Titus 2.7 8. And the like in his Epistle to Timothy Be thou saith he an example to them in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity 1 Tim. 4.12 his very conversation must preach If thou wilt turn unto me thou shalt convert saith God to Jeremy Jer. 15.19 implying that if he did not the one he should not the other or if he did some as it is possible a wicked Minister may yet nothing so many And this is given as a reason of John the Baptists so great success in converting of souls Luke 1.16 He shall convert many of the children of Israel to their Lord God saith the Angel why so for he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias ver 17. who was a zealous and holy man I deny not but a lewd and wicked Minister may be a good Preacher as no doubt but Judas was and so prove the means of saving others and bringing them to Heaven while in the mean time himself goes the other way Our Saviour tells us Matth. 7.22 that many Reprobates will say unto him at the Resurrection Lord Lord have we not by thy name prophecyed and by thy name cast out deviis c whose answer shall be I never knew you depart from me c. We see in nature that a deformed man may beget a comely childe a fool a wise man an iron stamp may coin gold the whetstone is blunt yet it sharpens other things the wind is cold yet it makes the fire burn the skilful Rider will reap some service of a resty and wind-broken Jade and shall not God serve himself by the worst of men when he pleaseth But ordinarily for we speak not of what God can do where the Spirit speaks twice by illumination and sanctification he is more heard then where he speaketh but once And that this is so appears most plainly by the palpable difference that is between those Parishes which God hath blest with a zealous holy and conscientious Ministery and those other places that have had good-fellow-Pastors or Corinthian-reachers for even in this very case the wholesomenesse of the place is best known by the complexion of the inhabitants And we know what the holy Ghost tell us Hosea 4.9 and Isa 24.2 Like Priest like People It is both an happy and pleasing harmony when saying and doing goe both together and he perswades to virtue most who liveth best For a Christian conversation is of the Scriptures the best truest and plainest Comment or Exposition Good works are unanswerable Syllogisms invincible demonstrations and it is natural for men to follow the law of fact before the law of faith a visible pattern rather then a meer audible doctrine Religion hath a truth and a power in it people will never beleeve the truth of a doctrine in our mouths where they see not the power thereof in our lives Pastors are the glasse the school the book Where peoples eyes do learn do read do look The learned Pastours words though plain To plain men truth may preach But Pastours pious practice doth A holy life them teach That doctrine is divine indeed That by good works proves words More harm do ill examples breed Than good words good affords Briefly we read that more Insidels were won to the Christian faith by the virtuous and holy lives of the Primitive Preachers then by the doctrine which they taught They made the world to read in their lives that they did beleeve in their hearts and caused the Heathen to say This is a good God! whose servants are so good Nor is this all for with what zeal or devotion can an unhallowed and unsanctified Minister press his people to holiness exhort them to repent and beleeve or with what affections can he pray for and before them As for instance he whose hunger hath tempted him to steal a Lamb says but a cold grace to his supper As for oppressors and defrauders how they give thanks to God for their wealth I refer to your thoughts and their own consciences For sin is worse than a theef in the candle or an obstruction in the liver Two or three reigning sins clapt on the heels of a present devotion is like a sudden cold after a violent heat So with what affection can a laud Minister exhort his people to holiness when his life yea God and his conscience are continually casting his doctrine in the teeth with that reproach Rom. 2.21 Besides as by shining here in their life and doctrine they turn many to righteousnesse so hereafter they shall shine as stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 Again happy are the people that have such a Minister whose words answer his thoughts and his actions his words who are Augustines in their studies Chrysostomes in their Pulpits and Timothies in their houses that adorn the soundness of Learning with holiness of life Sect. 5. But to proceed for this I salute only by the way To go about to comfort an afflicted soul by a flourishing style is as much as to present a nose-gay of Violets to one that is starving for want of meat When the thirsty traveller after much labour and grief spies a fountain he rejoyceth but coming to it and finding it dry his joy is turned into sorrow and he is ready to