118 / 808
Dati,
x
Cox.a.
Ephefians,Chap.r.
V
ER.8.
by
mans outward miniflery,
to
open the
eyes
of
theminde,
and bring
from darkneffe
to
light ; but
mans
teaching, which goeth but to the
eare,cannot doe
this
matter.
We
mutt therefore confider God
fpeaking
within the minde, by holding out
fore
f
itch
light,
and caufrng fuch
an
inward illumination,
as
doth
fpcake
things
no lefle
to the
minde, then
a
word audible doth report them
to the
Bare.
This
is
it which we
are
Paid
to
heare and learne
from the father
:
fhould
not the
father
fpeake
and
teach, we could
not
heare
;
neither
is
it an
outward voyce, for
all
that
heare
this voyce come to
Chrif,
which
is
not
verified
in
the other
:
And this
is
thatlight,which
diffufing
it
felfe
through theword
we heare,
doth
make
the things
ofGod
vifible
to thefoule:
Even
as
not the
ayre
alone,
but the ayre now inlightned,
is
the
mean
by which things are
madedifcernableto the bodily
eye.
In
the third
place, we mull confider
that God doth together with
this illumination, which
fpeaketh and
propoundeth things within the
minde
;
he
doth,i
fay, together with
it,
open
the
eye
ofthe
underfian-
ding,the
care
of
the
deafe
heart,to
fee
and attend unto
it
:
This
is
called
fometime
the renewing the underflanding, giving
light,
opening the
heart to attend, removing the valle:
For
if
I
will thew
to
a
blinde
man
any
thing,
it
is
not enough
to
propound the objeét,and
to
procure
an
external!
light by whichit may be difcerned,but I mutt reftore
the
fight
of
the blinde eye before
I can
thew
it
the thingpropofed
:
So iris with
us
who
arefpiritually
blinde,before
we can have opened
to
us
the things
of
God:
The
ufe
of
this is, firfl to rebuke fuck
who
thinke
they
can lie
wife
enough to
fave
their fouls,though they
have nonero open
to them,to
in-
ffruEl
them
in
this hidden wifdome
of
the Gofpell.
Blindneffe and bold
prefumption
accompany each other; Butdeceive noryour
felves
:
Thou
who canft not goeto
a
Towne two
miles off,
which thou never wenteft
to, but thou
m uft
inquire and
get fome
guide and
dire6lion,
canüthou
finde
theway to
heaven having no guide,no dire6tione
Thou
who canil
not
Icarne
thy
./
B
C.
but thou mutt
have
a
Schoole-mafler,
why wilt
thou
imagine
thy
Idle
able without
helpe
of
teaching, to learne
this
high point
of
wifdome, which teacheth to
live
happy
with
God,
world
without
end
Let
us
attend
npon
the Preaching
of
the
Word,
and
the teaching
of
this wifdome,
as
ever
we would have
it
begunne or
increafed
in us
;
Beffd
are they who Waite
at
hergates, at
the
pofles
ofher
cleave
:
A
fpeech
borrowed from Clients or Patients, who
Waite
to
have
acceffe
to their
learned
Counfell,
and
to
the Phyfitians,
whole
advife they
feeke
for
:
Yea, let
us
feeke
for that inward
teaching
of
God,
in
whole light
onely
we come
to
fee
light.
Obferve fecondly
;
That
the doetrine
of
our falvation
through Chrifi
is a
hidden fecrecie
:
The Apofile
calleth the doétrine
of
Ch
rift crucifi-
ed,
a
hidden wifdome ; which
the
chicle for wifdome
in
this
world
knew
not, iTim.3,
Without doubt,fairhthe
Apoflle,
great
is
them
fiery
afgedlineffe:
naming
after points ofdoí}rine concerning
Chrift
jefus:
And