EXTRACTS

 

FROM

 

THE SERMONS

 

OF

 

DR. HENRY MORE.

 

TO THE READER.

 

 I SHALL not bespeak the acceptance of these papers by any large encomium, either of them, or of the Author. This would detain the Reader too long from the benefit of them; and indeed, to little or no purpose: for the discourses will sufficiently speak for themselves, without the artifice of any commendatory preface.

 

 I only prefix to them a short prayer: which I wish the Reader may as seriously and devoutly put up, as the pious Author did before one of the following discourses. "O LORD our GOD, the Fountain of light, and Wellspring of all holy wisdom and knowledge; without whose aid our search after thee and thy ways, is but tedious error and dangerous wandering from thee; assist us mercifully in our endeavors after thee; open our eyes, that we may see the wonders of thy law; sanctify our hearts unto obedience, that we may unfeignedly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name, through Jssus CHRIST our LORD. Amen."

 

JOHN WORTHINGTON.

 

London, Nov. Ist, 1692.

 

DISCOURSE 1:

 

ON DOING THE WILL OF GOD. JOHN 4: 31-34.

 

 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Has any man brought him ought to eat JESUS says unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

 

 OUR Savior CHRIST, here in the text, propounds a riddle or parable to his disciples: "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." Whatever is in the text, may be hither referred, as the occasion or consequent thereof.

 

 The occasion of the proposal of this enigma, is in verse 31:1 " In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat: " 1: e., so soon as he had broken off his serious discourse with the Samaritan woman, his disciples then took occasion to invite him to his seasonable repast; which gives him occasion to propound something to them enigmatically, of more concernment, and of a higher nature, than this outward perishable food: (eer. 32:) " I have meat to eat that you know not of." There is the proposal of the riddle; of which there is a double consequent; the disciples' misinterpretation, and then our SAVIOR'S own true solution. Their misinterpretation: (ver. 33:) "Has any man brought him ought to eat " His true solution ver. 34: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." These parts I shall prosecute in the same order that they he in the text, without further preface or more curious division.

 

 First, therefore, of the occasion. "In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat." "In the meanwhile; " 1: e., in the interim, betwixt the departure of the Samaritan woman, and her return with the other Samaritans to confer with our SAVIOR, and to see if it were so indeed, that he was the Messiah.

 

 That you may the better know how this falls in with the departure of the Samaritan woman, it is said, ver. 8, "His disciples were gone into the city to buy meat; while he sat, being wearied with his journey, at the side of JACOB'S well: " whither came that Samaritan woman to draw water, whom our SAVIOR held in discourse until such time, and after his disciples had returned from buying them victuals.

 

 And here truly our Savior CHRIST is represented, (according to that description of himself,) a man without house or harbor. " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay his head." The Eternal Truth of God, clothed in flesh, goes wandering up and down in this strange country of the world, as a stranger and pilgrim, neglected and despised of all, a man of sorrow and weariness, and of disrespect; a man scarce well known to his own disciples, not at all strengthened or countenanced by the favor, friendship, and alliances of the world, nor at all affecting the greeting-in the market-place, or the precedency in solemn meetings; conversing mostly with the meanest of men, condemned and hooted at by the great rabbies of the world. "He has no form or comeliness, no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isai. liii. 2, 3.) This was the condition of the Everlasting Wisdom and Goodness of GOD, incarnate, and conversing amongst men.

 

 And yet such was his humility and patience, that he would not set up himself by his own, or his FATHER'S power, to rid himself of this poor, sad, and contemptible condition. What! Could not he that raised LAZARUS'S body from the dead, have kept his own bones from pain and weakness Or, he that turned water into wines could he not have commanded the. very stones before him to become bread Or, charged the cities of Samaria to bring him in provision, as to their sovereign and absolute LORD And if they had discredited his word, to have made it good with the appearance of the heavenly host, even legions of angels But none of this is done: for indeed our SAVIOR did not any thing for himself; but for the glory of God, and the good of poor lost mankind. Wherefore omnipotency was not made use of to please his own flesh, or to show himself more than man, and to be admired of the world; but only then, when the FATHER saw fit, for the gaining of lost man to himself. Wherefore we see our SAVIOR here in this chapter, weary, and resting his tired limbs on JACOB'S well; hungry also, and observing the usual hours of repast; as it is plain out of the 6th verse: "JESUS therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour" 1: e., about noon, dinner-time.

 

 Wherefore we see plainly whence it is that our SAVIOR's disciples invite their Master, saying, " Come and eat: " for it was dinner-time, and they had now returned from buying food for them, and his and their labor required repast.

 

But that which I would observe, before I pass from this point, is this: Seeing that our Savior CHRIST was, according to the outward view, but a piece of mortality covered with passiveness, weakness, and contempt; that his outside was neither formidable for majesty and authority, either ecclesiastic or civil, nor desirable for any external show, and yet was the inward habitation of the Divinity itself; let us learn from hence to contemn no man's outward condition, as concerning divine worth; but

 

rather accept of HERACLITUS's blunt, but friendly invitation into his poor contemptible cottage, *, Come in, Sir; GOD doth lodge here also.' * ' Wisdom sometimes is no better covered than with rags.' But I leave this point for yourselves to enlarge upon. I pass on from this first part, viz., the occasion, with all the circumstances thereon depending, to the proposal, of the parable: "In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of."

