the life of Christ in thee it is a standing life it will not make thee alive at prayer and dead when thou hast done it will not make thee holy and Spirituall at a Sermon and leave thee dead and carnall when it is done not holy and heavenly in discourse and conference and worldly and prophane when it is done not to be holy and lively c. in a good moode and leave thee dead-hearted secure and loose afterwards this is not to be in Christ no the life of Christ is a standing and a continuing life it will make thee alive after all thy services after every duty as thou wast before or in the duty He that saith he abideth in him c. In this word He there are three Notes a note Of Indignation Discrimination Scrutiny First Indignation The Apostle doth as it were point at a certain man in his congregation as if there had been some mâ—n that he knew was not in Christ What man soever whether in this pewe or in that pewe whether on this forme or on that forme if he abide in Christ he ought to walke as Christ walked Hence observe That a Minister is bound to preach home in particular so that he may summon this man and that man in the Church as the Apostle doth here he that saith if there be any one amongst the whole multitude that saith he abideth in Christ he ought also himself to walke as he walked And this commission God gives unto all his ministers Mark 16. 15. Go preach the Gospell to every creature he doth not say preach the Gospell before every creature so they may doe and preach in generall but to every creature that every creature may feele the Gospell bearing on his heart that every creature may see his sins that so the Gospell may be applyed to his heart All the names given to Ministers shew thus much They are called Seeds men now a Seeds man doth not take a whole croppe or a whole bushel of corne and throw it in a heap in his field but he takes it and scatters it abroad that every place may receive some So they are called Builders now a builder doth not onely frame the whole building but he layes every particular bricke and every particular stone in his building So they are called Shepheards a Shepheard doth not onely looke to his flocke in generall but to every Ramme and to every Lamb in his flocke So Preachers must not onely preach the word of God in generall but they must preach in particular The ground of this will appear if we consider three things in particular First particulars are most operative it is not fire in generall that burns but t is this or that fire so it is not sinne in generall that will humble a man it is not repentance in generall that wil turne a man it is not faith in generall that will save a man but this fiâ—ne and that sin this repentance and that repentance this faith and that faith All actions they are of singulars An universall man cannot reason an universall man cannot dispute an universall man cannot see nor hear No it is this man and that man that seeth and hears and disputes Particulars are most operative preaching to men in particular is powerfull preaching that workes upon mens consciences How came the Prophet to preach powerfully to the people He declared to Jacob his sinne and to Israel his transgression Micha 3. 8. I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord saith the Prophet here was the way whereby the Prophet preached powerfully so that the Spirit went and rent mens hearts and consciences and made them tremble how why he made every soule see his sinnes so that Minister that would preach powerfully to the consciences of his people he must make every one of them to see their sinnes against God and his commandements so that they may confesse I see I have been a grievons sinner and I am in the state of damnation and I must repent or else I shall be damned Secondly particulars are most distinct when the preacher preacheth only in generall it workes a confused knowledge knowledge of sinne in generall a confused repenta nce a confused humiliation and a confused faith in the generall it may be it may make a man see he is a sinner in the generall but there are many thousand thousand sinnes in particular that he takes no notice of but swallows them down in the generall it may be his sinnes may be discovered in the generall but alas there are many yea multitudes of deceits of turnings and windings of the heart in particular that are never discovered to them All the religion of these men is only generall I love God with all my heart saiâ—thone and yet the man is grossely ignorant of God Aske him any particulars how he can prove his love to God and the man cannot shew any So I serve God with all my heart but goe to particulars and bid him manifest what he speakes so I feare God I worship God but bring them to the particular workes of these graces and they aregone presently they are lost and know not what to answer Thus the people in Malachies time they thought they had much knowledge while the Priest preached thus overly to them but when the Prophet came to preach home and to come with particulars to them they thought the Prophet was madde they knew not what he meant You have despised the Lord saith the Prophet wherein say they Mal. 1. 