Caryl - Houston-Packer Collection BS1415 .C37 v11

526 Verf. 14. !n Expoftian upon the Boo;(; of J e B. Chap. 37. fome would fain have done prefently, they cannot fit it our, an hoar is an,ear to them, the word is a wearinets to them, they loam" think they have enough. Secondly, There is need of patience for fubmi(iion to what is heard. How ího:t foever the Sermon is, yet when it pincherh the confcience and pricketh theheart,it is not ealily born. They who hear quietly fome words of truth, will not endure forme other; we hardly continue hearing with any patience, when to us, the word heard, is a hard faying, and bares hard upon either,our con- iciences or our pradti(es; when the finger is, as it were, laid up- on, and predeth the fore, few can endure it. ' lis eafìe to hear pleating things, but that which croffeth our fpirits or our wayes calls for patience. When Stephen,the Proto-martyr, preached to the 7ews, and brought the word home to their confciences, by that clofe application (Ails 7. ç t.) Te f#iffnecI ,ed and uncircum- eifed in heart and ear, ye do alwayes refill the Holy Ghofl ; as yrur Fathers did,fedo ye. At this word, or, when theyheard theft things, they werecut to the heart (faith the text) and they gnafhed on them with their teeth ; their patience was quire fpenr, they could hear no longer. Andwhen Sr. Paul fpake to that great Atlémbly (Ails 21.1 22, 23.) Theygavehim audience unto this word (Iwill fend ;bee to the Gentiles) and then lift up their voices and laid, awaywith [tech afellowfrom the earth, for It is not fit that he fhould live: Then they cryedout, and tall offtheir clothes, and threw dull in the air. Thus they raved and were enraged, like angry, yea like mad dogs, when once their title was que(iioned, or (as we fpeak) their coppy-bold toueht, by the mention of theGentiles, whom they greatly defpifed, and judged themfelves fo much a- bove. Hearken to this, to this pinching word, to the word that firikesupon your lufis. The length of a Sermon fpoiles thepatience of fume,but theflrength and fearchingpower of it,fpoiles the patience of more. A fincere heart is willing to hear all, and is moll pleafed to hear that word, which gives deepeí wounds to any corruption ofheart or tranfgrefíionof life. Such words are wholfome,though bitter or sharp, and the more they make us fmart,the more me- dicinal and healing they are. Hearken unto this, O fob, Sun, fc, per StandJill! and confider the wonderoau works ofGod. patois Yegíitt- dinem. Aquin. Elihu not only delires-'ó to hearken, but collatedflillandcon- Eider. There

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