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z Cor. ii.

of the mind. And the voice that a man uttereth in fpeaking is nothing elfe but the meffenger of the mind, to bring abroad the knowledge of that which otherwife lieth fecret in the heart, and cannot be known, according to that which St. Paul writeth; What man, faith he, knoweth the things that appertain to man, faving only the Spirit of man, which is in man? He, therefore, that doth not understand the voices that his tongue doth utter, cannot properly be faid to speak, but rather to counterfeit as parrots, and fuch other birds, ufe to counterfeit men's voices. No man, therefore, that feareth to provoke the wrath of God against himself, will be fo bold to speak of God unadvifedly, without regard of reverent understanding, in his prefence, but he will prepare his heart before he prefume to speak unto God. And therefore in our common Prayer the minifter doth oftentimes fay, Let us pray, meaning thereby to admonish the people, that they should prepare their ears to hear what he fhould crave at God's hand, and their hearts to confent to the fame, and their tongues to fay Amen at the end thereof. On this fort did the Prophet David prepare his heart, when he said, Ffal. lvii. My heart is ready, O my God, my heart is ready, I will fing and declare a pfalm. The Jews alfo, when in the time of Judith they did with all their heart pray God to vifit his people of Ifrael, had fo prepared their hearts before they began to pray. After this fort had Manaffes prepared his 2 Chron.iii. heart before he prayed, and faid, And now, O Lord, do I bow the knees of my heart, afking of thee part of thy merciful kindness. When the heart is thus prepared, the voice uttered from the heart is harmonious in the ears of God: otherwife he regardeth it not to accept it. But forafmuch as the perfon, that fo babbleth his words without fenfe in the prefence of God, fheweth himself not to regard the majefty of him that he fpeaketh to; he taketh him as a contemner of his Almighty Majefty, and giveth him his reward among hypocrites, which make an outward fhew of holinefs, but their hearts are full of abominable thoughts, even in the time of their prayers. For it is the heart that the Lord looketh upon, as it is written Sam. xvi. in the hiftory of Kings. If we therefore will that our prayers be not abominable before God, let us fo prepare our hearts before we pray, and fo underftand the things that we ask when we pray, that both our hearts and voices may together found in the ears of God's Majefty; and then we fhall not fail to receive at his hand the things that we afk, as good men which have been before

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us did, and fo have from time to time received that which, for their fouls health, they did at any time defire. St. Auguftine feemeth to bear in this matter; for he faith thus of them, which being brought up in grammar and rhetoric, are converted to Chrift, and fo must be inftructed in Chriftian religion: "Let them know alfo (faith he) De Catethat it is not the voice, but the affection of the mind, that chizandis cometh to the ears of God." And fo fhall it come to pass, that if haply they fhall mark that fome bifhops or minifters in the church do call upon God, either with barbarous words, or with words difordered, or that they understand not, or do diforderly divide the words that they pronounce, they fhall not laugh them to fcorn. Hitherto he feemeth to bear with praying in an unknown tongue. But in the next fentence he openeth his mind thus: Not for that these things ought not to be amended, that the people may fay Amen to that which they do plainly underftand. But yet thefe godly things must be borne withal of thefe catechifts, or inftructors of the faith, that they may learn, that as in the common place, where matters are pleaded, the goodnefs of an oration confifteth in found, fo in the church it confifteth in devotion. So that he alloweth not the praying in a tongue not understood of him that prayeth: but he inftructeth the fkilful orator to bear with the rude tongue of the devout fimple minifter. To conclude: If the lack of understanding the words that are spoken in the congregation do make them unfruitful to the hearers, how fhould not the fame make the words read unfruitful to the reader? The merciful goodness of God grant us his grace to call upon him as we ought to do, to his glory and our endless felicity; which we fhall do, if we humble ourselves in his fight, and in all our prayers, both common and private, have our minds fully fixed upon him. For the prayer of them that hum- Ecclus. ble themfelves fball pierce through the clouds, and till it draw xxxv. nigh unto God, it will not be answered; and till the Moft High do regard it, it will not depart. And the Lord will not be flack, but be will deliver the juft, and execute judgTo him therefore be all honour and glory, for ever Amen.

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INFORMATION

For them which take offence at certain Places of the holy Scripture.

THE FIRST PART.

