A IEVVELL FOR THE EARE By Ro. Wilkinson Rom. 10 17. Faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God To all those that are desirous not onely to be hearers of the worde but dooers of the will of god Grace mercy and peace in Iesus Christ our Lord and Sauiour WIlling to satisfie the especiall entreaty of some and for a generall benefite to all Gods Church I haue set out to publike view this Sermon of preparatiue which I preached in my Parish Church at Horton in Kent I know there is no word of God but hath his profit 2 TiÌ„ 3 16 for so saith paule that al Scripture is profitable but set this a part and we shall like him that after Iohn 5 5. he had bin diseased eight and thirtie yeares laye at the poole of Bethsaida for helpe and yet was neuer the neare because he had none to helpe him nor knew not how to get in when the angell came downe to stirre the water this is the reason why there are at this day so many vnfruitfull hearers for that albeit mens soules are euen sick for want of knowledge though they haue lien at the well head and by the water of life and had a continuall sound of the Gospell in their eare yet in sixe and fortie yeares this ignorance cannot be expelled because when the Angell of Gods will doth preach the word and stirre vp the water of life they know not how to moue their eares toward it This therfore beloued I haue set downe as a direction to teach men how to heare that so often as the poole hereafter shal be stirred and the word of God preached vnto you yâ—â— may know how to vse it to your benefit therefore learne this Sermon and profit by all neglect this and leese all I haue called it a Iewell as Christ called the Gospell a pearle for without this Iewel Mat. 13. 4 you shall neuer finde that pearle I haue fitted it foâ— the eare vnto which if ye apply it it shal be an ornament to the eare as Soloman said of wisedome Prou. 1 9. it would be as a chaine to thy necke therefore failâ— not but apply it hee which suffereth the Iewes to rob the Egiptians of their Iewels and when they after melted them to make a calfe did suffer vs to rob them of their spirituall Iewell Let vs take hee least for our abuse of the word he stir vp the Ieweâ— againe to rob vs of this pearle of the Gospell and cause them to rise againe by our fall as we haue risen by theirs God of his mercy turne our harts and teach vs to imbrace his word as we ought Amen Yours in Christ Ro. Wilkinson A Iewell for the EARE Matthew 13 9. He that hath Eares to heare let him heare BEcause beloued the hearing of the worde is so holie a thinge and holy thinges are not rashlie to be attempted I haue thought good in this my entrance to lay downe a preparatiue that we may knowe with what reuerence we are come into the temple with what attention to heare desire to learne and care to practise for wel I remember that when the Isralites were sommoned to appeare before the Lorde in Sina they were first commaunded to sanctifie Exod. 19 10 11 their harts and washe their clothes euen as Moses might not come néere the Angel til he had put of his shooes because Exod. 3 5 the grownd was holy wheron he stoode this reason as néerely toucheth vs for if the place be as holy the exercise as holy now as then why should not we come as prepared as they least comming with vncircumcised eares and vnprepared harts it be said to vs as to him that intruded him selfe at the wedding frinde how camest thou hether not hauing on a Mat. 22 12 wedding garment In my first Sermon vpon those words of the prophet For Sions Esay 62 1 sake I will not hold my toung I let you know what was the duety of the speaker now it commeth in good order to tell you the duety of the hearer for if it could any way concerne you to knowe our duety much more auaileble will it be to learne your owne for a declaration whereof I haue chosen this Text Hee that hath eares to heare let him heare I know we are all by nature curious and euery mans nature is to regarde an other mans duty before his own euen as Peter said to Christ Maist what shal Iohn Ioh. 21 21 do To whom Christ roundly answered again what is that to thee as if he ment that euery man should looke to himselfe and let Iohn alone so would I perswade you for that ye are hearers to learne the hearers duety and let the speaker alone for albeit there be such a reference betwéene hearing and speaking as they may not well be seuered yet the necessity of hearing doth more generally concerne all for God said O earth earth earth heare the worde of the Lord but he neuer saide O earth earth earth preach the worde of the Lord for Arons roabe befits Ier. 22 29 not euery man vpon the earth but euery man is bounde to weare this Iewell at his eare for Faith commeth by hearing as if Saint Paule had saide where is no hearing there can be no faith therefore Ro. 10 17 Abraham spake out of heauen and his voice did pearce euen the bowels of hel Luk. 16 29 They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them and when he saieth let them it is more then a bare toleration as to say they may if they will for it is a flat charge because god therfore sent Moyses the Prophets into the world that the world of necessity should hear There is a kinde of people that thinke the whole burthen of the Saboth to