receive Christ in the Scriptures, applied in the church. And farther we carry not our consideration upon this second excuse of Moses, in which (as in the former, he considered his insufficiency in the general) he considers it in this, that he had not studied, he had not acquired, he had not sought the knowledge of those mysteries which appertained to that calling, implied in that, that he did not know God's name.

His third excuse, which induces a great discouragement, arises out of a defect in nature, whereas the former is rather of art, and study, and consideration; and to be naturally defective in those faculties, which are essential and necessary to that work, which is under our hand, is a great discouragement. Lameness is not always an insupportable calamity; but for Mephibosheth to have been hindered by lameness, when he should have received favour from the king, and settled his inheritance, this was a heavy affliction. Lowness of stature is no insupportable thing; but when Zaccheus came with such a desire to see Christ, then to be disappointed by reason of his lowness, this might affect him. It is not always insupportable to lack the assistance of a servant, or a friend; but when the angel hath troubled the water, and made it medicinal for him that is first put in and no more, then to have lien many years in expectation, and still to lack a servant, or a s friend to do that office, this is a misery. And this was Moses' case; God will send him upon a service, that consisted much in persuasion, and good speech, and he says, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken to thy servant. Where we see there is some degree of eloquence required in the delivery of God's messages. There are not so eloquent books in the world, as the Scriptures; neither should a man come to any kind of handling of them with uncircumcised lips, as Moses speaks, or with an extemporal and irreverent, or over-homely and vulgar language. The preparation of the heart is of the Lord, says Solomon; but it is not only that; The preparation of the heart, and the answer of the tongue is of the Lord. To conceive good things for the glory of God, and to express them to the edification of God's people, is a double blessing of God. Therefore does Esther form and institute her prayer to God so,

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Give me boldness, O Lord of all power35; but she extends her prayer farther, And give me eloquent speech in my mouth. And the want of this in a natural defect, and unreadiness of speech discouraged Moses. And when God recompenses, and supplies this defect in Moses, he does it but thus, I will be with thy mouth, and I will teach thee what thou shalt say. Still it is Moses that must say it; still Moses' mouth that must utter it. Beloved, it is the general ordinance of God, of whom, as we have received Paus mercy, we have received the ministry, and it is the particular grace of God that inanimates our labours, and makes them effectual upon you; all that is not of our planting, nor watering, but of God that gives the increase; but yet we must labour to get, and labour to improve such learning, and such language, and such other abilities as may best become that service; for the natural want of one of these, retarded Moses from a present acceptation of God's employment. And so truly, should put any man, that puts himself, or puts his son upon this profession, upon that consideration, whether he have such natural parts as will admit acquisitions, and superedifications fit for that calling. And farther we carry not Moses' third excuse, raised out of a natural defect, I am not eloquent enough.

The fourth is a shrewd discouragement: in the first verse of this chapter, He answered and said, but behold, they will not believe me; when I have told them thy name, how thou hast manifested thyself to them, and in what name they must call upon thee, Behold, they will not believe me; and this is the saddest discouragement that can fall upon the minister and messenger of God, not to be believed. God found this, and complained of it at first, Quousque non credent? How long will it be ere this people believe? they will never believe. The prophet Esay foresaw this; Quis credidit? Lord who hath believed our report? No man doth, no man will believe us. St. John found this prophecy of Esay fulfilled, even when Christ in person was preaching, and working of miracles; then, says that evangelist, was that of Esay fulfilled, They believed not his report. And St. Paul 39 saw it performed amongst the Gentiles, as well as St. John amongst the

35 Esther xiv. 12.

38 John xii. 38.

36 Num. xiv. 11.

37 Isaiah Liii. 1. 39 Rom. x. 6.

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Jews, Lord who hath believed our report? Christ hath said himself, and Christ hath bidden us say, He that believes not, shall be damned: and yet, Lord who hath believed our report? There cannot fall a sadder discouragement upon the messenger of God, than not to be believed.

