and apply it to the conscience as when we hear of gods mercy to be rauisht with ioye and when wee heare of his iudgements to be stricken with fear when we heare of his promises to rise vp in hope when we heare of our sins to repent and loath our selues This is the laying of the word to our hart and thus did Marie when she heard what straung things the shepheards reported from the Angels Saint Luke saith She kept all those sayings and pondred them in her hart A special Luk. 2 10 help to this is an often reuoluing and meditating in our minds of that we haue hearde for Dauid did not onely talke of Gods testimonies amongst his friends but being alone likewise did meditate of his law for so he saith that in Gods law was his continuall meditation and that both euening and morning and seauen times in a day and it hath bin the practise of Gods saints from time to time to enter into continual meditation of his mercy and of his iudgments It is commended in Isaac that euery euening hee went Ge. 24 63 Esay 5 12 14. out to meditate in the law those beastes were onely cleane which chewed the cud by which was figured a spirituall meditating ruminating of heauenly things and it is the cause of much vncleanesse in mens liues and of much iudgement vpon the world because they meditate not of Gods waies Indeed saith the prophet The harpe and violl the Timbrell pipe and wine are in their bankets but the works of God they consider not therefore hell hath enlarged it selfe and opened her mouth and they that reioyced shall goe downe into it and so saithe the Prophet Ieremie That the whole land is fallen into desolation because there is none that considereth in his hart Ier. 12 11 Therfore in the name of God beloued let vs prepare our eares and harts that we may first heare then remember and last of all lay vp the word in our harts for this is the right hearing and he that heareth hath not onely eares but eares to heare I would ye did consider that euery man by his obedience in this regard is iudged of what flock he is for so saith Christ My sheepe heare my Ioh. 10 27 voice so that if a man be desirous to hear then straight he is iudged to be of christs flocke but if the word be vnsauory and bréed no delight in his hart it is a shreud presumption that that man is a Goate And great reason we haue to delight in Gods voice for there is no word procéeding out of his mouth but it sauoureth of mercy and saluation to the soule for so Cant. 5 13 the Church testified of Christe that his lips are like to Lillies dropping downe pure mirrhe and how then should God indure our contempt who prefer the diuell before him nay God will endite vs not onely of contempt but of mockery too for if we shall beséech God to supply the meanes of hearing and send down a prophet amongst vs and when that Prdphet commeth shall shut our ears against him what is that but a mocke Besides what an vnresonable thing is it that we desire God to heare vs who could neuer vouchsafe to heare him if we stand in any néede of God how clamorous are wee and importunate vpon him Heare my prayer O Lord bow down thine ear vnto my supplicatton and why hidest thou thy face and forgettest all our afflictions and if God séeme a little to delay vs how hasty are we vpon him come Lord Iesus come quickly and make noe long tarrying my God and O god make hast to help vs but when God speaks to vs there is none that turneth his eare as if we had him in a string that he were bound to vs and not we to him therfore it shall come to passe that we shall pray and he shall not heare vs for so he threatneth Because I haue called and ye refused Prou. 7 24 26 27 c. I will also laugh at your destruction and mocke when your feare commeth when your feare commeth like a sodain desolation and your destruction like a whirlewinde when affliction and anguish shall come vpon you then shall they call vpon me but I will not answere they shall seeke me earelie but they shall not finde me because they hated knowledge God shall take from you either the preaching of the worde as he threatneth by Amos. I will Amo. 8 11 send a famine into the lande not a famine of bread nor thirst for water but of hearing the word of the Lord. Or God shall take from you the Preacher of the word when ye shall runne from coast to coaste and shall finde none to preach peace vnto your consciences or at the least god shall take away the guifts of the Preacher because of the hardnes of your harts It is a notable obseruation of Saint Gregorie that God doeth sometime multiply his gifts and his spirit vppon the Preacher because the hearer is desirous to learne and sometime againe he doth take away his giftes and his