The Preachers Charge and Peoples Duty About Preaching and Hearing the Word

A Table for the Prophets chamber.

Parts The Ministers Charge. A Duty enjoined. Preach: where is explained The thing: what Preaching is. The signification of the word, implying The Preachers office, viz A Cryer, a Herald. Manner of discharging it, viz. To whom he is to speak: to all. In whose name: his Masters. How Boldly. Faithfully. Plainly The Word. Christ. The Gospel of Christ. Consisting in four particular actions. Manner of performance. General: Be instant. Earnest with Themselves. Others. Diligent. Particular. In Season. At the set ordinary time: the Lord's day. Special seasons and opportunities. Out of season: when the word seemeth to be so in respect of the Speaker. Hearer. Both: viz. on the week day. The Peoples duty, by way of application, in five particulars. 1. Hear. 2. The Word: not being offended at the simplicity of it. 3. Be instant. Earnest with Themselves, in exciting To the duty. In the duty. Others God: that he would give to his Ministers Ability. Liberty. Efficacy Man Ministers themselves, exciting them to their duty, by Christian exhortation, which must be done with Love. Wisdom. Respect to their paces. Encouragements. Verball. Real. Competency of maintenance. Honor and respect due to their callings. Entertaining the word with gladness, in Receiuing. Practising. Private persons, stirring them up to attend upon God's ordinances. Diligent. 4. In Season. At the set time: the Lord's day. When God disposeth the heart after a special manner. 5. Out of Season. On the week day, as occasion shall be offered. When outward occasions may withdraw or hinder. When inward indisposition may discourage.

THE PREACHERS CHARGE▪ AND, PEOPLES DVTIE.

I N all solemn Assemblies, and public meetings upon civil affairs, the first act, usually, is to open and read the Commission which may warrant the business to be undertaken. This course I have thought good to observe and follow, in making entrance upon this holy and religious Exercise: First, to open unto you the Commission, which may warrant and bear out the duty we are now to go about; and that, not only in the substance, but also in the circumstance.

In this Exercise there are but two things subject to question: the Exercise it self, and the season for the performance of it.

The Exercise it self, The Preaching of the Word. Carnal minded men, who savor not the things of God, will haply conceive of it, at the least, as not so necessary: The season for the performance of this Exercise (being on the week day,) others perhaps will censure it as not expedient. To both these the Spirit of God, in the words I have now read, giveth us an express warrant; and that not by way of allowance only, but by way of injunction; as of things that not only may be done, but must be done. To the Exercise it self, [ Preach the Word, ] not only a toleration, but a peremptory command. To the circumstance of time, the season for the performance of it, [ Be instant in season, out of season: ] No season unseasonable for this so necessary a duty: Even that which may seem to carnal reason, to flesh and blood to be out of season, is yet seasonable. Though it may seem unseasonable to the hearers, yet it is seasonable in the speaker. This is Saint Paul's charge to Timothy in particular, and in him to all the Ministers of the Gospel, [ Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season.

In this Apostolical charge, there are two things present themselves to our consideration, The duty enjoined; and, The manner of discharging it: The Duty that is enjoined, is, Preaching of the Word, Preach the Word: The Manner how this duty must be discharged, is, With earnestness and diligence, with undaunted resolution, with indefatigable industry; Be instant in season, out of season.

To begin with the Duty it self: Preach the Word. This is a Duty imposed by God upon all the Ministers of the Gospel:

They must Preach the Word.

This is the charge, we see, which S. Paul here imposeth upon his son Timothy, and he doth it with as much seriousness and earnestness as possibly can be conceived: I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his kingdom, Preach the Word. Did you ever hear a charge set on with more pressing arguments, with more compulsiue and commanding persuasions? I, but in imposing this charge upon Timothy, doth not Saint Paul deal, as our Savior saith of the Scribes and Pharisees, who bind heavy burdens upon other men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers? Nothing less: What he imposeth upon Timothy, he conceiveth and acknowledgeth to be as deeply charged upon himself: Necessity is laid upon me, yea, We is unto me of I Preach not the Gospel. So deeply did this great Doctor of the Gentiles account himself to stand charged with this Duty. There was a Necessity lay upon him for the performance of it; that Necessity backed with a Woe if he should neglect it. The like Necessity, the like Woe lieth upon all the Ministers of the Gospel in their several places and stations: They must Preach the Word: Woe is unto them if they do it not: I must not dwell upon confirmation. This was the first and the last charge which our blessed Savior gave to his Apostles, when he was to send them forth into the world after he had told them whither they should go; the first charge he giveth them, is, As ye go, Preach, When he himself was to leave the world, and to take his last farewell of them, the last charge he giveth them, is, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. Preaching of the Gospel was the Alpha, and the Omega in their Apostolical Ministration; and it is one of the main businesses which the Ministers of the Gospel must attend unto; They must Preach the Word.

By way of explication, and illustration, I will here unfold unto you two things: What is meant by Preaching; what by the Word.

For the first: To Preach in a general and large acception of the Word, is to declare, or any ways make known the will of God unto man: In this sense every declaration of the will of God, be it by any of his Mercies, Chastisements, Judgments, Creatures, may improperly be called Preaching: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the Firmament showeth his handy work. Never a Creature in heaven and earth but readeth a Lecture, preacheth to the eye of the beholder, the mercy, wisdom, power and goodness of God: And so in this general sense, Reading may also be called Preaching. But more specially and properly, in the ordinary phrase of the Scripture, Preaching importeth a Ministerial action, wherein the will of God is made known to the Church, after a special manner, by the Ministers of the Gospel. To speak distinctly. The Ministers of the Word, being Agents betwixt God and his people, their office consisteth in two things: 1. In dealing with God for the people. 2. In dealing with the people for and from God. First, they are to deal with God, for and on the behalf of the people; to be, as it were, their Mouthes unto God, in putting up their suits, and supplications, and thanksgivings unto God, in expressing their desires unto God, to pray for them: God forbid that I should sin against the Lord, inceasing to pray for you, saith Samuel unto the people. And secondly, as they are to be the people's mouth to God, in praying for them, so they are to be God's Mouth to the people, in instructing them, in declaring his will to them. If thou take away the precious from the vile, thou shalt be, as it were, my mouth, saith the Lord to the Prophet Jeremiah. The Prophets of God, the Ministers of the Word, are God's mouth, whereby he speaks, and makes known his will to his people. The will of God is made known to the Church, by the Ministers of the Gospel, two ways: By Visible signs, by Audible voice.

