did to the house of Baal 2 Kings 18. as where the dead carcasse is thither refort the Eagles It hath been usual for such as come in their own names to be received and entertained with general applause while they that come in Christs name have been sleighted if not persecuted Mahomet and the Pope possess three parts of the world whereas they that beleeve the Gospel are few in number Rom. 10.16 Michaia delivers the truth Zedekiah speaks falsly yet Zedekiah is credited and preferred to the Kings Table while Michaia is laid by the heels and sed with the bread of affliction and the water of affliction 1 Kings 22.6 12 13 14.
there is scarce a servant of the Lord amongst them Their judgments being so diametrially opposite that what preaching the one loves the other loaths Neither would their hearers so applaud or approve of them if they were of Gods sending I am come in my Fathers name saith our Saviour and yee receive me not if another shall come in his own name him you will receive Joh. 5.43 Men of the world will not hear such preachers as are of God because then they must have their consciences terrefied about their sins or else part with them and be told of the fearful condition they are in yea the greatest of sinners affect more the flattery of false Prophets then the sincerity of Christs faithful messengers Isa 30.10 Mica 2.11 But it 's easie to discern where the fault lies and who is to be blamed For 't is onely the weak-sighted that cannot abide the light and none can dislike the word of truth but such as have an over-flowing of their gall or an overweening of their wit such as are both shamelesse and gracelesse As do you see an Apple fall untimely from the tree view it well and you will finde it worm-eaten else it had held But such as have a blemish in their eie think the element to be over cloudy Our Saviour himself could neither speak or do ought but such would be offended at it In which case who is to be blamed Is the Physitian to be blamed for the pain of his Patient or the disease the Chirurgion or the wound which he indeavours by all means to cure Yea tell mee what is the cause why the worst men and members in a parish evermore regard a good Minister least complain of his bitternesse and seek by all means to remove him Is it not because they are feet and legs and thighs and arms out of joint and so cannot indure the touch of the Chirurgions hand and the acrimony of his medicines Section 19. Secondly my next Answer to the former question is Their practice proves it For this you may take for a general rule that if these brave Orators these unhallowed Divines have ap plaus and be cried up for rare Preachers it is from men as carnal and gracelesse as themselvs As look but upon their lives and see if they be not like people that have a disease called the Wolf which is alwaies eating yet keeps the body lean They have long heard and still desire to hear their sermons yet they grow not by their hearing for like those seaven ill-favoured and lean-fleshed Kine Gen. 41.20 21. it cannot be known that they have heard them for they are not onely as lean and ill-favored Christians still as they were before they heard them but much worse For as touching that is good that they let passe it faring with their memories as with an hour-glass or Conduit that which in one hour runneth in the same in another hour runneth out again Onely the evil wil they keep to increase their prejudice and to fore-stall them against goodness Quest Whereby may we know and judg of a wicked man for we must not pronounce any man a leper till wee see the scab Answ by his works and by his words every tree is known by the fruits It is Christs everlasting rule however the tree lives by the sap and not by the fruit yet it is known to live by the fruit and not by the sap for this is hid When the Conduit is walled in how shall wee judge of the spring but by the water that runs out of the pipes The outward actions declare the inward intentions Men do somtimes bewray that by their deeds which to confess they are hardly drawn As in a clock when the hammer strikes well and the hand of the diall points well it is a signe that the wheels are right set Yea by the pointing of the hand alone wee may know how the clock goes within And so by the striking of the hammer which is the second rule Speech is the index of the minde for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Matth. 12.34 Whence observe that a good man out of the good treasury of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evill man out of the evil treasury of his heart bringeth forth evill things Matth. 