CHAP.1.3. ACommentarievpon the 50 Pre. z. Thofepeople are bound tomuch thankfulneffe anddutie, a- Andthnfewho mong whom tbeLord bath planted a preaching Minifferie, by which menmay be diredied in the path of faluation. It is ableffing wee are to with and pray for to all Gods people: and bewaile their want that bane it nor. The former we are enioyncd by the expreffeprecept of Chriff, confidering the greatnes ofthe harneft : the latter by his example , who mourned to fee peopleas'beepfeaturedwithout afhephead. Obielf. But people may doe well enough if they haue the word read publikely, and they can read it at home. °Alfw. My purpofe is not by etlablifhing preaching, to derogate from reading; the manifold fruite which accreweth by reading the Scriptures, bath otherwife taught mee, together with the cutlome of the Prophets, Apo(11es, and Christ him - felfe (of which I haue elfewhereexpreffed the principal) :) But the things which God hathieynedtogether, lit nomanfeparate. In the old Tellement the Leuites mull read thebooke ofthe Law, giue the fenfe, and caufe the people tovnderftaand the reading. In theNewe t after the reading of the law, there was expounding: Chrifl himfelfe after the leelure of the law, LuTc.4.:6, had a booke giuen him, found the prophecie, clofed the booke, fate down and expounded it:fo did the Apoftles Pant and Barnabas, Ahi. t 3. 15. Thus bath the Lord affoarded his Church a further benefit and more full bleffing, a more ordinarie, and principal) meanes to beget faithand repeutance,and to lead men alongvitro faluation by a mote full manife- flation of the promife oflife,which is here Paid to be bypreachinq,that is, by explaning and applying things read to the heart and sffeeSlion.This is r.rim.5.27. the labour in word and doftrine , commended vntovs t hat are the Lords builders and labourers: who in raifing the fpirituail walls , multi imitate Nehemiah! builders, eueryone of whom in repayring the walls of Ieru- falem, mull hold the trowell in one hand, and the weapon in the other:in like mannerfhouldeuerieMinit ler, exhort with wholefomedoftrine, there Tit./.9: is the vieof the troweli;and inrprooue thegainfayer,which is the vie ofthe (word: to want which ordinance, is to want that which the wifedomeof the Lord thought moll neceffarie for the welfare of his Church: who wouldnot hauehis people Pride in the outride, but pearce into the depth ofhis wifdome receiued; neither content themfelueswich abulkofeorn, but to get it rroden out:nor withbread in the lumpe,but dcuided.Whe- ther therefore their effacemay be good in loch awant or no, we are not fomuch to fit as judges vpon them, as become petitioners for them, that their want maybe fupplyed;feting the word bath taught vs, that where vi(ianfyleth, people per. And for private reading, would Godmen were better acquaintedwith itthh they are :yet although the Iewes had the lawprivate# et home,theprietls mutt notwithffanding publikely not oncly enjoy it are bound to more thankfulnetfe. Matth.9.vit. Beauties of Bethel. M at'h., g. Nshem.S.B, i, aytúy¡.txls. Proa.19.18. Dtut.c.7.
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