 

 It is usual with our SAVIOR to ascend from sensible and corporeal things, to those things which are inward and spiritual. I need not look for instances far off: here, in this very chapter, when our SAVIOR had arrived at JACOB'S well, at the heat of the day, faint and thirsty, and desired the Samaritan woman that came there to draw water, that she would give him to drink, and she replied, "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria JESUS answered, and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of GOD, and who itis that says unto thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water; " (ver. 9, 1O;) viz., the very same water, that he speaks of John 7: 37, where he is said, " in the last day, that great day of the feast" of tabernacles, to stand and cry, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Which speech was occasioned, (as is not without reason conceived,) from the custom of the day for upon this day, by the institution of HAGGAI the Propliet, and ZACHARIAS, they did, with joy and solemnity, bring great store of water from the river Siloah to the temple; where, it being; delivered to the priests, it was poured upon the altar, together with wine, the people singing that of the Prophet ISAIAH, Chap. xii: "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells. of salvation." From this visible solemnity, and natural water, CHRIST took' occasion to invite them to an invisible and spiritual water - As he doth the Samaritan woman here, showing her, that whosoever drinks of the water that he asked of her, " shall" thirst again; " but whosoever should drink of the water that he'- should give, "shall never thirst; but the. water shall be in him. a well of water, springing up into everlasting life."

 

 Let us imitate this pattern, whether we would be teachers of others, or instructors of ourselves: for indeed the whole world is a large sign or symbol of spiritual truths that nearly concern our souls. Methinks, when the morning sun rises upon us, the eyes of our souls should open with the eyes of our bodies, and our hearts should send up this ejaculation: "LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us;" and our minds presage that promised happiness: "In thy light shall we see light." When we breathe in the fresh air, it might mind us of something like that of the Emperor: I Not only to draw in the common air, but also to be of one mind with that intellectual Spirit that fills all -the world.' Solitude and darkness that make our hearts shrink within us, and overwhelm our souls with horror and misdoubt, what are they in spirituals, but a privation of "perfect love, that casts out fear," as the Apostle Speaks "He that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes." (1 John 2: 11.) There is nothing that the natural man is sensible of in this outward world, but the SPIRIT of God has made use of to set out the nature of spiritual things; that hence the soul may receive hints to raise herself towards him that made her to inherit spirituality, and not always he grovelling on the earth. Whatsoever we see, or hear, or smell, or taste, or feel, we may in all these even very sensibly feel some hidden mystery, and find out in those shells and husks some more precious food than this that pleases our mortal body, and perishable senses: and he that doth not feel through these sensible creatures something better than themselves, certainly is exceedingly benumbed, or rather spiritually dead; and has his conversation in the world no otherwise than the beasts of the field; and NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S curse is upon him, until such a mind be restored unto him, that he doth acknowledge the Most High, and find him-residing even in this lower world, the habitation of mortal men. Beauty, riches, strength, agility, sweetness, pleasure, harmony; these are all better relished in the soul than in the body.

 

 Our blessed SAVIOR, in the midst of Iris thirst after the water of JACOB'S well, which he begged of the Samaritan woman, was so refreshed with the remembrance of the spiritual and living waters which he enjoyed within, that he had forgot his first request, through the sweetness of that hidden spring in his heart. And this storehouse he found within, afforded him not drink only, but meat also, as it should seem by his answer to his disciples, when they invited him to eat. He did not as those starveling souls, that not being able to entertain themselves with their own store, no, not for a moment, so soon as the body's treasure is exhausted, (" men of this world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure," as the Psalmist speaks,) so soon, I say, as the outward man is emptied and impoverished, have their desire straitway furiously kindled like a broad fiery meteor, that is swiftly wafted hither and thither, accordingly as the earthly unctuous vapor is scattered in the air. And it is no wonder that they are thus furious and impatient; for what is desire but a living death It is, for it is desire; but it is not, viz., that which it desires to be. And what soul can endure to be in such a case Wherefore that mind that can abstain from fleshly and bodily desires, (from their accomplishment I mean,) hag some hidden contentment within, undiscovered to the, world. "The heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy." Our Savior himself could not with such ease have slighted the cravings of nature, (for "he was a man like unto us in all things, sin only excepted,") and disregarded his seasonable' sustenance, had it not been so as he professes it was, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of."

 

 And thus much of the occasion and proposal of the parable. I come now to the double consequent thereof, viz., First, The disciple's misapprehension: "Has any

 

man brought him ought to eat " Secondly, Our SAVIOR's true interpretation of it: "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me."

 

 " Has any man brought him ought to eat " The ravens fed ELIJAH by the brook Cherith, which is before Jordan: " They brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening." (1 Kings 17: 6.) And not the fowls of the air only, but the winged host of heaven might have been employed for this purpose: 'they owe more than this to the SON of GOD. But the mistake was not so much in the manner of the conveyance of this meat, as in the nature of the meat itself.

 

 I will observe two things from this passage, and so leave it. First, The slowness of the earthly mind to apprehend spiritual mysteries. Secondly, The ineffectualness of even our SAVIOR'S presence, according to the flesh. If his SPIRIT had been in them, as his body was with them, I make no question but their minds had been so heavenly disposed, that our SAVIOR'S speeches would not have been such enigmas unto them. It is true, the very touch of CHRIST'S garments healed the bodies of the sick; but nothing under his SPIRIT is effectual for curing the soul. "It is the SPIRIT that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." (John 6: fi3.) " I have many things to say unto you; but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when the SPIRIT of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth." (John 16: 12, 13.) Our SAVIOR's bodily presence could not convey those divine truths unto his disciples, that an inward principle of life, when they were partakers thereof, would convey to them. And therefore he prefers the mission of the HOLY GHOST, before his own bodily conversing with them, at the seventh verse of that chapter: "I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you But if I depart, I will send him unto you."