lie vppon the speaker therefore Christe to wéede out that fancie saith likewise Take heed how Luk. 8 18. you heare to show that there is a necessity and an arte of hearinge as well as of speaking These two are fitly compared to a locke and a key for as the key openeth the lock and maketh entrance in at the doore so the tongue of the minister shoulde open the eare of the hearer that the spirit of knowledge and vnderstanding might passe into the heart and so it should seeme that speaking is ordained to hearing as the meanes is directed to the end for when God had commanded that the skirts of Arons robe should be hunge about with Pomegranats of silke and an intercourse of bels betwéene them the Exod. 28 34 35. reason was added That so oft as he ministred in the holye place and went in and out before the Lord his sound should be heard but walles and windowes cannot heare therefore by all likelihood that doctrine was intended for men and if for men why not for you The holy Ghoast discended vppon the Apostles not in the shape of heads that
they should onely vnderstand the word nor of harts that they shuld onely loue the word but like toongs that they should preach the word so that when God sent out his disciples with toongs his meaning was that ye shoulde méete them in the halfe way with eares and so ye sée the correspondence betwéene these two Scriptures how iustly they fit and iumpe together for Syons sake I wil not hold my tongue Hee that hath eares to heare let him heare For if it be necessarie that we should preach for Syons sake then it is requisite that Syon should heare for her owne sake This saying of our Sauiour He that hath eares c. is the argument by which he doth beg attention for the parable of the Sower to shew that the doctrine it contained was both so excellent in it selfe and so necessarie for the world as if a man were worth but his eares he could not choose but heare and it may concern either all in generall because all haue ears or the elect particulerly because they onely haue eares to hear For the farmer if there were no other reason why men should heare but this because God hath giuen an eare yet it bindeth very strongly therefore sée how God speaketh vnto vs euen in the fleshly instrument of hearing Christ doth not vrge vppon vs the dignity of himselfe the speaker neither the necessity of the doctrine nor the misery which befalleth to a man by not hearing but leauing al these arguments he reasoneth against vs euen from flesh and bloud and proueth euen by the member and instrument of the eare that men ought to be hearers of the worde Wee must not think our eares are giuen vs for worldly vses onely to harken after our profit to listen to him that can teach vs a Gospell of gold that can tickle our eares with musicke or our mindes with vnhonest Apoc. 2 3. mirth but God hath planted the eare for spiritual vses euen as Saint Iohn saith let him that hath an eare heare what the spirit saith mark well the words for that we should marke them he hath seauen times repeated them Let him that hath an eare heare not what the worlde saith nor what the flesh saith nor what the diuell saith but what the spirit saith that if both speak at once we should listen to the spirit turne the deafe side to the diuell and if the eare be the doore of the hart then fitly might Dauid say Lift vp Psal 24 7. your heads ye gates and be ye open you euerlasting doores and not euery guest but the king of glorie shall come in And what maruell is it if the eares were consecrated to holy vses since there is no part or member of the body or soul which god hath not ordained to some spirituall end Did god create the eie that it should only be a light to the bodie and in no sort giue light to the soul or did he not rather principally create it that it might tel the soule what beauty was in the visible cretures that the soule might thereby coniecture what glory is in the inuisible god Did god giue man a mouth onely to bargaine and buy withall or call for the necessities of this life or rather to singe of his testimonies and set foorth his praise O god my hart is prepared saith Dauid Psal 108. and so is my toung and then he presently inferreth vpon it I will sing and giue praise for what should he do with a tong that giueth not praise God hath giuen vs witte and braines but not onely for worldly vses and deuises not to inuent instruments of musick as Iuball did nor workes of brasse as Tubal-kain did nor vnderstandinge policies as Achitophel did but to study for heauenly wisedome Eccles 12. as Soloman did to meditate of Gods lawes as Dauid did God hath giuen vs harts and affections and yet not to loue the world but to set our affections wholy one him in a word there is no part or member in soule and body which ought not as a Nazarite to bee consecrate and vowed to the seruice of God Saloman iudged those dayes to be euill dayes wherein a man coulde not vse his members to remember the Creator wherein the kéepers should tremble the stronge men shoulde bow they that looke out at the windowes should waxe darke wherin the doores shoulde bee shut by the base sound of the grinding and the daughters of singing should be abased those hee iudged euill daies as if it were as good in a manner to haue