12.35 As the bell is known by his sound so a man is by nothing better known then by his communication says Seneca evill speaking discovers an evill heart as the striking of the clapper does a broken bell Yea men may bee known by their want of fruit wee may suspect want of sap in the root of a tree if wee find barrenness in the branches if either it have bad fruit or no fruit it is but a dead faith And the true method of grace is Cease to do evill learn to do well Isa 1.16 17. For as grace enters into the heart so sin goes out like air out of a vessell when wine is poured in or as it fares with women that having once conceived cannot admit of another conception untill they be delivered of the first see Gal. 5.24 I grant there bee multitudes of them that appear not wicked no every mans capacity for some of them and not a few are civill and fair in their carriages smooth in their communication and for the most part unreprovable yet this you shall bee sure to find that they are bitter malignants to the power of religion and scoffers at holiness and there needs no more to prove them wicked I grant they may bee morally honest temperate chast charitable go duly to Church pray in their families abstain in some measure from swearing lying and the like But does this flow from a pious and good heart sanctified by the holy Ghost 1 Tim. 1.5 Act. 15.9 Is it done in faith and out of right ends as out of love and obedience because God commands the same that hee may bee glorified and others edified thereby for otherwise all their performances are no better in Gods account then blessing of an Idol or cutting off a dogs neck as the Prophet shews Isa 58. Chap. and 66.3 Matth. 7.22.13 Again do you pay God his dues also do you repent and beleev the Gospel precepts and menaces aswel as promises do you declare your faith by your works do you pray by the power of the Spirit and with the understanding also 1 Cor. 14.15 do you receive the word with good and honest hearts and also bring forth the fruits of it in your life and conversation do you sanctifie his sabbaths and see that all under you do the same love his children promote his glory and strive to gain others to imbrace the Gospell instruct your children and servants and teach them to fear the Lord do you fear an oath hate a lye c. Love zeal and devotion in others make conscience of evill thoughts vain and unprofitable words grieve for your unprofitableness under the means of grace for the evill
THE People's Impartiall And Compassionate Monitor About hearing of Sermons OR The Worlds Preachers and Proselites lively painted out for a person of Quality upon occasion of hearing two famous Divines whose transcendent Wit Oratorie and Elegancie made many at their wits end with admiration Being a rare discovery to Vndeceive the Deceiued By R. YOUNGE of Roxwell in Essex Wee preach not our selvs but Christ Jesus the Lord c. 2 Cor. 4.5 My speech and my preaching was not with entising words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God c. 1 Cor. 2.4 5 to 9. I am come in my Fathers name and yee receive me not if another shall come in his own name him yee will receive Joh. 5.43 See 1 Joh. 4.1 London printed by J. B. for James Crumpe in Little Bartholomews Well-yard In the year 1657. TO THE TRULY NOBLE AND DESERVEDLY HONORED Sr NATHANAEL BASILE A WORTHY PATRON AND PATTERN OF WISDOM JUSTICE FORTITUDE PIETY AND SINCERITY R. Y. Dedicates this mean piece of his Labours and wisheth long life many followers with increase of all grace and happinesse The Peoples impartial and compassionate Monitor about hearing of Sermons Or the Worlds Preachers and Proselites lively painted out for a Person of Quality Upon occasion of hearing two famous Divines whose transcendent Wit Oratory and Elegancy made many at their wits end with admiration Section 1. Much honoured Sir ACcording to your Order I have heard another of your famous Preachers and will thereof give you an account as I promised And so that hundreds I hope shall be the better for it The truth is I extreamly admire them both though I honour them not at all The one made as rare a something of nothing as ever I heard The other for his skill in Sophistry is I confess a Non-such Both may be rare Preachers for ought I know but as he said of one little learned and lesse modest who usurped all discourse at the Table I never heard learning make such a noise So I never heard a solid Preacher deliver so many words for so little matter so much Oratory for so little Divinity Well may these plashes of water be held by some deep Divines but I presume you may gage their Divinity with one of your fingers As for their Sermons for so men call them though no otherwise then the Heathen Images are called gods Nor are they more like Sermons than Michaels image of goats hair was like David I may fitly liken them to a plume of feathers for which some will give any thing others just nothing Or