curse it for such a mockery as our Saviour did the fruitlesse Fig-tree when he was hungry Suppose we are thirsty and would drink foul and would wash hot and would be cooled our houses are on fire and we would have them quenched if we come to the well with our buckets and finde it empty we know not whether our grief or indignation be greater To conclude an holy soul will never frequent the Church that hath such a Preacher but if he light upon such a Preacher in the Church that he frequents he appears to him like an importunate Fidler that without invitation impudently thrusts himself into his chamber draws and playes and will not be denyed he may give it the hearing and that 's an high favour but he dares neither reward nor commend it I know there is nothing more pleasing to the carnal ear then variety be it but hogs-flesh a little varied with sawce as Flaminius was served by his Host. And that stomachs which within one moneth are weary of Manna set more by sallets and sawces and Kick-shaws sloshes of wit then substantial food the Word of God And let such a Corinthian Preacher speak the abortive figments of his own brain yet their superstitious applause shall be vox Dei the voice of God and not of man Acts 12.22 Yea it is strange to see how such an Orpheus by his melodious harping will draw these stones birds and beasts after him and what applause he shall have it being their manner to arrogate to the instrument and derogate from the agent Yea admit they understand not the Minister as many of them preach for few because few understand them as Jerome speaks
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.
Among the Jews Baal had four hundred and fifty false prophets maintained sumptuously God but one true Prophet and he was forced to hide his head 1 Kings 18.22 Our Saviour was entertained by some few but his opposers the Priests and Pharisees were adored of all Matth. 27.22 though indeed their refusal of him more strongly approved him neigold of Cornucopia that it hath all things necessary for food in it of 〈…〉 ther could he be proved the Messias if they had not rejected him Paul at Ephesus could have no audience the truth must not be heard but all of all sorts cry out for Diana Acts. 19.34 Yea aul complains that all they which were in Asia turned from him 2 Tim. 1.15 and the chief Jews at Rome tell him that his Sest is every where spoken against Acts 28.22 Yea Simon Magus had so bewitched the people that they all took him for the great power of God even a Sorcerer shall have more disciples and applauders than an Apostle Acts 8.10 How then should not these silver-tongued Preachers that only study to please the ear and speak well not be more applauded than those that deliver the plain truth which makes men become their enemies Gal. 4.16 Especially when their hearers rellish no Preaching except it be full fraught with secular learning and flashes of wit For such as the pastor is such are the people Like Shepherd like sheep as the Prophet speaks Hosea 4.9 Neither go they to Church to any other end but as some Heirs goe to the Universities and Innes of Court not to get learning law or money but to learn fashion and complement being like Saint Austin before his conversion who took great delight in hearing Saint Ambrose but it was more for the eloquence of the words than for the substance of the matter Yea as himself confess'd after repentance being a young man he so affected eloquence that in vain things he heard Jupiter thundering and therewithal committed adultery Confession 2. As ignorant Lapidaries chuse stones that delight the eye and measure the value not by the hidden virtue of them but by the outward glistering so these prefer such Sermons as please the sense before others which work upon the affections and change the heart they are like little children who if they see a Corn-field over-grown with poppies a fit resemblance of such a Sermon think it very glorious and prefer it exceedingly before other Corn that is cleer from weeds Sect. 9. But to let pass the invalidity of their judgements I would fain know what they are the better for these rare Rhetorical Sermons Doth it not fare with them as it did with Ezekiels Auditors who took such delight in his Preaching that he was unto them as the pleasant voice of a Musitian and they commended him highly but yet their hearts ran after their covetousness as did Herods after his incest for all he delighted so much in Johns Preaching Ezek. 33.31 32. You shall hear them highly commend these Sermons Oh it was a rare Sermon He is an excellent man It was the best Sermon that ever I heard He is an admirable Preacher c. But ask them what they remember of such a Sermon and you shall finde admit the Sermon be Indifferently mix'd with pleasant and profitable things that such an one like a crack'd vessel poureth out of his thoughts all the good liquor and keepeth only the dregs His memory is not like the Sieve or Cullender which casteth out the