A Sower went out to fow his Seed: and as he fowed, fome fell by the way-fide, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it: And Some fell upon a Rock, and as foon as it was Sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture: And fome fell among Thorns, and the Thorns Sprung up with it, and choaked it: And other fell on good Ground, and fprang up, and bare fruit an hundred-fold: And when he had faid these things, be cried, He that bath Ears to hear, let him Hear. In which Parable our Bleffed Saviour fets forth to us the different Succefs which his Gospel then did, and would ever after be likely to meet with, according to the different Difpofitions of those to whom it was Preached. It is indeed an uncomfortable Reflection, and, I think I may fay one of the greatest Discouragements we Labour under, in the discharge of our Miniftry, to confider how very little Benefit, for the moft part, all our Endeavours have upon the Minds of those to whom we declare the Gospel of Chrift. That after all we can do, either by 2 Cor. v. 11. the Goodness or Terrors of the Lord to perfuade Men, yet fcarce a fourth part brings any Fruit at all to Perfection, and even those too in a very fmall Measure. Some few perhaps there are, who produce a little Increafe; they hear the Word, and confider their Duty, and return it Thirty-fold in Piety and Good Works: But for the Sixty and the Hundred-fold, scarce any there are, that ever arrive at this Pitch, or but give us any great caufe to hope that ever they will come up to it. Mat. xiii. 8. Instead Inftead of fruitlefs Complaints in a matter of fo great Confequence both to our Ministry, and to your Salvation, I fall make it my Endeavour on this Occafion, both for the happier Profecution of my own Duty, and, if it may please God, for the greater Benefit of your Souls, plainly to lay before you the Cause of this: By refolving it, as both the Authority of our Saviour, and the natural Reafon of the Thing its felf require I fhould, into the general Indifpofition of Men to receive the Gospel. We now, as the Sower in the Parable, fcatter the fame Seed on all the parts of the Field indifferently: We defire that every one should yield a fuitable Increase. What can poffibly be the Caufe of that strange variety we find in the Product, that one part fhould bring forth a plentiful Crop of Faith and Good Works; another, either none at all, or but a very small one in Comparison, but only this, That the Ground is in fome better prepared to receive the Seed than it is in others, and therefore brings forth the Fruit accordingly? This is the plain defign,both of the Parable beforementioned, and of that Exhortation with which our Saviour here concludes it in the Words of the Text, He that bath Ears to hear, let him Hear. In my Difcourfe upon which Words, that I may purfue the fame Method which our Blessed Lord did in his Parable, I will I. Show you what fort of Hearers they are, to whom the Word is in vain fpoken; who are not likely to benefit themselves by our Preaching. And II. Will offer fome Rules for the difpofing of your Souls in fuch a manner, that by the Grace of you may be fit to receive Benefit by it. God I. I am to fhow what kind of Hearers they are, to whom the Word is in vain spoken, who are not likely to benefit themselves by our Preaching. In pursuance of which Point, I fhould be infinite fhould I infift particularly on all those Indifpofitions that are apt to render a Man an unprofitable Hearer of Divine Truth. I will reduce this firft Sort of Auditors to as few Generals as I can, and that with all the freedom and plainnefs, that both the Nature and End of fuch an Undertaking require. 1. And the first that I fhall mention is, The Careless Hearer. 2 Tim. i. 5. It is the Misfortune of too many, in the Church of Chrift, that in St. Paul's Character, they have a Form of Godlilinefs, but are little acquainted with the Power of it. They come to our Affemblies, and hear our Dif courfes, and for the Time are very much affected with them: But they go away, and presently they forget what they heard; their Holy Affections are fcattered as a Morning Cloud; they grow Cold and Indifferent as they were before; nor much concern themselves with any farther Thoughts of Religion, till the next Sunday comes, and another Sermon again puts them in mind of it. As if the End of all our Preaching were only to make the Service a little the more Solemn; to entertain them an Hour Extraordinary in the Church; and if they did but fit out that with any tolerable Attention, they had then discharged their Duty, they had done all that was required of them. - To To fuch Auditors as thefe, I would only beg leave to remonftrate how unreasonable fuch a negligence as this is; and of what a dangerous Confequence it will moft certainly prove to them in the end. Our Difcourfes in thefe Places, all of them I am fure fhould be, and I believe, for the most part are, either Explications of that Duty which God requires of us, or Exhortations to fulfil it; or elfe to1 fhew the Danger and Bafenefs of thofe Tempta tions, that moft ufually draw Men afide from it. Now all these naturally imply an Obligation on the part of those that hear us, to do fomewhat in purfuance of thefe Inftructions: Either to fulfil this Duty, or to fly thofe Sins that are contrary to it or to watch and arm themselves against thofe Temptations, which they are forewarned will otherwife be apt to feduce them from it. And if they neglect to do this, they will be much more inexcufable, than if they had never been inftructed by us: What our Saviour once faid of the Jews with reference to his Preaching, will be found as true now, with refpect to ours: If John xv. 22. had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had fin, but now they have no cloak for their fin.. It is not in Difcourfes of this Kind, as in other ordinary Addreffes that are fometimes made to us : Which if they do but afford us fome agreeable En tertainment for the prefent, we have our Defire; and though we afterwards never trouble our felves with any farther Thoughts of them, yet we run no great hazard, nor it may be fuftain any Lofs by our neglect of them. But when we tell you your Duty, and lay before you the Doctrine by which you are to be Saved, the Cafe is much otherwife. We fpeak as the Commiffioners of God; and as the Ambassadors of Chrift we beseech you to be reconciled unto Him. The Words which we deliver unto you, they are not our own, but His that fent us: They are the Rules and Measures by which you ought to live, and by your Neglect or Obfervance whereof, you must preferve or lofe your Souls to all Eternity.. The light efteem of what we fay, do not miftake, it reflects not upon us, but on him whofe Minifters we are; whofe Gofpel we preach, and whofe Goodness we fet forth, and who therefore will one Day call you to a fevere Account for that little regard you now fhew of what we deliver unto you. But 2dly. A fecond fort of Hearers, who reap but little Benefit by all our Difcourfes are, The Curious Hearers. For fuch there ftill are in our Days, as well as we read there were heretofore in the Apoftles; Who hold Mens Perfons in Admiration, and efteem the Gofpel of Chrift more according to the Preachers Eloquence, than its own Authority. One I Cor. i. 12. is of Paul, another of Apollos, and a Third of Cephas; As if the bufinefs of our Preaching were to please their Fancies, not to inftruct their Minds, and to reform their Manners; and that Simplicity which was once the Glory of the Gofpel, were now to be efteemed the Scandal of its Minifters. --Ib. ver. 17, Hence it is that fo many of our Auditors, inftead of coming to our Difcourfes as they ought, to hear their Duty, and confirm their Faith, and increafe their Piety, come rather to obferve, and cenfure: The Application they make, is not to enter into their Clofets, and Meditate upon what they have Heard, and confider how they may Benefit their Souls by it; and then to beg the Affiftance of God's Grace to enable them fo to do; But to Applaud or |