there is scarce a servant of the Lord amongst them Their judgments being so diametrially opposite that what preaching the one loves the other loaths Neither would their hearers so applaud or approve of them if they were of Gods sending I am come in my Fathers name saith our Saviour and yee receive me not if another shall come in his own name him you will receive Joh. 5.43 Men of the world will not hear such preachers as are of God because then they must have their consciences terrefied about their sins or else part with them and be told of the fearful condition they are in yea the greatest of sinners affect more the flattery of false Prophets then the sincerity of Christs faithful messengers Isa 30.10 Mica 2.11 But it 's easie to discern where the fault lies and who is to be blamed For 't is onely the weak-sighted that cannot abide the light and none can dislike the word of truth but such as have an over-flowing of their gall or an overweening of their wit such as are both shamelesse and gracelesse As do you see an Apple fall untimely from the tree view it well and you will finde it worm-eaten else it had held But such as have a blemish in their eie think the element to be over cloudy Our Saviour himself could neither speak or do ought but such would be offended at it In which case who is to be blamed Is the Physitian to be blamed for the pain of his Patient or the disease the Chirurgion or the wound which he indeavours by all means to cure Yea tell mee what is the cause why the worst men and members in a parish evermore regard a good Minister least complain of his bitternesse and seek by all means to remove him Is it not because they are feet and legs and thighs and arms out of joint and so cannot indure the touch of the Chirurgions hand and the acrimony of his medicines Section 19. Secondly my next Answer to the former question is Their practice proves it For this you may take for a general rule that if these brave Orators these unhallowed Divines have ap plaus and be cried up for rare Preachers it is from men as carnal and gracelesse as themselvs As look but upon their lives and see if they be not like people that have a disease called the Wolf which is alwaies eating yet keeps the body lean They have long heard and still desire to hear their sermons yet they grow not by their hearing for like those seaven ill-favoured and lean-fleshed Kine Gen. 41.20 21. it cannot be known that they have heard them for they are not onely as lean and ill-favored Christians still as they were before they heard them but much worse For as touching that is good that they let passe it faring with their memories as with an hour-glass or Conduit that which in one hour runneth in the same in another hour runneth out again Onely the evil wil they keep to increase their prejudice and to fore-stall them against goodness Quest Whereby may we know and judg of a wicked man for we must not pronounce any man a leper till wee see the scab Answ by his works and by his words every tree is known by the fruits It is Christs everlasting rule however the tree lives by the sap and not by the fruit yet it is known to live by the fruit and not by the sap for this is hid When the Conduit is walled in how shall wee judge of the spring but by the water that runs out of the pipes The outward actions declare the inward intentions Men do somtimes bewray that by their deeds which to confess they are hardly drawn As in a clock when the hammer strikes well and the hand of the diall points well it is a signe that the wheels are right set Yea by the pointing of the hand alone wee may know how the clock goes within And so by the striking of the hammer which is the second rule Speech is the index of the minde for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Matth. 12.34 Whence observe that a good man out of the good treasury of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evill man out of the evil treasury of his heart bringeth forth evill things Matth. 12.35 As the bell is known by his sound so a man is by nothing better known then by his communication says Seneca evill speaking discovers an evill heart as the striking of the clapper does a broken bell Yea men may bee known by their want of fruit wee may suspect want of sap in the root of a tree if wee find barrenness in the branches if either it have bad fruit or no fruit it is but a dead faith And the true method of grace is Cease to do evill learn to do well Isa 1.16 17. For as grace enters into the heart so sin goes out like air out of a vessell when wine is poured in or as it fares with women that having once conceived cannot admit of another conception untill they be delivered of the first see Gal. 5.24 I grant there bee multitudes of them that appear not wicked no every mans capacity for some of them and not a few are civill and fair in their carriages smooth in their communication and for the most part unreprovable yet this you shall bee sure to find that they are bitter malignants to the power of religion and scoffers at holiness and there needs no more to prove them wicked I grant they may bee morally honest temperate chast charitable go duly to Church pray in their families abstain in some measure from swearing lying and the like But does this flow from a pious and good heart sanctified by the holy Ghost 1 Tim. 1.5 Act. 15.9 Is it done in faith and out of right ends as out of love and obedience because God commands the same that hee may bee glorified and others edified thereby for otherwise all their performances are no better in Gods account then blessing of an Idol or cutting off a dogs neck as the Prophet shews Isa 58. Chap. and 66.3 Matth. 7.22.13 Again do you pay God his dues also do you repent and beleev the Gospel precepts and menaces aswel as promises do you declare your faith by your works do you pray by the power of the Spirit and with the understanding also 1 Cor. 14.15 do you receive the word with good and honest hearts and also bring forth the fruits of it in your life and conversation do you sanctifie his sabbaths and see that all under you do the same love his children promote his glory and strive to gain others to imbrace the Gospell instruct your children and servants and teach them to fear the Lord do you fear an oath hate a lye c. Love zeal and devotion in others make conscience of evill thoughts vain and unprofitable words grieve for your unprofitableness under the means of grace for the evill