 

 I haste on now to the last part of the text, our SA vIouR's own solution of this parable; "JESUS says unto them, My meat is to. do the will of him that sent me; and to finish his work. The great truth and mystery contained in this interpretation, is, That the will of GOD is the food of the soul.

 

 This I conceive to be plainly exhibited to us in this text. The Divinity of CHRIST cannot be said to feed on any thing:, it is self-sufficient and immutable. Such spiritual food as the will of GOD, cannot belong to the body; it remains therefore, the soul of CHRIST was that which was fed with the will of GOD: and his soul and ours are like in all things, sin only excepted. Wherefore;. I conclude, The will of GOD is the food of man's soul; I mean, of regenerate man. I know cc the natural man is incapable of the things of the SPIRIT of GOD," (1 Cor. 2: 14,)*. He has no room for them: they are too great for him, though he fancies they are too little.

 

 But whatever it is to him, I will endeavor to raise some apprehension of it in us; if I may by any means speak that which may prove profitable unto us. There must be some affinity and likeness betwixt that which is nourished, and the nutriment it receiveth. Man's body cannot be fed with stones or metals, but with plants and living creatures; their flesh and substance being near the nature of our bodies, which are of the like nature with other animals and plants.

 

 Our souls, (I mean always of the regenerate,) or we ourselves, for it is all one, have our birth and being of the will of God: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of GOD; even to them that believe on his name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of Go D of the will of GOD. (John 1: 12.)

 

 And certainly, the very depth of Christianity is the divine will; a will raised up in the soul of man, perfectly answerable to the will of GOD, though not so absolutely powerful. This is the very new birth; and he that is thus in CHRIST, is a new creature;' he that is not thus, never knew CHRIST, unless according to the flesh.

 

 When I say the divine will is the very inward essence or heart of Christianity; I mean not, any desire toward God and his outward service; or the knowledge of him and his works, or the beautifying and adorning a man's soul with moral virtues; but a full and absolute resignation of a man's self unto the will of GOD; our desires not at all circling into ourselves: (for it is a sign then, that they sprung from ourselves:) but our desire and will being melted as it were into one will with GOD, and desiring nothing but for GOD, and because GOD desires it and wills it.

 

 Then shall not our natural will be the first mover in our desire of knowledge, of of virtue, or of power, or whatever is desirable; but the divine will in us, shall will all this for GOD, as he is in man. This is the very root of the new birth; this is the divine life; and whatsoever is not of this, is neither natural or devilish. This is "the plant of GOD's own planting; " whose will is in "the law of the LORD, and in that law doth he exercise himself both day and night." This is the lamp of GOD, the eye of GOD fixed in the soul of man, that loathes all objects represented to it, that arise from the will of the flesh, or the false suggestions of man's heart; but has its whole desire after the will of GOD, hungers and thirsts merely after it.

 

 This is that, which turns away at our prayers and praises, at our fasts and alms-deeds, at our censuring and conferring, at our zeal and devotion; as often as they are fouled with the filth of our own wills, or temporal projects.

 

 Having thus found out the nature and constitution of the regenerate soul, it is no wonder to us to find out the proper food of it. The first ADAM is of the earth earthly; and therefore feeds on earthly food. The second ADAM is not of the earth, but of the free heavenly substance, born of the will of GOD; and therefore he breathes no other - air, sucks in no other air, sucks in no other life. or food, than the will of GOD. This is that which satisfies, and this alone can satisfy.

 

 And now we have found the food of the regenerate soul, it will not be hard to find out the poison. If the will of GOD be the soul's sustenance, then our own will, be it to' us as sweet as it can be, is our poison and destruction: it is a cup of deadly wine, of which, by how much more deep every man drinks, by so much more is he made stupid and senseless, as concerning the life of GOD.

 

 These things are safelier felt than spoken. However it will not be amiss, a little by way of analogy, to open the nature of that spiritual food mentioned in the text: `My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." The soul set on fire by the will of GOD, and become one divine flame, must, as our natural flame, be kept alive by motion and agitation: the will of GOD is the food of this flame; but if it continue flaming, it must act and move, within at least, and without, as oft as occasion permits or requires; otherwise it will be suffocated and extinct.

 

 But we need not dwell so low as upon inanimates let us see what is food in reference to that which has life. Health, growth, strength, sweetness of taste, and satisfying the stomach; these belong to the food of the body. Let us see it we can find these in the will of GOD, in reference to the regenerate soul.

 

 1. Health: "Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the LORD, and depart from evil: “ (Prov. 3: 7, 8:) 1: e., think not that the desire and determination of thine own unregenerate mind, is the best; but abstain from that which it longs after, and cc fear thou GOD; " 1: e., adhere to that which he has revealed to thee to be his will; fear to transgress his law. a It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones."

 

Yet the law of GOD is no charm, to cure the body; but it must do it by making the soul first healthful. But to despatch this truth in a word: What is the disease or languishment of the soul, but sin What is sin, but to will contrary to GOD's Will Wherefore he that wills as GOD wills, so long as he continues so, is safe from sin, the disease of the soul. This would not only keep the regenerate soul, but would even metamorphose SATAN himself into a saint: when as self-will, and the feeding on our own desires, will so decay the constitution of the soundest saint, that he, will be mis-shapen and transformed into the figure of an abhorred fiend.