How loath we find the blessed fathers of the primitive church, to lack company at their sermons? How earnestly Leo, in one of his anniversary sermons, complains of multitudes and thrusts at plays, and masks, and of a thinness, and scarcity, and solitude at church? How glad they were to draw men thither? And then how much they endeavoured to hold them in a disposition of hearkening unto them, when they had them? Sometimes with observing them with phrases of humiliation; so Damascene professes himself minimum servum ecclesia, the meanest and unworthiet servant to that congregation. So Leo presents himself, ad vestra paratus obsequia, ready to do all obsequious service to that congregation and so St. Augustine, in hoc vobis servimus, we shall do this congregation the best service, in handling this point thus. Sometimes they did it so, by submitting themselves to the congregation, in phrases of humiliation; and sometimes, by taking knowledge of the pious, and devout behaviour of the congregation, even in their sermons, and thanking them for it; as Leo does too, quod non tacito honorastis affectu, that they did countenance that which was said, with a holy murmur, with a religious whispering, and with an ocular applause, with fixing their eyes upon the preacher, and with turning their eyes upon one another; for those outward declarations were much, very much in use in those times. And though in the excess of such outward declarations, St. Chrysostom complain of them, non theatrum ecclesia, my masters what mean you, the church is not a theatre, quæ mihi istorum plausuum utilitas? what get I by these plaudits, and acclamations? I had rather have one soul, than all these hands and eyes: yet it is easy to observe, in the general proceeding of those blessed fathers, that they had a holy delight to be heard, and to be heard with delight. For, nemo flectitur, qui moleste audit; no man profits by a sermon, that hears with pain, or weariness. Therefore St. Chrysostom awakes his drowsy 40 Augustine.

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auditory with that alarm, Hearken, I pray you now, says he; for it is no ordinary matter that I shall tell you: and having so awakened them, he keeps them awake with such doctrines as he thought fittest for their edification. And to the same purpose, St. Augustine does not only profess of himself, that he studied at home, to make his language sweet, and harmonious, and acceptable to God's people, but he believes also, that St. Paul himself, and all the apostles, had a delight, and a complacency, and a holy melting of the bowels, when the congregation liked their preaching the fathers were glad to be heard, glad to be liked, and glad to be understood too; for, therefore doth Damascene repeat, almost verbatim, that great sermon of his De Imaginibus, a second time, because (as he assigns the reason) he was not thoroughly understood in the first preaching thereof; and therefore doth Ezra11 extend himself so far, as to preach from morning (as it is in the original, from the light) till noon, that by giving himself that compass, he might carry every point in a clearness, as he went. Now if these blessed fathers, these angels of the church, these archangels of the primitive church, were thus affected, if they were not frequented, but neglected for other entertainments; or if they were not hearkened to, when they were heard, but heard perfunctorily, fragmentarily, here and there a rag, a piece of a sentence; or if they were not understood, because they that heard were scattered, and distracted with other thoughts, and so with- ? drawn from their observation; or if they were not liked, because the auditory had some pre-contracts upon other preachers, that they liked better; how may we think, that those holy and blessed spirits were troubled, if they were not believed? This destroys and demolishes the whole body of our building; this evacuates the whole function of our ministry, if we lose our credibility; if we may not be believed; if the church conceive a jealousy, that y we preach to serve turns; and therefore woe unto that man (if any such man there should ever be) that gives just occasion of such a jealousy, that he preaches to serve turns; and woe to them (who abound every where) who entertain such jealousies, where no just occasion is offered, but misinterpret the faithful labours of God's true servants, and think every thing done to

41 Nehem. viii.

serve turns, that doth not agree with their distemper, in the likeness of zeal. The fathers were sorry if they were not heard, if they were not understood, if they were not liked; but the saddest discouragement of all, is if we be not believed. And farther we carry not our consideration upon Moses' four excuses; of which the first was, in contemplation of his own insufficiency in general; the second, in that particular, of not having furnished himself with additions necessary for that service; the third, because he had a defect in natural faculties; and the last, for the indisposition of them, to whom he was to go.

But then the fifth, which is not so much an excuse, as a petition (O my Lord, send I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send) tastes of most vehemence, and, as it may seem, of some passion in Moses. He says first, I am not worthy of this employment; that's true; but thou art able to qualify me for it; and that objection is taken away. I know not thy name, how thou wilt be called, and how thou wilt be called upon by men ; I have not studied that: but thou hast revealed unto me the knowledge of fundamental doctrines, necessary for salvation, and that objection is removed. I am not eloquent, not of ready speech, defective in those natural faculties; but the spirit of eloquence, and → the irresistibleness of persuasion is in that mouth, in which thou speakest and that excuse is taken away too. I know their stubbornness, to whom I go, they will not believe me; but thou hast > put the power of miracles into my hands, as well as knowledge into my heart; God makes sometimes a plain and simple man's good life, as powerful, as the most eloquent sermon. All this I acknowledge, says Moses; but yet, O Lord, when thou shalt have done all this, in me, and in them, made me worthy by thy power, taught me thy name by thy grace, infused a persuasibility into them, and a persuasiveness into me, by thy Spirit, yet there is one who is to be sent, one whom I know thou wilt send, one, whom, pursuing thine own decree, thou shouldst send, one, whose shoelatchet I shall not be worthy to untie then, when thou shalt have multiplied all these qualifications upon me, and therefore, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by his hand, send him, send Christ now. So then, with the ancient fathers, with Justin Martyr, with St. Basil, with Tertullian, with more, many, very many more, we