spirite from the Preacher euen for a plague and iudgement vpon the people because they neither desire to heare or care to learne Therefore doe ye prepare your heartes and eares to heare and I doubt not but god will multiply his spirit and send a blessing vppon these my labours And of this let me aduise you before hand that no one of you at any time presume to set his foote within these wals who first setteth not down with himselfe to practise in his life what here hee heareth with his eare Some come not to haue their liues resormed but to haue their eares tickled as at a play some come for nouelty some for fashion some to sléepe some to sée and some to be seen but few to practise but let these things be farre from you for our sauiour Christ sayth He that is of God beareth gods words nay he goeth further in the Iohn 8 47 same place speaking to the vnbeleeuing Iewes ye therefore heare them not beecause ye are not of God and Saint Iames Iam. 1 22 saith that he deceiueth himselfe who is onely a hearer of the word and not a dooer for Gods word is a leuen whose nature is to turne the whole lumpe into his owne nature to season and make it like it selfe as when you haue heard a Sermon of humility to shew forth the fruite of that Sermon in your liues and conuersasions when you haue heard a Sermon of repentance to be stricken in hart with a feeling of your sinnes when you haue heard of Gods iudgementes against blasphemy couetousnesse lying stealing against vsury or prophaning of the Sabboths euery man to set downs with himselfe I will surely with Gods help purge my selfe of this and that corruption and amend in my selfe what I now see is amisse then may we say of you ye are our Sermon as Paule saide to the Corrinthians ye are our Epâ—stle 2 cor 3 2 When whatsoeuer doctrine hath flowed out of our mouths doth spring vp as freshly in your liues let vs therefore say with Dauid O Lord prepare the harts of this people vnto thee send downe thy holy spirit into our hartes and into our eares gouern vs when we come to hear for paule may plant and Apollo water but thou must giue increase and in vaine shal the voice of the preacher beate vpon the doore of our eares vnlesse thou fill our hartes with thy spirit which we beséech thée of thy infinite mercy and goodnesse to performe that we may proceed from grace to grace vntil we come to the state of glory vnto which the Lord of his mercy bringe us To the sonne and to the holy ghoast thrée persons but one God bee ascribed all praise dominion and glory nowe and for euermore Amen Finis
A IEVVELL FOR THE EARE By Ro. Wilkinson Rom. 10 17. Faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God To all those that are desirous not onely to be hearers of the worde but dooers of the will of god Grace mercy and peace in Iesus Christ our Lord and Sauiour WIlling to satisfie the especiall entreaty of some and for a generall benefite to all Gods Church I haue set out to publike view this Sermon of preparatiue which I preached in my Parish Church at Horton in Kent I know there is no word of God but hath his profit 2 TiÌ„ 3 16 for so saith paule that al Scripture is profitable but set this a part and we shall like him that after Iohn 5 5. he had bin diseased eight and thirtie yeares laye at the poole of Bethsaida for helpe and yet was neuer the neare because he had none to helpe him nor knew not how to get in when the angell came downe to stirre the water this is the reason why there are at this day so many vnfruitfull hearers for that albeit mens soules are euen sick for want of knowledge though they haue lien at the well head and by the water of life and had a continuall sound of the Gospell in their eare yet in sixe and fortie yeares this ignorance cannot be expelled because when the Angell of Gods will doth preach the word and stirre vp the water of life they know not how to moue their eares toward it This therfore beloued I haue set downe as a direction to teach men how to heare that so often as the poole hereafter shal be stirred and the word of God preached vnto you yâ—â— may know how to vse it to your benefit therefore learne this Sermon and profit by all neglect this and leese all I haue called it a Iewell as Christ called the Gospell a pearle for without this Iewel Mat. 13. 