27.

48.

the Will of God, but yet would not do it. This is to sin against knowledge, to rebel against the light. Such are wilful, obstinate, presumptuous sinners, the worst sort of sinners in the world, and will accordingly have the worst sort of punishments inflicted on them. If they think otherwise, they do but deceive themselves; for He who cannot lie, hath said," Every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, Matt. 7. 26, and doth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it;" intimating that such shall not only fall, but their fall shall be great, greater than other men's: as He Himself elsewhere explains it, saying, "That servant, which knew his Lord's Will, and Luke 12.47, prepared not himself, neither did according to His Will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." All that do not the Will of God, shall be beaten, both they that did, and they that did not know it: but they who knew it, and yet would not do it, they shall be most beaten, their punishment shall be the greatest if there be one place in Hell hotter than another, as be sure there is, it shall be for them, even for all such as hear and know the Will of God, and yet obstinately refuse to obey it. And though they will not believe it now, they shall then find to their cost the saying of St. Peter to be true, that "it had been better for them not to have known 2 Pet. 2. 21. the Way of Righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them;" so grossly do they deceive themselves, who are hearers only, and not doers of the Word!

And yet how common is this among us! Men generally love to be deceived, and rather than not be deceived at all, they will deceive themselves; and that too in things of the greatest importance, such as concern their everlasting state; as appears in many instances, but in none more plainly than in this, that they satisfy themselves with the bare hearing how to get to Heaven, and so deceive themselves with the groundless conceit, as if that would bring them thither, without ever doing any thing they hear in order to it:

SERM. whereas that, as we have seen, will but sink them lower into the pit of Hell.

CXI.

Hence therefore I pray and beseech you all, as ye tender your own eternal welfare, that you would not put this trick or cheat any longer upon yourselves: "but be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only." Whatsoever truth ye hear revealed in the Word, be sure to receive it with a firm and steadfast faith; whatsoever sin ye hear reproved, be sure to forsake and avoid it; whatsoever duty ye hear commanded by Almighty God, be sure to live in the constant performance of it; that so ye may grow wiser and better by every chapter ye hear read, and by every sermon that is preached to you out of God's Holy Word. For which purpose I would advise you to observe and follow these few directions.

Whensoever you go into the House of God, there, among other things, to hear His most holy Word, consider whose Word you go to hear; not the word of a mortal man, nor the word of an Angel or Archangel, but the Word of your Almighty Creator and most merciful Redeemer, the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge of the whole world, that Word by which He will judge you at the Last Day. And therefore humbly Ps. 119. 18. beseech Him, as David did, to " open your eyes that you may behold the wondrous things of His Law," and likewise to open your hearts too, that ye may receive the Truth in the love of it.

Having thus prepared yourselves for it, while the Word is delivering to you, set yourselves in good earnest to hearken diligently to it; striving all ye can to apprehend the meaning of every sentence and expression in it. And if any thing be above your reach, as some of the Articles of our religion are, howsoever consider from Whom it comes; it comes from God, and accordingly believe it upon His Word, without searching any farther into it.

But when you hear of any plain truth that God is pleased to reveal to you, of any sin that he forbids you, of any duty that He requires of you, of any punishment that He threatens, or of any blessing that He promiseth to His people; be sure to mind it, and set it home upon your hearts and consciences; applying it every one to himself, as much as if it

was spoken particularly to him, and to nobody else, and
resolving with himself to act accordingly.
Do not look upon
any thing as meant only of other people, as some are apt to
do; but every one should look upon every thing as directed
immediately to himself: for without such a particular appli-
cation of what ye hear, to yourselves, ye can never be truly
touched or affected with it, so as to receive any real benefit
or comfort from it.

13.

Neither must you only thus take every one what he hears to himself, but you must take it as from God, you must receive it "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the 1 Thess. 2. Word of God," and therefore you must receive it with such a faith as is due to God's Own Word, which being the firmest ground we can have whereupon to build our faith, it requires the strongest faith that can be built upon it: and accordingly, whatsoever it is that you hear out of His Word, you must not doubt, but be fully persuaded in your minds, that it is both infallibly true, and absolutely necessary for you to know and do, otherwise He would not have told you of it.

When ye have thus, by a quick and lively faith, received the Word into your hearts, be sure to keep it there. Do not suffer any vain thoughts, idle discourse, or worldly business to jostle it out again; but still continue to exercise your faith upon it; and that, by the Grace of God co-operating with His Word, will certainly put you upon doing of the work.

21.]

Wherefore, in short, as ever ye desire never to hear the Word in vain, whensoever ye go to hear it, carefully observe the Apostle's direction, in the words before my text, " Lay [James 1. apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls." Receive it so by faith, that it may be engrafted in your hearts, and so bring forth fruit unto Salvation. For which purpose, always carry what ye have now heard in your minds; "Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves;" that the Word you have now heard, may, by the blessing of God, be the means of your doing whatsoever else ye shall hereafter hear: by which

CXI.

SERM. means this one sermon will make all others profitable to you, and effectual to the saving of your souls. And so our preaching will never be in vain, nor your hearing in vain: for being both hearers and doers of the Word, you will go from strength to strength, and every day grow more and more in grace, and in the knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ to Whom be glory for ever.

SERMON CXII.

THE DUTY AND ADVANTAGE OF SEEKING THINGS SPIRITUAL.

MATT. vi. 33.

But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

ALTHOUGH We are only strangers and pilgrims in this world, and know not how soon, but are certain that ere long, we shall be taken out of it; yet we are very apt to be as thoughtful and solicitous about the little affairs and concerns of it, as if we were to live in it for ever: insomuch that seeing we cannot live here at all without eating and drinking, nor conveniently without clothing, we commonly mind little else, but either to feed or clothe ourselves, or else to provide wherewithal to do it. Neither is this the sin and folly only of the age we live in. It was so among God's Own peculiar people, when His Only-begotten Son vouchsafed to converse with them in our nature. He could not but take notice that they also, as well as other people, were exceedingly addicted to it; and therefore, in this chapter, useth the most clear and proper motives that could be thought of, to dissuade them and us from it. First, saith He, "No man Matt. 6. 24, can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on." As if He should have said, Ye profess to serve God, but that ye cannot do, so long as you serve this world: "for no man can serve two masters." For he that

25.

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