thou feest thy Way open, and findeft thy Un derstanding enlarged; thus wilt thou have pertinent Words to exprefs, and Scriptures which will fuit thy Matter, and confirm it, will be brought in Memory that may not have been thought of, nor read by thee long before; here thou wilt fee a Reason for what thou fayeft; thy Understanding being clear and bright, thou wilt be able to render a Reafon for what thou haft preach'd for Doctrine: And if thou should't not in thy Words exactly fuit with the Senfe of fome that are thy Elders, yet this friendly, cool Temper of Mind, will render thee open to receive from fome kind Aquilla or Prifcilla Inftruction in the Way of the Lord more perfectly, all which will end to thy Advantage and Improvement: Befides, this calm and eafy going on in thy Delivery, will give thee an Advantage to raise thy Voice, as thou find'ft inward Strength and Virtue from the Spirit to increafe; and as that grows upon thee, thou wilt find thy Voice to alter and fill with Virtue, and thy Delivery beautified with an acceptable Mein and Deportment: Thus will thy Words be filled with Spirit and Life; but if thou raifeft thy Voice higher, and speakest fafter than thou find❜ft fpitual Strength to affift, thou wilt over-run thy Opening, and natural Strength also, and unavoidably fall into Confufion; therefore, as thy Gift differs from thy Brother's, fo may thy Delivery, and thy Opening alfo, which I beseech thee to keep to; then wilt

thou

thou acquit thyfelf as a Man of God, a Workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. This brings me to speak more particularly to the Difference of the Operation or Opening, bcing the 3d. and laft Head under the Apostle's notice, who fays, And there are Diverfities of cor. xi. Operations, but it is the fame God, which 6, worketh all in all.

CHA P. IV.

ADVICES as to the Matter and Manner of
EXPRESSION, &c.

T

HERE are Diverfities of Operations, but the fame God, &c. This relates to the Opening, which may likewise differ in the Manner of its being expreffed, seeing there are fundry Ways of expreffing the fame Thing.

ift. By Parables, or Comparisons fuitably adapted.

2d. By Allegories.

First, By Parables is the Beauty, Excellency, and Virtue of Truth often fet forth in lively and moving Terms, producing in the Hearers the Paffions of Sorrow, Anger, or Joy, as the Matter fet forth affects them,

fo

fo that hereby they are drawn unawares to pass a fevere Judgment upon their own Doings, as in the Cafe of David, when Nathan had by a Parable set forth the Rich Man's Injustice, in taking away the Poor Man's Ewe-lamb, which was his All, to entertain his Guest with, and thereby fparing his own Flock: Now David hearing this fo movingly described, was ftruck with an Abhorrence against so vile an Act, that he faid, As the Lord liveth, the Man that hath done this Thing shall furely die, and restore the Lamb four fold, because he had no Pity: And Nathan made the Application, and said to David, Thou art the Man: And David foon was fenfible he had past a juft Judgment upon himself. Sundry Examples might be brought to set this Way of Speaking in a truer Light; but to avoid Prolixity, I confine myself to only three more; the first is in Ifaiah, where God fets forth the House of Ifrael under the Parable of a Vineyard, and the Men of Judah as his pleasant Plants; having bestowed great Hufbandry on the Vineyard, he look'd for Fruit agreeable thereto, but being disappointed, he thus complains, When I looked for Grapes, (meaning thereby the Fruits of Righteousness, Judgment and Truth, agreeable to the Law of that juft God from whom they had received fo many and unparallel'd Favours) they brought forth wild Grapes: meaning thereby, Op preffion, Cruelty, Difobedience and Injustice, fuch Fruits as the Gentiles (who had not

been

been favoured like the Jews, but been without God in the World) brought forth agreeable to the Nature of their degenerate and corrupt Hearts.

The Second Parable is our Saviour's, wherein he fets forth the Injustice of the Jews by the fame kind of Figure: There was a certain Houfholder planted a Vineyard, and let it out to Hufbandmen, and when the Time of Fruit came, be fent his Servants, whom they beat; be fent again and again his Servants, and they met with the fame Treatment; but at laft he faid, I will fend my Son, perhaps they will fhew Reverence unto him; but inftead of that, fay they, This is the Heir, come let us kill him, and the Inheritance will be ours. This fo prick'd the Jews to the Heart, that they foon perceiv'd it related to them, and were fore offended with it.

The Third and laft that I fhall obferve here, is in Luke viii. A Sower (fays our Saviour) went forth to fow, fome fell by the Way-fide, and it was trodden down, and the Fowls of the Air devoured it. Some fell upon a Rock, and it withered away, because it lacked Moisture: And fome fell among Thorns, and the Thorns fprung up with it and choked it. Some fell on good Ground, and brought forth Jome an Hundred fold, fome Sixty, and fome Thirty, as in Matt. xiii. 8.

D

These,

Thefe, with fundry others of the like Kind, interfperfed here and there in the Text, fhew the wonderful Excellency and Beauty which are given to and opened in a Minifter, by the divine Word, in fpeaking by Parables, Comparifons, or Allegories, thereby gaining great Attention; and it is very moving, and of good Service to them that hear, being given and opened by the Spirit alone: And for this Reason thou mayft be tempted to imitate; which when any one undertakes, who is not qualified, nor opened by the Spirit therein, it makes confufed Work, and inftead of edifying the Hearers, grieves and loads them with Trouble and Sorrow, to hear folid and divine Truths fo darken'd and perplex'd, by multiplying Words without true Knowledge, thus religious People are grieved: But on the other Hand, this makes Diverfion and Sport for the loofer Sort, who are too apt to make a Mock at all Religion and Preaching; for which Reafon, it behoves every one to confider how they are qualified for the Work of the Miniftry, left by undertaking what is above their Capacities, and prefent Strength to go through with, they fhou'd caufe Laughter and Lightness, by delivering impertinent Pa→ rables, Comparifons and Allegories, not opened to them, nor given them by the Spirit of God; That Spirit which fearcheth all Things, yea the deep Things of God; and is the Foundation of all the true Ministry and Minifters. I say, if these or any other Things