By Visible signs: The Sacraments, which, being presented to the Church by hands of the Ministers, are as visible words to make known and ascertain to every believer, the eternal gracious purpose, the everlasting good will of God towards him in his Son.

But secondly, and principally, by Audible voice: By Audible voice the will of God is declared to the Church by the Ministers of the Word in two Ministerial actions; In Reading; in Preaching: In Reading the Text, the letter of the Scriptures; in Preaching, interpreting, expounding, applying them to the edification of the Church: Both these Ministerial actions you have joined together in the practice of Ezra and the Levites in Nehe. 8. 8. They read in the book, in the Law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused the people to understand the reading. That which we have here to deal withal, is the last of these Ministerial actions, Preaching, properly so called, which, to speak shortly and fully, is an action of the Minister of the Word, soundly interpreting and opening the sense of the Scriptures by the Scriptures, with Application of them to the use of the Church by Doctrine, Instruction, Exhortation, Reproof, Conuiction, Comfort.

This is properly Preaching: You now see the thing: Look we back a little upon the word, that will afford us something worthy our observation, Preach; the word in the original is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a word borrowed from public Criers or Heralds sent from Kings, Princes, States, to proclaim and make known their minds, edicts, determinations unto others. The Metaphor is no less elegant than fruitful: it readeth us, the Ministers of the Gospel, a double lesson: First, what our office is: Secondly, how we are to behave our selves in the discharge and execution of that office: It first putteth us in mind what our office [ 1] is: We are Criers, Heralds, sent from the Lord of Hosts, the King of heaven, from God himself, to declare and proclaim his will to the Church. This was the office of John the Baptist, he was a Cryer: The voice of a Cryar in the wilderness: A Cryer sent to proclaim to the world the coming of the Messias, to work the redemption of his people. This was the office of the Apostle Saint Paul: he was ordained to be a Preacher and an Apostle, as himself telleth us: 1 Tim. 2. 7. 2 Tim. 1. 11. a Preacher: the word in both places is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a Cryer, a Herald; one sent from God to proclaim and make known to the Gentiles the glad tidings [ 2] of salvation by Christ. This is our office: and secondly, it putteth us in mind, How we are to behave our selves in the discharge and execution of this office, in declaring the will of God to the Church; and that in three particulars: To whom we are to speak; In whose name we are to speak; and, How we are to speak:

[ 1] 1. To whom we are to speak; generally to All: Criers, Heralds, they make public Proclamations, that All the people may hear and understand: It is the speech of Babshakeh to Eliakim, (we may make use of the actions of wicked men, as our Savior doth of the unrighteous Judge in the parable,) when he was sent by his Master, the King of Ashur, as an Herald to give a summons unto Jerusalem: Hath my Master sent me to thy Master, and to thee, to speak these words; hath he not sent me to the men which sit upon the wall. Heralds make Proclamations, they speak to all the people. Thus must the Ministers of the Gospel declare the will of God, publish the glad tidings of salvation, offer Christ to all, so runs our Commission given to the Apostles by Christ himself: Go Preach the Gospel to every Creature: that is, to Jews and Gentiles, to bond and free, of what state, of what degree, of what condition soever. Thus the Prophet Isaiah maketh his Proclamation, Isaiah 55. 1. Hoe, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. There are none excepted, none excluded out of our Commission: we must tender Christ unto all: So must we Preach to the Churches, as S. John writeth to them in his Revelation: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches: Preach the Gospel to all.

[ 2] 2. In whose name we must preach: Heralds speak not in their own names, but in the names of them that send them: Thus saith the great King, the King of Ashur, saith Rabshakeh to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem: So must we speak to the Inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, in the phrase of Heralds; not in our name, but in the name of him whose messengers we are, in the name of God: Thus saith the King, the great King of heaven and earth. Thus spake the Prophets of old, The Word of the Lord; the burden of the Lord: Thus did our Savior himself (as he was man) come unto his people: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Thus were the Apostles to preach unto the people: it is our Saviors own charge to them a little before his ascension; That Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name. And those outcasts in the Gospel, when they would plead, as they thought, effectually for themselves, they do it in this phrase, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name. Ministers must speak to the Lord's people, not as Lord's over them, but as messengers, as Heralds, in the name, in the authority of him that sendeth them: in the name of God.

3 How we are to speak and deliver the will of God to the people, namely, as Heralds should do: How is that? Why, 1. Boldly: 2. Faithfully: 3. Plainly. Boldly, as having authority, as representing the person of the Prince that sends them: Faithfully, neither adding to, nor detracting from what they have received in instruction from their Masters: Plainly, that all they to whom they are sent, may hear and understand their message: Thus should the Ministers of the Word behave themselves in the dispensation of the Gospel, in preaching of the Word: Deliver it,

1. Boldly, as standing in the place, representing the person of God himself: not fearing the faces of them to whom they are sent: Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy fore-head strong against their fore-heads, As an Adamant, harder than Flint, have I made thy fore-head, saith the Lord to the Prophet Ezekiel. Such an vandaunted boldness, such an invincible resolution should there be in the Ministers of the Word, in delivering the will of God to the people; in instructing, exhorting, convincing, reproving; they must do it with boldness. They that preach Christ, must so preach him, as Christ himself preached, when he was upon the earth, as having authority: It is Saint Paul's charge, in express words, to Titus: These things speak and exhort, and rebuke with all authority: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : that is, with a Ministerial authority. In this, Christ's preaching, and our preaching of Christ, differ; He preached, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as having authority in himself, from himself: We must preach with authority too, but not as having authority in our selves, but with a derived, a Ministerial authority, derived from him whose Ambassadors we are, whose person we represent: Preach with authority: Boldly.

2. Faithfully: Deliver the will of God, his whole will, nothing but his will, neither adding to it, nor detracting from it: Thus did the Apostle Saint Paul preach and deliver the will of God to the Churches: What he delivered to others, he first received himself; I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. And as he received what he delivered, so he delivered what he received; he kept nothing back: I have not shunned to declare unto you all the Counsel of God: They are his own words to the Elders of Ephesus at Miletum. Thus must we deliver the Counsel of God, his revealed Will (for that is meant by Counsel in that place, not his secret Decrees and Purposes, but his revealed Will, specially his Counsel and Purpose touching the way and means of salvation, by Christ, and Christ alone) we must deliver it faithfully; not adding to it, nor baulking anything necessary to be known. Exemplary to us is that resolution of the Prophet Michaia, when he was sent for to prophesy before King▪ Ahab: At the Lord liveth (saith he) whatsoever the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. Deliver the will of God faithfully.