if I compare them to a Nightingale tongue pye as being far more elaborate and costly than profitable or nourishing it is a great Hyperbole Indeed as a Reverend Divine speaks if I had no other Mistresse then Nature I would wish no other Master then such a Seneca Cicero or Demosthenes but being a Christian I go not to hear the rarities of human Eloquence but the eternal Word of God and more to profit my soul than to please my senses A wise man should yea a good Christian will propound to himself some end some good end of his going to hear for he that in his actions proposeth no mark or main end to himself is like a Ship that aimeth at no Harbour and no wind makes for him that hath no intended Port to sail unto neither can he expect any Voyage of advantage And to what end should any of Christs sheep go to the Assemblies but to hear his voice which is spirit and life to quicken those that are dead in sin and to raise up those that are therewith cast down Yea the Gospel is the strong arm of the Lord and the mighty power of God to salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1.16 And therefore they never go to hear it but in hope to be the better for it Namely that they may have their faith strengthned by it or their patience increased or their judgement rectified or their wills reformed or their life and practise bettered or their love and zeal inflamed But certainly if any shall go to hear such Preachers as these bear with my boldness I beseech you to any or either of these ends he shall no less sail of his expectation then did those guests which Caligula invited to his golden banquet which being set before them did indeed delight the eye but neither pleased the pallate nor satisfied the stomach Nor do such Sermons more please the ear then they starve the soul Their simple hearers being like that Calf in the Epigram which went with no small appetite to suck the teats of a painted Cow Or rather like one that whets his knife upon a chalk stone which doth not sharpen but make it more dull and blunt Yea it were well if it were no worse for this is to be understood of the best of their Sermons whereas the other may be resembled to a poisoned fountain in the way which the innocent and thirsty passenger seeing is glad to drink of but in drinking is sure to dye for it Yea how many of these rare Preachers could I name that serve their hearers had they the wit to perceive it as Busirus whom Herculus slew served the poor who killed such as came to him for hospitality Or Theodosius the Prince who fraudulently called together seven thousand innocent persons as it were to see playes and then sent in souldiers to slay them For under a colour of feeding and curing their souls they impoison and kill them Or in case they be less cruel and do answer the hunger and thirst of an empty soul it shall be no otherwise then the Jews did our Saviour who gave him gaul for his meat and in his thirst vinegar to drink Psa 69.21 But this being a truth that transcends both the understanding and beleef of all that are unacquainted with Satans wiles Nor can it be beaten into the brains of unbeleevers who want the light of Gods Spirit and the eye of faith I have taken some pains in painting out these Preachers and their Proselites affirming no more then I know by grounded experience and shall fully confirm from the Word of truth Which commands us to try the spirits and their doctrine whether they be of God or no. Nor will you I hope think the time ill spent in your serious perusal thereof If it make you a gainer give God the glory Sect. 2. All sorts of Preachers may be comprised under four heads for either they are Preaching Or Non-Preaching Or Un-Preaching Ministers Or Preachers that are no Ministers Whereof I have to deal with Non-Preaching and Un-Preaching Ministers Non-Preaching Ministers I might martial into many Bands but the cheef are witty and Rhetorical Preachers and to these will I apply my self in the first place Witty and Rhetorical Preachers are such as Preach now and
then but it is to very little or rather to no purpose For as they neither aim at GODS glory nor the edification and conversion of their hearers but their own credit profit and preferment So their people are neither instructed in the mysteries of salvation nor any whit reformed in their lives Now these as preferring Abana and Pharpar before the River of Jordan chuse rather to feed their people with the Onions and Melons of humane speculations than with the spiritual Manna of GODS Word Which is the cause their hearers have such lean and hunger-starved souls There be a world of unhallowed Divines that being sent to sue for GOD wooe for themselves For all their aim and end is To set out their Learning and Reading and to breed admiration of