4 you shall neuer finde that pearle I haue fitted it foâ— the eare vnto which if ye apply it it shal be an ornament to the eare as Soloman said of wisedome Prou. 1 9. it would be as a chaine to thy necke therefore failâ— not but apply it hee which suffereth the Iewes to rob the Egiptians of their Iewels and when they after melted them to make a calfe did suffer vs to rob them of their spirituall Iewell Let vs take hee least for our abuse of the word he stir vp the Ieweâ— againe to rob vs of this pearle of the Gospell and cause them to rise againe by our fall as we haue risen by theirs God of his mercy turne our harts and teach vs to imbrace his word as we ought Amen Yours in Christ Ro. Wilkinson A Iewell for the EARE Matthew 13 9. He that hath Eares to heare let him heare BEcause beloued the hearing of the worde is so holie a thinge and holy thinges are not rashlie to be attempted I haue thought good in this my entrance to lay downe a preparatiue that we may knowe with what reuerence we are come into the temple with what attention to heare desire to learne and care to practise for wel I remember that when the Isralites were sommoned to appeare before the Lorde in Sina they were first commaunded to sanctifie Exod. 19 10 11 their harts and washe their clothes euen as Moses might not come néere the Angel til he had put of his shooes because Exod. 3 5 the grownd was holy wheron he stoode this reason as néerely toucheth vs for if the place be as holy the exercise as holy now as then why should not we come as prepared as they least comming with vncircumcised eares and vnprepared harts it be said to vs as to him that intruded him selfe at the wedding frinde how camest thou hether not hauing on a Mat. 22 12 wedding garment In my first Sermon vpon those words of the prophet For Sions Esay 62 1 sake I will not hold my toung I let you know what was the duety of the speaker now it commeth in good order to tell you the duety of the hearer for if it could any way concerne you to knowe our duety much more auaileble will it be to learne your owne for a declaration whereof I haue chosen this Text Hee that hath eares to heare let him heare I know we are all by nature curious and euery mans nature is to regarde an other mans duty before his own euen as Peter said to Christ Maist what shal Iohn Ioh. 21 21 do To whom Christ roundly answered again what is that to thee as if he ment that euery man should looke to himselfe and let Iohn alone so would I perswade you for that ye are hearers to learne the hearers duety and let the speaker alone for albeit there be such a reference betwéene hearing and speaking as they may not well be seuered yet the necessity of hearing doth more generally concerne all for God said O earth earth earth heare the worde of the Lord but he neuer saide O earth earth earth preach the worde of the Lord for Arons roabe befits Ier. 22 29 not euery man vpon the earth but euery man is bounde to weare this Iewell at his eare for Faith commeth by hearing as if Saint Paule had saide where is no hearing there can be no faith therefore Ro. 10 17 Abraham spake out of heauen and his voice did pearce euen the bowels of hel Luk. 16 29 They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them and when he saieth let them it is more then a bare toleration as to say they may if they will for it is a flat charge because god therfore sent Moyses the Prophets into the world that the world of necessity should hear There is a kinde of people that thinke the whole burthen of the Saboth to lie vppon the speaker therefore Christe to wéede out that fancie saith likewise Take heed how Luk. 8 18. you heare to show that there is a necessity and an arte of hearinge as well as of speaking These two are fitly compared to a locke and a key for as the key openeth the lock and maketh entrance in at the doore so the tongue of the minister shoulde open the eare of the hearer that the spirit of knowledge and vnderstanding might passe into the heart and so it should seeme that speaking is ordained to hearing as the meanes is directed to the end for when God had commanded that the skirts of Arons robe should be hunge about with Pomegranats of silke and an intercourse of bels betwéene them the Exod. 28 34 35. reason was added That so oft as he ministred in the holye place and went in and out before the Lord his sound should be heard but walles and windowes cannot heare therefore by all likelihood that doctrine was intended for men and if for men why not for you The holy Ghoast discended vppon the Apostles not in the shape of heads that