And thirdly, deliver it plainly: Heralds speak distinctly with an audible voice, in a known language, to the understanding of those to whom they are sent: Rabsaketh, when he was sent as an Herald to the people of the Jews, he would not speak to them in the Aramites language, as Eliakim would have had him, but in the Jews language, that the people might understand his arrand. Thus must God's Heralds, the Ministers of the Word, in delivering his Embassage, in preaching of the Word, they must speak plainly, distinctly, in a known language, to the capacity of the hearers: Thus did Ezra and the Levites, in that forenamed place; They read in the book, in the Law of the Lord distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused the people to understand. And it is noted of the Apostles, at the day of Pentecost, as an exemplary president to the Ministers of the Gospel forever: That Every man heard them speak in his own language: That is, they spake to every man in his own language; not that the hearers heard that in diverse languages which they spake but in one, as some have (not without some color in the words) conjectured; for then (as M ^r . Calvin upon the place well observes) the miracle had been in the hearers, not in the speakers, whereas the cloven tongues rested upon the Apostles, not upon the people. Their tongues were cloven, they spake to the people in their own languages, that they might understand as well as hear: For a Herald to deliver a message of importance in a strange language, which none understand but himself, he had as good be silent. They that take upon them the preaching of Christ, must speak in the language of Christ, and the language of the people; they must speak plainly. This it is properly to Preach, viz. To deliver the will of God, as Heralds do the commands of their Masters: to speak unto all: to speak in the name of God, with boldness, faithfulness, plainness. You now see the first question resolved and cleared: What is meant by Preaching: But what must we Preach? The voice saith to us, Cry; but what shall we cry? That is the second thing to be unfolded: The text telleth us, The Word: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , We must Preach the Word.

This word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ( the Word ) it admits of many and diverse significations in the Scriptures: In this place it may be taken two ways: First, for Christ himself, who is sometimes in the phrase of the Scripture called ( the Word, ) In the beginning was the Word: That is, the eternal son of God, the uncreated, essential Word of the Father. Christ is called The Word (to omit other more witty than solid conjectures) principally for two reasons: First, because he is the sum and substance of that Word, that first and great Word, that Word of words, the Word of promise made by God himself to his Church at the beginning; and afterwards, in effect, from time to time renewed and ratified unto the Patriarchs: The seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head: The substance of this promise is Christ himself, the seed of the Virgin, in him this promise is verified and made good, and therefore called the Word: Secondly, he is ( the Word, ) because by him the will and purpose of God is made known to the Church, as our minds are expressed to other men by our words; No man hath seen God at any time, but the only begotten son of the Father, he hath declared him: Declared him: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith the Original; the word signifieth to conduct, and direct, and lead a man, as it were, by the hand to the finding out of something that was hid before. The will of God was a thing that was locked up in the breast of his secret counsel, a thing hidden from our eyes, as the purpose of a man's heart is from the knowledge of another. Now Christ hath led us to the knowledge of this will by declaring of it, as a man's words lead another to the knowledge of the intents and purposes of his heart, and therefore called The Word.

Secondly, by the Word, here we may understand the revealed will of God made known in his Word in the Scriptures: specially his will concerning his son, and the salvation of his people by him: The Word of the Gospel: The Gospel is called ( the Word ) the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : the whole Bible, every part and parcel of it is the word of God; but the Gospel is the pith, the marrow, the quintessence, the sum and substance of this word, and therefore called, by way of eminency, The Word of the Gospel: That the Gentiles might hear the Word of the Gospel: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : the word by way of eminency: This is the Word which the Spirit of God is pleased to honor with so many honorable additions and compellations in the Scriptures; sometimes calling it the Word of life, the Word of eternal life: Master, thou hast the words of eternal life, saith Peter to our Savior. The Law is a Word of death, a killing letter: the Gospel is a Word of life, a quickening Word, giving life, leading unto life: Sometimes again, the word of Truth: In whom ye also believed after that ye heard of the Word of Truth. Every word of God is a true word, the Gospel is the word of Truth: Sometimes the word of the Kingdom: Whensoever a man heareth the Word of the Kingdom. The Word of the Kingdom, because by this Word, as by his Scepter, Christ ruleth like a King in the hearts of his people: and by this Word he maketh them Kings, bringing them by it, to the Kingdom of grace here, and of glory hereafter: Sometimes again, the Word of salvation: To you is the Word of this salvation sent, saith Paul to the men of Antioch. The Word of salvation, because it is the power of God to salvation. There is a singular excellency and eminency in this word of the Gospel, and therefore here in the text, called The Word.

Now to which of these two interpretations we should incline, it matters not; there is no material difference betwixt them; Whether Christ, or the Gospel of Christ, all cometh to one: Christ is the subject of the Gospel, and the Gospel is the doctrine of Christ; the sense is still one and the same: That which Timothy and the Ministers of the Gospel must preach, is nothing but the Word, Christ, the Gospel of Christ: They must preach Christ: Him did Philip preach unto the Samaritans; He preached Christ unto them. Him did Paul preach immediately after his conversion; Straightway he preached Christ in the Synagogues: To this subject did he ever confine his preaching: We preach Christ crucified: He preached Christ, nothing but Christ: I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ. Thus must we preach Christ, and the Gospel of Christ: They are the express words of our Commission, Go Preach the Gospel: Here is then the subject of our Preaching, nothing but Christ, the Gospel of Christ. True indeed, we must preach Moses, we must preach the Law; but how? We must Preach Moses as a harbinger to Christ; we must Preach the Law, but in reference to the Gospel, that we may thereby, with John the Baptist, Prepare the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight: that we may by this means level and smooth the way for Christ, that the offer of salvation by him may find the better entertainment: That which we must principally eye and look at in our Preaching, is, this Word, Christ, and the Gospel of Christ.

To preach Christ and the Gospel of Christ, is a great work: if you would know what it is, it consisteth principally in four Ministerial actions: I will but name them:

1. In revealing of Christ; in laying open the truth of doctrine concerning Christ; his own person; his two natures, Godhead and Manhood; his three offices, Kingly, Priestly, Prophetical; with the several works of either; the several passages of his incarnation, birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, intercession, coming again at the last day.