 

 2. Growth: As plants and living creatures spread and grow in bigness, in virtue of their nourishment; so the soul is enlarged by forsaking her own will, and -by continual meditating upon, and endeavoring to do, the will of GOD: for our own will and desire is a poor narrow contracted thing, pinching us down next to nothing, by confining us to ourselves, and our own scanty bottoms. But the essential will of GOD is free and larger, ever boundless as himself; and the work of, it upon us, when we receive it, is like unto it. Our drawing and concentring all in our own will, is like the gathering together of the free light and warmth of the sun into a burning glass; those rays that before lay free, mild, and friendly, in a larger room, thus forced together become surly, ireful, and scorching: or like fire half stifled in a bundle of green wood, it fumes and glows, and is sad in itself, and utterly uncomfortable to others; but when it breaks out into a flame, how cheerfully doth it shine, and laugh, and look pleasant, filling the whole house with lightsomeness and joy! That is man's straitened will; this the free SPIRIT and will of GOD. Pride, and ambition, and thirst after knowledge, and the applause of men, puff up the soul, (when these are satisfied,) make her look big and bloated but that this food is not wholesome, nor the growth sound, every small prick of adverse fortune demonstrates; the tumor of mind then shrivelling up like an emptied bladder. But that bulk and breadth it gets by feeding on GoD's will is sound and permanent, as the will of GOD is, which nothing can wash away.

 

 3. And as strong as large doth. the soul of man become, by feeding on this celestial food; insomuch, that it can u bear all things, and endure all things." What makes the miseries of the world so tedious to men; what makes their souls sink and faint under this burden, but eating of that poisonous fruit, our own wills Which would not be, if we had no will of our own, but fed merely on the good pleasure of GOD, giving thanks for whatever he brings upon us: for in all outward things, and, to speak snore fully, in all things that befall us, our soul, our body, our friends, or estate; in all these the will of GOD is done, so far as sin intermeddles not: so that if we relish no will but the will of GOD, how strong shall we be to bear all these! We shall be able to digest either life or death, honor or dishonor, riches or poverty; all will go down, save our own will. This will choke the soul, or poison it; make it he in weakness or languishment, that it will be sickly, peevish, and infirm; so that the whole creation of GOD will be a burden to it.

 

 4. The fourth thing considerable in food is the Taste. And hitherto may be referred those affectionate expressions in the Psalmist, who, speaking of the law of GOD, which is the interpretation of his will, giveth abundance of sweet-ness and pleasantness to them, "The judgments of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether; more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb." (Psa. xix. 9, 1O.) And hence it is, that the holy and happy man so meditates on the laws of GOD. " His delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law Both he meditate day and night." (Psa. 1: 2.) " My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches." (Psa. lxiii. 5, 6.)

 

 And certainly, if the will of the flesh be sweet unto the carnal-minded man; the will of the SPIRIT, when it is once come, is much more sweet: for there is nothing in the sensual life, not so much as of seeming good, but it is really and fully in the spiritual; which we must believe; for we cannot know until such time as we have experience of it; and that Will be when we break off from the will of the flesh. " The lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is sweeter than oil. " This is thy carnal mind, the will of thy flesh, as MAIMONIDES expounds it; a subtle enticing serpent, lying ever in thy bosom; and yet a strange woman, thy harlot, with whom thou feastest and sportest, and forgettest thy husband CHRIST JESUS, the will of GOD, the, HOLY SPIRIT, the divine life. " But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword: her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell." And here is the great difference betwixt the sweetness of our own will, and the will of GOD. That ends in bitterness, in wrath, and vengeance, and death; but this is wholesome as well as pleasant, and is the very tie and bond whereby we are held in eternal life. Lust is sweet, revenge is sweet, and, above all, is the sweetness of craft and carnal policy; but remember that as sweet as it is, thou hast -swallowed down, poison, and it will burn in conclusion as the fire of hell.

 

GOD has brought thee into the wilderness, that thou mayest enjoy the promised land; offers thee angel's food; would feed thee with manna: let not thy mouth water after the flesh-pots of Egypt; say not with the grumbling Israelites, "Who shall give us meat to eat " Lest the LORD in his anger give you flesh to eat, not two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome unto you; and while the flesh is betwixt your teeth, the wrath of the LORD be kindled against you: that you be so far engaged in your own will and headstrong ways, that nothing but destruction can deal with you. And thus much of the taste of this food.

 

 The fifth and last thing is, the satisfying of the stomach. There is a magic and imposture in all those things that our deceived souls feed upon in this life: it is but, as the Prophet expresses it, a mere dream of eating and drinking. "It is even as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, ' and his soul is empty: or, as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul has appetite." (Isai. 29: 8.) Such is the condition of all the adversaries of those that hunger and thirst after GOD and his righteousness, the Fulfilling of the will of GOD; for this alone can fill the soul of man. He that feeds on any- thing else, sucks but in a rotten mist or fog, scarce so good as the prodigal's husks, or no better than MAHOMET'S ezeck, that infernal tree, whose fruit be but devils' heads, and root, streams with flames of fire, and tracts of smoke; of which, who tastes, feeds not, but is fed upon, ever consuming in insatiable fiery appetite, and restless desire.

 

 But the sound and satisfying meal of the soul is the will of her Maker; not when it is done without her, but when her life is that, and she never finds herself to live, but in that. The very life and spirit of GOD drunk' in by man's thirsty soul, that by continual repast from thence grows stronger and stronger, and sucks so sweet delight from these breasts, that she never hungers nor thirsts again; never desires the tempting poisons, the pernicious pleasures, and false contentments of this vain world. This is CHRIST alive in us, quite another principle of life, and another food, from all that feeds' our eyes or ears, or worse than these, our inordinate desires of pleasure, profit, or honor. This is that true manna, that bread from heaven, of this our SAVIOR witnesses, viz., of himself; "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." (John 6: 35.)

 

DISCOURSE 2:

 

ON DOING THE WORD OF GOD. JAMES 1: 22.

 

 Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your ownselves.