chaff and water retaining the good corn and herbs but like a Searce of Lawn which keeps in the grosse things and lets the purer passe Or Secondly ask them what rare effects did it work within What wonders wrought it in thee What excellency or what goodness hast thou received or gained by it For that is to be accounted an excellent a rare a good Sermon which produceth rare effects in thee makes thee better than thou wast before and then maist thou wonder when the Preacher worketh wonders in thy soul A faithful Preacher cares not so much for thy verbal commendations as thy real Thy good conversation is his best commendation his commending stands in thine amending and thy godly practice is his best praise The sheep that saith nothing commends her Shepherd when her skin is whole her fleece fair and her self in well-liking Likewise he hears well that doth well he learns well that lives well and he only doth prove himself a good hearer which hears the truth in humility beleeves it in simplicity and obeys it with alacrity A good institution changeth both judgement and manners as it fared with Polemon a dissolute young Grecian who going one day to hear a Lecture of Xenocrates not only marked the eloquence and sufficiency of the Reader but brought home so apparent and solid fruit thereof that it caused a sudden change and amendment of his former life Whereas these hearers mark what I say and see whether I am mistaken like Pharaohs lean kine feed much but are never the fatter Perhaps they have somewhat enriched their tongues but their lives are not a whit changed For what is their religion to say the Creed is all their saith to pay what they needs must all their equity to give fair words all their bounty to take their own all their mercy to carry a formal profession all their piety to cry God mercy all their penitence and to come to Church all their conscience Yea hear they never so many of these Sermons they can go as merrily away with all kinde of prophaneness at their heels as horses with an empty Coach And when the truth of obedience and power of godliness is wanting I pray tell me what difference between an Israelite and an Ishmaelite a circumcised Hebrew and an uncircumcised Philistine a baptized English man and an unwashen Turk Yea they are so far from being Christians that they have not made one step towards Christianity The first step to Religion is to love Religion in another whereas these men generally hate scoff at and persecute the power of Religion whereever they perceive it Yea they hate that Preaching whereby alone men become Christians For let them hear a Minister that preaches profitably if they can find no fault with his Sermon at least their verdit shall be Oh he is no Scholar whereas if their opinion be askt touching any other suppose him a dumb dog that perhaps hath been tongue-tyed from his birth like Crasus his son they will tell you he is a great scholar a man of deep learning and great knowledge though he want utterance and cannot express himself nor vent his knowledge when the plain truth is he hath no knowledge to vent only these men love to justifie what God in his Word condemns and to condemn what he justifies Luc. 16.15 for if men Preach fruitlesly they are great scholars though they shew it not or if they do though these understand it not as one spake of Quintilians
Oratour a learned man I warrant him for I understood him never a word Whereas let men Preach faithfully and powerfully though they shew never so much learning they are no Scholars I wish men would observe this deepness of Satan to hinder the means of conversion and not be led like sots to hear all godly Preachers with prejudice for you shall never hear them commend a wholesome and profitable Sermon Yea these Athenians regarding delight not profit will scarce have their ears open for any thing but novelties but will go neer to quarrel with the Preacher if he tells them any thing they have heard before and censure him for a dunce of no reading an empty Divine without scholarship adding thereto that his speech was rude his voice low his words stuck like burrs in his throat he railed upon the Parish speaks daggers and aimed at some body Yea if you will beleeve them as they beleeve their Prophets such Sermons are not to be heard for they drive men to despair It is one of the many false doctrines they teach resembling herein the Papists who magnifie their own and vilifie the writings of God saying those will make men good Catholicks these will make them Hereticks And no marvel that rational men should beleeve such horrible untruths since the wisdome of the flesh is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 8. that is more than barely an enemy Again they will not receive the truth in love therefore are given up to beleeve lies 2 Thes 2.11 Sect. 10. Objection You have shewn how these Preachers are not more praysed by some than they are condemned by others but how shall the stander by viz. the