6. You have prophaned the worship of God You have polluted the table of the Lord saith the Prophet ver 7. wherein said they You have wearied the Lord with your words said the Prophet Chap. 2. ver 17. wherein said they You have robbed God Chap. 3. ver 8. wherein said they See your words have been stoute against the Lord said the Prophet yet they said what have we spoken ver 13. they could not tell wherein till the Prophet told them herein have you robbed God herein have you despised the Lord herein you have prophaned the worship of God c. So should the minister of God come to men and tell them in particular thou art an enemy to Gods grace thou hast abused Gods patience wherein sayest thou Thou art one that scornest the word of God and thou defilest all the Ordinances of God Wherein sayest thou Thou art one that putst farre from thee the evill day wherein sayest thou Now when the minister of God can come to particulars and shew men wherein then they cry out against them and think they tell them lies and preach false things to them but the Ministers of God are bound to preach so as they may discover mens particular sinnes not so as people may point one at another but so as every conscience may feele its owne sinnes Thirdly particulars are most sensible If the Minister preach home in particular there is not a false heart then
have they besought you to be zealous and meek and holy and you will not thou art techie and revengefull in speeches how often hast thou been sought to leave it thou art proude and stout-hearted how oft hast thou been fought for to be humble thou art carnall and worldly how often hast thou been besought to be spirituall and heavenly Thou hast no assurance of Christ in thy soule how oft hast thou been besought for to get him Ministers beseech thee every Sabbath Ministers intreate thee every week They breake their braines and breake their sleepe and spend their lung and all to invent and speake acceptable words to prevaile with your â—oules with heart-cutting intreaties they beseech you if not withstanding all this you will not be intreated to part with your sinnes then it is evident you hate reformation If we did not hate a thing we would doe it though we were never besought to doe it if thou didst not hate a reformation of thy sinnes thou wouldest have been reformed without these beseeches but if beseeches and intreaties cannot wooe thee thou hatest it indeed which beseeches cannot reconcile The Lord Jesus sent his Ministers in his Name we are Gods Embassadours in Christ his stead we pray you to be reconciled to God We have besought you by the bloud of Christ we have intreated you by the Bowel of Gods mercies to become new men we beseech you in the Bowels of the Lord Jesus Christ to give over your sins We beseech you as you love your soules give over your sins we beseech you as you are men as you know what is what give over your sinnes we beseech you let the drunkard give over his drunkennesse the swearer his oathes and blasphemies the Idolater his Idolatry and wilworship let the idle talker give over his fruitlesse communication the covetous person give over his covetousnesse the secure Christian and luke warme professor and deadharted server of God come out of his security and dead-heartednesse c. I beseech you by the mercies of God saith Saint Paul present your bodies a living sacrifice holy c. Rom. 12. 1. Sacrifice your tongues unto God we beseech you and speake holy conference sacrifice your hearts we beseech you and use holy meditations sacrifice your eares unto God and suffer not idle language to be spoken in your hearing we beseech you doe this yea by all the mercies of Christ we beseech as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ his stead and will you not yet Certainly you hate the light if all these beseeches cannot reconcile you we have besought you that there be no disorders in any of your families and yet there are we have besought you that there be no losse of time in your meetings that there be no root of bitternesse in your hearts and yet there is we have besought you to mend your repentance and to better your obedience and to repent of your rotten formality and to come out of your sandy and quagmire bottoms and not to consent your selves with this beggerly form of religion onely but as ever you love your soules and would be loved to get the power of grace and a thousand more things have we besought you Is it done no God knows all the beseeches and intreaties under heaven have not yet done it Now therefore you must needs stand convinced in your consciences that you hate the light if all these beseeches cannot bring you to it They must needs be saide to hate one another when neither money nor price nor any thing can make friends That is inveterate cankerous hatred which can never be out-bought which can never be hired to â—ease I make no question but that the Dâ—mosels Master at the first did hate that his Maide should be possessed with a divell but when he saw that it brought him in great gaine he took off his hatred he could then be content that the divell might have stayed in his house so he might have gained by it and therefore we read that he was angry at the Apostle for dispossessing the devill out of her Act. 16. 19. It must be a grievous haâ—red that profit cannot mollifie Brethren you know that God offereth you pardon of your sins he offers you mercy he offers you a Kingdom if you wil come out of your sins If thou wouldst rather lose father mother wife and children houses and lands goods and livings rather then shake hands with such a one as thou art fallen out with I am sure thou hatest him with a witnesse and if thou wouldest rather hazard thy owne mercy hazard the love and favour of God hazard the Kingdom of heaven let Christ goe and mercy goe and heaven go rather then let thy sinnes goe surely thou hatest to be reformed I will give you a kingdome saith God if you will be new men I will give thee a Kingdome if thou wilt take up Christ his Cross and be pure I will give thee a kingdome If thou wilt walk precisely and circumspectly But you will not though you might have a kingdome for it Repent saith Christ for the Kingdome of heaven is at hand Matth. 