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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
the Son spake in those last days the days of the Gospel was in divers manners For first he spake by himself in person Luke 4.18 The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor That which he preached was certainly Gods word And when he left the world to go to his Father he sent the Holy Ghost from Heaven who in the mouth of the Apostles preached the same Gospel for those holy men spake not by the will of man but as they were mov'd by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.24 And therefore this also was truly the word of God And when the Church was thus founded by the preaching of the Holy Ghost for the propagation of it to all times after it pleased God to give it in Writing in a Scripture and that by inspiration of the same Spirit which before preached it So as now we need not ascend to Heaven to fetch Christ down nor the Holy Ghost as some pretend to do to know Gods will but to receive it onely from that Scripture Thus far we have the Word of God in Proper i. e. immediately out of the mouth of God and our hearing must be absolute for the matter we must say with Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth But when it pleased God to commit the dispensing of that word to the Pastors of the Church for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Ephes 4.12 Now the word of God was come into the hands of men subject to infirmities and error who may both deceive themselves and others And here our Saviours advice comes in season Take heed what you hear Before Gods word was in the Original but here onely in the Transcript or Copy and some Copyings are more happy then others and come nearer the Original and therefore not all of the same value and esteem All Preachers are not to be heard alike nor all Sermons The word of God in them is so the water of Life that it often tastes of the mineral through which it runs and hath a tincture from the earthen Vessel that brings it and therefore not to be receiv'd with that measure of trust which belongs to the pure and proper word of God For take a Sermon at the best the most you can make of it is that it is Gods word onely in a qualified sense because the Church intends it should be so and it is the preachers judgement and opinion that it is so and possibly it may be so indeed But then because possibly it may not be so we had need take heed what we hear We learn from St. Paul that it was more than possible it was truly so then for he warns Timothy of Preachers that will strive about words to no purpose but to the subversion of the hearers 2 Tim. 2.14 And ver 16. By prophane and vain bablings do increase to more ungodliness And v. 17. Their word will eat as doth a Canker or a Gangrain for so the Greek word is and that 's a dangerous Disease and by all means possible to be avoided and especially to be taken heed of Thus it was in the early times of the Church we have reason them to look for worse after and so we of late times found it by sad experience Not onely profane and vain bablings but Sedition Treason Rebellion were drest up and appear'd in the likeness of Sermons It is too plain we have but too much need of caution to take heed But alas what should private men do must they or can they call all Preachers and Doctrines to account The Scriptures indeed which are the undoubted Word of God would do it if well manag'd but how can that be hoped from every hand wherein wise that is learned men are mistaken and from whence every Sect seeks Patronage and perswades it self to have it What means is there then left by the help whereof we may take heed what we hear Truly none that I know but this still the Scriptures are the only infallible rule But how Not left loose to the prejudices and fancies of every man for then it will fall out as with those that look in a Glass in which every one sees his own face though not anothers the reason is because he brings his face to the Glass not because it was there before So every Sect sees the face of his own Religion in the Scripture not because it was there before but because his strong fancy and prejudice brought it thither he thinks he sees that in the Scripture which in truth is onely in his own imagination But how then can we have any help from the Scriptures to take heed what we hear Not as Gods word lies diffus'd through the whole body of them but as prepar'd and fitted up in a summary and short form of wholsom words by such to whom the care of the Church is committed If any shall think this a humane invention derogatory to the sufficiency of the Scriptures Let him implead St. Paul first who made the same use of it finding what mischief false Teachers had done charges Timothy with the care of it 2 Tim. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me This form he calls in the last verse of the former Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a depositum committed to his trust and for that very purpose that he might avoid profane and vain bablings and oppositions of Science falsly so called and that is plainly that they might take heed what they hear The same course was taken by the whole Church after considering how hard or rather impossible it was for every one out of the Scriptures to work out to himself an assurance of the knowledge of as much as was necessary to salvation and with that a consent with the rest of the faithful who are commanded to speak and think the same things which cannot be done but in a certain form of words 1 Cor. 1.10 Such a form if not the same with S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Apostles Creed the use whereof hath ever since continued in the Church to be a help to take heed what we believe The same course was of later times held by divers particular National Churches who weary with the insolence and domineering of their Sister at Rome did suo jure uti and provide for themselves which fell out in a time when the world was filled with Controversies and Disputes of Religion That the people might not be carried about with every wind of doctrine that blew from all corners it was their care and wisdom to compose a form of whole some words in their several Confessions to be a rule what to hear Now following our Saviours advice you have reason to ask With what measure of Faith are these confessions to be received for Quis custodi