86 MEN WITHOUT HIM LABOUR IN VAIN. can say, miah; yet a people waiting for the salvation of God How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Sion, Thy God reigneth thy watchmen shall lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Sion. Break forth into joy, sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his people."1 Such experiencers of the Lord's work have an earnest concern upon their souls that others (who have long gone mourning from profession to profession, seeking rest but finding none,) may come to partake with them of these spiritual enjoyments, and the spiritual exercise that leads thereto, that therein they may be enabled to worship God in Spirit, and have no confidence in the flesh, in any bodily or ceremonial performances; and therefore in Spirit they bow to God and worship him; and such worshippers the Father is seeking, and gathering from the many, lo! here is, and lo! there is; and they find their duty and advantage is to seek the spiritual knowledge of Christ within, and shall obtain favour of the Lord.3 The Lord whom they seek they find comes to his temple; and where his presence is truly felt, there the proper object of divine adoration is known. They have no need of Laymen's Calendars to put them in remembrance, nor outward representation to help their devotions; the Lord whom they worship is the beginner of a state of worship in their souls; his Spirit is their help to an holy composure of mind, (1) Isaiah lii, 7, 8, 9. (2) John iv. 23. (3) Prov. viii, 35. T GOSPEL-WORSHIP. 87 wherein they revere that great Almighty power which fills heaven and earth, and who is in an especial manner near to those that in his own Spirit draw near to him, in a state of gospel-worship indeed restored in this latter age. And as the spiritual worship is restored, so (under the operation of his hand) are the various parts of it, praying in the Spirit, as before hinted at, wherein the Lord hath graciously led on and prepared some travelling souls, until he hath been pleased to pour out on them the spirit of grace and supplication,1 that their hearts and mouths also have been opened to call upon him in truth and righteousness, in behalf of others with themselves, that the whole assembly might be comforted with his goodness, and enjoy his love that they also might have in their souls to praise his name, and tell of his mercies, and that without all help of outward forms. CHAPTER XXIX. Of Preaching. PREACHING is by many made (as it were) a trade; men prepare themselves for discourse, and study what to say; but he that is prepared of God by his sanctifying work, is thereby brought to hear what God will say, and such will be capable to understand what he saith, and whether it be given for comfort or counsel to themselves, or whether it be given (in his requir (1) Zech. xii, 10. .88 OF PREACHING. ings) to speak it forth to others, that they also may be comforted, and hope in the Lord, who giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. 1 Blessed be the Lord, many have found in his word his power, and that his word is nigh. Moses having delivered to Israel large instructions, wherein he had spoken forth many words from the word itself; he saith of that word, It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it."2 And this the Apostle confirms of Christ the living powerful word,-"The righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise. Say not in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down from above. Or, who shall descend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead."3 Here the Apostle tells us what the righteousness of the true faith teacheth not, then he tells what it doth teach, viz :-"The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach." Where, let the serious observe, that the word of faith was what they preached, and that word was nigh in the mouth and in the heart; and they that know not the word in the heart, ought not to take his word into their mouths.4 (1) Isaiah x1, 29. (2) Deut. xxx, 12, 13, 14. (3) Rom. x, 6, 7, 8. (4) Psalm 1. "This inward Observe Dr. Gell on this point :essential word must first be in, and appear in those who are the vehicles of it unto men, before they can be the voice of God and Christ crying to them. For so the Son must first be in Paul, before he could preach him among the heathen." "The inward in-speaking is God's oracle." Thus this learned Episcopalian. And, indeed, it is only those that know this inward essential word, that are called of God to speak forth his word to men. Men may hear of it, they may read of it, and what they read, may speak of to others; they may form discourses as likenesses of gospelpreaching, but they cannot give life to their words. It is alone He, who is the Word of Life, can give life by his word, either immediately or instrumentally; therefore ought all to take heed what they hear; for if they hear only man, life does not come by such hearing; and they should take care how they hear,3 lest, while the word of God indeed is preached, they neither (profitably) hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts, those things that belong to their peace. 4 The Lord said by Jeremiah,- -"The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?"5 Here the Lord makes a plain distinction between those that really have his word, and those that have it not. In verse 22nd, of the same chapter, he saith, "If they had stood in my counsel, and had caused (1) Gell's Essay. (2) Mark iv, 24. (3) Luke viii, 18. 90 DIFFERENCE OF PREACHING, ETC. my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and the evil of their doings." And, verse 21st, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." And again, verse 32nd, "They shall not profit this people at all." So, it seems, where men prophesy, that is, preach, and the Lord hath not sent them, they shall not profit the people, they shall not turn them from the evil of their doings. Well were it for all professors of Christianity to consider the effect of the teachings they sit under. whether they learn thereby to turn from the evil of their doings. Alas! this practice of a man's duty is too little taught and too little learned in our day; and yet many would be counted Christians, though they begin and continue their profession, leaving undone the things they ought to do, and doing those things they ought not. : I would not here be thought to reflect on those who, in a penitent frame of mind, confess their transgressions such I earnestly exhort, not only to repent of, but also to put away the evil of their doings from before the eye of the Lord, lest he say to such unreformed ones, as he said to depraved Israel, "When you make many prayers, I will not hear."1 Scarce any in our age consider the want of a gospel ministry raised up by the power of God, but seem chiefly to depend on men eloquent, and having some skill in tongues, forgetting that without the grace and power of God, such a ministry is ineffectual to the people : (1) Isaiah i, 15. |