3. 2. Repent and here is a Kingdome at hand for thee Down with thine old lust thou knowest what I mean and here is a Kingdome at hand for thee Repent of your formall repentance repent of your fashionary prayers repent of your overly performances of holy duties and behold here is a Kingdome for you Wilt thou hazard the very Kingdome of grace and of glory rather then thou wilt steppe out of thy old wont thou hatest repentance if a Kingdome cannot hire thee to love it They must be said to hate one another whom all the dearest love in the world can never unite and soder together Love is able to burst all the hatred in the world if the divell be not in it love is more forcible then hatred and therefore that hatred is most cankerous that love cannot overcome What is so pleasing or delightfull to the flesh of a man but love may command it the love of God hath given thee the bloud of his own Sonne if thou wilt part with thy corrpptions thou mayest have it That is hatred indeed which the bloud of thy owne Sauiour cannot disswade thee from The Apostle Peter thought he had used an excellent argument to perswade men to holinesse when he setteth forth the love of God to us 1. Pet. 1. 18. 19. For asmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb undefiled and without spotte What doth Christ give his bloud to thee to redeem thee from thy vain conversation hath he given his bloud for thee that thou shouldest part with thy sinnes with thy drunkkennesse with thy oathes thy pride security luke warmnesse earthlinese prophanenesse from thy vain
by E. T. for John Stafford GODS IMPARTIALITY IN HIS JUDGEMENTS ISAIAH 42. 24. Who gave Jacob to the spoile and Israel to the Robbers Did not I the Lord THe Lord in this Chapter by the Prophet Esay doth foretell heavy things against the people and by the way mark the Lords dealings he ever gives warning before he sends any plagues he lightens before he thunders that the people might not say they did not hear of it and that the wicked might be the more inexcusable and that the godly might make an Arke to save themselves in These words and the following verse containe in them five severall things First the Author of this destruction or judgement Secondly the Causes of it Thirdly the Judgement it self Fourthly Who they were on whom this judgement was inflicted Fifthly The effects of it Now by Gods permission I will open these words in order unto you And for the first the Author of it It is laid down by question and answer Question Who gave Jacob to the spoyle and Israel to the robbers Answer Did not I the Lord was it not I the mighty God which am able to order every thing according to my own will But indeed we are ready to ascribe things to chance and fortune and lot to prevent this saies God Who did these and these things did not I the Lord Now by Jacob and Israel is meant the people of the Jews which were called by the name of Jacob. Who though they were his peculiar people yet when they sinned he gave them over God saies Who gave this people of mine to the enemies did not I the Lord therefore God he is the Author of all punishment Secondly the Cause why the Lord did this for some might say why did the Lord overthrow this people whom he did so tenderly respect for his which were as the apple of his eye and the strength of his right arme because they sinned against the Lord and would not walke in his wayes He sets down the Causes First in generall they have sinned Secondly in particular they would not walk in his way nor be obedient to his Lawes Thirdly here is the Judgement it self ver 25. therefore hath he powred upon him the fury of his anger the strength of the Battel and hath set him on fire round about He calleth it the anger of the Lord not of a King or of a great man but the anger of the Lord the fury of his anger shewing the extremity of it he doth not say that God doth drop down his anger but he poures out the fury of his indignation Moreover he saith the strength of battel the Lord cometh like an armed man to fight against them and to destroy them as men in waâ—res doe when they slay both young and old and make no bones of it and are glad when they have done it And as an armed man to slay them so likewise he hath set a fire round about them the Lord hath inclosed them in with indignation so that they could see no way to get out of it or to escape it So then this shews the unavoydablenesse of Gods Judgements Fourthly who were these that were destroyed Jacob and Israel a praying and a professing and a fasting people Fifthly the effect of all this how it did work upon them Yet saith the Lord they know it not neither lay it to heart Oh Lord what monstrous stupidity is this though God did doe it in his anger too yet this poor Nation saw it not nether regarded it till the plague came and when it came they never laid it to heart neither were they humbled by it but did beare the plague and afterwards went down into hell and never minded it Even so beloved stands the case with us The Lord plagues us and we see it not his anger burns round about us and the fierrenesse of his wrath is gone out to battel and yet we perceive it not From the first of these observe namely That God is the author of all plagues and judgements that befall a Nation It was he that drowned the old world and delivered the Children of Israel to the spoylers Shal there be any evill in the City and the Lord hath not dont it saith Amos in his third chapter and sixth verse From whence observe this That God ordains all punishments before they come Acts 4. 