THE

HE great utility and profit, that Chriftian men and women may take, if they will, by hearing and reading the holy Scriptures, (dearly beloved) no heart can fufficiently conceive, much lefs is my tongue able with words to exprefs. Wherefore Satan, our enemy, feeing the Scriptures to be the very mean and right way to bring the people to the true knowledge of God, and that Chriftian religion is greatly furthered by diligent hearing and reading of them, he alfo perceiving what an hindrance and let they be to him and his kingdom, doth what he can to drive the reading of them out of God's church. And for that end he hath always ftirred up, one place or other, cruel tyrants, fharp perfecutors, and extreme enemies unto God and his infallible truth, to pull with violence the holy Bibles out of the people's hands, and have moft fpitefully deftroyed and confumed the fame to afhes in the fire, pretending, moft untruly, that the much hearing and reading of God's word is an occafion of herefy and carnal liberty, and the overthrow of all good order in all well-ordered commonweals. If to know God aright be an occafion of evil, then we muft needs grant, that the hearing and reading of the holy Scriptures is the caufe of herefy, carnal liberty, and the

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fubverfion of all good orders. But the knowledge of God and of ourfelves is fo far from being an occafion of evil, that it is the readieft, yea, the only mean to bridle carnal liberty, and to kill all our flethly affections. And the ordinary way to attain this knowledge is, with diligence to hear and read the holy Scriptures. For the whole Scriptures, faith St. Paul, were given by the infpiration of 2 Tim. iii. God. And fhall we Chriftian men think to learn the knowledge of God and of ourselves in any earthly man's work or writing, fooner or better than in the holy Scriptures, written by the inspiration of the Holy.Ghoft? The Scriptures were not brought unto us by the will of man : but boly men of God, as witneffeth St. Peter, pake as they 2 Pet. i. were moved by the boly Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost is the fchoolmaster of truth, which leadeth his scholars, as our Saviour faith of him, into all truth. And whofo is John xvi. not led and taught by this fchoolmafter, cannot but fall into deep error, how godly foever his pretence is, what knowledge and learning foever he hath of all other works and writings, or how fair foever a fhew or face of truth he hath in the estimation and judgment of the world. If fome man will fay, I would have a true pattern and a perfect defcription of an upright life, approved in the fight of God; can we find, think ye, any better, or any fuch again, as Chrift Jefus is, and his doctrine? whofe virtuous converfation and godly life the Scripture. fo lively painteth and fetteth forth before our eyes, that we, beholding that pattern, might fhape and frame our lives, as nigh as may be, agreeable to the perfection of the fame. Follow you me, faith St. Paul, as I follow Cor. xi. Chrift. And St. John in his Epiftle faith, Whofo abideth 1 John ii. in Chrift muft walk even fo as be bath walked before bim. And where fhall we learn the order of Chrift's life, but in the Scripture? Another would have a medicine to all difeafes and maladies of the mind. Can this be found. or gotten otherwhere than out of God's own book, his facred Scriptures? Chrift taught fo much, when he faid to the obftinate Jews, Search the Scriptures, for in them John v. ye think to have eternal life. If the Scriptures contain in them everlasting life, it must needs follow, that they have alfo prefent remedy againft all that is an hindrance and let unto eternal life. If we defire the knowledge of heavenly wifdom, why had we rather learn the fame of man than of God himfelf, who, as St. James faith, is James i. the giver of wifdom? Yea, why will we not learn it at Chrift's own mouth, who, promifing to be present with Mat. xxviii,

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his church till the world's end, doth perform his promife, in that he is not only with us by his grace and tender pity; but alfo in this, that he fpeaketh prefently unto us in the holy Scriptures, to the great and endlefs comfort of all them that have any feeling of God at all in them? Yea, he fpeaketh now in the Scriptures more profitably to us, than he did by word of mouth to the carnal Jews, when he lived with them here upon earth. For they (I mean the Jews) could neither hear nor fee thofe things which we may now both hear and fee, if we will bring with us thofe ears and eyes that Chrift is heard and feen with; that is, diligence to hear and read his holy Scriptures, and true faith to believe his moft comfortable promifes. If one could fhew but the print of Christ's foot, a great number, I think, would fall down and worfhip it but to the holy Scriptures, where we may fee daily, if we will, I will not fay the print of his feet only, but the whole fhape and lively image of him, alas! we give little reverence, or none at all.

If any could let us fee Chrift's coat, a fort of us would make hard fhift except we might come nigh to gaze upon it, yea, and kifs it too. And yet all the clothes that ever he did wear can nothing fo truly nor fo lively express him unto us, as do the Scriptures. Chrift's images, made in wood, ftone, or metal, fome men, for the love they bear to Chrift, do garnith and beautify the fame with pearl, gold, and precious ftones. And fhould we not, good brethren, much rather embrace and reverence God's holy books, the facred Bible, which do reprefent Chrift unto us more truly than can any image. The image can but exprefs the form or fhape of his body, if it can do fo much but the Scriptures do in fuch fort fet forth Chrift, that we may fee both God and man; we may fee him, I fay, fpeaking unto us, healing our infirmities, dying for our fins, rifing from death for our juftification. And, to be fhort, we may in the Scriptures fo perfectly fee whole Chrift with the eye of faith, as we, lacking faith, could not with thefe bodily eyes fee him, though he ftood now prefent here before us. Let every man, woman, and child, therefore, with all their hearts thirst and defire God's holy Scriptures, love them, embrace them, have their delight and pleafure in hearing and reading them, fo as at length we may be transformed and changed into them. For the holy Scriptures are God's treafure-house, wherein are found all things needful for us to fee, to hear, to learn, and to believe, neceffary for the attaining

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