mouth for they were Messengers of the Lord of Hosts as well as the Prophets Mal. 2. 7. to deliver what they received from God in the word written by the Prophets as were the Prophets who received what they wrote by immediate revelation from God And ordinary Ministers of the Gospel are in the Scripture said to speak to men by 1 Thess 4. 15. Heb 13. 7. the word of the Lord and to speak the word of the Lord as well as the Prophets who were immediately inspired of God The people then had a Test a Rule to try whether that which the Messengers of God spake were his Message or no To the Law and to the Testimony saith God if they speak not according to this Isa 8. 20. word it is because there is no light in them But if they spake according to that word it was to be received as the very word of God God hath left as sure a means nay in respect of us a more certain way of knowing the will of God namely the Scripture of 2 Pet. 1. 19. the Prophets and Apostles whereby Ministers may know what God would have spoken in his Name and people may know whether God speak by them or no. Therefore all men are bid to trie the spirits the Doctrines whether they be of God or no as the Bereans 1 Joh. 4. 1. Acts 17. 11. did searching the Scripture daily whether the word spoken by Paul were so and finding it to be so they received it as the very word of God and believed Wherefore though it be true that it is possible that Ministers may sometimes erre both in their Doctrines and Application and when they erre that is to be rejected because it is not the will and word of God yet they are to be heard as men speaking in the Name and stead of God and what they speak according to his Word is to be received as if God himself spake unto you I do with all earnestnesse presse this upon you that you be convinced of this truth so as undoubtedly and firmly to believe it I mean not onely the Doctrines we teach whereby we shew you what is true what is false what is good what is evil are to be received as if God spake them himself but all reproofs of your vices all redargutions and confutations of your errours all exhortations unto and instructions in righteousnesse also all threats promises and consolations when they are all applied according to the Doctrine of truth and godlinesse they are to be received as reproofs corrections exhortations threats promises and consolations of God For the word is profitable for all these purposes as you may reade 1 Tim. 3. 10. and 2 Tim. 4. 2. I do therefore now as I have just cause reprove a great fault and Vse 2. sin in most men who when they come to hear they come not to hear God speak but man and when they hear they receive what they hear but as the word of man they hear not the voice of God they receive it not as the Word of God I would to God that you would now hear God reproving you for this great sin Most hearers of the Ministers of the word of God receive and regard what they teach but according as they have an opinion and esteem of the man that speaketh As men are endued with rare parts and gifts and shew themselves witty and learned as carnall men count learned if they shew much of this in rarity of invention and elocution in that excellency of speech and wisedom with the entising words of mans wisedom which wise eloquent â— Cor. 2. 4. and learned Paul purposely shunned their Sermons do take with them accordingly but commonly their fancies and not their hearts are taken therewith Those who thus hear may receive all that is of and from man in that Sermon but little or nothing of that which is of and from God in it Therefore many hear much and learn little they are not taught of God when they so hear because they do not hear God speak in him that teacheth These men should humble themselves before God for that they have not heeded nor regarded God speaking to them by his Ministers God complaineth of and reproveth all such hearers I sent all my Prophets but they hearkned not to me saith the Lord He saith Jer. 7. 25 26. not They hearkned not to my Prophets but They hearkned not to me Know you that a time will come when you shall be called to an account for your hearing if you have not heard and obeyed but have despised what the Ministers of God though frail and mean men have spoken unto you in the Name of the Lord you Luke 10. 16. shall answer for it as if God himself had immediately spoken unto you for you have slighted and despised him according to that of our Saviour He that heareth you heareth me and he that Luke 10. 16. despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Let me therefore intreat and perswade you that you will both now while you are hearing of me and when hereafter the Lord shall please to speak unto you by any other of his Messengers that you would receive what is spoken from God to you by us not as the word of man but as it shall be found to be indeed the Word of God See and hear God in his Ministers instructing reproving commanding and exhorting when you are instructed reproved commanded and exhorted by them remembring and considering well that they are Gods Ambassadours that come not in their own name but in Gods Name If before you hear you would as Cornclius did set your selves Acts 10. â—â— before God in the presence of God to hear not what a Peter should say but whatsoever Peter should be commanded of God to speak unto you then the Word would be powerfull to convert you and save you as it did him and those that with like faith heard Acts 10. 44. Peter preach the Word unto them If a mean man bring a Message or a Command from a King or from any that have power over us be it a Constable or other Officer we do not receive the Message or the Command according to the meannesse or greatnesse of the man that bringeth it but according to the esteem we have and obedience we owe to him whose Message and Command it is When the Thessalonians received the Word thus not as the word of man but as it was indeed 1 Thess â— 13. the Word of God then it wrought in them mightily Did you believe and consider that it is no other but the voice and word of God it would perswade and command your belief you would not choose but believe it without doubting or gainsaying because you know that cannot but be infallibly true which the God of Truth speaketh Christ saith to his Father John 17. 1â— The Word is