indifferent Reader judge whether of them is in the right Ans By their Description of vices and graces Resolving cases of conscience Visiting of the sick First they make a description of our graces and infirmities even as a Town-cryer of things that are lost who makes inquiry after an horse a dog or the like describing his hair his stature his ears with other marks and tokens but bring either unto him he knows them not For like as one that sits in his chair can paint Seas Rocks Shelves and Havens upon a board and make the model of a tall Ship to sail in all safety but put him to it in earnest he knows not what to do nor where to begin So fares it with these Divines they can speak of every thing by roat know nothing cordially and in experience Secondly in resolving cases of conscience let a poor distressed soul come unto these Verbalists to be resolved of his doubts they are as fit to resolve them as the Sooth-sayers were to interpret Nebuchadnezza s dream which himself could not so much as remember and as able to give advice as the wise men of Egypt were to instruct Pharaoh touching the famine to come who could say just nothing Gen. 41.8 or if they do it is nothing but conceit and melancholy you must be chearful avoid solitariness drink a cup of wine and the like They can help to overthrow and cast us down but what help is there in them to raise us up there they leave us in a forlorn condition as the Priests left Judas after his treason or as the old Prophet of Bethel left the Prophet of Judah 1 Kings 13.22 wherein the case of their stock is much more miserable than was that of the Philistines when they were in a quandary about keeping the Ark for they asking counsel of their idolatrous Priests and Divines were so far forth and so well instructed that thereby they were freed from a temporal judgement 1 Sam. 6. but these as S. Peter speaks are wels without water 2 Pet. 2. they can afford no spiritual refreshment to the thirsty soul Thirdly let one of these witty Preachers be sent for to visit a carnal man upon his death-bed and to fit him for his departure as some being sick dare adventure to take Physick of an Horse-leech either he hath nothing to say or nothing to the purpose for as it is impossible to order the body aright either in sickness or in health without the certain knowledge of our complexion age and strength and unless we mark in what parts it is most weak or strong that accordingly choice may be made both of meats in health and of remedies in sickness So concerning the soul whereas he can neither judge of a mans spiritual estate nor apply a fit remedy but like a silly Emperick administers one and the same potion to a burning Fever and the cold Palsie one plaister to an old issue and a green wound for you shall hear him tumble out the sweet Promises of the Gospel without annexing the condition of Faith and Repentance or if he name the condition it shall be without examining the parties estate or declaring what Repentance or Faith means Though indeed if he should do all this I would fain know what comfort a distressed conscience can receive from one that although he talk of God Heaven and Hell yet he seems to beleeve neither as appears by his viciousness or lukewarmness Now are not these simple Divines who think themselves rare Preachers because they are good Oratours when the conversion of a soul is no other than a new Creation who think with earthly balms to cure the stroaks of Heaven by the strength of their own plots to bind the hands of Omnipotency and by the fineness of their little wits to supplant the counsels of an infinite wisdome Well may they like the Popingay that braved it in her borrowed feathers like the Asse that jetted it in her Lions Skin or like the Ape that skipt up and down in her Masters Jacket be lifted up in their minds and swoln with vast thoughts of themselves for it is only an over-flowing conceit of their own abilities which makes them to love whatsoever is theirs But others know them unworthy to speak out of a Pulpet for notwithstanding their great flourish yet their people perish for want of knowledge as if darkness be on the hill what light is in the valley Yea they abound in swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery because there is no knowledge of God in them Hos 4.1 2. Well may they be great Scholars in humane learning as oftentimes the most effectuall means are applyed to the ends least to be desired which is a misery but they are dunces in divinity at least their understanding in experimental Divinity is as little as their presumption is great Deprive them of secular learning in a Sermon or argument and they are as weak as a Bull-rush Yea you put them to a non-plus as Muncastor a famous Schoolmaster did a Scholar of his at Greenwich where he and divers of the Queens Chaplains were at break-fast who being bid to crave a blessing upon the creatures answered after much pressing that indeed he had a grace for dinner and another for supper but he had none