of an Hare with an Oxe or as oyle is to the quenching of fire or as smoke for curing the eye-fight Now we esteem things good according as they are proper for our use The goodness of an Horse doth not consist in his costly trappings and a velvet saddle but in his strength and swiftness What benefit is in a gilt armour if it will not defend or to what purpose is a golden key if it will not open the door Hungry stomacks like not to be fed with flashy cates but solid meat whereby they accrue both strength and growth and such as meat is to the body such is reading and hearing to the soul It is the Word of God only which moves the conscience and saves the soul And what Aristippus said of other Sciences and Philosophy is more true of all other Arts and Divinity They that study the other and neglect this are like Penelopes wooers that made love to the waiting-women The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power 1 Cor. 4.20 Again every man seeks after those that are skilful in their Art who saith Seneca will not rather desire a skilful Phisitian or Lawyer than an eloquent one so a powerful experimental Divine is to be chosen rather than a witty one Otherwise a Minstrel or Musician will serve to please the ear and starve the soul as well as a Minister As for any spiritual nourishment that redounds to the soul from their Sermons they may be compared to a Bristol stone or a Saint Martirs Ring which seem to some of great value but are scarce worth a groat Or to Hercules Club in the Tragedy of Menander which was of great bulk but the stuffing was only moss and rubbish Or to variety of meats and drinks curiously painted which look as though they would satisfie the appetite and quench the thirst but do only cheat the speedy-approaching traveller of his hungry hopes as Zeuxis did the silly birds with his lively limb'd grapes So dealing with their Auditours as Heleogabalus did by a great number of poor people whom he had invited to a feast which when they came he set before them nothing but meats and drinks in their similitudes Or to that which rometheus with a great shew of religious devotion made for Jupiter wherein he presented the bones of two Bulls covered with Skin and sinews but defrauding them of the flesh and fat Or to painted fire which at the first blush may make a man judge it to be fire indeed but if a man hold his hand to it to feel for some heat and to make trial by the effects a child in understanding will be able easily to judge that it is but a dead image because the effects are wanting In a word they couzen the world with copper for gold with glass for pearl with seeming or shadow for substance and sell us breath for the bread of life to strengthen us and froth instead of cordial and celestial water to comfort us and so cheat us whatsoever we give for its dear of a farthing that is good for nothing And we may say of their Sermons as the Apostle of Idols They are nothing in the world 1 Cor. 8.4 Or if the hungry soul findes any thing to feed upon it is but like a meal of Grafish where is much picking very little meat or a banquet of Kick-shawes which neither make good bloud nor beget spirits neither strengthen the sinews nor increase the marrow but only procure lust make the belly flatuous and swell the body I need not stand to amplifie it you finde in your own observation and experience a great difference between these speculative Preachers and experimental Divines As hear the one that speaks spiritual things in spiritual words with spiritual devotion and zeal and you will be ready to say with those Disciples going to Emmaus Did not our hearts burn within us while he spake Luke 24.32 Or with those Mat. 7.29 He speaks with authority and not as the Scribes Or with him the Apostle speaks of 1 Cor. 14.24 25. Who hearing the secrets of his heart made manifest being convinced falls down and worshippeth saying God is in him of a truth Whereas hear one of these speculative Divines preach perhaps like a Discourse of Philosophy read the invention the eloquence and the pertinency doth presently move you and tickle your spirit but there is nothing moveth or pricketh your conscience for it is not to her they speak And indeed for the most part when speculative men preach of practical and experimental truths it seems to experimental Christians as Phormio his argument of the wars seemed to Hannibal no better then dreams and dotage Sect. 4. Besides holiness in a Preacher gives addition to the matter and is a great means to heighten liking in the hearer It is much moving in an Orator when the soul seems to speak as well as the tongue Saint Austin says Tully was admired more for his tongue then his minde Aristotle more for his minde then his tongue but Plato for both And both together is more perswasive in working on the soul it meets with for he that hears has only those affections that the speaker gives him and devotion kindles devotion where it is not as a live coal kindles a dead one And it is very requisite that Ministers should be exemplary in all they urge and teach for the eyes of the whole Parish are upon the Pastor and then is there life in their doctrine when there is doctrine in their life Men in this case as in other cases of Manufacture except they see they will not beleeve Their eyes must be taught as well as their ears Phillip 4.9 Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me doe He that will cast a stone at an offendor must be free himself before Samuel doth charge Israel with their sin he clears his own innocency 1 Sam. 12. Shall a prophane liver prescribe rules of sanctity and piety Shall an Officer that reforms the Tap-house be himself found in a Brothel-house Were it not strange that the Witch should tell the Jugler he hath a bad conscience Or that the Hypocrite should rail at the Player Or the Usurer challenge the Theef Or if so will they not retort this answer Physician heal thy self Luke 4.23 Neither is it enough for them being converted to be common lines in Christianity or pious in ordinary For so every private Christian is commanded to be blamelesse and pure and as the sons of God without rebuke Philip. 2.15 But Ministers should be as set-copies of sanctification to others and shine as lights among whom they live in the world The Apostle exhorteth Titus to soundnesse of speech and uncorrupt doctrine but above all things saith he shew thy self a pattern of good works as preferring them and gives this for his reason that he which withstandeth may be ashamed as having nothing concerning you to speak evil of
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.
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
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