truth You would feel a Sovereign power in the Word because it is the Word of an Almighty God the Word of your God You would then receive it as a good word transcâ—ndently good good for you then you would embrace it and receive it in love you would then conform your will and affections to it The Word thus received would be a convincing word a converting 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. Psal 19. 7. Psal 119. 24. Acts 20. 32. word a directing word and an edifying word which would build you up further till it have given you an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified I pray you to consider what sins you are guilty of and yet do lie in say it be Blasphemie Swearing Drunkennesse Pride Oppression Profanenesse Whoredom or any other sin let your conscience now minde you of your own sin and then consider each one with himself Have I not heard these my sins reproved and inveighed against by the Prophets of God and Ministers of his Word And have they foretold and threatned the Judgements of God temporall and eternall due for my sins Did you believe that it was God that spake that reproved and threatned you and that it was Gods voice in them calling upon you to repent and offering pardon through Christ You would then hear and fear and repent and thankfully receive the offer of grace and believe to the salvation of your souls If you have any conscience the word thus received would through God work mightily upon you to the pulling down of the strong holds of sin in you casting 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and would bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Learn therefore to hear God speak by his Ministers or else all your hearing of Sermons will be in vain will be lost nay will be to your hurt and for the aggravation of your sins and the heaping up of Gods anger and wrath upon you which he will pour out upon you in his Judgements Spirituall Temporall and Eternall Because his people would not hearken to his voice spoken by his Psal 81. 11 12. Prophets God gave them up to their own hearts lusts to walk in their own counsels For this very sin of despising the Word of the Lord spoken by the Prophets the Lord sent the Caldeans to destroy and captivate Judah And men are sentenced to eternall 2. Chron. 36. Deut. 5. 27. Mal. 2. 7. Vse 3. 15 16. 2 Thess 1. 8. and 2. 11. death because they believed not the truth of the Gospel witnessed by the Apostles This doth much concern us in the Ministery sith the people of God must receive what we teach them as the voice and word of God that we therefore first go to God and hear what the Lord hath to say and receive of him what we are to deliver unto them 1 Tim. 4. 13 15 2 Tim. 2. 15. We must therefore diligently give our selves to the reading and studying of the Word of God studying likewise to know the Jer. 23. 28. 1 Pet. 4. 11. Ezek. 3. 9 10 11. 2 Cor. 3. 12. Ezek. 2. 6. Tit. 2. 15. 2 Cor. 17. 2. 1 Cor. 2. 1 4. state and need of the people And then as the Prophet Jeremiah saith He that hath the word let him speak it faithfully also speak it as the Oracles of God with all holy reverence and gravity plainly boldly not fearing the face of any unpartially and with all authority because it is not our word but the word and will of God We must deliver the sincere word of God purely not sophisticating or adulterating it with the mixture of our own or others fancies or errours Neither must we hold it forth and deliver it in the dresse of the entising speech of mans wisedom but in the evidence and demonstration of the spirit and power not in the words which 1 Cor 2. 13. mans wisedom teacheth but comparing spirituall things with spirituall speaking things of God the things of the Spirit of God spiritually in Spirituall expressions approving our selves unto every mans conscience in the sight of God 2 Cor. 4. 2. When Gods Word is thus taught and his voice thus heard from our mouthes it will not return to him void but shall accomplish Isa 55. 11. that which he pleaseth and shall prosper in the thing to which he sent it It will be a sweet savour to God both in them that are saved 2 Cor. 2. 15. and in them that perish Thus speaking so that Gods word and voice may be heard from us we shall save our selves and those that 1 Tim. 4. 1â— hear us The man of wisedom shall be thy name We may here observe That Onely the godly wise can and will see God in his Word and in his Doct. 2. Judgements or in any other his works which he doth amongst the sons of men It is a high point of wisedom to understand and see God either in his Word or Works so as to give him glory They that are wise according to God they understand but all other be they never so worldly wise they cannot David setting forth the many providences of God to be observed in divers varieties and changes in this life as in casting down some evengreat ones and Psa 107. 41 43. raising up others even the poor setting him on high from affliction he saith Whoso is wise and will observe these things he shall understand Jer. 9. 1â— the loving kindnesse of the Lord. The Prophet Jeremiah lamenting the estate of the Jews for their many and great sins and for the Judgement to come on that Nation making Jerusalem heaps and dens of Dragons Who is the wise man that he may understand this The Prophet Daniel foretelling the afflictions and trialls of the Church and the good that should redound to Dan. 12. 10. them namely their purifying and being made white he saith None of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand And when the Prophet Hosca told Israel that he had destroyed himself and was fallen by his iniquity and biddeth him take unto him words and confesse his sin and ask grace God promiseth him he will take his anger from him and love him freely and promiseth to them that then God will blesse them with all blessings spirituall and temporall after all this he saith Who is wise and he shall understand all these things prudent and he Hes 14. 9. shall know them for the ways of the Lord are right and the just the wise and prudent they shall walk in them but transgressours shall fall therein The wise could see the Name of God even the goodnesse of God in these his counsels and gracious offers and promises he could see a great deal of reasonablenesse equity and gratiousnesse of God in them but the wicked they are blinde and foolish they can see no such
