m n ff k I Cor. 12. 1 Ifa.30. Mich. 3. 7. m Prov.29. ITim.3.15 to this tall Elephant who waded in them so very deeply, much leffe to the low-ftatur'd filly Lambs, who are apt, in fhallow places, to fink or swimme. And therefore, though it is evident, that our very beft drinking is immediatly out of the crystall Spring,whileft the milk of the word is yet fincere, 1 Pet.2.2. not mixt and troubled with the skilfull deceipts of knavish & Teachers, or with the zealous ignorance & Eph. 4. 14. of honeft" fools; yet in the Body of the Church,we Phil.15.16 know that every Member is not an Eye, and Heb.5112. every one that hath Eyes is not a 'Seer, and yet 14.17.13. there must be Seers, that there may be Vifion; for 30. 10. where there is no " Vifion, the People perish. The Church of God, which is the " Pillar and 18. ground ofthe Truth, is universally acknowledged The common Mother of us all. And though fome of her Children can feed themselves by her dire ction, and are able to digeft the strongest Meat, Heb. 5.14. and can carve befides to their weaker Brethren, yet fuch as are Infants in understanding,or new born Babes P in Chriftianity, must fuck the milk of the word from their Mother's Breft, or elfe receive it from their lippes, whom the bath appointed to give them food in due feafon. For want of able Pilots to fteer their courfe, by the knowledge which they have to use their Card and their Compafle in Application to their polar' Starre, how many little ones have been drowned in the River of life, and 2 Pet. 3. as it were fwallow'd up by that fincere* milk of Rev. 22.1. the word, which able Pastors would have taught 1 P.2.2. them to fwallow down? But as on the one fide it must be granted, that where H 13. Pet.. i. I Cor. 3.2. Mal.2.7. Hebr.12.2. Num.24.17 16. where the Scriptures are dark there must be Guides to the blinde; and where the places are steep or flippery, there must be Leaders of the Infirm: fo again on the other fide it is too plain to be denyed, that "Mat.23.16 there are many "blinde Guides and feeble Lea 14. X A ders of the blinde, who carry those that follow them * Mat. 15. into the fame" Ditch of error, wherein themselves are delighted to lye and welter. There are not wanting in our Ifrael fome blear-eyed Seers, who 7b.3.19. love darkneffe rather than light. Their inward eyes are fofore, and so farre from being patient of feeing the Sun in his Meridian, that nothing feem eth to hurt and offend them more than the brightneffe and glory of any oppofite Truth, when it endeavours to break in, and difpel the darkneffe of their Defignes; which is in effect the very reason that St. John bath rendred why men love darknesse and hate the light, becaufe (faith be) Their deeds evil. There is another kinde of Seers, who are not blear-eyed, but rather purblind; they are ex* 2 Pet. 19. tremely short-fighted, and cannot fee a far2 off. They look no farther than the outfide and face of things: And not difcerning the very marrow and kernel of what is written, they conclude that there us nothing beyond the bone and the fhell. So when Hercules had travelled as farre as the Streights of Gibralter, he presently fet up his Pillars, and wrote y Ib.d. are upon them his (Ne plus ultra,) supposing he had gone unto the end of all the Earth, because he was able to goe no farther: Whereas Americus Vefputius and Christopher Columbus had their eyes of understanding farre better fighted, and were able to a to finde out another VVorld. There is a third fort of Seers, who are not purblind, but double fighted and fquint-eyed, at least appearing to look two wayes at once, having one affect upon God Ecclus. 2.12 and another upon Mammon; obliquely glancing Zam. 1.8. with the left eye upon Godlineffe, and attentively gazing with the right eye upon Gain; as if they endeavour'd by their practise to confute the Aphorifm of Chrift, That Noman (at once) can ferve twob Masters. b Luk. 16.13 13. d Thofe in HooPolit. 