their wit and worth With Gnatho they are desirous to please every mans humour and therefore lest their Sermons or rather Orations should not be thought Learned enough you shall have them so richly compounded of Divinity Morality and Policy with so great aspersion of all other Arts and Dapled so full of Authorities from Poets Orators and Philosophers and so stuft with rich magnificent pompous and painted words well-couched phrases Oratory Figures and pathetical Metaphors For they run all upon Metaphors and by their good wills speak not without a Figure Together with Hebrew Greek and Latine Sentences That no Room can be afforded for Scripture Yea they scorn the grave Eloquence the stately Plainness the Rich Poverty that Humble Majesty that shines in the Simplicity of the Scripture The contemptible Coursnesse of Scripture-phrase grates their Delicate Ears and offends their Queasie stomachs For they are not able to Peise and so not to Praise how in Fewness of words there is Fulness of Matter That they are Thick and Short Pithy and Pathetical Breef and yet Full Concise and yet Clear Careless and yet Accurate Which men if they cannot instruct GOD how to deliver his mind better yet they are not so Well pleased with the SPIRITS way of Expression as with their Own when delivering their Words by Weight and Drawing their Notions into Knots and Borders placing them like Checquer or Fret-work driving their Clauses to so Even a Cadency that they fall in a Just measure and sound And to give them their Due Their Discourses are so Curiously Couched so Neatly Starched and set Their Words so Ranked and meetly marshall'd as if they were a Kin to Him whose Name is Six-Hundred Sixty-Six And yet excel they never so much in wit learning order elegancy and phrase Admit they deliver their words in Wax with a Soaring-sublimity of high Strains and Choice Composures Though it move Great Delectation of affection Suppose they transport their hearers with the wind of words and flouds of eloquence wherein is more wit than art and more art than use yet they are but windy frothy and vain Preachers yea they preach no more in reality then Harpocrates the Egyptian who was always painted with his finger in his mouth For as every sound is not Musick so every Sermon is not Preaching A main end of Preaching is Converting as the end of Fishing is Catching But their Sermons tend to no such end Well may these Cobwebs of wit and learning be curious and admirable for their fineness of thread and work but they are of no substance or profit to the soul For admit them dainty Moral Discourses sufficient to satisfie the most curious car or refined Auditory yet they are as improper to the end before mentioned as were a bone for a child for wherein is the soul benefitted or comforted by a witty and Rhetorical Discourse Or in case some do dote thereon do they not resemble Ixion who embraced a cloud instead of Juno Their Sermons being meer breath which vanishes so soon as seen For as he said of the Delphick Oracle Quoties legitur negligitur It is not sooner gotten then forgotten so may I of their Learned Orations For as one nail drives out another so one sentence and one Sermon drives out another As for their Converting of a sinner or building up of a Christian they know not what it means Yea He appeal to their own consciences whether in all their lives they have so much as civilized or philosophized one drunken deboist and vicious liver by this their manner of Preaching or can any one of their applauders say such a man hath made me an hater of vice and a lover of virtue hand credo Yet this hath been familiarly effected by meer Philosophers upon their Disciples Now if they are insufficient to effect the lesser work what probability is there they should accomplish the greater of true and effectuall conversion which is no other then a miracle For no less true nor miraculous though spiritual is our raising up from an estate of inward corruption to the life of grace then was our Saviours restoring of sight to the blinde hearing to the deaf speech to the dumb health to the sick yea life to the dead and whatever in this kinde he did by himself while he lived the same he doth still by his Ministers through the mighty and powerful working of his holy Spirit with his written Word Sect. 3. Nothing proved him to be God more then his casting out of Devils For there is no casting out of devils but by the finger of God Luke 11.20 Neither is that strong armed man overcome and ejected but by a stronger than he verse 21 22. And is any stronger than he but God alone no verily As for man he is no way able to deal with him witness Adam in his state of perfection 〈◊〉 And yet as then himself cast out devils by speaking the words of eternal life so now his