2. In revealing the will of God concerning Christ: viz. that it is his will to save sinners by him, and him alone; that he hath set him forth as a means of reconciliation; that he hath given him as an all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world: so making a general offer and tender of Christ to all that will receive him as a Savior, and a Lord.

3. In revealing the way to come unto Christ, and to God by him: viz. By faith, and faith alone, which is the only hand and instrument ordained of God to apprehend and take hold of Christ, to apply the merit of his active and passive obedience unto eternal life.

4. And lastly, in giving and applying Christ particularly to every poor penitent sinner that is heavy laden under the burden of sin: Commanding him in the name of God to believe in Christ, to receive him as a Savior, to take hold of him, and to rest upon him: assuring him withal, in the name of God, that Christ died for him in particular, and that the merit of his death and passion belongeth to him, and shall be imputed unto him; so by this particular application, forming Christ in the soul, from whence will follow a through change, and conversion both in heart and life. This it is to Preach Christ, and the Gospel of Christ. And this is the duty which S. Paul here imposeth upon Timothy, and which all the Ministers of the Gospel should principally be employed about.

I might here now give you some reasons of the necessity of this duty of preaching the Word after this manner: To omit all other:

The reason of reasons is, because it is the ordinance of God; his power unto salvation: that is, his powerful instrument which he hath in his wisdom appointed and set apart for the working of the salvation of his people; for the begetting, beginning of grace, increasing of grace, perfecting of grace in the hearts of his chosen, and so consequently to bring them through grace to glory.

The time prevents me, give me leave now to pass from the duty it self, to the manner of performance: I shall make the application of both together. The manner how this important duty should be discharged, is set down, first, generally, then illustrated and explained more particularly: generally, [ Be instant ] particularly, [ In season, out of season. ] I will be brief in all.

Be instant, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith the original: the word signifieth to stand to, or over a business: Our English word expresseth it fully, Be instant: To be instant in a business, imports two things; Earnestness, and Diligence. Thus must the Ministers of the Gospel be instant in preaching of the Word; they must stand to, and stand over the work 1. with earnestness: 2. with diligence.

[ 1] First, they must be instant and earnest about this work of Preaching the Word: Earnest, 1. With themselves; 2. with others.

[ 1] 1. They must be earnest with themselves, and that in stirring and exciting up themselves to the work, in putting themselves forward upon this service: great need of earnestness this way.

There are many avocations which will be ready to divert and turn us aside, to call us away, to pluck us back from the work: profits, pleasures, preferments, ease, quietness and the like: Flesh and blood will always be whispering in our ears, as Peter in his Masters, Master, favor thyself.

[ 2] Besides these avocations, we must make account to meet with many discouragements, many dangers, much hardship, Bears and Lions in the way, storms and tempests enow to make us not only to look back, but even to leave the plough of God in the open field.

[ 3] Besides these discouragements, much resistance, much opposition: Every Paul must make account to meet with an Elimas; every Moses with a Jannes and Jambres: Always in one kind or other, we must make account to find Satan standing at our right hands, when we are to go about this work, as he stood at the right hand of Iehoshuah, to resist him, when he was to stand before the Lord to execute his office. Great need of earnestness to put our selves forward in a service where we shall meet with so many avocations, so many discouragements, so much opposition: All our earnestness will be little enough to make us bear up head against this tide. Strange it is how far these have prevailed many times against the faithful messengers of God, to the disheartening, almost to the silencing of them: It was the Prophet Jeremiah's own case: such was the entertainment that he met withal, in the discharge of his office, that he had even resolved with himself not to make mention of God, not to speak anymore in his name. It made him almost to silence himself from Preaching anymore: and had not the Word been in his heart, as a burning fire shut up in his bones (as he there speaks) he had been forever silent: Such defamations, such minting and coining of slanderous reports, such catching at his words, such watching for his haltings, such lying in wait to entrap him, (as himself telleth us in the next verse) that he had even resolved to turn his back upon his office. If any of the Messengers of God meet with better measure in the discharge of their duties, it is more than God hath promised them, or they can promise to themselves. Great need therefore to stand up to the work, that we may overlook and ouerleape all these blocks that lie in the way: Great need to be earnest, even to offer a kind of holy violence to our selves to stir up our selves to the work. Even as the Cock, the true Emblem of a Minister of the Word, first awakens himself by the clapping of his wings, that he may awaken others by his crowing; so must we offer a kind of holy violence to our selves to awaken and stir up our selves to the work of our Ministry, that being stirred up our selves first, we may

2. Awaken and stir up others: Ministers must be [ 2] instant and earnest with others as well as with themselves, offer violence to others, in Preaching the Word, as well as to themselves. The Kingdom of heaven should suffer violence as well in the speaker, as in the hearer: in the mouth of the one, as in the heart of the other: It is the charge which the Master of the Feast giveth unto his servant, when he sendeth him forth into the high ways to fetch in guests to the Supper; Compel them to come in. Thus should we Preach the Gospel, invite men to the participation of Christ with commanding arguments, with compulsiue persuasions, so as to take no denial. So should we deal with the souls of men, as the Angels did with the bodies of Lot and his family, pluck them as fire-brands out of the flames, and that with a holy violence. It is the charge which the Lord giveth to the Prophet Isaiah, Esa. 55. Cry aloud, spare not: Great reason the Ministers of the Word should Cry aloud, they often speak unto dead men, such as are dead in trespasses and sins: Do we see men sleeping and snorting securely in their natural states and conditions, without sense, without remorse, Cry aloud: Maledictum silentium quod hic conniuet; Cursed silence that now spares to speak: Do we see men walking on securely in the paths of hell and of death, living in any sinful course, posting on to hell and destruction, Cry aloud, spare not: Crudelis misericordia; Cruel is that mercy that suffers a man rather to be drowned than to pull him out of the water by the hair of his head. Thus must we 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , be instant about this work of our Ministry, be earnest both with our selves and others:

[ 2] Secondly, we must be instant again, that is, Diligent: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Sta cum diligentiâ, so the Syriac renders the word in this place, Stand to the work with diligence. Ministers must be diligent, as well as earnest. This is the commendation of that eloqueut Apollos, he was not only servant in the spirit, but also, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord. Ministers, in the dispensation of the Gospel, are God's seeds-men to sow the seed of eternal life in the hearts of his chosen. Now it is the seeds-man's charge, given by the Preacher; In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening let not thine hand rest. The Preaching of the Word must be a Ministers work, his daily work, not his recreation; a continual work: We are God's Husbandmen, his people are his tillage, as Saint Paul maketh the comparison: Now it is the Husbandmans portion, redit labor actus in orbem; his work goeth round in a circle, it is never at an end; Spring, Summer, Autume, Winter, no vacation in any: They that put their hands to God's Plough, must put on an indefatigable resolution to follow the work with diligence: It is the reason which the Apostles give, why they would have Deacons chosen to take care of their poor; because (say they) We will give our selves continually to prayer, and to Preaching of the Word: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Insta • imus, saith the vulgar Latin, we will be instant in it, attend unto it. Thus must we, whom God hath honored so far as to make us dispensers of his sacred mysteries; we must 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , attend upon the work, stand to it, be instant in it, first, with Earnestness; secondly, with Diligence.