28. for to do whatsoever thy hand and counsel determined before to be done And as God ordaineth all thing before they come so he ordereth them and the time when they shal come and they cannot come one moment of time before the Lord would have them The Iews could not lay hold on our Saviour because his hour was not yet come John 7. 30. The wicked cannot pull down punishments upon a Nation when they wil As it s he ordaineth them and the time when so he doth appoint them how long they shall lie upon men Revel 1. 10. There the Lord had appointed the Church of Smyrna ten dayes tribulation and there is measured how much God appoints us The devill could go no further then his commission in afflicting Job As he doth order all so he doth order all for the good of his people and for the confusion of his enemies all things work for the good of those that feare God Rom. 8. 28. and for the hardening and overthrowing of the enemies of the Church that are incorrigible This may stay and comfort the hearts of Gods Children in any heavie crosse that befals them Is God the orderer and disposer of all then this may comfort thy soul O thou poor Child of God I say comfort thy soul with this that the Lord is the temperer of all things and the Physician that stands by and sees how many drammes the Apothecary putteth in The devill indeed may afflict thee and wicked men may punish thee but thou shalt have no more then the Lord sees good for thee Therefore though thine enemies take thee and kill thee and Rabshekah raile on thee and Bonner burne thee yet the Lord is a sweet loving Father and ordereth all things and cannot find in his heart to hurt thee Though they be the Instruments yet God he is the Author and hath appointed how long and how much and for what they shall afflict thee Therefore though the Sword find thee and faggot come yea though thou beest banished or sawne asunder yet the Lord ordereth all things Therefore he saith to the sword and to the the plague as David said to Ioab have a care of my deare sonne onely subdue the rebell but doe not hurt my sonne So saith God use my servants kindly for my sake onely bring under their proud hearts but do not hurt them Therefore have an eye to Gods love and let faith in him over-rule thy heart in spite of all that can come against thee This may terrifie the hearts of all wicked men that are out of Gods favour Is God the Author of
said To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne Rev. 3. 21. He adds Let him that hath an ear hear Will God make his Saints to judge the world Then let all wicked men give ear and hear what God saith of his Church The Saints shall judge the world Therefore let all men take notice of it and prepare themselves for their judgement Lastly It condemns all those that do not see glory and majesty in the faces of Gods Saints There is majesty in the face of a Judge yea a man may discover in them a kind of soveraign majesty Even so the Saints of God have a majesty in their courses in their looks in their thoughts and in all their wayes and in all these they shall judge and condemn the wicked The wicked may give the Saints nick names and scorn flout condemn and deride them now in this life but let me tell them that how lightly soever they esteem of them they shall be their Judges They may cry out against the Saints as long since the wicked Sodomites did against good Lot Gen. 19. 9. This fellow say they will be our 〈…〉 Why what had Lot done with them Alas he did nothing but when they would have done that Sodomitish villany against the two Angels that came to him Lot went to them and said I pray you my Brethren do not so wickedly So let the godly be in the company of wicked men that abuse the good creatures of God say I pray you my brethren do not so wickedly be not drunkards be not swearers brethren I pray you do not so vainly nor so prophanely use the name of God in your mouths I pray you my brethren do not prophane Gods Sabaths do not lye do not cheat nor cozen if you do these and these things the wrath of God will plague us for it Oh then presently they cry out Who made you our judges As once the Hebrews did of Moses Acts 7. 39. Dost thou call Saints hypocrites and dissemblers men that judge before the time Thou fool wert thou not as good to suffer the Saints to judge thee now whereby thou maiest see thy wretchednesse and miserie and by faith and speedy repentance prevent that doom which otherwise they tell thee will come upon thee as hereafter when if thou hast not repented thou shalt never escape that doom and vengeance to which the Saints will judge thee What wilt thou not suffer them to call a drunkard a drunkard or an adulterer an adulterer a blasphemer a blasphemer a carnal man a carnall man or a worldly man a worldly man It is a pretty observation out of Cyprian that because Christ did reprove all sorts of religions and spared none he reproved the Scribes the Pharisees the Lawyers the Souldiers c. and yet doth not reprove the Priests because they were Judges of the people not because he durst not but he would not If thou revilest the Saints thou revilest thy Judges Take heed then how thou cast the least aspersion upon the Saints do not say they are rash Judges uncharitable censurers dissembling hypocrites for they shall be your Judges O that the people would hearken and be admonished in time to prevent this judgement Our Saviour saith that this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men hate it Joh. 3. 