Precious faith considered in its nature, working, and growth

Nay, the very Council of Trent, saith, that Preaching is praecipuum munus Episcopi, the chief work of a Bishop. Such an Ordinance is this, and so highly esteemed in all Ages, no wonder if Bishop Morton said, The custom of not-Preaching is but a Babe in Christianity, and the defence thereof a new point of Learning in Christs School. But to return to the Point in hand after this long digression; the Believer may experience this Ordinance to be of God. That it is so, is in part experimented before Conversion. Whilst St. Paul but a Prisoner preached of Righteousness, Temperance and Judgment to come, Felix though a Judg trembled, feeling moral bonds cast on his Conscience by the Power of that Word which is never bound. It is yet more fully experimented in Conversion, in which there is a wonderful change wrought; the dead being raised, new Creatures formed, Lyons turned into Lambs, and hearts of Stone into Flesh; all proclaiming that the Finger of God is in it of a Truth. Johannes Speicerus, as Scultetus relates, Preached so powerfully, That the very Strumpets, leaving their lewdness, returned home unto God. After Conversion the Experiment is yet more complete; the Word works effectually in them that believe, 1 Thess. 2.13. The glory of the Divine Attributes break forth in this Ordinance; out of the seeming weakness a Majesty appears in some sort, much as Christs Deity ⟨p. 380⟩sparkled out of his Humane Flesh. It is not the mere Voice of Man but of God, coming with an Authority more than Humane, and setting the heart, made like Josiah's tender by Faith, into an holy trembling at it, as a signal proof, that the Lord is the Speaker; One who hath the Keys of Heaven and Hell in his own hand, and upon Obedience or Rebellion is able to save or destroy. The Believer by the command and reverential awe put upon his Conscience, finds That there is a Divine Presence and Grandeur in it, which to oppose, is to strive and make War with God himself.

Nay, the very Council of Trent, saith, that Preaching is praecipuum munus Episcopi, the chief work of a Bishop. Such an Ordinance is this, and so highly esteemed in all Ages, no wonder if Bishop Morton said, The custom of not-Preaching is but a Babe in Christianity, and the defence thereof a new point of Learning in Christs School. But to return to the Point in hand after this long digression; the Believer may experience this Ordinance to be of God. That it is so, is in part expermented before Conversion. Whilest St. Paul but a Prisoner preached of Righteousness, Temperance and Judgment to come, Felix though a Judg trembled, feeling moral bonds cast on his Conscience by the Power of that Word which is never bound. It is yet more fully experimented in Conversion, in which there is a wonderful change wrought; the dead being raised, new Creatures formed, Lyons turned into Lambs, and hearts of Stone into Flesh; all proclaiming that the Finger of God is in it of a Truth. Johannes Speicerus, as Scultetus relates, Preached so powerfully, That the very Strumpets, leaving their lewdness, returned home unto God. After Conversion the Experiment is yet more compleat; the Word works effectually in them that believe,