noe handes as such trembling handes to haue no ioints as such féeble ioints to haue no eies as blind eies to be without an eare as to haue a deafe eare then by the contrary if these be euil dayes wherein a man cannot vse his members they must néedes be good wherein God hath giuen a frée vse of all So as it may séeme that God in ech part or member of a mans body did intende some speciall vse for his worship and seruice vnto which if the partes in youth were not imployed in the euil daies they would be fruitlesse and vnprofitable Will those eies which are wont to wander and gaze after euery vanity wil they in the euill dayes bee learned and taught to behold gods wil in his precious word and his great glory in all the creatures Will the toong which hath euer bin accustomed invred with all vices as lying standering scurrility and blasphemy wil it in the euel daies be taught to sound out the praise of god Will those eares which haue béene so accustomed with filthe and folly will they in the euil daies be taught to heare the word of God therfore while we haue eies let vs beholde and he that hath eares let him heare It is not only a bare gift of nature or worke of the womb that wee haue eies eares and tongues Act. 17 28 but it is euen the grace of God frō aboue for in him we liue we mooue and haue our being and god bestoweth not his graces for nothing I say there is no member of a mannes body but carrieth in it a print of Gods loue and testimony of his grace but aboue all the rest more specially are we beholding to him for our eies and eares for that by these twoe as by a channel the knowledge of God is conueied into our soules for by the eie we come to the naturall mans diuinity in suruaying the creatures because as Paul sayeth Rom. 1 20 the visible things of god that is his eternall power and Godhead are seene by the creation of the worlde if they were seene by the creation then our eie is our schoolemaister to bring vs to the knowledge of the Creator but that knowledge is vnperfect as the glimmering of a light but by our eare more specially and expressely we attaine to the knowledge of Gods reuealed will so that God neuer commeth so néere a mans soule as
thinges which liue by the sweete that they sweate not for but they come vnsent for for God neuer spake to them neither do I commend their dilligence in comming for a blessed thinge it were if God should send a weste winde to blow them into the sea but I speake of those poore creatures whom God neuer calleth but they come and are obedieÌ„t and their obedience ascendeth vp to heauen and from heauen is descended back againe to condemne our disobedience for from heauen God spake it that the Oxe should come to his owner and the Asse to his Esay 1 3. maisters cribb but Israell Gods owne people would not vnderstand nor come O therfore all ye that are Gods people come and hearken and take this lesson withall that ye yeeld not to come as Peter yeelded to forgiue his brother seueÌ„ times and then ha done for I say vnto you not seuen times but seuentie times seuen times yea so often as the seuenth day shall come vpon you come and hollow it The Atâ—enians came to heare Paule but it was for nouilty of his doctrin as there be I am in doubt and I feare it in this place who are come to heare the Sermon onely because it is new and straunge to haue a preacher but when preachinge shall waxe stale they will not heare the voice of the charmer charme hee neuer so wisely these men for a brunt are verye deuout as he who receiued the worde in stony grownd reioycing at the first and hearing it with ioy but that ioy indured Mat. 13 20 but a while for his zeale possessed him like an ague very hotte for the time but when the fit was ouer he fell to his olde bias as the dog to his vomit remember Dauid saith Blessed are they that dwell in Psal 84 4 Gods house The Church of God is not like a Inne for once or twice to soiourne in but it is to dwell in and dwellinge is a continuall abiding wee must haue our harts there our treasure there and bring our Children there as the Swallowes laies her young by the alter in a worde we must altogether dwell there that at what time soeuer Christ shall come he may finde vs in the temple and not in a Tauerne in the house of prayer and not in a den of théeues We neede not say beloued as Peter said Let vs make vs three tabernacles for God hath built vs a temple and tabernacle to our hands onely let vs bringe readdy affections and say Bonum ect esse hic it is good for vs to be heere which if with assiduitie and dilligence ye shall performe then will I say of you as Dauid of himselfe The zeale of gods house hath eaten you vp but if ye Psal 69 9 faint and waxe colde I must say that you haue eaten vp your zeale therefore in the name of god let vs come with dilligence Gods liberality calleth for dilligence at your hands who of all the trées in Paradice did aske for himselfe but one of all the daies in seauen asketh ye but one if ye will giue him another hee will accept it as a fréewill offringe but but fayle not to giue him one and pay it faithfully who of his owne doth aske yet one so sparingly I knowe what will be your excuses ye haue married a wife or bought a yoake of oxen therefore ye cannot come but deceiue