19. But the children of God whom God calls the light of the world these lights are come into the world and men love darknesse more then the light How can the wicked escape damnation that have so many thousand Judges to condemn them If the malefactor that is indicted for murther or felony cannot escape condemnation that hath but one Judge to sit upon him thou that art a wicked man living in thy sins without Christ how canst thou escape that hast so many millions of Saints to judge thee yea from Adam the first till the last Saint that shall be upon the earth Surely the wicked shall never escape condemnation for 1. God the Father who judgeth by way of authority he will condemn thee all judgement cometh originally from him he that hath often commanded thee to repent and come out of thy sins he shal condemn thee because thou hast not obeyed him 2. God the Son he will judge thee who judgeth by way of dispensation Acts. 10. First Christ preacheth to thee repentance and remission of sins to which if thou yeeld not then know that there is a day appointed wherein he will judge thee That Saviour that thou sayest thou desirest if thou part not with thy lusts he himselfe will be thy Judge that will condemn thee 3. God the holy Ghost will judge thee that Spirit that now strives and wrestles with thee that suggests good motions into thy heart that puts thee in mind of repentance bidding thee leave and forsake thy sins and live holily but if thou wilt not this Spirit shall judge thee by way of conviction 4. The word of God shall judge thee and that by way of form it being the platform according unto which Christ will judge the whole world Now suppose there be forty prisoners in the Jaile together one in for murder another in for theft another for treason that man that knows the Law if there be equity and Justice in the Assise he I say that knows the Law knows who shal be hanged or quartered or burned or set free even so Beloved that man that looks through the Scriptures that reads this or that Chapter this or that sentence may know that or this man will to hell if he repent not Say I this of my selfe or saies not the Scripture as much The fearfull and unbeleeving and all that love and make lies shall be cast into that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for ever Rev. 12. 8. By this text the Lord Jesus will come and judge the world and therefore for all such as live and dye in their sins we may all know that they shall be all damn'd in fire and brimstone for ever Hereby I know that all they that make no conscience of idle vain and earthly speeches and reproachfull words they shall give an account for them by this Text. Mat. 12. 56. Doth the Scripture say that all the wicked shall be turned into hell with all the Nations that forget God I know it shall be so by the text Psal 10. For all things shall be done according to the Scriptures Romans 2. 16. In that day saith the Apostle when God shall judge the secrets of mens hearts by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel that is just as Gods Ministers preach just as you find it written in the same Scriptures so will he judge at that day Beloved there is never a Text throughout the whole Scripture that commands you to leave and forsake your sins but it shall judge you if you do not there is not one Text of Scripture that commands performance of any holy duty but it shall
God hath placed that fiery blade of death at the entrance into the Paridise of heaven so that none can enter before they tast of death and all must taste of it yea the most righteous are not exempted from the stroak of death This then should teach us to labour to draw our hearts from the love of this present life and what can better perswade us and wean us from the love of this world than a due consideration of death we know we must all die and therefore we should prepare our selves for it If any prophane person amongst us knew that this night must be his last night and that now he had no longer to live would not this amaze him and make him bethink himself and to prepare for death If rich covetous men which spend the whole course of their life in providing for the things of this life did truely consider of death and that their end draweth nigh would they doe as they do when this life and all the things of this life and all our joyes and pleasures of this world shall shortly have an end for when death comes they shall all be taken from us or rather we from them Oh how excellent a thing is it then for us to be drawn from the things of this life unto a due consideration of death and of those heavenly Joyes and happinesse to come Oh you that look for these things what manner of men ought you to be in holy life and conversation Thirdly seeing we all must die and this present life must come to an end this should teach us to prepare our selves for a better life to provide for a surer building a better estate which shall never perish Philosophers who were but heathen men could meditate on death setting it always before their eyes But this is not enough for us that are Christians we cannot truly prepare our selves for it unlesse we first build a surer foundation in providing for a better life