the Word very orderly and delight in it For none so bad but he loves the light as it shines but as it discovers and directs they hate it Whiles we search no farther than their dead flesh they can be quiet but if we once touch them to the quick we shall quickly hear of it Sect. 12. And the reasons of their so doing among many others are these three First these Serpents will hiss if we trouble their nests never so little because they know themselves guilty It is a sure sign the horse is galled that stirs too much when he is touched Num. 5.27 In the Law of Jelousies if the suspected wife were guilty that drank of the bitter waters of trial she would presently swell if otherwise she was well enough Unsound flesh loves to be stroaked the least roughness puts them into a rage Sore eyes cannot abide the light of the Sun The naked truth makes so little for and so much against resolute sinners that they will carp and storm and fret and chafe and fume and swell and rage and be ready to burst again when they hear it Instead of penitence they break out into choler fury sparkles in those eyes which should gush out with water Like Gain Ahab and Herod they are never troubled for their sins only they are vexed to hear of them They are like the mad man that wounded his Physitian even while he was administring Physick to him for his recovery Secondly the Word of God is like some fructifying dew or rain which falls not upon any ground in vain but will either produce the herbs of good works or the weeds of impiety Every line of Gods Word addes sinew to the virtuous mind and withal heals that vice which would be springing in it But as all bodies are not equally apt to be wrought upon by the same medicine so are not all souls by the same means of grace The same report wherewith the spirit of Rahab melts hardens the King of Jericho Joshua 2. Sergius Paulus was converted Elymas obdurated by the same Sermon Acts 12. Therefore no wonder if these spiders those bees the wicked and the godly suck the one honey the other poison from the self-same flower of holy Writ Thirdly the Word of God is the rule of justice which shews the crookedness of their ways It is the Law by which they shall be condemned therefore they cannot endure it They love not to have their consciences awakened but would sleep quietly in their sins and he that desires to sleep will have the curtains drawn the light shut out and no noise made Besides they cannot hear the down-right truth but they must also hear the sentence of their own condemnation It is the very word by which they are judged and condemned therefore they loath asmuch to hear it as a prisoner does abhor to hear his sentence from the just Judge And indeed if many love not to hear the worst of their temporal causes and cases nor yet of their bodily distempers with which their lives or estates be indangered how much more will wicked men decline from seeing their hainous abominations and themselves guilty of bell and eternal damnation Though thereof there be an absolute necessity if ever they be saved This is their main cause or quarrel against a zealous and powerful Preacher this above all makes them fret and storm But let envy sweat swell and burst truth must be spoken And indeed why should not Gods servants take as free liberty in reproving as the Devils servants take liberty in offending Shall not the one be as bold for God as the others are for Baal and Beelzebub These are the reasons why they threat when they should and others do tremble and jeer when they should fear and mock when they should mourn like those shameless and graceless Israelites 2 Chron. 30.10 Sect. 13. Nor can the cause of wicked mens raging bee imputed to any miscarriage in the messenger for he may vindicate himself as Paul did 2. Cor. 7. ver 10. I have not spoken but the Lord and therefore as the Lord said unto Saul Act 9.4 that hee persecuted him so they which resist any truth delivered out of the Word do resist God himself and not his messenger And this for certain if Christ himself were their Minister and should reprove them for their sins and denounce the judgments of God against them for the same as when he was upon the earth not only the wit-founder'd drunkard and prophane beast but even civil honest men and formal Christians would persecute him to the death as the Jews formerly did Which is some comfort to a consciencious Minister Nor is it their shame to suffer what Christ suffered nor the others honour to do as Judas and the rest did as Cyprian speaks Neither can there bee a greater honour done to a poor Minister than this for as one of the Fathers hath it it may well bee doubted Ministers open not the Word aright when wicked men kick not against it Yea says Luther to preach the Gospell as wee ought is to stir up all the furies of Hell against us and our Saviour's Words Joh. 7.7 import no less Matth. 