This in general: more particularly, Be instant in season, out of season: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : I will be brief in both.

In season; the word may be understood two ways: [ 1]

1. It may be taken for the ordinary set time appointed and set apart for this exercise: The ordinary time set apart by God himself for this duty, is the Sabbath day, the Lord's day: And then to Preach the Word, is to Preach it in season. The Sabbath was, and the Lord's day is a sign of sanctification unto the people of God; never are the means of sanctification so properly in season as then. This season did our Savior and his Apostles usually observe. Before his resurrection they went into the Synagogues and taught upon the Sabbath days: After his resurrection, they met together every first day of the week, upon the Lord's day, as at the day of Pentecost, and at other times. And this season the Ministers of the Gospel are to observe after a special manner. In this there is a difference betwixt the word of God and that Manna which came down from heaven in the wilderness; that fell upon every day of the week except the Sabbath, this spiritual Manna never falleth so seasonably as then.

[ 2] 2. In season: that is, at such times and seasons when the Word may be most acceptable, most profitable unto the hearers. There are certain seasons when the Word is likely to find better acceptance and entertainment, to take place rather than at other times: as, viz. when men are humbled under the hand of God, when the heart is broken under some great affliction or other, whether present or feared, that is a season when the Word is like to find easier passage, and to make a deeper impression: So again, when the heart is warmed and melted with the fresh apprehension of some new mercy, that is a season when the Word is likely to find a wide and effectual door opened to it to let it into the soul: So again, there are certain seasons when some particular doctrine is more seasonable, than others; As to minister comfort and consolation to an afflicted dejected soul: when the heart is pricked, wounded, when the spirit is broken under the apprehension of sin and God's wrath due to it, then to preach, comfort is like the pouring in balsome into a bleeding wound, or like a shower of rain falling upon the new mown grass, it is a word in season. Now Ministers should observe, and watch, and apply themselves to these seasons. We know what commendation the Wiseman giveth of words thus spoken in season, How good is a word in due season? And again, A word spoken fitly, (Super rotissuis saith the original, spoken upon his wheels; that is, with a due concurrence and observation of all circumstances, of time, place, person, and the like, which are as the wheels upon which our words and speeches should run) is like apples of gold with pictures of silver, both delectable & profitable. Herin should the wisdom of the Ministers of the Word be exercised in taking hold of these opportunities to improve them for the best advantage, that they may minister a word in due season.

They must be instant in season; and a. Out of season.

What, is the Word ever out of season: that which seasoneth all other things, is that ever unseasonable?

Ans. In it self, in truth it is not; but in the opinion of men, in the eye of carnal reason, in the judgment of flesh and blood it seemeth sometimes to be out of season. Out of season three ways, in three respects: 1. In respect of the speaker: 2. In respect of the hearer: 3. In respect of both.

First, in respect of the Speaker, the Minister himself, [ 1] the Preaching of the Word seemeth to be out of season, when his ease, his pleasures, his profits, his worldly employments, some unnecessary avocations or other, draw him another way. When there is no constraint, no necessity of Preaching, the Law of the Land requires it not, neither is there any benefit, but perhaps danger likely to accrue to himself by Preaching (as in times of persecution) then it may seem to him to be out of season.

In respect of the Hearers, when their Farms, their [ 2] Oxen, their particular calling, domestical employments, perhaps sports, pastimes, recreations draw them another way: When they cannot repair to the hearing of the Word without some pains, without some hardship in respect of the season, the weather, ( as it falleth out this morning,) or otherwise, then the Preaching and hearing of the Word, seemeth to them to be out of season.

Thirdly, to both Speaker and Hearers it may seem out [ 3] of season. When it is preached not only at the set ordinary times, upon the Sabbath, the Lord's day, but also at other times, upon other occasions, upon the week day; then flesh and blood will be ready to think it as a shower of rain in the midst of Harvest, out of season. Now at these times, which to carnal reason may seem unseasonable, must the Ministers of the Gospel stand up to the work of their ministry, take all occasions, all opportunities, and advantages of Preaching publicly, of instructing privately.

Thus did our Savior and his Apostles, they went about, Preaching: as they went into the Synagogues on the Sabbath days, so they took all other occasions on the week day to instruct the people publicly, beside their teaching from house to house: And here is our warrant for this religious exercise, into which, I have this day made an entrance. It may seem, perhaps, to some to be out of season, being in the week day, when men should attend upon their particular callings, and other employments: If it do, yet we dare not neglect it: the Spirit of God here giveth us a warrant for it, nay, layeth a charge upon us to embrace the occasion, to take hold and make use of this advantage which God and authority have put into our hands: here is our Commission, Preach the Word, &c.

I have dwelt long upon the doctrinal part of the Text, perhaps you may think too long. All this time you may say, what is this to us? To make you amends in that which remains, give me leave to turn my speech now wholly unto you. The doctrine hath been ours (I wish we may make it ours by practice) the application shall be yours.

You see what charge it is which the Spirit of God here imposeth upon us: Preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season: Do but turn the tables, the Charge is yours▪ Hear the Word, be instant in season, and out of season: This charge hath many parts; to set it on the better, I will break it in pieces.

