or Defpife the Preacher, according as he has had the Fortune to be liked or difliked by them. There. is hardly any defect in the Preacher fo fmall, that is not enough to diftaft them against the very Doctrine that is delivered: And be the Duty never fo clearly and folidly establifhed, yet if the Method he not exact, the Style Correct, the Subject fuch as they approve; the Voice, the Action, nay, and fometimes the very Look of him that Speaks to them, agreeable to their Fancies, all is fpoiled, and they are not Edified.

But, alas! Who is Paul, or who is Apollos, or who is Cephas? Are we not all the Mini

fters of Chrift, and your Servants for 12 Cor. iv. 5. Fejus fake? Do we not all Preach

to you the fame common Salvation? Is it not the fame Gofpel that is delivered by every one of us? What if we have not all of us the fame accidental Advantages? If another speak to you with more Ornament and Eloquence, muft therefore my Weakness render the Gofpel of Chrift Contempti

ble?

I would to God, for your fakes, we were all fuch as you defire. That we could every one of us not only inftruct, but please you

་

too to Edification; that fo by any 1 Cor. ix. 22. means, if it were poffible, we might gain

fome of you. But yet, in the Words of St. Paul, give me leave freely to fay of this Curiofity,

That verily there is a fault among you. 1 Cor. vi. 7. And what wonder if you do not reap

that real Advantage we could with from our Inftructions, when alas! it is not That you look after You come with Curiofity to gratify an itching Ear, not with true Humility, to increase your Knowledge, and improve your Piety. But,

B 4

2 Tim. iv.

3.

3dly. A

3dly, A Third fort of Hearers to be confidered in this place, are, The Carnal and Senfual Hearers: Men, who in their Wills and Defires are utter Enemies to the Practice of Chriftianity, however they fometimes come to be Hearers of it.

Ariftot, Eth.

But as the Great Philofopher heretofore when he opened his School of Morality, and began his Lectures with the fame Reflections I am now making, excluded all Vicious, and even Young Men from his Auditory; Efteeming it Nic. lib.i. c.1. in vain for him to fpend his Time in inftructing thofe who were either already engaged in a Course of Sin, or otherwife by the bent and heat of their Age ftrongly inclined and tempted to it: So may I certainly, with much greater reafon, fay with reference to our Gospel, That to fuch as thefe, all our Addresses will fignify but very little: Nor can we reasonably expect Men fhould become fuch Proficients as we defire, by our Exhortations to Piety, till they will begin ferioufly to difpofe their Minds to the practice of it.

Rom. xii. 17.

Mat. v. 44.
Luke xi. 41.

xvi. 9.

1

To preach to a foft Voluptuary, the fevere Do. trines of Mortification, and Self-denyal to an Angry and Impatient Spirit, to bear Injuries, not to recompence to any Evil for Evil; to forgive, nay, to love his Enemies: To the Covetous Mifer, to Give Alms of fuch things as he has and make himself friends in Heaven, by the wife Distribution of his unrighteous Mammon upon Earth; What is this but to plow the Sand; to fow your Seed upon the Water? They look upon the Doctrine to be fenfelefs and unreasonable, and the Gospel of Chrift foolishness indeed, if it expects they

1 Cor. i. 18,

21, 23, 25.

fhould obey fuch kind of Precepts as thefe.

What

What therefore our Blessed Saviour once faid with Reference to his own Preaching, I must here beg Leave to apply to ours: If any Man will do his Will, he fhall know of the John vii. 17. Doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I Speak of my felf. If any Man will do God's Will, if he will fincerely refolve to apply himself to the Practice of Religion, then he shall know of the Doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether we speak of our felves: He fhall be fit and prepared to judge of what we speak, whether they are our own Words, or the Gospel of Chrift, and the Words of Eternal Salvation, that we deliver unto you. But till thefe Thorns are firft rooted out; (i. e.) according to the Explication which our Saviour gives us in this very Parable; till Men have overcome their Affections to the Cares, the Pleafures, the Riches of this

Luke viii. 14.