 

NOT to be troublesome by any tedious preface or introduction: the text will afford us these three doctrines:

 

I. We must be hearers of the word.

 

II. We must be doers of the word, as well as hearers.

 

III. We are not to deceive ourselves.

 

I. We must be hearers of the word.

 

 To exhort men to hear, (since there is naturally in them such a desire of hearing and knowing,) may seem but a losing of time and labor: but because some men's dispositions are low and grovelling, all their desires and imaginations tending downward, it will not be amiss to show what good causes there are, that men should give their mind to the hearing of the word.

 

 1. And surely no mean one is the awakening that better part of man's soul, that lieth slumbering in a trance; which, many times, being strongly called upon by the word, with much ado is reared up, and slowly and heavily moves its dull sight, that darkness so strongly had possessed before: but if a man here be not propitious to himself, and foster that life which is then given him, like one not perfectly recovered out of a swoon, he sinks down again out of the hands - of him that held him; and many such neglects may enter his name amongst the dead, whom death gnaweth upon, because he heard not the monitions of his teachers. "The eye that slighteth his father's counsel, and despiseth the instruction of his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out: " he, lying thus like a dead carrion exposed to the fowls of the air, the accursed angels of darkness shall seize upon him, and quite root out the principles of true light and sight, in the valley of the shadow of death. Wherefore, "Awake thou that sleepest,". that CHRIST may "give thee light."

 

 And, indeed, man least of all suspects his friend to be his deadly enemy: yet it fares so with foolish, wicked men. "Righteousness is immortal: but unrighteousness bringeth death; and the ungodly call it unto them both with hands and words; and while they think to have a friend of it, they come to nought." (Wisd. 1:) Which wisdom might happily be prevented by giving due attention to the word.

 

 2. For this word, if we are prepared for the receiving of it, is the seed of eternal life, whereby we may be "born again," and "regenerated "into the image of CHRIST: " and it is our SAVIOR'S own saying, "The seed is the word of GOD." (Luke viii.) Wherefore, as in nature, were it not for seed, there would be no herbs, no plants, no living creatures, so without the word there would be no generation of the new creature; which ST. PAUL also confirms: for this is plain, where no salvation, no regeneration; and without the calling upon the LORD, no salvation: for so it is written in the tenth to the Romans; "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved. But how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a preacher " And at last he concludes, " Then faith is by hearing, and hearing by the word of GOD."

 

 But here some, perhaps, may demand otherwise than the Apostle; for he presently annexeth, "Have they not heard " Some might be prone to say, "Have they heard " The answer is indifferent to both: "No doubt, their sound went through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." And this is the *; the voice of the heavens, or the voice of that vast expansum from the earth upward. For that no man may too confidently restrict this preaching, and this word that ST. PAUL speaks of the quotation is a part of the 19th Psalm, which begins, " The heavens declare the glory of GOD, and the firmament showeth his handy-work." This far-stretched firmament, or all-encircling air, we never let rest, ever anvilling out its Maker's praise, by air-beating sounds and voices. Yea, that lower noise of the breathing of men and beasts, calls aloud unto us for obedient thankfulness to Him that is the life and breath of all living things; that " Life of the World," (as R. MOSES, the Egyptian, calls him,) who, if he should draw in his rays out of this great universe, the world would be as a dead fabric, in silence and desolation.

 

If, then, without hearing, (at least, in some sense,) no faith; without faith, no calling upon GOD; without calling upon GOD, no salvation; without salvation from the old man, no regeneration; then surely it is very requisite, that we give heed to the word, and hearken to it, and receive it as the necessary seed for our new birth or regeneration.

 

 According to this analogy of calling the word seed, the auditors or disciples of them that teach the word are called children, as begotten of their spiritual parents by this seed of the word. So amongst the Hebrews, the sons of the wise men are as much as the disciples, or those that bear and are instructed by the wise men. And accordingly ST. PAUL: (Gal. 4: 19:) "My little children, of whom I travel in birth again, till CHRIST be formed in you." Epistle to Philemon, verse 1O, 111 beseech thee for ONESIMUS, whom I have begotten in my bonds."

 

 This regeneration is as true and real generation as is in visible nature; and there is, as it were, rather a succession of a new LORD in this outward fabric of our bodies, than the old, new-clad with superficial habits. "Can the fig tree, my brethren, bring forth olives, either a vine figs So can no fountain make salt water and sweet." So new actions must have a new centre or bottom of essence, which is the heart of life, which is the being of every living creature.

 

 In some sense those words of JOB are excellent: " that thou wouldest, hide me in the grave, and keep me secret till thy wrath were past, and wouldest give me time,

 

and remember me! Thou shalt call me, I shall answer thee: thou lovest the work of thine own hands." When this death is perfected, in which there is no life, but only a sense that we are utterly dead to all things, then God makes a new man, contrary to that of the Devil's framing, and inspires a new life, and a new breath, and loves this work of his own hands. "Thou turnest man to destruction; again thou sayest, Return, ye sons of men."

 

So, then, if this be destruction and death, then must a new sense and apprehension of things, new sympathy and antipathy, new embracing and abhorrency, be a new life, a new generation, a new creature. "Therefore, if any man be in CHRIST, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."

 

 If, then, this seed of the word be of such efficacy, that it beget a man into a new species, even into the beautiful image Of CHRIST; and that hereby we be linked into such noble kindred, as to have to our fathers such as are the sons of GOD by regeneration; being born of God first themselves, and so begetting children in CHRIST; " surely it should be a sufficient incitement to receive the word with as much,eagerness, as the dry womb of the earth doth the refreshing rain after a long drought.