Ministers cast them out by applying the same Word for every reigning sin we have is a devil as Basil Austin and Saint Gregory affirm 2 Cor. 4.4 John 14.30 Ephes 2.2 2 Tim. 2.26 and of him that by the power of the Word hath pride covetousness drunkenness whoredome swearing envy or ignorance cast out of him or mortified in him we may say as properly as it was of Mary Magdalen he hath so many devils cast out Now it were a strange folly to think that these Preachers should cast them out and overcome them with the carnal weapons of their warfare which they borrow from men and not from God What cares the devil so long as they bring wit instead of weapons he fears them no more hearing the words of their Commission and espying them to have no courage no power no zeal for the glory of God no aim at the edification of their hearers than an Eagle fears a Swallow or a Laon a Lamb but makes answer as he once did to the sons of Sevah Jesus I acknowledge and â—aul I know but who are ye It is a silly Hare that will be caught with a Tabor and their Preaching is as prevalent to the casting out of devils as is the hunting
best of them for their pains in preaching and receivs as much good by their labour in the Church as doth a Farmer by those quick cattle which continually live in his barn feed upon his corn and though they do him no great hurt yet hee hath no service from them at all Yea I doubt not but themselvs I mean these non-preachers these witty preachers will one day If ever God bee pleased to open their eyes acknowledge as much and as much disdain to preach so as now they do the contrary For as the Jews when they heard the Apostles preach burnt their curious books and had no more delight to study such toies so as these Ministers come to the knowledge and experience of the truth and to have their eyes opened they will bee content to leave these fancies and say with Saint Paul I desire to know or preach nothing but Christ and him crucified And indeed there is but one right way of preaching that is when sound doctrine and home-application goes together many indirect ways God chargeth his Ministers to refuse all ways but one Satan bids them refuse that one and take which way they please Now whether God or Satan is most heard and obeyed I leave for the indifferent Reader to iudge In the mean time these barren Trees that occupy the room where better trees might grow are not onely liable to a fearfull curse Luke 13.7 Ezek 3.17 18 19. 1 Cor. 9.16 Zach. 11.17 Jer. 23.12.19 but have made themselves guilty of the blood of the Lords people in taking upon them to bee their Captains and conductors and yet have no skill at all in managing of martial affairs being like that Souldier who was very diligent in scowring of his Musket preparing his match practising his postures c. but when hee came into the field had forgot his powder or some careless Carpenter that should square all by his rule but sticks it at his back and works by aim For this I may boldly affirm that all such as come to this spirituall warfare with carnal weapons and strive to encounter that spirituall Goliah with Sauls harness and not with Davids sling with the blunt sword of meer humane eloquence the words of men Philosophers and Fathers only and not with the sharp two-edged sword of the Spirit the Word of God shew themselvs more like the Devills deputies then Christs Vicars For instead of preaching the Word they bring a famine of it Section 16. And great pity it is they are not cast out of Churches and for ever silenced as many of them have been for some years did they not daily creep in again by means of such whose souls they have formerly poisoned and bewitched with their Philosophy and vain deceit Colos 2.8 Because so long as hee supplies the Room of a Minister hee keeps out another that would Preach better and perhaps save those poor souls whom hee destroyes An ill man in the Church is but like some Shrubby Tree in a Garden whose shade not onely keeps better plants from growing but draws away the nourishment from the rest that would bear us fruit Or as a great Oak in a Grove which not onely pines all the under-woods near it but spoiles the Grass that should feed the Cattell So that it were better for the Parish to have no Minister at all then such an one For though it bee miserable to want food for the soul yet a blank does far better in a room then an ill-filling But how much better would a godly faithfull and zealous preacher placed in his room bee who by Gods blessing would feed those souls whom hee starves and save those whom hee lets perish A conscionable Minister resembles David who would venter on a Bear rather then lose a Lamb and Jacob who would endure heat by day and frost by night rather then neglect his flocks and Moses who