they should onely vnderstand the word nor of harts that they shuld onely loue the word but like toongs that they should preach the word so that when God sent out his disciples with toongs his meaning was that ye shoulde méete them in the halfe way with eares and so ye sée the correspondence betwéene these two Scriptures how iustly they fit and iumpe together for Syons sake I wil not hold my tongue Hee that hath eares to heare let him heare For if it be necessarie that we should preach for Syons sake then it is requisite that Syon should heare for her owne sake This saying of our Sauiour He that hath eares c. is the argument by which he doth beg attention for the parable of the Sower to shew that the doctrine it contained was both so excellent in it selfe and so necessarie for the world as if a man were worth but his eares he could not choose but heare and it may concern either all in generall because all haue ears or the elect particulerly because they onely haue eares to hear For the farmer if there were no other reason why men should heare but this because God hath giuen an eare yet it bindeth very strongly therefore sée how God speaketh vnto vs euen in the fleshly instrument of hearing Christ doth not vrge vppon vs the dignity of himselfe the speaker neither the necessity of the doctrine nor the misery which befalleth to a man by not hearing but leauing al these arguments he reasoneth against vs euen from flesh and bloud and proueth euen by the member and instrument of the eare that men ought to be hearers of the worde Wee must not think our eares are giuen vs for worldly vses onely to harken after our profit to listen to him that can teach vs a Gospell of gold that can tickle our eares with musicke or our mindes with vnhonest Apoc. 2 3. mirth but God hath planted the eare for spiritual vses euen as Saint Iohn saith let him that hath an eare heare what the spirit saith mark well the words for that we should marke them he hath seauen times repeated them Let him that hath an eare heare not what the worlde saith nor what the flesh saith nor what the diuell saith but what the spirit saith that if both speak at once we should listen to the spirit turne the deafe side to the diuell and if the eare be the doore of the hart then fitly might Dauid say Lift vp Psal 24 7. your heads ye gates and be ye open you euerlasting doores and not euery guest but the king of glorie shall come in And what maruell is it if the eares were consecrated to holy vses since there is no part or member of the body or soul which god hath not ordained to some spirituall end Did god create the eie that it should only be a light to the bodie and in no sort giue light to the soul or did he not rather principally create it that it might tel the soule what beauty was in the visible cretures that the soule might thereby coniecture what glory is in the inuisible god Did god giue man a mouth onely to bargaine and buy withall or call for the necessities of this life or rather to singe of his testimonies and set foorth his praise O god my hart is prepared saith Dauid Psal 108. and so is my toung and then he presently inferreth vpon it I will sing and giue praise for what should he do with a tong that giueth not praise God hath giuen vs witte and braines but not onely for worldly vses and deuises not to inuent instruments of musick as Iuball did nor workes of brasse as Tubal-kain did nor vnderstandinge policies as Achitophel did but to study for heauenly wisedome Eccles 12. as Soloman did to meditate of Gods lawes as Dauid did God hath giuen vs harts and affections and yet not to loue the world but to set our affections wholy one him in a word there is no part or member in soule and body which ought not as a Nazarite to bee consecrate and vowed to the seruice of God Saloman iudged those dayes to be euill dayes wherein a man coulde not vse his members to remember the Creator wherein the kéepers should tremble the stronge men shoulde bow they that looke out at the windowes should waxe darke wherin the doores shoulde bee shut by the base sound of the grinding and the daughters of singing should be abased those hee iudged euill daies as if it were as good in a manner to haue noe handes as such trembling handes to haue no ioints as such féeble ioints to haue no eies as blind eies to be without an eare as to haue a deafe eare then by the contrary if these be euil dayes wherein a man cannot vse his members they must néedes be good wherein God hath giuen a frée vse of all So as it may séeme that God in ech part or member of a mans body did intende some speciall vse for his worship and seruice vnto which if the partes in youth were not imployed in the euil daies they would be fruitlesse and vnprofitable Will those eies which are wont to wander and gaze after euery vanity wil they in the euill dayes bee learned and taught to behold gods wil in his precious word and his great glory in all the creatures Will the toong which hath euer bin accustomed invred with all vices as lying standering scurrility and blasphemy wil it in the euel daies be taught to sound out the praise of god Will those eares