 

 3. But as the word is seed to beget, so it hinders not but that it may be nourishment for the conservation and increase of that which is brought forth. "As new born babes desire-the sincere milk of the word." (1 Pet. 2: 2.) " I could not speak unto you, brethren, as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in CHRIST. I gave you milk to drink, and not meat, for you were not yet able to bear it." (1 Cor. 3: 1, 2.) "And JESUS said unto them,

 

 I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." (John 6: 35.) But as all are not to seize upon that which is not meant for them; as we are modestly to decline that which we are as not yet fitted for receiving; so no man has excuse from receiving some or other of the variety of meats that He has prepared, who feedeth with his goodness every living thing. Old men and babes, young men and ' children, they are all sustained by the word, according to every one's necessity and capacity. Or else how could the young ones increase, or they of full age subsist Both which is the will of GOD.

 

 That which has knowledge and sense, has also an appetite to nourishment, a nourishment proper to sustain its own nature; and the word being the proper nourishment of those spiritual new-born babes; then, if there be no such desire in us to this word, it is a sign there is no such principle of life in us. But if this life, by not giving it its due nutriment, either for measure or quality, comes to be esctinguished; we prove ourselves no better than murderers of the innocent and just one: for murder is not the cutting and slashing of the visible body, but the extinguishing of life.

 

 And thus we have seen in brief, that for the raising of our souls from death, for the begetting of the holy life, and for the conservation and increase of the same, we ought " to be hearers of the word."

 

 II. We pass on now to that other doctrine: "That we ought not only to be hearers, but doers also of the word." That awing sense of GOD which is impressed (if not upon all, yet at least) upon most men's souls, together with a natural desire of security and tranquility of mind, and every pleasing good; that experience and acknowledgment of our own weakness and insufficiency, doth easily induce even our natural minds, out, of love to ourselves, to lay hold upon somewhat which we conceive stronger than ourselves: and this we call GOD; and that outward form of religion in all churches, as hearing and saying of prayers, and giving attention to the word, we call GOD's worship.

 

 But it is a worship too, too easy; and so fit for the spirit of the natural man to play its wily pranks in, so that being well instructed by the old serpent, it turns those good constitutions which should have been introductions to' further holiness, into a strong fort or castle of false satisfaction of conscience, and most pernicious diabolical delusion; whilst we take ourselves to be distinguished from the wicked brood, by outward performances of earlabor, and lip-labor, without the practice of that which is taught us out Of MOSES or CHRIST, plainly according to the Pharisees in our SAVIOR'S time, whom the holy Baptist sharply rebukes for such kind of imaginations, " Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance," says he. " And think not to say within yourselves, We have ABRAHAM to our father: For I say unto you, that GOD is able even of these stones to raise up children unto ABRAHAM."

 

 Surely it is the want of that feeling knowledge of that which is so acceptable to GOD, and a fond over-estimation of our own poor, naked, and contemptible souls; or a conceit that GOD would want persons (if such Christians be excluded) to make up the numbers of the inheritors of heaven, that makes us think such superficial performances will make us allowable before God. But nothing is acceptable to him but a simple, humble, and unfeigned obedient spirit; nothing glorious in his eyes, but his own life, the soul enacted and quickened by CHRIST. "All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our GOD endureth for ever. This is the Word and Eternal Life, on whom whosoever doth believe, and by true faith in him is regenerate, shall obtain everlasting life otherwise he abideth in the sentence of death, and the wrath of GOD is upon him.

 

 It is true, there are notable privileges given even to the natural man. The whole world subsists for man's sake. But this prerogative howsoever has its condition. The world for -man, but-man for GOD. And how for GOD To wit, that his life may be in us; that his CHRIST may be in us: not so many verbal points of Christianity, not so many notions of divinity, not so many moonshine imaginations. CHRIST is not a dead and unprofitable fancy, but the vigorous ebullition of life. Which life, if it be not in us, then are we not partakers of that we were destinated to. Man was made for a tabernacle for GOD; he is materials for his holy temple: but if we will not be "living stones," (as the Apostle speaks,) we shall have the same doom that unprofitable trees or timber: " They are fit for nothing, but to be hewn down, and cast into the fire."

 

 Wherefore let us not hug ourselves in a false conceit of knowledge, since not the hearers of the word, but the doers are justified before, GOD. Let us not say within ourselves, We have CHRIST for the Head of our religion, we have read his words, we have heard his ambassadors, we are well instructed in all points of the holy faith, we are the holy Church, and true disciples of CHRIST. Let us not prize ourselves too high for these empty respects, and think that if we be excluded, GOD will want guests to. sit down with ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and JACOB. No: GOD is able even out of stones and dust to raise up disciples unto CHRIST. But if we be the disciples of CHRIST, let us give more heed to the voice of our Master: "Whosoever heareth my words, and does the same, I will liken him to a wise man, which has built his house upon a rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock." (Matt. 7:) The doing of the word is the sure foundation; a foundation no less strong than a rock. But "he that hears and does not, is like him that founds his house upon the sand," or builds castles in the air; he shall not abide the judgment of GOD that comes like a whirlwind, nor the fierce tempest of his destroying wrath; but he shall be confounded in his thought, and all his imaginations shall vanish into smoke.

 

 But to handle this more distinctly: That we should bu doers of the word, there are many reasons;

 

 1. One argument is taken from the end of the word heard, which is practice and purification.

 

 The word of GOD is no magical charm, that the mere hearing of it should be sufficient for this or that disease of the soul. It may indeed beget a desire or propension to that which is good, but if we go no farther, that motion is lost, and we recoil farther back into evil. So that we see what small profit we reap, if we rest in a bare hearing of the word.