10.16 Now if this bee the case no wonder they should be for that preaching which brings none of all this vexation yea they may hear one of their witty Rhetoricall preachers till dooms-day and never bee disturbed in their sins or disquieted or molested in their consciences for it is not to her they speak Yea such preaching is rather an Antidote against what the Legall preachers have averred and does again cheer up their spirits against all qualms of conscience As Davids harp cheered up Saul when vexations and melancholly fits came upon him Yea the preaching of these brave Orators and quaint wits is to them as sweet and melodious as musick for which see Ezek. 33.32 Micha 2.11 And this is the reason why most men walk in the broad way and yet every man thinks to enter the straight gate The Devils Chaplains are chiefly heard Christs Messengers are mostly neglected A good and faithfull Minister who is of Gods sending and studies more to profit then to please his people that hee may the better undeceive the deceived and with blessing from above pluck sinners out of Satan's snares hee deals with his hearers as the Prophet did by Hazaell when hee plainly told him the abominable wickedness of his heart even beyond belief Or as Nathan did by David when he so cunningly made him to pronounce sentence against himself Or as Jonah did by the Ninevites when with his short thundering sermon hee converted that great City Or as Peter with his converts when he told them they were the men that had crucified the Son of God the Lord of glory Or as John Baptist did by Herod and all that came unto him Or as our Saviour by the woman of Samaria when hee so represented the very thoughts of her heart to her conscience
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
which cleavs to your very best actions for sins of omission c. No you may bee good morall honest hypocrites but none of these graces grow in the gardens of your hearts you have a form of godliness but you deny the power of it and are reprobate to every good work 2 Tim. 3.5 Titus 1.16 Yea have you not strange conceits and base thoughts of the best men do you not deeply censure and condemn the generation of the just and think the worse of a man for having a tender conscience do you not envy hate scoffe at nick-name rail on and slander the people of God and misconstrue their actions and intentions watch for their haulting c. Do you not with Festus account zeal madness and religion foolishness with Micholl Yea you hate zeal and devotion so invetterately that you can in no wise bear with it in others And does not all this prove thee wicked though righteous enough in thine own eyes But Section 20. Thirdly and lastly there needs no more to prove them ignorant then their rejecting to hear the Word plainly preached chusing rather to hear a lecture of Philosophie read As it 's strange to consider how grosly men err in judging of things that take not the Word for their rule whereof some instances Such shall think they do God service in murthering his Children and Prophets John 16.2 And so did the Powder Traitors intending to blow up the whole State They think to bee saved by Christ though they do nothing but blaspheme him and take up arms against him They will say they love God and Christ and yet hate all that any way resemble him They will boast of a strong faith and yet fall short of the devills in beleeving Jam. 2.19 The Jews accused Christ for keeping company with sinners when they should have blamed themselvs for not keeping company with Christ. God hath given mee my reward says Leah because I gave my maid unto my husband shee rejoiced when shee should have repented Gen. 30.18 And the like of Saul Blessed are yee of the Lord says hee when the Ziphims told him where David had hid himself his intent being to murther him 1 Sam. 23.21 And like to this is that of Micha who thought the Lord could not choose but bee good unto him seeing hee had got a Levite into his house Judg. 17.13 In like manner what is the cause of these mens preferring these preachers but their ignorance of Gods Word they do not in the least perceive the things of the Spirit they are spiritually blind and so not able to judge of preaching or Preachers Being like shell-fish that cannot smell or the Camelion which hath no tast and withall so improvident touching their souls that they will rather take dross for gold then try it in the furnace whence it is they resemble Alchidas who was enamored on the Picture of Cupid or Zerxes who fell so far in love with a Plane-tree which happened in his way that hee tarried by it a whole day causing the boughs to bee adorned with chains of gold bracelets and spangles yielding thereto great reverence But did they tread in the steps of all wise and good Christians who have the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 or acquainted with Gods Word and judg of things and persons as they are and not as they seem whose testimony onely is of credit they would bee so far from applauding the men that they would