First, Hear the Word: Preaching and Hearing are Relatiues: If there lie a necessity upon us to Preach, by the same rule there lieth a necessity upon you to Hear: He that ordained us to Preach the Gospel, hath also ordained you to hear the Gospel: And therefore let me exhort you, in the name and fear of God, to attend upon this ordinance of God: I call it his ordinance: and so it is as well in the hearer, as in the speaker: Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hearing, by the word of God; that is, by his ordinance, by his commandment, as M ^r Beza most naturally interprets the word. Attend upon it therefore, and that because it is his ordinance. There is a great deal of force and strength in this argument, to persuade men to attend upon the hearing of the Word preached, because it is God's own ordinance. A man may always expect to find God when he seeketh him in his own way. Then may a man comfortably assure himself of a blessing, when he seeketh it in the ordinance of God, in that way which God himself hath chalked out, and appointed for that end and purpose. It is the ordinance of God that maketh every thing to be useful unto us, that maketh every comfort to be comfortable, that maketh every means of our good to be helpful and serviceable to us: Why doth bread nourish us more than the grass of the field? It is God's ordinance, There is a word of command that goeth along with the one, and not with the other, which hath ordained, appointed, and set it apart for that particular use, and hath given it a special efficacy for that end and purpose. Now such a word there is in this ordinance of God, the Preaching and the hearing of the Word: God hath, in his counsel and purpose, set it apart, as the only ordinary means for the beginning, increasing, perfecting the work of grace in the hearts of his chosen, and so to be his power unto salvation; and hath given it a special efficacy for this end and purpose. Surely, if men did but seriously consider, and certainly believe this, they would wait and depend upon it with more confidence, with more assurance of success.

What is the main reason why men make so little account of it, and reap so little benefit by it.

Amongst others, this I take to be the principal, they do not esteem it, nor attend upon it as God's ordinance, but as man's ordinance. If they come to the hearing of the Word, they look upon it with a squint eye, they come to it out of some base, by, sinister respect, and not in obedience to God, to wait upon him in the use of his ordinance: And this it is that hinders the fruit, the efficacy of it, that they do not find the arm of the Lord revealed to them in this ordinance. This day you have heard it, that Preaching, and so by necessary consequence, Hearing, is the ordinance of God himself; and therefore be exhorted to submit and to subject yourselves unto it, to come to it, to wait, attend, depend upon it as his ordinance.

And secondly, be not offended with the simplicity of this ordinance of God: You see that our Preaching is confined to one subject, from which it may not swerve or stray; viz. The Word: Christ, and the Gospel of Christ; we must know nothing else amongst you: Do not you desire to know or hear anything else from us: This is the property of Saint Peters new borne Babe, one borne again of water and the spirit, to desire the sincere milk of the Word: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : Milk that is pure as it cometh from the breast, without the mixture of anything else with it. If we feed you with this sincere milk be not you nauseated with it, take heed of loathing of it: A sincere heart will desire after sincere milk: So much longing after mixture in the Preaching of the Word, as a man shall find in his heart, so much insincerity is in it. If we preach the bare Word to you, if we present Christ unto you, and naked Christ, without the clothing of human wisdom, the wisdom of words, as Saint Paul calleth it; be not you offended at it. We must Preach Christ as Saint Paul preached him, Christ crucified: Now he was crucified naked; even so must we preach him unto you. This is the excellency of preaching, not to set forth Christ under a veil, as it was in the time of the Law, but to lay him naked, that everyone may see him with open face: So to present Christ unto the ears and hearts of the hearers, as Saint Paul himself presented him unto his Galatians, to draw him out to the life, to crucify him before them: so to present him, as he was presented to the eyes of the Jews, when they saw him hanging upon the Cross. Be not offended therefore with the simplicity of Christ, and the doctrine of Christ, we must Preach nothing but this Word.

Be instant; we must, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , stand up to the work, so must you in your place and station. Be instant, and that as we must be instant: 1. With Earnestness: 2. With Diligence.

1. Be earnest about this work: It is good to be earnest [ 1] (or zealously affected) always in a good thing: Sure I am, you cannot be earnest, or zealous in a better cause than this; It is God's cause, it is the Churches cause, nay, it is your own cause, a cause that concerneth you nearly, your souls cause, your welfare, your happiness, your life and livelihood, your salvation depends upon it: If ever you will be earnest in any cause, be zealous in this. Be earnest, 1. With yourselves; 2. With others.

1. With yourselves, and that both to stir up yourselves [ 1] to the duty, and in the duty.

First, be earnest to stir up yourselves to the duty: great need of earnestness in exciting and stirring up your selves this way.

For 1. there is a natural auersnesse in every man, that [ 1] sets him off from the duty: Flesh and blood find no taste, no relish in this ordinance of God, the Word purely preached: This is one of those things of God, of which Saint Paul speaketh, That the natural man receiveth not, discerneth not, understandeth not: Great need therefore to use all holy means to quicken and to excite spiritual appetite.

And 2. Besides this natural auersnesse, you shall find many pull-backs, many avocations, many lets and impediments to draw you aside, to hinder you. Those in the Gospel (which I named before) are too common; Farms, Oxen, domestical affairs, civil employments. The worlds business will steal away the time from God's business: Our bodies will seek to starve our souls; our particular callings will engross all the time, that there shall be little left for the general.

3. Besides these avocations, you must make account to meet with many discouragements: It may be taunts and reproaches from profane and wicked men; it may be an overly countenance from friends and alliance: some dust or other Satan will be ready to stir up to blind your eyes withal, that you should not see to find the way to the house of God, to attend upon this his ordinance. Great need of earnestness to excite and stir up yourselves, that you may ouerlook all these seeming lets, impediments, discouragements.

[ 2] Secondly, be earnest to stir up yourselves in the duty: as there is a natural auersnesse in us to the duty, to keep us from it, so there is a natural slothfulness, deadness, dullness, weariness, which will be ready to seyze upon us in the duty, to make us perform it carelessly, formally, negligently: The best of God's people have often experience of this malady in themselves. Sometimes our bodies will be disposed to drowsiness and sleepiness (as it was with Eutichus at Saint Paul's Sermon) and that perhaps rather now than at any other time; but oftener our hearts, our souls: I sleep, but my heart waketh, saith the Spouse. In hearing of the Word, we may often invert the sentence, I wake, but my heart sleepeth: Our bodies are present, but our souls, our hearts, are absent. Great need to awaken our selves, that we may hear, and hear with attention; that we may watch unto hearing, as the Apostle exhorts the Colossians concerning prayer, That ye should continue in prayer and watch in the same: So, continue in hearing, and watch in the same: Watch lest we should be overtaken with this spiritual deadness and drowsiness, which is so ready to creep upon the soul, to come over the heart, to bind up the senses, the affections of it. Our Savior reproveth his Disciples that they could not watch with him one hour, when as he himself was yet absent from them. The reproof will lie as justly against us if we cannot stir up our selves to watch with Christ one hour, especially when as Christ himself is present with us, and that after a special manner, as he hath promised to be in the midst of this his ordinance. And therefore when we draw near unto God in this part of his worship and service, let us in his fear, as in his presence, awaken our hearts, intend our spirits, that we may attend unto what the Lord shall say unto us. It is Lydiaes commendation, after that God had opened her heart and wrought effectually upon her, she attended to the words that Paul spake. Thus should Christians attend upon the Word; even hang upon the lips of the speaker, as the Babe doth upon the breast: watch every word to take it before it fall to the ground. Thus should Christians be earnest with themselves, in stirring up themselves to the duty, in the duty. They that will take the kingdom of heaven, dispensed by the Ministers of the Word, they must take it (as they did in the days of John the Baptist) with violence.