1.5.5.32. e rece Jr.23.21. * Flori. It is now too late to be diffembled, That fince fo many have preached without a Mission, and fince fo many have made Preachers without a Commifsion, fince the Sanctuary of God,which was appointed by Him to be a House of Prayer, hath been turn'd • Mat. xx. by d some into a House of meer Preaching, the ve ry plenty and redundance of fuch as preach before they are fent, and of fuch as preach against those that fent them, may be faid, in fome fenfe, to have bred a Famine of the VVord. This puts me in minde of what was faid by the Hiftorian (in ipfo Samnio Samnium requiratur.) In fuck a cafe as this is, we are hardly able to fee wood for Trees.There are so many vast numbers of either untaught or illtaught Teachers, that amongst them all nothing of good is to be learn'd. Nor was there ever more need to preffe that Caveat upon the People which our Saviour gave to his Difciples (though spoken by Him in a different fenfe), Take heed what & Mar. 4.24. yee beare, and Take heed how yee bear, and Luk 8.18. Take heed whom yee hear. For where 1141.244. there is one good Shepherd who entreth by the Job.10.11. g dore f S k m verf. 1. & 10. n verf. 12. verf. 12. P Mat.24.5. a Job. 10. 1. I verf. 11. S verf. 12. m 1 verfe 1. dore 'into the Fold,there is a Thiefanda" Hire ling,a° VVolf,and a P Deceiver,who doe all climb up fome other way. For one good Shepherd, Ma.7. 15. who will lay down his life (if need require) in M45 defence of his Sheep against the VVolfe,how ma ny Hirelings are there who leave the Sheep and flee away, as foon as they fee the VVolfe com* ver/. 10. ming? How many Thieves are there, who come not into the Fold, but for to steale, and to kill, and to destroy? How many VVolfe-like Shep* Mat. 7.15 herds doe walk about in "Sheeps cloathing, but carry nothing into the Fold by which they are qualified for Shepherds, befides an iron Hook and a paire of t W Job. 15.3. Sheers? We know the VVord in it felf hath not only a Fer.23.29. heating, but withall a* cleanfing Faculty. But as the God of all Grace, and Grace it felf, fothe means of Grace (next to God and his Grace, are most of all capable of being injur'd. And because the abufe of the best things doth ever prove the greatest and worst abufe; therefore the liberty of the Pulpit hath been of much fadder confequence than that of the Stage. Infidelity commeth by hearing as well as Faith; and that by hearing the word of God too; I mean, by hearing it perverted, not rightly open'd, nor well applyed. And I wish it were not eafie to prove fo lamentable a Truth by much deplorable experience, as well in former as later Times. Since the Jefuites Apes have taught the People to rely upon the opus operatum of hea ring Sermons, as if Religion confifted in the out ward Sacrifice of the Eare, it is well known that in France, a France, as well as in many other places, the greatest pretenders to Reformation have by their preaching and practise (their practise fuitable to their preaching) help't to make Reformation an odious word. Whileft they whofe Office should have obliged them to have been Meffengers of Peace (hedding abroad among the People words of Reconciliation, Humility, and ftrict obedience) have been the Boutefeux and Bellows of nothing but warres and tumults and irreconcilable Diffenfions. The chiefeft Proteftants in France (fuch as the Dukes of Roan and Boullion, the famous Mornay du Plessis, and learned Cameron could not hold from complaining against their own Preachers: It feeming horrible to Them, that the firft Banners should be display'd by fuch as profeffed to be Minifters of the Gofpel of Peace. But fo it is (and can never enough be infifted on, untill a perfect Amendment and Renovation.) That fince the Byμups, Imean, the Doctrins of Buchanan and Junius, Brutus, Boucherius, Hot- 15: toman and Paræus, have been made to stand in the holy Places, Christian Magiftrates have trembled at the very opening of Church dores, as at the opening the dores of Janus: and the first day of the week bath rather been a day of Sabbaoth, for the muftering up of Hofts and Armies, than a Chriftian Sabbath or Day of Reft. Pulpits have been the places where men have beaten up their Drummes and lifted up their voices like fo many Trumpets, not (as the Prophet) to fhew the People their 1.58.1. Tranfgrefsions, but to exhort and incite them to their Commifsions. They who compell'd fo many 2003 thousands aa Mat. 24. |