not vouchsafe to hear their sermons Now if any shall yet make question of their ignorance do but ask them a reason of the hope that is in them as every one that professeth himself a Christian should be able and ready to yeeld 1 Pet. 3.15 they can no more tell you then the wind can tell which last blew off my hat All experimentall divinity is greek to them bee they never so great lovers of wit Indeed to speak against the truth their tongues will run like the wheels of a clock when the spring is broken but they are neither able nor willing to speak a word for it Now if these things be so then they whom they hear and honor have small cause to rejoice therein Nor have the other whom they shun and hate any cause to be discouraged thereby because to carnal and fleshly men that preaching which saves souls is foolishness devotion idleness the Prophets mad-men Paul a babbler And untill they be cured of their prejudice which God onely by his prerogative can do nothing that can be said will serve Wisdom saith our Saviour is justified of her children that is the faithful Mat. 11.19 intimating that such wisdom as is justified by wicked men is not wisdom indeed Take we then our Saviours counsel and seek to justifie our judgments to the children of wisdom of whom wisdom is justified and not to fools by whom she is daily crucified And tread in his steps who rejected the commendations and approbation of such Luk. 4.35 41. and Saint Paul Act. 16.17 18. True as the Church of Laodicea could flatter her self with an opinion that she was rich and had need of nothing when yet she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Rev. 3.17 Or as the young man in the Gospel could brag that he had kept all the commandements from his youth Mat. 19.20 And that cackling Pharisee Luk. 18.11 12. could tell Christ that hee was not like other men so there is no perswading these men but they are wise and good enough and no wonder for they slumber and suppose themselvs good Christians their faith is but a dream their hope but a dream their charity but a dream their obedience but a dream their whole religion but a dream and so their assurance of salvation is but a dream They have Regeneration in conceit repentance and righteousness in conceit they serve God well in conceit do the works of piety and charity in cenceit and they shall go to heaven onely in conceit or in a dream and never awake until they feel themselvs really in the burning lake And indeed do but take away from mens minds vain opinions flattering hopes false valuations imaginations and the like you will leave the mindes of most men and women but poor shrunken things full of melancholy indisposition and unpleasing to themselvs Which could never be if Satan the Prince of darknesse and of this world did not so blind their minds that the light of the glorious Gospel shines not unto them as it is 2 Cor. 4.4 And would they but lend the Gospel an ear where it is powerfully preached they would at least be so wise as to get better assurance then onely to think themselvs good enough since pure and naked supposals never brought any one to eternal life Neither is there any other means to be used whereby it is to be had Onely the skill is to perswade the simple as to be wise and solid is the portion but of a few to beware of hearing
these fruitlesse Preachers or indeed any others that preach not point-blank against sin and ignorance that discover not Satans wiles and the hearts deceitfulness that preach not faith and free grace that presse not to Repentance Regeneration and the like that make not the glory of God and the good of souls the main end of their preaching As why do or why should men go to hear if not for profit and comfort to their souls Good stomachs make better account of wholsome fare then of dainty cates Why but to hear the good Word of GOD that they may grow thereby and to be nourished Now nourishment is the making of food received like to the bodie nourished Therefore a wise Christian affects to hear powerful preaching searching Sermons rather then run after Rhetoricians because the rarities of humane eloquence works no such effect nor tends to any such end For Philosophie and such like may civilize but not sanctifie hide some sins but not heal them cover not cure them harb and curb them not abate and abolish them Yea we may say of their problemes as the Philosopher did of the Athenian-shops How many things are here that we have no need of Wherefore I shall conclude with an Exhortation or Advertisement to these men to use this means and to affect that food which is wholsom and would nourish O! that I might prevail with them to hear either Scripture or reason though my betters cannot for then would they finde it the happiest counsel that ever they met with Nor am I altogether out of hope for though all the water in the sea will not wash a Blackmore white yet others with Naaman may wash and be clean Nor can it be denied but an Emperick now and