2. As you must be earnest with yourselves about this [ 2] work, so also with others, and that both with God, and with man.

First, Be earnest 1. with God: It is he that holdeth the [ 1] bottles of heaven, the clouds in his hand, that causeth it to rain upon one place and not upon another: It is he that watereth his own inheritance, his garden, his Church, where, and when, and how it pleaseth him. And therefore forget not to be instant and earnest with him: 1. That he would send forth faithful laborers into his harvest, such as may be endued with ministerial abilities for the discharge of this work: 2. That he would give liberty unto them, that he would set open for them a door, a wide door of utterances: 3. That he would give efficacy to their labors: that he would not only set open a wide, but also an effectual door; that the Gospel may have free passage in their mouths, and in the hearts of the elect people of God: Ability, liberty, efficacy in the dispensation of the Gospel, depends all upon God himself: And therefore be you instant with him, that he would be pleased to water your inheritances with this dew of heaven: It is Achsaes request (I remember) to her father Caleb, that seeing he had given her the South-Country, he would give her the springs of water also. God hath allotted unto you in this Island, a seat pleasant enough, every ways accommodated with all other requisite conueniences: you want nothing but the springs of water, springs of those waters, those living waters, flowing out from the Sanctuary. Be instant with your God, your heavenly Father, that he would strike the rock for you, that he would give unto you these Springs from above, that he would more abundantly refresh and make glad your dwelling places with these living waters: be instant with God.

[ 2] 2. Be instant also with Men about this work, and that both with the Ministers themselves, and others; with the one to Preach, the other to hear the Word, both to attend upon this ordinance of God.

[ 1] 1. Be earnest first with us the Ministers of the Word, to put us forward upon this service: It is not only your liberty, but a part of your duty to put us in mind of our duty, whom God hath set over you: Say to Archippus, it is Saint Paul's charge to the Colossians, it is a principal part of our duty to preach the Word, if we neglect it, grow slack and remiss in it, as it was the case of that Angel of the Church of Ephesus: Be you instant with us, put us in mind of it, stir us up to it: We are but men, and therefore subject to forget you and our selves, to forget our duty, though we have never so much cause to remember it: Jonah falleth asleep in the hold of the ship, in the midst of that stress, when he should have been praying for himself and those that were with him. Thus it fareth, many times, with the Ministers of the Word, we are subject to a supine forgetfulness, to be rockt asleep with the profits and preferments of the world, whilst, in the mean time, our flocks, our charges, nay, our selves too are in eminent danger. Let us crave that favor from you, that in this case you would play the Mariners part, that you would awaken and stir us up to the discharge of our duty, which concerns you and our selves so nearly, Stir us up: but how? Why, 1. by Christian exhortations, friendly advice and [ 1] counsel. Awaken us by word of mouth: Herein only observe three Cautions; that this be done, 1. with love, 2. with wisdom, 3. with a due respect to our places and callings. With love, that it may be without bitterness, without any tincture of private spleen against our persons: dip your reproofs and exhortations in oil, they will drive the better; with wisdom, with a due poyzing and weighing of all circumstances, as time, and place, and the like, as also a due consideration of our strength and ability, for the discharge of this duty: with respect unto our callings and functions: It is Saint Paul's charge to Timothy; Rebuke not an Elder, but exhort him as a Father: Tart and masterlike reproofs out of your mouths, though we deserve them, yet do not become you. Exhort us as Fathers: Thus stir us up by exhortations: And,

2. Stir us by encouragements: what encouragements? [ 2] Why, not only verbal, but real encouragements; viz. 1. Competency of means and maintenance, suitable to our pains and charge: Take heed of being accessory to the starving of this ordinance of God and your own souls, by muzling the mouth of the Ox: Let them that wait upon and serve at the Altar, live, and live comfortably by the Altar: 2. by giving due honor and respect to our places and callings. Though our persons, perhaps, deserve little, yet our callings are honorable. Paul himself was of a mean presence ( His bodily presence was weak, ) of a low stature, of a mean personage, but his function challenged respect: 3. By accepting our labors, lending us your presence, your ears, your hearts, your lives, giving entertainment to the work of our minister: No encouragement to the Ministers of the Word like unto this▪ When the people are 1. ready to receive the Word at their mouths; the one as ready to hear, as the other to speak: When they hang upon the Priests lips for knowledge. This is e • en like sucking of the breast, which maketh the nurse to give down the milk more freely, more plentifully, even whether she will or no: It is the want of this sucking of this sincere milk that hath made so many dry breasts in the Church of God: that hath disheartened and discouraged so many forward and hopeful instruments in the Church, if not to the stopping of their mouths, yet at the least to the damping of their spirits, to the quelling of the life and power of their Ministry. And 2. when they profit by the Word, grow and thrive in grace by it. No such encouragement to an Husbandman as when he seeth his tillage to prosper, no such encouragement unto a nurse, as when she seeth her child battle and thrive; it maketh them think no pains too much: Whereas on the contrary, a barren soil, and a starueling nursery kill the hearts of both. No encouragement unto the Ministers of the Gospel like unto this, when they find the work to thrive and prosper in their hands; when they see that the seed which they sow is not cast away, when they see that their labor which is not vain in the Lord, is not in vain neither in the hearts and lives of the hearers. This will make us stand up to the work, watch when we should sleep; labor when we could be content to be at ease and quiet; think no pains too much. Thus stir up the Ministers of the Word, be instant and earnest with them.