goodnesse of God in his calling them to repentance and offer of his grace so as to embrace it and be converted by it but stumbleth and is offended at it Even as Christ the Corner-stone and Foundation of his Church is seen by the â— Pet. 2. 6 7 8. wise and judged to be precious they can see Gods Name in him but the foolish the unbelieving and disobedient they cannot see such preciousnesse in him he is a stone of stumbling and rock of offence yea they are offended at that good Word of the Gospel of Christ which makes a tender of salvation upon their repenting of their sins and believing in him The naturall man he receiveth not the things of God neither can he Reas 1. because they are spiritually discerned They cannot see God aright 1 Cor. 2. 14. no not in his works of Creation wherein the invisible things of Rom. 1. 20. him his eternall power and Godhead may be seen For in the wisedom of God the wisest of men in the world cannot by their naturall â— Cor. 1. 21. Wisdom know God Nay though God make himself known to them â— Cor. 2. 14. in his Word in the offer of his grace in the Gospel of salvation by Jesus Christ even this is foolishnesse to them Have they never so much quicknesse of wit or depth of judgement in things naturall or be they never so politikely wise beyond others they can see nothing of God neither in his Word nor Works and Acts of Providence whether of his mercy or Justice so as to apply it to themselves for their good untill God give unto them to be spiritually wise But to the Godly wise men it is given to know the Mysteries of Reason 2. the Kingdom of God That which is hid from the wise of the world Mat. 13. 11. 16. God reveals even to the simple and men accounted but as Ideots in Mat. 11. 25. the world when he hath made them wise to him-ward They can also see the wonderfull excellencies of God in his workes Psal 63. 2. In them they can see the greatnesse of his power and of his goodnesse and of his truth and of his justice they can see his Name and Isai 26. 8 9. give him glory in and for all these whether mercies or judgements Reason 3. They who are indeed wise they give all diligence to see the goodnesse and footsteps of God in all his works that may come Dan. 10. 1â— under their consideration They set their hearts to understand they will observe what God doth and as David saith Wisely consider of Psal 107. 43. his doings whereas the wicked be they never so worldly wise Psal 64. 9. They regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hand Isai 5. 12. they will not behold the Majesty of the Lord when he sheweth them favour nor yet will see his Name when his hand is lift up against Isai 26. 10 11. them in displeasure Be wise therefore all ye that hear me this day nay which heare Vse Gods voyce crying unto you this day to heare the rod you may see much of God in it if you were wise and would improve your wisdome that you may see God in his Works and in the way of his Judgements It is a sore Judgement of God to a people when God shall make his name known to them not onely in his word but in his great and wonderfull works of mercies and Judgements and Deut. 29. 4. leave them to their ignorance and folly not giving them wisdome not giving them hearts to perceive and understand Gods Name Gods Greatnesse Goodnesse Soveraignty so as to fear and adore him submit to him and learn righteousnesse thereby As the Bee can finde and gather honey of every flower so the wise man can see and learn something of God in all his works Be wise therefore as David calleth upon all Princes and Judges Psal 2. 10 11 12. of the earth and be instructed but by what even by that Iron rod threatned and shaken over them that thereby they might learn to fear and serve and might kisse that rod his wrath being pacified and his anger turned away from them Then a man is a man of wisdome such a one as is meant in this doctrine when he can discern what is the chiefe good and hath the Judgement to esteeme it and to make choyse of it and of the right waies of attaining and retaining it God is the chiefe good the knowledge of him so as to beleeve in him to feare him and to rely on him and obey him this is true and sound wisdome When you are thus wise you will see Gods Name you will see God in his Word and works when he shall at any time speak by the voyce of his Word or voyce of his Rod you then can and shall understand the meaning of those voyces To be wise to Salvation is the true Wisdome by which a man Prov. 14. 8. can see God in his works so as may conduce thereunto such a Prov. 28. 5. man understandeth his way and is said to understand all things but evill men understand not judgement The way to have true wisdome is to deny a mans own wisdome and as the Apostle adviseth To be a foole as the world â— Cor. 3. 18. counteth foolishnesse that he may be wise A man by his naturall wit and wisedome cannot know God You must not think that because by the strength of wit and naturall reason you dive deep into the search of things naturall and humane and can understand them that it is therefore in the power of your own understanding to attain to deep things of God the Divine things of God as his Wisdome Power Justice Truth Goodnesse and his Will which may be seen in and known by his works Naturall wise men may understand the letter of the Word of God and the matter of Gods workes what they are but he perceiveth not nor can he perceive God and the things of God in them nor the end to which they tend to affect his heart therewith and to make a Spirituall use thereof to himself These things are perceived onely by Spirituall wisdome being 1 Cor. â— 2â— revealed by the Spirit of God The Word of God hath in it instructions of this wisedome and it Prov. 1. 4 5. giveth a spirituall subtilty and ability to discern the deep things of Psal 119. 99 100. God by it David came to be a man of wisdome wiser than the Ancients and wiser than his teachers you must have recourse therefore to the word to that end But do not think to bring light with you whereby to understand it but bring faith with Heb. 4. 1. you to beleeve it and come to it to receive sight by it as well Rev. 3. 18. as light for it is eye-salve and a meanes to open the