which haue béene so accustomed with filthe and folly will they in the euil daies be taught to heare the word of God therfore while we haue eies let vs beholde and he that hath eares let him heare It is not only a bare gift of nature or worke of the womb that wee haue eies eares and tongues Act. 17 28 but it is euen the grace of God frō aboue for in him we liue we mooue and haue our being and god bestoweth not his graces for nothing I say there is no member of a mannes body but carrieth in it a print of Gods loue and testimony of his grace but aboue all the rest more specially are we beholding to him for our eies and eares for that by these twoe as by a channel the knowledge of God is conueied into our soules for by the eie we come to the naturall mans diuinity in suruaying the creatures because as Paul sayeth Rom. 1 20 the visible things of god that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the worlde if they were seene by the creation then our eie is our schoolemaister to bring vs to the knowledge of the Creator but that knowledge is vnperfect as the glimmering of a light but by our eare more specially and expressely we attaine to the knowledge of Gods reuealed will so that God neuer commeth so néere a mans soule as
when he entreth in by the doore of the eare therefore the eare is a most precious member if men knew how to vse it and better were it to loose a better member thē to want it if a man loose an eie an arme or a legge he iudgeth himselfe as a cripple vnworthy to liue amonge men and fit for no place but for a spittle and yet these are but maimes in the body but if God take away the vse of hearing it is a signe he is angry indeede and threatneth a famine to the soule for the soule feedeth at the eare as the body by the mouth therefore better loose all then loose it Our Sauiour Math. 5. 29 30. Christ said If thy right eie cause thee to offende plucke it out if thy right hande cause thee to offende cut it off but he neuer saide if thine eare offend thée stop it vp for there is a greater vse of it then of hands or eies for a man may want his handes and haue faithe or his eies and haue faith but hardlye can hee want his eares and haue faith for Faith commeth by hearing not by séeing or féeling but it entreth in at the eare and so sinketh downe to the hart therfore He that hath an eare let him heare what the spirit saith and consider that God gaue the eare that men should profit by hearing euen as he bestowed his tallentes that the factors should gaine and profit by them We are Gods factors and our members are his tallents the eie is a tallent the tongue is a tallent and the eare is a tallent for this benefitte a Christian hath that the righteous Mammon is portable thogh the vnrighteous be not for where as the men of the world haue no wealth but in their chestes and barnes the righteous carrie theirs about them in their soules and bodies for euerye member is a tallent which béeing faithfully and wisely imployed there is a treasure laide vp for the soule in heauen but béeing not imploied there is a day of reckoning when euery man accordinge to the tallent of grace bestowed on him shall be bound to yéelde an accompt of his stewardshipp euen of our eyes our toongs and eares wherof we make so slender a reckoning At that time it will finally availe vs to saie I emploied mine eares to earthly vses for then it wil be said to vs as to him that buried his tallent in the earth Go take him binde him hand and foote then shall those hands be chained with fetters which by example of their refused to glorifie god then shall those eyes be afrighted with horrible and gastly visions which in the creatures would neuer behould the glory of God then shall that toonge be tormemted with vnquenchable flames which neuer sought to set forth the praise of God and then shall those eares be filled with yelling with howling and gnashing of téeth which neuer regarded to heare the worde of God therefore whosoeuer he be to whom God hath giuen an eare let him heare But what is that which Christ sayth He that hath an eare to heare as if there were an eare which were not to heare we are to vnderstand it as a note of speciall difference for though we haue all eares yet all haue not eares to heare but as there is a kinde of idle or Idoll Pastors which haue mouthes and speake not so there is a kinde of idle hearers which haue eares and heare not which sit in their seates as images in the glasse windowes bending their knees lifting vp their hands and casting vp their eies yet after so many yeares and so many masses had neuer the honesty to giue one Amen only this difference there is that whereas the Saintes in