[ 2] And 2. be instant with others, private persons, neighbors, friends, acquaintance; stir them up to wait and to attend upon this ordinance of God, with more diligence, with more care, with more conscience: Come, let us go up to the house of the Lord: Philip calleth Nathaniel: The woman of Samaria fetcheth her neighbors to come unto Christ: Thus should private Christians excite and stir up one another, labor by friendly exhortations, persuasions, encouragements to bring their friends and neighbors to meet with Christ in this his ordinance: This will be our comfort another day, that we have everyone of us, in the several places and stations wherein God hath set us, been instant & earnest in the cause of God, zealous and forward for the furtherance & propagation of the Gospel.

Be earnest: And 2. be Diligent in this work; The diligent [ 2] hand maketh rich, saith the Wiseman. It is no less true in spiritual than in temporal riches. Do you desire to be rich in grace and holiness, the best riches; attend, wait upon this ordinance of God with diligence, with cōstancy. If God be not weary of speaking, be not you weary of hearing. Frequent the house of God upon all occasions. What ever the world thinks and speaks of it, it is no disgrace to be accounted a frequenter of Sermons, so that other necessary duties be not neglected: Christians must be like the Be that goeth from flower to flower, to gather a little honey from everyone to carry to the hive, to make up the store. We shall have need of a stock, a store of grace, and therefore let us go from flower to flower, (I speak the more liberally and freely, because in these parts there is not the like fear of surfeiting of the Word Preached, of erring on the right hand by an unwarrantable running from Sermon to Sermon, to the neglect of men's particular callings, as may seem to be in some other parts of the kingdom) embrace every occasion which the Lord offereth in the public Ministry of his Word, for the gathering of honey, the gathering of grace to carry home to the hive, to lay up in the heart, to make up a stock, a store against the winter, against hard times, evil days, the days of trial, sickness, death: We shall then find all to be little enough, and therefore whilst our Summer of health, and liberty, and peace lasteth, up and be doing; every day be increasing of the store; get something from every Sermon, from this which you have this day heard; if you carry away nothing else, yet carry away this resolution, that by the grace of God enabling you, you will endeavor to make better use of all the public means of grace which God shall hereafter in this or in any other place afford unto you. One flower will not load a Be, neither will one Sermon, though never so excellent, load the head and heart of a Christian to make him rich in grace: And therefore be Instant, as Earnest, so Diligent.

This is the third Use: to draw towards an end in the fourth place: Be instant in season: And that 1. at the set ordinary times, set apart for this Exercise; the Sabbath day, the [ 1] Lord's day, then go forth to gather this heavenly Manna, to make your provision for the week ensuing. Then may you expect a special blessing from God in attending upon this holy exercise, because as the exercise it self is God's own ordinance, so the day also is set apart by the [ 2] like ordinance, for that exercise: 2. Be instant in season; viz. At those special times and seasons when the Lord is pleased to fit and to dispose you unto the duty, after a special manner. There are certain seasons, certain gales of grace (as we may call them) which the experience of every Christian can inform us of, when the Lord is pleased to breath more kindly, more sweetly, more effectually upon the heart and soul, to the quickening and enlarging of it, than at other times: Sometimes when it is kindly humbled and broken under some affliction, either outward or inward; sometimes when it is warmed, and suppled, and melted with the fresh apprehension of some new mercy, especially with a clearer glimpse of the light of God's countenance, a more full and ravishing apprehension of the unspeakable love and favor of God in Jesus Christ: Sometimes again, it is after a secret and inexpressible manner moved, and inclined, and molded to a more cheerful, a more acceptable performance of all duty. Now these are seasons which should be very precious in the eyes of Christians, which they should not let slip without a special improvement: take hold of them, make use of them, as for other duties, so for this: When the wind blows, whilst the Spirit of God breatheth upon the soul with a fresher gale in sweet motions, inclinations, affections, resolutions, hoise up the sail, make use of that advantage, in hearing and applying of the Word; to hear it with more frequency, with more power, with more life, with more intention of Spirit: Thus in season.

5. And lastly, Be instant out of season: And that

1. At other times, beside the set, the ordinary time, set apart by God himself; upon the week day, as well as upon the Sabbath day, when God shall offer a fit occasion. [ 1] The word in it self is not, cannot be out of season at any time. The Word is the bread of life, shadowed out (amongst other mysteries) by the Shew-bread under the Law, which signified not only Christ himself, but all other spiritual repast which the Church hath with, and before God, and the means of their repast. Now bread, we know, is never out of season: All other meats, almost, have their times and seasons when they are in season, out of season, but bread is always in season. The like we may say of this ordinance of God, the Word preached, it is never out of season: Some other ordinances of God there are, as holy and religious fasting and feasting, humiliation and thanksgiving, they have their times when they are in season and out of season. But this exercise of Preaching of the Word, it is always in season, on the Sabbath day, on the week day; as the Shew-bread stood upon the Table in the presence of God, upon the week day as well as upon the Sabbath: No time unseasonable to appear before the Lord in this ordinance of his.

2. Out of season; when it may seem to flesh and blood [ 2] to be something unseasonable, and that in respect of other occasions which may draw us aside from it: If those occasions be not important, if they be such as may either be neglected altogether without any great prejudice to our selves or others, or such as may be dispatched sooner, or deferred longer; in this case let the lesser give place to the greater. If it be with some small detriment to thyself in outward respects, yet remember what David saith to Araunah; he will not offer a sacrifice unto God of that which cost him nothing: Borrow a little from thy body, thy estate, thy worldly employments, to bestow it upon thy soul: Make bold a little with other occasions, to purchase some time for God and his worship and service.

[ 3] 3. And lastly, Be instant out of season, even then when thou findest thyself unfit & indisposed unto the duty: yet even then when thou findest a present indisposition hanging about thee, attend upon this ordinance of God: It is a Word of life, a quickening Word, as well to put life into the soul, and to stir it up when it is dead, as to preserve and increase it: It is an Anabaptistical frenzy that Christians should never attend upon this or any other duty, but when the spirit moveth them: We often see ships riding a long time in a road stead, when they might be in the haven; wherefore is it? that they may be in the winds way (as we say) to take the first opportunity that shall be offered: Even thus should Christians anchor, as it were, in the house of God, even then when they seem to be becalmed, that they cannot stir and move themselves about holy duties as they were wont to do, yet even then ride it out, wait upon God in the use of this ordinance: though unfit for the present, bemoan and bewail thy unfitness, look up unto God for life, and seek it from him in thy attendance upon this ordinance. This is God's own command (as for us to Preach) so for you to Hear the Word, to be instant in season, out of season.