which shall never have an end and this no heathen or wicked man can ever do Oh how wofull would that message be unto a wicked man that was brought unto good King Hezekiah Come set thy house in order for thou must die and not live and why should it be terrible unto him surely because he hath no hope of a better life he hath not provided for a better habitation Consider then with what comfort thou couldest entertain this message with whâ—â— comfort canst thou meet with death for he is no Christian that cannot in some measure willingly meet with death for by it we pas unto a better life for as this our brother spake often he that would have comfort in death must look beyond death he must not fix his eyes on the terrors of death but he must look beyond to that glorious inheritance to which we are passing through death and there shall he behold his Saviour putting forth his hand ready to receive him there shall he see the blessed Saints and Angels whose company he shall enjoy besides an infinite heap of Joyes and happinesse that is prepared for him also O my beloved nothing will make us willingly to entertain the message of death but only the comforts of the life to come Oh let us labour then for these comforts that so we may be provided against death were it not a foolishnesse for a man who being a tennant at will and shortly to be turned out of his house never to take care for another until he is cast out of doors Beloved we are all tennants at will and we are very shortly to be cast out of our dwelling houses of clay and shall we not provide for a surer habitation Death is at hand and our life must shortly have an end let us therefore labour to be assured of a better life when this is ended that so with comfort we may meet with death Now we come unto the second point which is here to be considered taken from the complaint of the Prophet that the people did not consider nor lay it to heart viz. the death of the righteous whence I note That the death and losse of good men must be laid to heart as a speciall cause of grief and sorrow We ought justly to be grieved at the death of a righteous man when God taketh him from amongst us How did the Prophet Jeremy and the people lament the death of that good King Josiah 2 Chron. 35. 23. so devout men made great lamentation for the death of Stephen Acts 8. 2. so all Israel lamented the death of Moses Deut. 34. 8. And Joash the King of Israel wept for the death of the Prophet Elisha 2 Kings 13. 14. and thus we should lament and sorrow for the death of any righteous man yet not in respect of themselves as if their case were worse now then before for they are now more happy But first in regard of Gods glory whereof they were instruments to set it forth for since they were taken away Gods glory is impaired because there are the fewer left which doe truly serve and worship him for as David saith the dead praise not the Lord c. Psal 115. 17. so then they being dead do not praise the Lord among the faithful on earth any longer Secondly in regard of the great losse that others have by their death who have alwayes received much good by them in their life for the godly doe so order and behave themselves in all their wayes that they do good wheresoever they come therefore when they die it must needs be a great losse unto such who might if they had lived been bettered by them Thirdly We ought to lament the death of the righteous in regard of the evil to come for while they live they are as a wal about us to keep Gods judgments from us If there had been but ten righteous men in Sodome it had not been destroyed Gen. 18. 32. If there be any messenger one among a thousand saith Elihu to shew unto man his uprightnesse then is God gracious unto him Job 33. 23. Run ye to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem saith God and see if you can find a man if there be any that executeth judgement and seeks the Lord and I will pardon it Jer. 5. 1. so that if there had been but one righteous man among the people in that city the Lord would have spared them even for that ones sake and therefore the Lord speaking of the righteous saith I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place he shall be as a glorious throne unto his fathers house Esay 22. 23. Oh consider then what a losse we have when the righteous dye we are like to perish when the naile that was in the sure place is removed cut down and falls for then the burden that was upon it shall be cut off Esay 22. 25. You therefore of this Congregation consider and lament for this your losse in that this good man is
gaâ—ling his heart day by day let the minister enâ—er a reproof into his heart againe so it be but once or twice he cares not Why he thinks he can recover himself again from it but let the word of God come into him and gall his conscience continually that every Sabbath he is convicted for a condemned man if he live not otherwise every Sermon the Minister finds him out in his closest and dearest sinnes he can never goe to Church but he heares the Minister reprooving him for some sinne or other telling him that he must to hell for them unlesse he repent and leade a new life thus when the word followes him every Sabbath that he hath no breathing time to recover his lust this makes him to hate the word Amos 7. The Prophet preaching the word of the Lord and denouncing the Judgements of God to the people for their sins Amaziah opposeth him ver 12. and saith unto Amos O thou Seer goe flye thee away into the Land of Judah and there