not your selues for these are no excuses shall a wife kéepe you backe from following Christe yet better it were for a man to liue alone then to haue such an helper what though Adam said Man Gen. 2 24 shall forsake father and mother to cleaue Luk. 14 26 to his wife yet Christ saide a man must hate father and mother and wife to come to him But ye will pleade that ye haue bought a yoke of oxen Postponetur Deus bonibus qui nos aequauit Angelis saith an old writer Will you set God behinde your Oxen who hath made you equall with Angels These thinges are good but in their order and due place but séeke ye first the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse therof and then let wiues and Oxen follow after for euen our necessary businesses and lawfull affaires if they hinder vs from Gods seruice are turned into sinne euen as the pure waters in Egipt were turned into bloud If lawfull businesses may not hinder our comming to the Church of God then much lesse may idle sportes and vnlawfull games detaine vs if bargaininge and wiuing may not excuse vs much lesse will piping and dauncing The Saboth is a day of holy rest not of vnholy ryot the Iraelites might not gather their Manna vpon it and may we Exo. 16 26 runne a rioting vpon it What would they doe to them whom they finde prophaninge Godes Saboth with drunken delightes who stoned him to Nú. 15 26 death whome they founde gatheringe stickes for needefull vse But this is our corruption of nature euerye idle sporte prouokes vs to sacriledge to rob God of his glory in his saboth and sacrifice it to the Diuell Diabolus te vocat et venis Mundus te vocat et venis Caro te vocat et venis Cultus Dei te vocat et non venis saith an antient father The deuel calleth by temtation and ye yeelde vnto it the worlde calleth and ye listen to it the flesh calleth and ye come to it but the worship of God calleth and ye care not for it Diogenes to try the nature of the Athenians disguised himselfe vnhandsomely daunced rudely and set his voice to singe ilfauordly and the people came flocking about him behold saith he the nature of this people so oft as I tooke vpon me to speake of an honest life or vertuous conuersatioÌ„ they passed by me as a visited person and left me alone but now I frame my selfe to make sports like a foole they like a flocke of fooles come preasing about mee there is nothing that chokes mens zeale so much as that they hunte so gréedily after vanity of the worlde neither was there any reason why Esau was prophane but because hee was a man of the fielde for while he was hunting for venison abrod Iacob catcht vp the blessing and birth-right at home euen as often times it falleth out that while Gods blessinge is a dealing in the Church the people are rebelling and rioting in the stréete therfore come to the Church and God will blesse you When you haue obtained of your selus to come the next thing it is to performe attention for Dauid saith not come children and heare but come and hearken and if hearing were inough to satisfie a Saboth day then might ye driue in your oxen too for they can apprehend an outward sounde as well as ye but though they haue eares yet they haue not eares to heare In the Scripture hearing and harkning is all one and our harkning it is Opus animi non Auris as one saithe
and apply it to the conscience as when we hear of gods mercy to be rauisht with ioye and when wee heare of his iudgements to be stricken with fear when we heare of his promises to rise vp in hope when we heare of our sins to repent and loath our selues This is the laying of the word to our hart and thus did Marie when she heard what straung things the shepheards reported from the Angels Saint Luke saith She kept all those sayings and pondred them in her hart A special Luk. 2 10 help to this is an often reuoluing and meditating in our minds of that we haue hearde for Dauid did not onely talke of Gods testimonies amongst his friends but being alone likewise did meditate of his law for so he saith that in Gods law was his continuall meditation and that both euening and morning and seauen times in a day and it hath bin the practise of Gods saints from time to time to enter into continual meditation of his mercy and of his iudgments It is commended in Isaac that euery euening hee went Ge. 24 63 Esay 5 12 14. out to meditate in the law those beastes were onely cleane which chewed the cud by which was figured a spirituall meditating ruminating of heauenly things and it is the cause of much vncleanesse in mens liues and of much iudgement vpon the world because they meditate not of Gods waies Indeed saith the prophet The harpe and violl the Timbrell pipe and wine are in their bankets but the works of God they consider not therefore hell hath enlarged it selfe and opened her mouth and they that reioyced shall goe downe into it and so saithe the Prophet Ieremie That the whole land is fallen into desolation because there is none that considereth in his hart Ier. 12 11 Therfore in the name of God beloued let vs prepare our eares and harts that we may first heare then remember and last of all lay vp the word in our harts for this is the right hearing and he that heareth hath not onely eares but eares to heare I would ye did consider that euery