the glasse windowes kéepe out the winde these fruitelesse hearers possesse the places wherein they do no good at all and let it not séeme strange that there should be eares which are not to heare for Paul sayeth of the Iewes that God had giuen them a spirit Rom. 11 2 of slumbring eies that they should not see and eares that they shoulde not heare because they had the instrument but wanted the right vse for onely those may be said to haue eares to heare which first by our selues are vowed and then after by the spirit of God are sanctified to that holy vse so that Christ speaketh especially of the children of the Church for they only haue sanctified and prepared eares This therfore beloued is that we desire to learne how to prepare and prouide our selues that we may bring eares to heare and heare with profitte least we departe from the Church as the fiue foolish Virgins from the gates of heauen as good not come as come for no good therefore the first thing I am to exhort you to is that we may come together for though priuate prayer be not vnprofitable and familiar exhortation want not his vse yet our méeting together hath a speciall blessing promised to it by him which said where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of Mat. 18 20 them and indéed our hearing presupposeth comming for we cannot heare together except we come together therefore Dauid set comming first and hearing after Psal 34 11 and said Come Children and harken and I will teach ye the feare of the Lord so say I to you first come and then hearken let it bee with you as with Dauid who reioyced when they said Come let vs goe into the house of the Lord because Psal 122 1 one day in Gods courtes is better then a thousand else where and who had not rather be a doore-kéeper in the house of god then to dwel in the tabernacle of wickednesse Consider what spirite was in Dauid when he saide that the Sparrow and Swallow were blest because they might lodge their yong so néere the alter as if a poore bird were to be enuied for hir nest or rather to teach men that they ought to prease as hard to touch but the walles of the temple as she that desired to touch but the hem of Christs garment and that if any on should saie Come let vs go into the house of the Lord men ought to be as the curtens of the Tabecnacle whereof but one being drawen all the rest did followe after the Centurion boasted that he had such seruants as if he Mat. 8 9 said to one come he comes and yet he called them for his owne priuate profit but God a greater maister then the centurion saith come yea and calleth vs for our profit and yet we come not nay euery creeping worme will put vs to shame and condemne vs for God spake Ps 105 34 but the worde and the Grash-hoppers came yea and Catterpillers innumerable but God hath spoken to vs many words and yet our number God knoweth is numerable enough there is a kind of Catterpiller that commeth to the Church a sacrilegious vermin deuouring holy
a work of the mind and not of the outward eare a dilligent obseruing in the mind of that which is said therefore the Gramarians do fitly signifie attention vnder the word Animaduertere vt animum aduerteremus non aurem that wee shoulde not onely turne our ears but set our mind to it but that can a beast neuer do because he hath no mind and he that bringeth his eares to Church and leaueth his mind at home he commeth like a beast Our attention haue fiue great enemies The enemies of attention the first is a straying thought when all the powers of our soule should wait vpon the voice of the preacher then are our minds in our coffers or in our pastures or where they should not be wherefore pray for a steddy and stayed harte The second is a wandring eie gazing after euery picture vpon euery mote or flie and rolling vp and down in euery corner for as Soloman saith the eies of a foole are in Pro. 17 24 Eccl. 2 14. euery corner But a wise mans eies are in his head The thirde is a néedelesse shifting and stirring of the bodie a fumbling with handes a shuffling with the féete a risinge and remouinge from place when there is noe cause to prouoke vs and let it not séeme strange that these small trifles shoulde hinder our attention for euen the little birds of the aire did picke vppe the séede of the word least it shoulde take roote and goe down to the hart The fourth is an vnreverent talking and vnciuill laughing in the Churche as if the Temple of God were a place of mart or exchange where euery man might single out his companion and fréely discourse de omni eÌ„te non ente of euery matter occasion offred ministred these are they that make the temple of God a den of theeues The fift