would fight with odds rather then the cattle should perish with thirst Onely such a Balaam as these wants this mercy But what 's the reason The hireling careth not for the sheep Joh. 10.13 they are not his own and what minds hee whether they bee fat or lean A mercenary advocate looks onely to his fee let his clients cause stand or sall it is all one to him so long as he hath his money A Capon that hath moulted away all his feathers and is cold and naked in the absence of the Hen will run to her nest not for any love to the Chickens but to warm his own sides But let such look to it for they have a fearful reckoning to make and destruction is threatned to every Prophet that thus conceals the truth or forbears to reprove sin sharply Ezek. 3.17 18 19. 1 Cor. 9.16 For if they had stood in my counsel saies God and had caused my people to hear my words then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings Jer. 23.21 22. Whereas now whensoever thou shalt hear the bell toul for a wicked man thou maist cry out There is a soul going to hell whose blood will be required at my hands becaus I was not faithful and did not give him warning Ezek. 3.18 19. Indeed these men-pleasers may seem to bee neuters as doing neither good nor harm or at least more excusable and lesse principal in blood-guiltinesse then those unpreaching Ministers I am yet to speak of who flatter sin and flout holinesse discourage the godly and incourage the wicked by false-wresting or mis-applying the Word in that starving the people seems not altogether so bad as poisoning them and to be more excusable but the truth is they are no lesse guilty of the peoples blood for they are traitors to God and his kingdome and guilty of the peoples blood whom Christ the chief Shepherd hath committed to their charge For if a man will take upon him the office of a Pastor and yet not feed his people that depend upon him to bee an Embassadour and yet not declare God's message to the people to be their Physician and yet not see to the peoples health doth he not make himself guilty of their miscarriage and betray the trust which was committed unto him it cannot be denied The Advocate that is retained to plead betraies the cause by his voluntary silence the Watchman that doth not ring the alarum-bell at the approach of danger betraies the city to the enemy he that will take upon him to be a leader when he cannot instruct God's people in the spiritual warfare betraies the trust which was committed unto him and gives great advantage to Satan and his ministers who are far more industrious in their generation Mat. 13.25 Rev. 14.11 Neither is there any difference between the shepheards destroying the sheep with his own hands or leaving them to the mercy of the Wolf or of a Captains giving up a Castle or not defending it against the enemy when it is besieged What difference between not-saving
and destroying Not to water a plant when it is dry is to kill it And the fire is as well put out by the subtraction of fewel as by powring water upon it Section 17. Nor are these Non-preachers more guilty of the people blood then the people are of their own for all that forsake their faithful Pastors whom Christ hath placed over them to follow these mountebanks are in the sight of God wilful murtherers of their own souls For as when God had given the children of Israel Sampson to deliver them out of the hands of the Philistims that so much oppressed them they spared not to betray him themselves and to deliver him bound into their oppressers hands Judg. 15. when yet he was the onely deliverer that God had appointed them or as Jephtha was rejected of his brethren and yet the Lord appointed and intended no other to save and deliver them but him 〈◊〉 as Christ albeit he came to his own yet they received him not but disdainfully refused him and yet the Lord decreed him to bee the onely Saviour of his people and that by no other means or name under heaven we should look for salvation but by the Name of JESUS Acts 4.12 So they reject and persecute their faithful Pastor whom God hath set over them and sent to be their deliverer from the thraldom of sin and Satan and probably resolved to save them by him and none else Yea they will hear honour applaud and reward these men-pleasers these soul-murtherers while in the mean time Christs faithful messengers shall meet with nothing from them but contempt hatred base language and blows But fools as they are the case will be strangely altered for come they once to a sence and sight of their sad condition as when they lie gasping at their last hour they will wish O that I had now but the opportunity to converse with such a Minister As Saul sleighted Samuel while hee lived but would sain have heard and advised with him when he was