man by his obedience in this regard is iudged of what flock he is for so saith Christ My sheepe heare my Ioh. 10 27 voice so that if a man be desirous to hear then straight he is iudged to be of christs flocke but if the word be vnsauory and bréed no delight in his hart it is a shreud presumption that that man is a Goate And great reason we haue to delight in Gods voice for there is no word procéeding out of his mouth but it sauoureth of mercy and saluation to the soule for so Cant. 5 13 the Church testified of Christe that his lips are like to Lillies dropping downe pure mirrhe and how then should God indure our contempt who prefer the diuell before him nay God will endite vs not onely of contempt but of mockery too for if we shall beséech God to supply the meanes of hearing and send down a prophet amongst vs and when that Prdphet commeth shall shut our ears against him what is that but a mocke Besides what an vnresonable thing is it that we desire God to heare vs who could neuer vouchsafe to heare him if we stand in any néede of God how clamorous are wee and importunate vpon him Heare my prayer O Lord bow down thine ear vnto my supplicatton and why hidest thou thy face and forgettest all our afflictions and if God séeme a little to delay vs how hasty are we vpon him come Lord Iesus come quickly and make noe long tarrying my God and O god make hast to help vs but when God speaks to vs there is none that turneth his eare as if we had him in a string that he were bound to vs and not we to him therfore it shall come to passe that we shall pray and he shall not heare vs for so he threatneth Because I haue called and ye refused Prou. 7 24 26 27 c. I will also laugh at your destruction and mocke when your feare commeth when your feare commeth like a sodain desolation and your destruction like a whirlewinde when affliction and anguish shall come vpon you then shall they call vpon me but I will not answere they shall seeke me earelie but they shall not finde me because they hated knowledge God shall take from you either the preaching of the worde as he threatneth by Amos. I will Amo. 8 11 send a famine into the lande not a famine of bread nor thirst for water but of hearing the word of the Lord. Or God shall take from you the Preacher of the word when ye shall runne from coast to coaste and shall finde none to preach peace vnto your consciences or at the least god shall take away the guifts of the Preacher because of the hardnes of your harts It is a notable obseruation of Saint Gregorie that God doeth sometime multiply his gifts and his spirit vppon the Preacher because the hearer is desirous to learne and sometime againe he doth take away his giftes and his spirite from the Preacher euen for a plague and iudgement vpon the people because they neither desire to heare or care to learne Therefore doe ye prepare your heartes and eares to heare and I doubt not but god will multiply his spirit and send a blessing vppon these my labours And of this let me aduise you before hand that no one of you at any time presume to set his foote within these wals who first setteth not down with himselfe to practise in his life what here hee heareth with his eare Some come not to haue their liues resormed but to haue their eares tickled as at a play some come for nouelty some for fashion some to sléepe some to sée and some to be seen but few to practise but let these things be farre from you for our sauiour Christ sayth He that is of God beareth gods words nay he goeth further in the Iohn 8 47 same place speaking to the vnbeleeuing Iewes ye therefore heare them not beecause ye are not of God and Saint Iames Iam. 1 22 saith that he deceiueth himselfe who is onely a hearer of the word and not a dooer for Gods word is a leuen whose nature is to turne the whole lumpe into his owne nature to season and make it like it selfe as when you haue heard a Sermon of humility to shew forth the fruite of that Sermon in your liues and conuersasions when you haue heard a Sermon of repentance to be stricken in hart with a feeling of your sinnes when you haue heard of Gods iudgementes against blasphemy couetousnesse lying stealing against vsury or prophaning of the Sabboths euery man to set downs with himselfe I will surely with Gods help purge my selfe of this and that corruption and amend in my selfe what I now see is amisse then may we say of you ye are our Sermon as Paule saide to the Corrinthians ye are our Epâ—stle 2 cor 3 2 When whatsoeuer doctrine hath flowed out of our mouths doth spring vp as freshly in your liues let vs therefore say with Dauid O Lord prepare the harts of this people vnto thee send downe thy holy spirit into our hartes and into our eares gouern vs when we come to hear for paule may plant and Apollo water but thou must giue increase and in vaine shal the voice of the preacher beate vpon the doore of our eares vnlesse thou fill our hartes with thy spirit which we beséech thée of thy infinite mercy and goodnesse to performe that we may proceed from grace to grace vntil we come to the state of glory vnto which the Lord of his mercy bringe us To the sonne and to the holy ghoast thrée persons but one God bee ascribed all praise dominion and glory nowe and for euermore Amen Finis