is a seruice seÌ„celes sléeping for some ther be who are no sooner in their seats but their harts are a sleepe as if they came to see visions looketh with Iacob to sée the Angels going vp wheÌ„ as they might as wel see Eutichus fallinge downe Therefore quicken your sences rouze vp your dulnes and remember him which said to his disciples Could yea not watch with mee Mat. 26 40 one houre To these fiue ye may adde if ye plese a sixt which of al the rest is most scandolous and offensiue and that is a shamful departing out of the church and violent breaking from the congregation wherin a man doeth as it were openly protest that he is exceeding weary hath but too much for his moÌ„ey so that Ioseph was neuer more willing to depart out of prison then he out of the Church nor Simeon better coÌ„tent to die when he said Lord now lettest thou thy seruant departe in peace But such men can hardly depart in peace for seldom it is when they leaue not behinde them both the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding After attention is required remembrance to lay it vpp in the store-house of our memory for what auaileth it to be attentiue for the time and so soon as we be gone to forget all to suffer the birdes to pick vp the séede which Christ had sowen before Saint Iames compareth such a manne to one beholdinge his face in a glasse who goeth his waye and forgetteth imediately what manner of man he was and fitlie are such eares resembled to a sieue which while ye dip it in the Iam. 1 23 24. water receiueth it in at a thousaÌ„d holes but take it vp and the water runneth out faster then euer it came in so is it with forgetfull hearers they marke attentiuely conceiue presently and â—or a time are touched inwardly but the next toy driueth all out againe but Blessed are Luk. 11 28 they that heare the worde of God and keepe it it should séeme that Peter carried such a sieue in his head else how could the diuell sifte him as wheat for noe soner had Christ forewarned him that he would forsweare him but the dieull sifted the worde out of his eares and he forgat it and so not remembring the wordes was the cause of Peters apostasie for so soone as he remembered the wordes the texte saith he went out and wept bitterly therfore let vs not onely heare but remember too for that spirit which saith O my people Psal 78 1 Prou. 3 1 heare my law saith likewise my Sonne forget not my law Therefore God prescribed helps of memorie to the Isralites commanding them to binde his wordes vppon their handes for a signe that they should be as frontlets between their eies that they shoulde write them vppon the posts of their houses and on their gates and in a worde that they shoulde vse all helps against forgetfulnes for that was Gods meaning and no more and if we seeke for a helpe indeede then conference is the helpe when a man is delighted to talk of that at home which hath béen spoken at the Church for it may be that wil pearce into the head at a second repeting which at the first report would not euen as a naile may be driuen in at a second or third stroke which could not at the first and indéede it is Gods commanndement to the Isralites that they should talke of his law among their children when they were in their houses when they taulked or else walked by the waye as also at their vprising and downe laying therefore let vs thinke that this charg concerneth vs likewise and saye with Dauid Our tongue shall talke of thy righteousnes Psa 72 24 all the day long that at what time soeuer Christ shal come he may finde vs talking of his testimonies as when he ouertooke his desciples walking to Emaus he found them communing of his death and passion After attention and memory the last and chiefe point is to lay it to the harte for God especially respecteth the hart and if that bee wanting hee misseth it at the Esa 29 13 first and saith This people honoureth me with their lips or with their eares but their hart is far from me It is a smal thing to remember onely what was saide it is but a signe of a good memory at the best and if that be sufficient then let the diuel come into the temple too for he hath memorye more then inough to quote any Scripture against Christ or whosoeuer shall encounter him and many hipocrits which hang vpon the Church haue a certaine swimming in their braine a speculatiue diuinity by which they can holde talke at a table to discourse of any pointe Mat. 4. in Religion or course out a controuersie to the proofe but God is not serued with wit and memory therefore he saith further Thou shalt lay vp these words in thy hart and in thy soule To lay Gods word to the hart is to take hold of it by the hart