World, 'tis in vain to expect that any Ibid.
Thing we can fay fhould be able to

prevail with them to bring forth Fruit unto Perfetion, and fuch as may carry them to everlasting Happiness in the next. But,

4thly, And to close this firft Point; A fourth fort of Hearers there are, who profit nothing by our Preaching, and thofe yet worfe than any I have hitherto mention'd, viz. the Malicious Hearers.

A fort of Men, who come to our Churches now, as the Scribes and Pharifees were wont fometimes to do to our Saviour's Difcourfes, not

to improve themselves, but, if they Mat. xxii. 15. can, to entangle us in our Talk.

I fhall not need to fay, that fuch Auditors as thefe are not likely to be much benefited by what they Hear. This is not what themselves aim at: their Bufinefs is only to find Faults, to lie in wait for any thing that they may but be able to make an

.

ill Ufe of, and like to fome venemous Creatures, to fuck Poifon out of the most wholfome Flowers. If a Word, or an Expreffion chance to fall from the Preacher which they think for their Purpose, that is fure to be turn'd and fcann'd to the uttermoft: And though the Meaning was never fo innocent, yet 'tis great Odds, but by a falfe Conjunction of Things with one another, by a convenient Alte ration, and an uncharitable Reprefentation, it fhall be fet forth to the World as fome heinous Crime.

And were they always our Open Enemies that did this, we should have the lefs Reason to complain of them. We know their Principles, and what a Liberty it is their Religion gives them, by any Means to defame and abuse those whom their Church thinks; fit to put the greatest Abufe of all upon, in calling them Hereticks. But for Men pretending to be our Friends, and our Brethren, to do the fame Thing/ to bow the Knee, and cry, Hail Mafter, and betray us; this is a piece of Treachery that we cannot chufe but lament, and heartily befeech God may never. be laid to their Charge.

"

I fhall not much labour to correct fuch Auditors, by fhewing how mean and fcandalous fuch à PraEtice is: How contrary not only to all the Rules of Religion, but even of common Honefty and Humanity. No, rather let them come and fearch us with all their Industry; What is their Sin, will be our Fuftification. Nor could we defire any thing better, were it not in Charity to their Souls, than by defying even Malice it felf, to find any juft Caufe of Excep tion against us, to manifeft the more clearly to the World the Innocency and Excellency of our Holy Religion.

There is nothing here done or faid, but what we could be glad all the World were confcious of. We

have

have no Mystery of Iniquity to palliate, or to conceal. Our Religion and our Selves are everywhere the fame. What we preach to you in the Pulpit, we speak to you in private; and, if Occafion be, we publish it to all the World. Our Sermons, our Writings, our Converfation, are all of a Piece. We have not one Doctrine to whisper to those that are initiated, and another to feduce thofe that are

not.

It is not therefore for our own Sakes, that we complain of this Fault in any of our Auditors. Were that the Motive, could we be fo wicked as to deliver any Thing to you in God's Name, and as his Gospel, that we fear'd all the World should become privy to; yet were it fufficient to know what kind of Hearers we fometimes have, to

make us at least Wife as Serpents, if Mat. x. 16. not Harmless as Doves. But though

are therefore fufficiently fecure as to our own Innocence, yet we cannot but be concern'd for our Brethrens Sin: And befeech them, that they will at laft be fo kind to their own Souls, as to confider how great the Danger and Sinfulness of fuch Hearing is; what a Difhonour it brings to our Holy Religion, what a ftop it puts to their Edification now, and how fatally ruinous it will finally prove to their everlasting Salvation hereafter.

But it is Time for me to go on to the other Part of this Difcourfe; that fo having hitherto discover'd what the general Faults of our Hearers are, that fo much indifpofe them to receive that Benefit they ought by our Preaching, I may now fhew,

IIdly, What Qualifications are required in fuch a One as will profit himself by thefe kind of Inftructions.

Many