The Disabled Debtor Discharged, Part 8
Say on. Text. ]
Doct. The Word Christ ſpeakes ought to be received with all readineſſe of ſpirit. Thus Simon received it, ſo ought wee.
God begins his Law with Heare O Iſrael, Deut. 5.1. & 6.34. and the Goſpell with This is my beloved Sonne heare him, Mat. 17 5. And this is the praiſe of the worthy Bereans, they received the word with all readineſſe of mind, Acts 17.11.
Vſe. Happy were we if we would take forth this leſſon, Luk 11. And in comming to the Word bring with us a hearing Eare, which all that have eares have not, Mat. 13.43.
S. Bernard hath this deſcription of a good Eare,Bern. in quadam Epiſt. Qua libenter audit utilia, prudenter diſcernit audita, obedienter operatur intellecta; which willingly heares what is profitable and good, wiſely underſtandeth what it heareth, and obediently practiſeth what it underſtandeth. For ſuch an Eare the Pearles of the Goſpell are prepared, but it is rare to finde.
Some will heare, but not what is good; they have an itching Eare, 2 Tim. 4.4. and the more it is rub'd the further it ſpreadeth; they gaue after ſome wittie conceit or prettie note (as they call them) with the Athenians they give themſelves to nothing els but hearing newes,Acts 17.21. (and that muſt come from Placentia too, Iſa. 30.10. not from Verona, Lavat. in EſterIer. 44.10.) Made diſhes and pleaſant fauces they affect, but wholeſome Doctrine they cannot away withall, 1 Tim. 6.3. They applaud (ſaith S. Auſtin) not Conſultoribus utilitatum, Aug. de Civit. Dei. lib. 2. cap. 28. Prudens Auditor omnes libenter audit, omnia legit, non per ſonam, non Scripturam, non doctrinam ſpernit; ab omnibus indifferenter, quod ſibi deeſt, & quod deeſſe videt, quaerit, non quantum tciat ſed quan ſum ignorat conſiderat. Hugo de Sanct. Vict. in ſuo didaſcal.but Largitoribus voluptatum, not the teachers of Conſcience, but the ticklers of Senſe; who wound the head to claw the taile, Cenſure Magiſtracie, yea Soveraignty; who pleaſe their humours are Preachers for them.
Or ſay they ſometimes lend an Eare to what is good, yet they come not with an open heart, ready to heare whatſoever Chriſt ſhall ſay, and to receive it whoever be the bringer. (Like a bad Porter,) the eare admits of none that comes not in gay cloathing; plaine ſtuffe (as the doctrine of Faith, good works, &c.) is thruſt back: It may be the word of Doctrine they will attend unto, but not the word of Application; the word of Exhortation, but not the word of Reprehenſion. When with rebukes God doth chasten a man for ſinne (in the Miniſtery of the Word) he is as a moth fretting a garment (ſaith our Tranſlation) Pſal. 39.11. Now we ſay, Tinea damnum facit non ſonitum, a moth doth miſchiefe and makes no noiſe; ſo ſinners, they will be fretting ſecretly, though they make no ſhew of it opeenly: If they find no hole in the Reproovers coat, they will make one before they leave fretting, Acts 7.54. Hoſ. 4 4.
Secondly, ſome Heare, but they underſtand not what they heare, like thoſe, Mat. 22.22. they marvelled, and left him and went their way. Or with thoſe who accompanied S. Paul, Acts 9.7. they heard a noiſe but knew not what it meant. Their tidings from Church are much like thoſe which Ahimaaz brought David, 2 Sam. 18.29. I ſaw a great tumult but I knew not what it was; no difference can they put betwixt Truth and Error, they are unskilfull in the word of Righteouſneſſe, Heb. 5.13.
Let not theſe forget what they read, Mat. 13.15. A more fearefull ſentence cannot be uttered in this life againſt a man then this, Omnia ipſis in Parabolis fiers, all is ſpoken to them in Parables. If our Goſpell be now hid, it is hid to them that are loſt, 2 Cor. 4.3. Of Chriſts Diſciples it is ſaid, To you it is given to underſtand the Myſteries of the Kingdome, Luke 8.10. Of all this is called for, Mat. 15.10.
Laſtly, ſome underſtand the Grammar of the Goſpell well enough ſo as they can diſcourſe thereof, &c. But the Rhethorick of it they underſtand not, they bring not their Hearing into Practiſe (wherein lies the ſweet of hearing.) Such Hearers had Ezekiel, Chap. 33.31. They heare thy words but they will not doe them, they are reſolved before hand what they will doe and not doe. So Ier. 4.16. Wee have piped to you ſaith our Saviour, and yee have not danced, Mat. 11.17. Theſe kind of Hearers mind the Miniſters pipe, they have no care of their own feet to practiſe what they have heard.
O that once GOD would be pleaſed to make us good Simons; that in hearing what CHRIST hath to ſay unto us, we would come as Cornelius did, Acts 10.33. and with thoſe, Acts 2. verſe 41. gladly receive the Word whoever brings it. This is made a note of a true ſubject of Chriſt, Iſa. 32.3. Provided there be Caeſars ſtamp and armes upon the Coine, and that it come out of his Mint, and will abide the Touch-ſtone; if ſo, let it paſſe for currant with us.
Old Eli was deſirous to be acquainted with every part of Gods bleſſed Will; he had great cauſe to feare, that what Samuell was to deliver to him, would make little for his comfort, yet ſee how he doth adjure young Samuell to tell him all, 1 Sam. 3.17. Such ſhould be the deſire of all Gods people, that Gods Miniſters would deale faithfully with them in delivering the whole Counſell of God unto them; as well one part as another. Wantons you know come into a garden to pick onelyonly flowers; here they pick a gay, and there another; but the good houſwife comes to gather herbes; ſo ſhould we come into Gods Houſe to heare his Word.
To conclude this point; Remember every Hebrew ſervant, who liked well his Maſters ſervice was to have his eare boared with an Aule againſt the doore, Exod. 21.6. If you deſire to be in the liſts of Gods ſervants,Via Domini ad cor dirigitur quum veritatis Sermo humiliter auditur. Greg. Hom. 10. Sup Ezek. you muſt have a Boared eare; Indeed the Eare is the doore by which Chriſt takes poſſeſſion of the ſoule, and where he takes poſſeſſion it muſt be faire. See Rom. 10.14, 17. The firſt linke of the golden Chaine is faſtned to the Eare; Faith comes by Hearing: upon the ring of the doore he layeth his bleſſed hand, and cryes, Open to mee my Siſter, Cant. 5.2.my Love, my Dove, making a gratious promiſe of entrance upon our opening, Pſal. 24.7. Revel. 3.20.
The Divells ſtudie is to keep this doore ſhut, that Chriſt may not enter: Like a Iaylour he will ſometimes be content to let his Priſoner have hands and feet free; provided the priſon doores and gates be faſt lockt and barr'd: his Captives ſhall ſometimes give an almes, or doe ſome other outward work of mercy; come to Church to ſatisfie the Law, &c. But he cannot endure the doores ſhould ſtand open for feare of an eſcape. So Acts 7.57. Pſal. 58.45. Search the Scriptures and you ſhall find that none was cured with greater difficultie, then he that had a deafe and dumbe ſpirit. Thus much of the foreign, the Prologue or Preface to the Parable: Come we now to the foreign, the Speech or Parable it ſelfe.