Time and Opportunities to promote the SER M. Interest of Religion and Virtue, which is XIV. the Kingdom of God; he adds, He that ~ is Able to receive it, let him receive it. And in like manner, ch. xi. 14, after having given a large Character of the Perfon and Office of John the Baptift; And, if ye will receive it, fays he, This is Elias which was for to come: He that hath Ears to hear, let him hear. To have an Ear therefore, fignifies to have UnderStanding and Apprehenfion. By which, however, is meant, not mere not mere Natural Parts and Abilities; (For the Gofpel is preached to the Poor and Mean, as well as to the Learned; Neither are Many of the Wife men of This world, called; Nor are mere Natural Parts and Abilities of Any confideration in Moral and Religious Eftimation;) But to have an Ear, in the Scripture-fense, means, to have an Understanding free and unprejudiced, open to attend unto, and apt to receive the Truth. Which is a Qualification including Probity and Fairness of Mind, and is therefore highly commendable in the moral Sense. Matt. xiii. 16. Blessed are your Eyes, SER M. Eyes, for they fee, and your Ears, for they XIV. hear. And the Want of it, is not, like the Want of natural Parts and Abilities, pitiable and compaffionable; but faulty, and deferving of fevere Reproof: Mar. viii. 17, 18. Perceive ye not yet, fays our Lord to his Difciples by way of Expostulation ; perceive ye not yet, says he, neither underfand? Have ye your Heart yet hardened? Having Eyes, fee ye not? and having Ears, hear ye not, and do ye not remember? From which Rebuke given by our Lord to his Difciples, in fo earnest and affectionate a manner, for not making Ufe of their Reason and Understanding; we cannot fail to infer this important Obfervation in matters of Religion; that the Taste or Relish, the Judgment, the Understanding, by which men are to dif cern and chufe, and by which they are to form their Sentiments concerning the Truth or Error of any religious doctrines; must never be, any Enthufiaflick Fancy, any trong Imagination, or unaccountable Impreffion of Mind, which is the Spirit of Delufion; but it must always be, an impartial Attention to the Right and and Reason of the Cafe, and to the Na-SER M. ture and Evidence of the Thing. This is XIV. in the Gospel-fenfe, having Ears to hear, and Eyes to fee, and Understandings wherewith to understand. According to which explication of the words; This Phrase, so often used by our Saviour, he that hath Ears to hear, does plainly contain a very affectionate and ftrong Appeal to the unprejudiced Sense of Mankind, for the Reasonableness, Truth, and Excellency of the Things Spoken, or the Doctrines delivered by him. > AND as This Challenge, Whofo hath an Ear, contains thus a declaration of the Reasonableness of the Doctrine propofed; and the other part of the words, let him bear are expreffive of the Authority and Goodness of God who fpeaks: So Both of them together, plainly infer and fet forth the Capacity men have, and the indifpenfable Obligation they are under, to hearken to, and obey, what God delivers to them. He that bath an Ear, let him hear, what the Spirit faith unto the Churches. THE SERM. THE Words being thus explained, we may from hence in the enfuing Difcourfe naturally deduce the four following Doctrinal Obfervations. It, That God, the Great Creator, and righteous Governour, and merciful Judge of the Whole Earth, offers to All men the gracious Terms and Poffibilities of Salvation: Let him hear, (let every man hear,) what the Spirit faith unto the Churches. 2dly, That This Offer, though graciously made to All, yet in Event becomes Effectual to Thoje only, who are qualified and capable to receive it: He that hath an Ear, let him bear. 3dly, That they who want an Ear; they who want the Difpofitions neceffary to their receiving and embracing this gracious Offer of Salvation, or are prevented by any of the Hindrances which render it ineffectual, are always very feverely reproved in Scripture; plainly denoting it to be their own Fault, their own Perverfeness only, that they have not Ears to hear. 4thly and Laftly, That hence confequently All thofe Paffages of Scripture, wherein God is at any time represented as blinding mens Eyes, or clofing their Ears, or or hardning their Hearts, or taking away SER M. their Understanding from them; muft of XIV. neceffity be understood to be figurative Expreffions only; not denoting literally what God actually effects by his Power, but what by his Providence he justly and wifely permits. I. First, GoD, the Great Creator, and righteous Governour, and merciful Judge of the Whole Earth, offers to All men the gracious Terms and Poffibilities of Salvation: Let him hear, (let every man hear,) what the Spirit faith unto the Churches. God speaks to men Originally, by the Light of Nature, by the Order and Proportions of Things, by the Voice of Reafon, by the Dictates of Confcience. 'Tis every man's Duty, and 'tis in every man's Power, to hearken to this Voice of Reafon and Confcience; to this Candle of the Lord, as the Wife man ftiles it, Prov. XX. 27. And concerning Them who do fo, St Paul declares, that, having not the Law, (that is, having no revealed Law given them, yet) they are a Law into themfelves. And by That Law, by the Law of Reason, of Nature and Confcience, 2 fhall |