2g2 Chap. 3 3. An Expefation upon the Book of o B. Verf t 6.. Till all thefe Hoppers are removed, and the careopeued,there no receiving of the word. Secondly Obferve. God is able toopen and unlockthecare ofman. Though it bath never fomany floppies in it, he can pull them out,never fomany locks upon it, though all the feven fpoken of, and fevenmore obflruel the ear, yet hecan open them all, and make a free anduncontroulable paffage for his word into the re- motefl and clofell chambers of the foul. God can fpeak loud enough,not only tomake the deafe, but the dead hear his voyce, Verily, verilyIfay unto you ( faith Chrifl, Joh. 5. 25.) the hour is coming, andnow is, when the dead(hall hear the voyceof the Son of God: and they that hearfhalllive. By the dead he meansnot thofewho arecorporally, but fpiritually dead, that is, dead in fins and trefpaffes, and in danger of eternall death for their fins and trefpaffes, even thefe heard the voyce of the Sonof God then (peaking perfonally, and heard it afterwards miniflerially, in the difpenfation of the Gofpell, and that voyce revived them, not only by giving them the comfort of that naturali life which they had before, but by bringing in a new fpirituall life whichbefore theyhadnot. Then the internall eare is opened to purpofe when thofe internall or myflically darke graves of fn are opened, and the foul comes forth into the light of life. T Yet more diflinelly. Godmay be faid touncover or open the cares ofmen, when he Both thefe four things. Fir(, When he mákes us not only to heare but to attend, not only to heare but to hearken ; or not only to heare but to give eare. Many give the wordofGod the hearing,, but they doe notgive care to the wordofGod. Secondly,God opens the ear whenhe makes us not only attend, but underfland, or when he takes the vaile offfrom our minds. TheApoflie faith of. the Jewes (2Cor: 3. r4. ) rhe'vaile re- maineth upon them untakken away to thisday in the reading of the old refiament ( and it Both fo í1i11) fo that as they could not, fo yet they cannot, Looké to the endofthat which is aboli flied ; that isq.. to Chrifl, who was the end or fcope at which the whole Ceremo- niall Law ( now abolished ) did then ayme. When once the e ire is divinelyopened,rhen the vaile ofignorance and fpirituall blind- neffe.
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