A30242:395
The Scripture directory for church-officers and people, or, A practical commentary upon the whole…
The Scripture directory for church-officers and people, or, A practical commentary upon the whole third chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to which is annexed The godly and the natural mans choice, upon Psal. 4, vers. 6, 7, 8 / by Anthony Burgess ...The Scripture directory for church-officers and people, or, A practical commentary upon the whole third chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians to which is annexed The godly and the natural mans choice, upon Psal. 4, vers. 6, 7, 8 / by Anthony Burgesse ...
London: printed by Abraham Miller for T.U., 1659
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2▪ How it is. Only take Rom. 10.14. for an eminent place to confirm this Truth; where observe the excellent Gradation Paul makes:1 None can call upon God, or pray, without Faith; and none can believe, unless they hear; and none can hear, unless they have a Preacher; and none can be a preacher, unless he be sent. See what a dependence here is, and how strong a place it is to prove the necessity of the Ministry. This premised, we go to the method proposed.
- 1How it is not an Instrumental Cause.
First, When we say, it's the instituted means, or Instrumental Cause, it's not to be understood, as if the Ministry or Peaching of the Word, by any inward natural power of it self, can work grace in the hearts of the Hearers; no: Experience witnesseth, that after ten thousand Sermons, men remain as ignorant, and as brutish as before. The words reach only to the ear, but they make no forcible impression upon the soul. So then, the Ministry doth not beget grace, as the fire burneth, or the hatchet cutteth; which are Instruments that work by their own inward dispotion and power to pruduce their effects. This is good to observe, that so still our hearts and prayers may be up to God, who works in and by the Ministry.
First, When we say, it's the instituted meanes, or Instrumental Cause, it's not to be understood, as if the Ministry or Peaching of the Word, by any inward natural power of it self, can work grace in the hearts of the Hearers; no: Experience witnesseth, that after ten thousand Sermons, men remain as ignorant, and as bruitish as before. The words reach only to the ear, but they make no forcible impression upon the soul. So then, the Ministry doth not beget grace, as the fire burneth, or the hatchet cutteth; which are Instruments that work by their own inward dispotion and power to pruduce their effects. This is good to observe, that so still our hearts and prayers may be up to God, who works in and by the Ministry.