 

 If we were as faithful and industrious to perform the Christian life, as we are sedulous to be instructed in the Christian truth, surely the reputed Church of GOD would send a more acceptable savor into the nostrils both of GOD and man. But whilst religion is to whet our angry tusks in controversy, to scandalize one another, contemn one another, and hate one another, contending more for the setting up of opinion, than for the purchasing the precious life Of CHRIST, it is no wonder if the holy Church, which should be as the fragrant paradise of GOD, be turned into the sink of SATAN, _and a stinking stye of swine-like epicures.

 

 The Gnostics, a wicked sect of Christians, in PLOTINUS's time, when they could get one to be of their heresy, and had instructed him well in- their principles, (which was all ttiey aimed at,) then they crowned him with the magnificent title of the child of God; though their life was as abominable as the 11evil could wish.

 

 'What!' says PLOTINUS, Can a man see God, and in the mean time abstain from no manner of pleasure; in anger impotent, in good fortune insolent, in adversity impatient Remember the name of GOD, and in the mean while be held with all manner of passions Virtue arrived at its due pitch, with true wisdom and prudence, shows GOD unto us; but without true virtue, the naming of GOD is but a name, a word, a sound, an echo, nothing.'

 

 See how the heathen philosopher triumphs over those worthy -Christians, whose religion was but opinion, and their life the depth of corruption. Or see rather how moderately and civilly he carries himself towards them, that in controversies are ready to eat up and devour one another.

 

 2. But I will endeavor to convince them with the Apostle's, own argument, viz., " That they that hear and do not, deceive their own selves." There be many testimonies of Scripture that will witness this deceit. "Be not deceived; GOD is not mocked; -for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap: he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the SPIRIT, shall of the SPIRIT reap life everlasting." (Gal. 6: 7, 8.)

 

 So ST. JOHN: "Little children, be not deceived; he that does righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the Devil; for the Devil sinneth from the beginning."

 

 "Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor wantons, nor defilers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of GOD." (1 Cor. 6:)

 

How frequent are the Apostles in inculcating this truth That righteousness of life is that which leads to GOD and his eternal kingdom! Surely those holy watchmen of Israel did see the time would come, that the delusions of the Devil would so strongly possess the heads and hearts of men, that they would be fast glued to some outward form of religion, as the formal hearing of the word, and such like, that they might with a more quiet conscience omit the greater things of the law, as justice, temperance, charity, and humility. The other they ought to do, but by no means to leave these undone.

 

But now I shall endeavor to show how this simple sort of souls are befooled.

 

 "If any man seem to himself that he is somewhat, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." (Gal. 6:) Now that these empty hearers of the word think themselves to be somewhat is plain, else would they seek something better; but as they set up their rest in this outward performance, it is a sign they seem to themselves to have got something.

 

 But that they are as surely nothing, as it is sure they take themselves to be something, is easily proved out of 1 Cor. 13:: " Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I am as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal; and although I had the gift of prophecy, and knew all secrets, and all knowledge, yea, if I had all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and had not love, I were nothing."

 

 Now that idle hearers of the word have not charity, will be proved, out of the effects of charity: cc Love suffereth long: “ they are impatient. "Love is bountiful: “ they are griping and covetous. "Love envieth not: " they are choked with malice. "Love is not puffed up: “ they are swollen with deceitful imaginations. "It seeketh not its own: “ they are not contented with their own. "It i not provoked they are implacable. " It thinks n evil: “ they meditate no good. "It rejoiceth in the truth: “ they are condemners of the truth. " It believeth all things: “ they believe no more than serves their own turn. "It Fulfillls the law: “ they only hear the law.

 

 That we are to sacrifice ourselves, that is, our wickedness and fleshly life, no man, I think, will deny; but so hard it is to flesh and blood to undergo this mortification, that there needs a steady, strong upholding instrument for this so weighty performance; which is all-bearing patience. This holds up the mortified soul, and therefore is not unlike an altar that bears the sacrifice.

 

 Now they that fight against this real service of GOD, which is the mortification of our sinful lusts, the sacrificing of our evil life, let them dream never so strongly that such a righteousness will serve their turn,-a formal hearing of the word, and a favorable false application of the same; all this sweet repast and imaginary trust and persuasion, will prove but a vision of the night. For these drreamers, instead of purging the flesh by the sacrifice of fire, defile the flesh with the fire of lust; great pretenders to knowledge, that are sedulous hearers, but no doers; clouds without water; and they, you know, make a goodly show of whitish shining light, though not so thoroughly enlightened as the blue sky; stars they are, but wandering stars, the end of whose staggering period is to set in everlasting blackness of darkness.

 

 3. A third reason why we should be "doers of the word," is the reward of keeping his commandments; "By them is thy servant taught, and in keeping of them there is great reward." (Psa. xix.) A reward in- estate, a reward in body, and a-reward in soul.

 

(I.) A reward in estate. "Blessed shalt thou be in thy basket and in thy dough. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, and the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep." (Deut. 28:) But if we think MOSES's word not sufficient, CHRIST himself will put in security for supply of all necessaries, if we take but the condition of obedience: " Seek ye first the kingdom of GOD and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:) So the Psalmist: "The lions roar and suffer hunger, but they that fear the LORD shall want no manner of thing that is good." There are manifold testimonies in Scripture to this purpose, and so obvious, that quotation is needless.

