The works of the reverend and faithful servant of Jesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…The workes of the reuerend and faithfull seruant af Iesus Christ M. Richard Greenham,…

The word is a word of power, and l•t every man reckon with himself, If in hearing the word I draw not nearer to the mercy of God, I shall draw nearer to his wrath, if not to my salvation, sure to my destruction.

The word is a word of power, and l•t euery man reckon with himselfe, If in hearing the word I draw not neerer to the mercie of God, I shall draw neerer to his wrath, if not to my saluation, sure to my destruction.

3 We oft hear the word, but not as the word of the Lord, and therefore we hear it¹ but in part, because we think it is the word of Isaiah, of Peter, or of the Minister, we think it is Hose, or Paul that speaks, but not the Lord. Well, if we will tarry until the Lord himself come, we shall not hear nor see him, until the heavens roll up together as a scroll, and a globe of fire consume the face of the earth, until the Sun be turned as black as a pot, and the sea boil as a pot of oil, and then we must rather give an account of our hearing, than stand to hear again. Well then how are we said to hear the word of the Lord? First we must know, that Christ received a commission from the Lord, This is my beloved Son, hear him. Here is his commission. Then our Saviour Christ being to go to his Father, left a commission with his Apostles, Who so heareth you, heareth me, who so receiveth you, the same receiveth me: but who so refuseth you, refuseth me. So that to hear the Ministers is to hear Christ, and to hear Christ is to hear the father; so that to hear the Ministers is to hear God. And the words of Hose, and of Peter, they be the Lords words. And all this word sent from God shall be as effectual by the mouth of the Ministers, to convert, as if they were spoken by Christ himself. And we know that Christ being the Minister of circumcision, converted not all his auditors, nay he converted but a few of his hearers. Peter converted more at one sermon, who was but his Apostle, than we read that he himself ever converted all his life long. But if it will not be, but still we think it is the word of the Preachers, surely by our own imaginations the Lord will punish you, that is, it shall be unto you a mans word, Hosea's word, or Peters word, not the word of the Lord. And then if we hear it not as the word of God, but as the word of man, it will never do us good, it may breed some little purpose in us, but it will never breed in us any great practise to our comfort. So then if we hear it but as from men, we shall ot in our sin, and so lye still, until the Lord find us out in the searching day of his judgement.