then hath had the hap to cure a patient which a learned Artist could not do Section 21. An Advertisement to all uncircumcised hearts and ears exhorting them to hear the Word of GOD purely and powerfully preached and not to listen after such as seek onely to please the ear with rarities of humane eloquence and the inticing words of man's wisdom IF there be any if but one even thy self that shall by what I have said be induced to judg of things according to clear truth not blinded opinion and be willing to depart from this discourse better then they came to it let him in the first place know that the onely ordinary means of grace and conversion is by hearing the word of God impartially and powerfully preached and by entertaining it with a good and honest heart for this Word and this onely is able to make a man wise to salvation As thus we may argue Without knowledge the heart cannot be good Prov. 19.2 A man may know the will of God and yet not do it but he can never do it except first he know it Whence as in the Creation of the World the first thing that God made was light Gen. 1.3 So when he makes us new creatures he first creates light in the understanding whereby the poor soul may see his spiritual misery and wretchednesse which before by reason of that vail or curtain which is drawn over every natural mans heart 2 Cor. 3.14 15 16. he is so far from discerning that with Laodicea he thinks himself rich and to want nothing when yet he is wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked of all spiritual indowments Revel 3.17 1 Tim. 6. ver 4. Therefore let your principall care and ambition bee to know those things the knowledge whereof is eternall life John 17.3 And the neglect whereof is of all most the damnable John 3.19 Therefore it is said of Christ whose first coming was to save the world that hee will come the second time in flaming fire to render vengeance unto all those that know not God 2 Thes 1.6 7 8 9. A terrible text to all that are ignorant in the midst of so much means as wee injoy Which being so bee diligent above all to hear Christs faithfull messengers And not these who if they preach not wickedly in flattering or furthering of sin yet they preach unprofitably as if they were resolved to connive at sin as feeding their flocks rather with words then matter as caring onely to please not to inform forming their voice to the liking of their hearers not their hearers judgment to the voice of Christ in the Gospell and striving more to make them in love with the teacher then with the lesson Because they stand more upon their own credit then their peoples benefit 3. Or if they labour to fill the head with knowledge they leave the heart empty of grace spending their time either in curious Questions and vain speculations which kinde of preaching tends rather to mirth then godly edification as it is observable that that age of the Church which was most fertile in Nice Questions was most barren in Religion The reason is it makes people think Religion to bee onely a matter of wit as tying of knots and untying them Wherein the brains of men given this way are usually hotter then their hearts 4. Or if their preaching be more solid they rove altogether in generalities which are no more aiding to practise then an Ortelius Universall Map is to direct the way between London and York 5. Or if they descend to particulars they pass over the grounds of Religion the most usefull part of all Divinity For this laies the Foundation the other raiseth the Walls and Roof This informes the Judgment that stirs up the Affections And what good use is there of those Affections which run before the Judgment 6. Or lastly If they give you the grounds of Religion and preach wholesome truths yet they bring forth their Doctrines as some women do their children still-born for want of application without which the former seems to be no better then a fair Image or Statue which is beautifull to Contemplate but is without life and motion It being the soul of preaching when the Word is brought home to mens consciences and applied close For whereas those other Divine discourses inrich the brain and tongue This settles the heart changes the will and works upon the affections The onely way to become such indeed as men dream themselvs to bee is to trust Satan and their deceitfull hearts less and Gods Word and Mininisters more This is to become fools that they may bee wise as the Apostle adviseth 1 Cor. 3.18 Wherefore receive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your soul as Saint James adviseth James 1. verse 21. And that you may not want incouragement mind but what our Saviour Christ says Joh. 13. Verily verily hee confirms it with a double asseveration I say unto you If I send any hee that receiveth him receiveth mee and hee that receiveth mee receiveth him that sent mee ver 20. Loe in entertaining the Word with an honest and good heart wee entertain both God and Christ with it Another famous