 

 (2.) The second reward is in a man's body. "Fear the LORD, and depart from evil; so health shall be to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." (Prow. 3:) Envy, anger, hatred, and discontented melancholy, weaken nature, and destroy the body; but life and vigor are in the perfect law of charity. A cheerful, conscience purifies and refines the blood; but disobeying the inward light, is the choking of the vital spirits. "A sound heart is the life of the flesh," says SOLOMON, c"' but envy is the rottenness of the bones." This for health and strength: Now for beauty. "The wisdom of a man, doth make his face to shine." (Eccles. viii.) If there be a continual vigorous habit in the heart of shining virtue and lovely charity, it will issue even into the face of a man in all friendly amiableness. -"MOSES' was so filled with this heavenly beauty, that the children of Israel could not look upon him for his glorious splendor. But the works of darkness make the spirit of a man to set in gloomy obscurity and deadness.

 

 (3.) We come to the third reward, which is in the soul. "The law of the LORD is an undefiled law, converting the soul." (Psa. xix. 7.)

 

For the clear understanding of this conversion, we are to take notice of the nature thereof. Conversion includes two things: A leaving, and a making toward somewhat. And in this Christian conversion, that which is to be left is the creature, and that which is to be turned unto is GOD.

 

 The leaving of the creature is the forsaking of whatsoever is not GOD, but especially the renouncing ourselves; for while we cleave to the creature, we most of all cleave to ourselves; for we adhere to it for our own sake. 'Selflove is the hinge upon which we turn from GOD to the creature; and upon which we begin to circle from the creature to GOD again; but the accomplishment of ' conversion breaks this thing, abolisheth this centre; and then we have our fixation in GOD, and all our motion and operation of will and affection is upon him and from him.,

 

 No man would bed, so mad as to forsake the service of GOD, to be a drudge to an inferior master; but without question, the plot is to be his own god-and his own master, and to employ all his strength for himself.

 

But how the law of GOD Both convert the soul from this idolatry; and that which we falsely seek after, how it brings us truly more near unto, will be seen from the manner of this conversion of the soul to GOD.

 

 The conversion of things to their causes or principles, is to ascend nearer and nearer to them, and to become more and more like them. To return therefore to GOD, is to become like to Him, by the recovery of the lost image of all, who was made according to the similitude of GOD.

 

 Now the image of GOD seems not to be unknown even to the very heathens. The ancient Greek poet brings in ULYSSES musing with himself, amongst his travels, what a kind of people he had fallen among, after this manner:

 

*

 

 'What a kind of people be the inhabitants of the land into which I am come Are they injurious, barbarous, and unjust Or are they of a loving disposition, courteous unto strangers, and of a godlike mind' * Where the poet, plainly makes the form-or image of GOD" consist in love, in righteousness or justice, and courteousness; they being contrary to injury, brutish fierceness, cruelty, and injustice.

 

 PLATO speaks more expressly, though in fewer words: To be like GOD is to be holy, just, and wise.' I might-multiply words for the setting forth the manifold benefits and graces that accrue to the soul of man from his conversion to GOD. But nothing more can be said than this image of CHRIST doth either express, or at least imply.

 

 Justice, holiness, and-prudence, comprise all excellence. That generous magnanimity of mind, that bears itself above all the contempts that-,can follow the practice of that which is good, or abstinence from that which is evil; pure temperance, manly and awful-eyed fortitude, gravity, and modesty, gently moving in all peaceful and steady tranquillity; and a godlike understanding, watering with showers of light this flourishing paradise of piety and virtue. This, and whatsoever. else we can conceive that is good, is contained in this divine image; nay, more than we, can conceive, before we be transformed into that likeness.

 

 The wisdom of him that is regenerate into this-image of GOD, dives into the depths of darkness, unties the knots of that old serpent's train, breaks off the bonds of death and hell, pierceth like lightning into the inwardness of things, stands before the throne of immortal glory. That holiness winds itself from all corruption of, the flesh, flies above the attraction of the body, looks upon GOD in unspotted purity. That justice gives every thing its own that which is CASAR'S to CAESAR, and that which is GOD's to GOD, hit nothing to itself; seeketh nothing for itself, exulteth not in itself; but gives all to GOD, seeks all for GOD, rejoiceth always in God. "Thou art worthy, O LORD, to receive honor, and glory, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy will's sake they are and have been created." (Rev. 4:) Thus they are nothing in their own eyes, as indeed they are nothing; but in profound humility and gratitude, (which is the most exquisite act of justice) give all to the everlasting Majesty.

 

 This is that lovely, beautiful, and most desirable image of CHRIST the SON of the FATHER. Who has part here is an inheritor of eternity; but he that by false and lazy imagination remains in the Devil's nature, his doom is everlasting death, and unspeakable misery. And thus much for the reasons, Why we should be doers of the word. I will only speak a word of the proposition that is left.

 

 III. That we are not to deceive ourselves. To deceive one's self is a double fault; He that deceives himself is both fool and knave; both the deceived and the deceiver. Though to say the truth, he that is-deceived by another, was first deceived by himself. The same defective principles that expose a man to be deceived of another, expose him as well to be deceived of himself. No man is discovered to be a fool by another, but he was so in himself first; and who made him, so then

 

But how can this be, that man should be so wise as to circumvent himself, and so foolish as to be circumvented by himself

 

 The soul of man, betwixt these two, the spirit and the flesh, heaven and hell, God and the Devil, is so placed, that accordingly as it inclines or cleaves to either, so is its wisdom and life. If it continually struggle to work itself upward toward GOD, GOD will put out his merciful arm to draw it out of those infernal waters. If it cleave' unto the flesh and its deceivable lusts, the warmth of wickedness will attract it down lower and lower, until SATAN has insnared it in all his nests, and has chained it in his own chains; so that being made an absolute vassal of that tyrannic Prince that rules in the sons of disobedience, he shall be excluded from the everlasting light of GOD, and his holy truth. "God, that commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shine in our hearts, and give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of GOD, in the face of JESUS CHRIST," that we may walk before him in the truth of life.