dead He saith Solomon that rebuketh a man shall finde more favour at the length then he which flattereth with his tongue Prov. 28.23 a point well worth these mens minding And the same touching the cause of their dislike as observe I pray you Manna we know had no fault but that it was too good and too frequent onely the Israelites liked it not and indeed the pulse of Egypt had been fitter for their course stomachs and so is poetry Roman history c. sweeter unto these mens ears which are so grosse of hearing But where lies the fault Look into thy self that heavenly bread was unspeakably delicious it tasted like wafers of honey and yet even this Angels food is contemned He that is full despiseth the honey comb and no lesse sweet is the Gospel not onely the Fathers of the Old Testament but the Angels desired to look into the glorious mysteries of it and yet thou art cloied this supernatural food is too light the bread-corn of humane reason and profound discourse will better content thee But little do'st thou think what a damnable sin this is and what it will cost thee another day if thou continuest in the same mind For this is the condemnation none like this that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather then light because their deeds were evil Joh. 3.19 And so on the contrary This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.3 Section 18. But the misery is there is no perswading these men that they are ignorant of God or of Christ What they ignorant persons when they are the onely lovers of wit and knowledg which makes them frequent these witty preachers nor can they endure your dull drones To which I answer This wit in Scripture language and in Gods account is foolishnesse 1 Cor. 2.14 and enmity against the wisdom of God Rom. 8.7 So that as wise Solomon speaks there is more hope of a fools becoming wise then of these mens that are wise in their own conceit Prov. 26.12 And as love and lust are not all one so a witty and a wise-man is not all one The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome and to depart from evil is understanding Job 28.28 And hereby saith Saint John is it known that we know God if wee keep his commandements 1 Joh. 2.3 But he that saith I know him and yet keepeth not his commandements is a lier and there is no truth in him ver 4. He onely is wise that is wise for his own soul If they were wise saith Saint Bernard they would fore-see the torments of hell and prevent them Alas one spark of spiritual experimental and saving knowledg guided by the fear of God is more worth then all secular wisedom and learning Mat. 16.16 17. Rom. 8.15 16. Psal 111.10 Luk. 24.45 Joh. 15.15 But this wisdome descendeth from above and keepeth a man from every evil way Prov. 2.12 and God onely is the giver of it and he gives it to none but his children the godly Psal 25.14 Luk. 24.45 Mark 4.34 Gen. 18.17 Prov. 1 7. It is not so much scientia capitis as conscientia cordis that knows Christ and our selves Whence Solomon saith Give thine heart to wisdom Prov. 2.10 and Let wisdome enter into thine heart Prov. 4.4 The natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 and indeed if they are spiritually discerned how should they discern them that have not the spirit Obj. You seem to condemn all that frequent these witty Preachers do you think none of their hearers good nor wise Answ To this I will make a three-fold answer the first shall be in the words of our Saviour Christ and of Saint John They are of the world saith Saint John therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them Wee are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth us not Hereby know wee the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error 1 Joh. 4.5 6. And again Hee that is of God heareth Gods words Yee therefore hear them not because yee are not of God Joh. 8.47 Every one that is of the truth saies our Saviour heareth my voice Job 18.37 Christs sheep know not the voice of a stranger neither will they hear or follow strangers or hirelings because they care not for the sheep But as they know Christs voice so him onely will they follow and fly from a stranger as you have it Joh. 10.3 4 5 13 14 27. Now if we would know whether a Minister comes in Christs name or in his own whether hee be of God or of the world wee need no better note then to observe what his hearers are For usually if the Church of such a preacher should be searched as Jehu and Jehonadab did the house of Ball
