craments duly; inftruct the Ignorant, vifit SE RM. the Sick, relieve the Poor, bind up the VI. Broken-hearted, and fubmit ourselves to our lawful Governors, and teach others fo to do; and then we may reft affured, that he, who fet us on Work, will not let us want our Wages; we fhall enjoy Content and Satisfaction of Mind and a good Confcience in this World, and in the World to come a Crown that fadeth not, and an eternal Weight of Glory: Which God of his Mercy grant may be our Lot and Portion for Fefus Chrift his Sake, to whofe moft bleffed Name let us render, as is most due, all Honour, Glory, Praife, Power, and Dominion, both now and evermore.

SERMON

SERMON VII.

Of the Duty, Right Use, and Abuse of hearing God's Word.

SERM.

VII.

JAMES i. 22.

Be ye doers of the Word, and not
Hearers only, deceiving your own

Jelves.

I

T has been a great Miftake, which has been fatal to the Welfare of many well-difpofed Perfons, the rest

ing in the external Peformance of the Duties of Religion. Men are apt to fancy that if they live in external Communion with the Church, if they frequent the public Worship of God, and mingle now and then a few pious Expreffions with their Converfation, they have no Reafon to question the good Condition of their Souls; though their Lives and Conversa

Ezek.

tions are not directed according to the Will SERM, of God, it is of this Sort of Men that God VII. complains: And they come unto thee as thy People cometh, and they fit before thee as my xxxii. 314 People, and they hear thy Words, but they will not do them: for with their Mouth they Shew much Love, but their Heart goeth after their Covetousness. And indeed, Religion is quite another Thing than many Men take it to be; it is not feated fo much in the Head or Tongue, as in the Hand and Heart; it doth not confift fo much in curious Notions and towering Speculations, or external Rites, as in Sincerity of Heart and folid Virtue, and Holinefs of Life and Conversation. In fhort, he is the best Chriftian, not who talks the most eloquently, prays the most devoutly, or performs the Offices of Religion moft frequently, or is the most learned Man in Scripture Knowledge; but he that doth most Good, who is most useful in his Generation, who is the most obedient Subject, the most loving Neighbour, the most careful Father, the most dutiful Child, the most prudent Mafter, or the most faithful Servant, and behaves himself beft in that Calling and Station,, in which God has placed him in the World. For every Dutles of Religion, fuch as

ven the

VOL. II.

L

Pray

SERM. Praying, Hearing God's Word, and MeditaVII. tion, were not enjoined us by God for his,

or their own Sakes; for God reaps no Benefit by our Prayers or Thanksgivings; he is exalted above all our Praife; but they were commanded us as Helps to enable us to perform God's Will the better, to difpofe us to live good Lives, to communicate the Grace of God to our Souls, and to affift us in the Performance of every good Work. And therefore, if we are bare Hearers of the Word, and not Doers of the fame, we do but deceive ourselves. To the due Understanding of thefe Words, it will be neceffary to fhew you,

I. WHAT is meant by the Word.
II. THAT it is the Duty of

every Chrif
tian, to be a Hearer of the Word.
III. THAT the bare Hearing of the Word
will be of no Ufe to us, unless it has
an Influence upon our Lives and Con-
verfations.

IV. WHAT is the Reason why, of fo many that bear the Word, fo few are profited thereby?

V. I SHALL lay down fome Directions how we ought to hear God's Word, which if we practife, we fhall fave our Souls thereby,

I. WHAT

1. WHAT is meant by the Word. WeSERM. know that the Son of God is frequently VII. ftiled the Word, but this is not the Senfe

of this Paffage. By the Word is here
meant, the Will of God revealed to us in
the Holy Scripture. The infpired Wri
tings of the Old and New Teftament are
the Word of God; in them he vouchfafes
to speak to Man, and acquaints him with
thofe Divine Truths which are proposed to
his Belief, and with thofe neceffary Duties
which it is incumbent on Man to practife.
But though the Scriptures alone are, in the
ftricteft and propereft Senfe, the Word of
God: Yet, in a fecondary Senfe, this Title
is applied to thofe Sermons and Difcourfes
in which his Ministers explain, apply, or in-
force, what God hath in thofe facred Wri
tings revealed to Man.

THIS then being plain and evident, I
proceed to fhew,

II. THAT it is the Duty of every
good Chriftian to be a diligent Hearer of
the Word, i. e. to take all Opportunities
of fixing the Laws and Precepts of God
and our Saviour Chrift in his Memory,
and of understanding the Meaning of them,
'whether this be attained by reading and
studying of it himself, or by bearing of it
expounded to him by others, who have
made this their Bufinefs, whofe Calling
In 2

and