ss6 THE WORD OF GOD COMPARED TO ,GOLD. Book IlL World: 'l'he Angels jhall go forth, and Jeparate the Bad from the Good, and jhall cafl them into the Furnace of Fire; there ]ball be wailing, and gnajhing of 'l'eeth, Matt. xiii. ~7, 48, 49, so. PAR ABLE. I. A Filherman has one Net pre– pared to take fmall Fifhes, and another to take great ones. 11. A Net many Times proves defeetive, and comes to be broken, and by that means the Fifherman lofes his Draught of Filhes. HI. A Net takes Filhes out of their own natural Element, to their great hurt, the Filher's De– fign in taking them, being to kill and deftroy them. D IS PAR 1 T Y. I. THE: Gofpel or Word of God is but one and the fame Net, which takes the great and fmall metaphorical Filhes. Il. There is no DefeCt in the 'Word, the Gofpel-Net is never faulty, nor is it from thence fo few Sinners, or fpiritual Filhes, are taken ; but rather fro:n themfelve,, and Satan, who endea– vors to obftruft, as much as in him lies, their being taken thereby, 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4· Ill. The Gofpel·Net takes Sinners out of their natural State, viz. Ways of Sin and Wicked– nefs, for their great Good and Advantage; it being the Ddign of God, and his Servants, the Minifters of his Word, to f.we their Souls alive thereby, lfa. lv. 3· Prov. viii. 55· and xxii. 4• John iii. 36. Rom.-viii. I. N F E R E N C E S. I. THIS Parable informs us, how ufeful the Gofpel, and the Miniftry thereof is, to take and gather in Souls to Jefus Chrift. I!. Moreover, That all who feem to be wrought upon by the Word are not fincere Converts; a Net takes bad FiJhes as well as good. lll. It alfo lhews us what will become of the falfe ProfeJfors at the !aft Day. The bad Fifhes fhall be caft away; the rotten and unfound ProfeJfor, as well as the openly profane Perfon, that never made any Profrffion, lhall be both call into a Furnace of Fire, there lhall be wailing, and gnalhing of Teeth. THE w 0 R D OF G 0 D COMPARED TO G 0 L D. More to be dt}ired are they than Gold, yea, than much fine Gold, Pfal. xix. 10. '!'he Law of thy Mouth is better to me than '!:houfands of Gold and Silver, Pfal. cxix. 72. THOUGH thefe Scriptures do not direCtly compare the Word of God to Gold, but rather fet out the great Excellency of it above Gold, and lhew the great Dif– proporcion there is between Gold and it; yet we lhall (as fome Divines have done) run a Parallel between Gold and the Word, and then in our ufual Method lhew the Difparities. SI M I L E. I. GOLD is a precious fort of Metal, and is efteemed the chiefeft of all Minerals. • 11. Gold contains much in little; a fmall ~Jantity of Gold is worth much Brafs, &c. t III. Gold is a weighty and firm fort of Metal. PAR ALL EL. I. THE Word of God is very precious, and fo efteemed by all true Chriftians : '!'by Word is very pure, therefore thy Servant loveth it. 1 efleem the Word of thy Mouth above my neceffary Food, Pfal. cxix. Job xxiii. 12. I I. The \.Yord contains much in little. Fear God, 0 how much is contained in that! God ma– nifefl in the Flejh; Chrifl the Image of the invi– jible God: It plcafed the Father, that in him jhould all Fullneft dwell, I 'Iim. iii. 16. Col. i. Very much is contained in one of thefe lhort Sentences. Ill. The Word of God is ponderous, and very weighty. The Words of Men are often times • See Plin. lib- 13• P· 465• t Grttnhil. airy
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