place to encourage us in this case is that 2 Chron. 34.27.28 too long to repeat I pray turn to it Again take notice that as hunger is a signe of good health so to hunger and thirst after Gods Word is a notable signe of our spirituall health and safety Matth. 5.6 Yea the sence of our wretchedness and the valuation of our spirituall helps is the best triall of our Regeneration In the next place delay not the opportunity of hearing but as the Holy Ghost saith Even to day hear his voice and harden not your hearts as in the provocation c. Heb. 3.7.8 The time present is the onely time to seek the Lord. To make short heat the Word indifferently and impartially have no prejudice against him thou hast heretofore most hated and slighted but hear him the rather for his bitternesse Perhaps God will convert and save thee by no other means or Minister then such as he hath placed thee under Despise not the meanest of Christs Messengers that delivers the Word purely aims at his glory and the good of souls And the better to induce you to esteem such consider with me a few particulars Section 22. Such Ministers as are of Christs sending are not onely appointed of God as watchmen to give us warning of ensuing danger Ezek. 3.17 and Pastors to feed our souls with the spiritual Manna of God's Word Eph. 4.11.12 and Captains to fight God's battels for us against our spiritual enemies and our Leaders to instruct us in the spiritual warfare Eph. 6.12 13. 2 Cor. 10.3 4 5. and God's Embassadors to declare his will and message unto us Eph. 6.20 and lye Leigers for the great King of heaven and earth So that whatsoever is done to them God takes and accounts as done to him Psal 44.22 But they are co-workers together with God in converting and saving our souls 1 Cor. 3.9 Hee shall speak words unto thee saies the Angel to Cornelius whereby both thou and all thine house shall be saved Act. 11.14 Wee are all born dead in sins and trespasses But what saies the Apostle Peter Unto this purpose was the Gospel preached also unto the dead that they might be condemned according to men in the flesh but might live according to God in the spirit 1 Pet. 4. ver 6. For conclusion of all hear the Word in season and out of season and so minde the same that if any virtue be commended practise it if any vice condemned avoid it if any consolation bee insinuated approoriate it if any good example be propounded follow it yea so mind what thou hearest as if it were spoken onely to thy self and be not like a childe who looking in a glasse thinks he sees another childs face and not his own For want of application is the sole cause that in the midst of so much means so few are converted Yea there be very few men that make not the whole Bible and all the Sermons they hear yea the checks of their own consciences and the motions of Gods Spirit utterly ineffectual for want of wit and grace to apply the same to themselvs Whereas if they would rightly and ingenuously apply but one text or two as Mat. 7.12 16.26 or the like unto their own souls as they can unto others being better able to discern others motes then their own beams they might be everlastingly happy And so much of Non-preaching now of Unpreaching Ministers who as much excell these as the Spider excells the Butterfly The ones Sermons being like that unblest food Hag. 1.6 the other like those bitter and venemous waters 2 King 2.19 20 21. Or that Pottage 2 King 4.39 40 41. wherein was put colloquintida as you will acknowledge when you have seen them in like manner cut up and anatomized which will be the sum of the second part of this discovery which had been joined with it onely I prorogue the printing of that until I see the acceptance of this because I much question whether those it concerns will be capable of its usefulness for having imparted both parts to some of those Non-preaching and Unpreaching Ministers for whose sakes they were both composed though they commend the pieces yet so unacqainted are they with their own hearts they conceive not that there are any such Preachers Now in case it shall not be printed and yet of some shall be desired they may please to read in lew of it my Characters of the kinds of Preaching published fourteen years since and sold by James Crumpe in Little Bartholomews Well-yard FINIS Imprimatur JOSEPH CARYL ERRATA Not to mention any of the literall mistakes or mis-poyntings in each sheet which are usuall At the top of Page 15. there was by what means I know not a whole line taken out after the proof was returned and put at the bottom of Page 16. whereby the one place is left defective and the other marred in the sence The words are these Gold of Cornucopia that it hath all things necessary for food in it of Panaces And in Page 39. line 33 there is most the instead of the most Neither of which faults though very grosse were espied vntill most of the sheet was printed off But the ingenuous Reader will either mend them with his pen or be so charitable as to bear with the Compositor However the Author must or else turn the buckle of his Girdle