eate bread and prophesie there but prophesie not again any more at Bethell for it is the Kings Chappel and it is the Kings Court He could like it well enough that Amos should prophesie once or twice but if he did prophesie any more he should spoile all theiâ—â—â—â—th he should gall all their consciences go saith he prophesie in Judah and eate thy bread there Amos should prophesie where he would so it were not there he might eat his bread where he would so it were not there Lastly as it is an actuall affection of the heart whereby the heart riseth up against an union so in the last place it is against that that is dissonant and repugnant to his lust For as love is the consonancy of the affection to a thing that hath agreement therewith so hatred must needs be dissonancy of affection to a thing that is repugnant and contrary to it So a wicked man he hates the word because it disagrees and jarres with his lust Indeed a wicked man may love the word so long as it opposeth not against his lust Therefore a wicked man may love three kinds of preaching First Quaint preaching that savours more of humanity then of divinity As long as the Minister commeth with dainty phrases acute stories eloquent allusions and fine transitions they will like it well enough it jarres not with their lust and therefore you shall heare them when they come from Church commend him O he was a fine spokes man a wirty scholar what a learned and excellent Sermon did he make to day so farre as the word opposeth not his lust a man may love preaching The people they did love to hear Ezeki l preach they did love to hear his pleasant words The Babylonians they did love to hear Davids songs it was fine melody to them though they hated the sense so the Phylistins they did love to hear Sampson speak they knew he was a witty man and could speake fine riddles to them but they hated his religion so the people they did love to hear Christ preach and would flock after him they did wonder at his authority c. yet they hated his doctrine for they cried crucifie him crucifie him so if a Minister speake onely of witte learning and memory c. a wicked man will love it it opposeth not his lust Secondly they may love Impertinent preaching when though it be never so pertinent to some in the Church yet if it be not pertineut to him he loves that As the drunkard loves to hear the Minister preach against hypocrisie though never so sharply The prodigall person loves to hear the Minister preach against covetousnesse But if the word come to strike him under his fifth ribbe to discover his corruptions and the plagues of God due to him for his sinnes then he hates it Thirdly he may love preaching in â—anto though not in toto he may love so or so much preaching but not preaching altogether A wicked mans conscience tells him that he must have some religion that he must performe some service to God and therefore so long as the Minister onely calls for some preaching some hearing and some serving of God why his conscience calls for so much The vilest drunkard and blasphemer and swearer that is will be content to hear of calling upon the Lord Jesus at his death the vilest whoremaster and prophane person the earthly worlding c. will yeeld to some preaching and to some hearing and to some reading why otherwise their consciences would not be at quiet but would be as the divells band-dogge bawling and houting at him But if the Minister call for more religion then his lust will suffer for more religion then will subsist with his security deadnesse lukewarmnesse hypocrisie worldlinesse that he cannot yeeld to and â—eâ—aine them then he thinks there is too much of it then he hates it and cannot endure it Thus you see that wicked men hate the word of God I set it forth by three instances Rom. 1. 30. Haters of God They did not hate his being and essence his goodnesse and mercy but they hated him as he was a Lawgiver The devils hate not God as he is God and hath a being but they hate him as he is a Lawgiver and as he is their Judge they cannot endure to be called by this God to be controuled and judged by him Thus was it with the Colossians before they were converted they were enemies to God Col. 1. 21. Our Saviour takes away the whole doubt and speakes it peremptorily and generally of all the world they hated me the whole world so long as they live in their sins hate Christ and hate his word First a wicked man hates the word because he hates the truth and the being of the word he is sorry that the word of God is true he would be glad that the Scripture might prove false that things may not be as the word of God saith they are he hates the being of the word A man loves the being of that which he loves and he hates the being of that which he hates and were it in his power he would destroy it Now though a wicked man cannot destroy the Bible from being in it self yet he will destroy the Bible from being in his life For beloved the word of God should not onely be in the Bible but the Bible should be in a mans life A mans life should he a walking Bible but a wicked man destroyes the Bible from being in his life A civill man would be glad that Aristotles Ethicks were the Bible A worldly man would be glad that the Book of Statutes were the Bible he is sorry that that is the Bible which indeed is the Bible The young man that came to Christ though he loved eternall life and said that he loved the Commandements of God yet when our Saviour told him one thing is wanting goe and sell all that thou hast and give it to