47 a Chap. r 3. AnExpofitionupon theBook ofJoB. Verf. a7. Luk; 8. Take heedhow you hear. There is as much danger in hearing ill, as there is benefit and :comfort in hearing well. And accordingto the concernment of theword we hear, ought to be our heed in hearing.He that hears the wordof life,had need to hear for life. Fifthly, Obferve, It is not unufeful often to flit up our, auditors to attention, alb makes more prefaces thanone to be heard, and he loth more than fpeak; when he fpeaks to be heard he fpeaks paflio- nately. The Preacher tels us, that, if the iron be blunt,and a man do not whet the edge, he mull put to more flrength (Eccl. IQ to.) fo we may fay in this cafe, ifour hearers are dull, and we do not whet their edge, we mull put moré llrength to it; or rather, we lofe all our ftrength, how much foever we put to it. When fpi- rits are low and dead, we muff fpeak to raife and quicken them, or elfewe fpeak in vain to inftrut or reprove them. We fay in our Proverb, A whet isno let. He that is whetting his Tithe mows no grafs, and yet he fhall mow littleunlefs he whet. There is as much work done in preparing the inflruments with which we work, or the objectsupon which we work,as there is in doing the work it,felf. Laftly, Obferve, 7 hat good duties muß not only 'be done , but be done dili- gently. Hear diligently my words. We mull not onlypray, but pray diligently : not only love God,but.love himwith all our ftrength and with all our heart. The manner in which we perform a duty is as much to our acceptance as the matter of the duty,Eecl.9. ro. Whatfoever thy handfindeth todo, do it with thy might. It is very Commendable, in our worldlyor fpecial callings, to do what we do with our might: but efpecially when we are about the things of God, which concern our heavenly or general calling, then whatfoeverwe do,let us do it with our maght;when youhear, hear with allyour might; when you pray, pray with all your might. (per. 48. io.) Curfedbe he that doth the work ofthe Lord deceitfully: we put in the margin, negligently, according to the letter of the Hebrew : and thofe two words may very well inter- pret one another; for he that doth a thingdeceitfully, doth it negligently; and he that doth it negligently _loth it deceitfully : he doth it as if he would deceive God or men, or both;,but at laft he
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