FhrA, Look tliou art a wakeful heaver. Is it any wonder he should go away from the sermon no wiser than he came, that sleeps the greatest part of it away, or hears between sleeping and v.aking ? It must be in a dream siu"e, if God reveals anything of his mind to him. So indeed God did to the fathers of old ; but it was not as they profanely slept under an ordinance. O take heed of such irreverence. He that composeth himself to sleep, as some do, at such a time, or he that is not humbled for it, and that deeply, both of them l)etray a base and low esteem they have of the ordinance. Surely thou thinkest but meanly of what is delivered, if it will not keep thee awake ; yea, of God himself, whose message it is. See how thou art reproved by the awful carriage of a heathen, and that a king ; Ehud did but say to Eglon, ' I have a message from God unto thee, and he arose out of his seat,' Judg. iii. 20. And thou clappest down on thy seat to sleep! O how darest thou put such an affront upon the great God ? How oft did you fall asleep at dinner, or telling your money? And is not the word of God worth more than these? I should wonder if such sermon-sleepers do dream of anything but hell-iire. It is dan- gerous you know to fall asleep with a candle burning by our side; some have been so burnt in their beds : but more dangerous to sleep while the candle of the word is shining so near us. What if you should sink down dead, like Eutychus ? here is no Paid to raise you as he had ; and that you shall not, where is your security ?
Secondly, Thou must be an attentive hearer. He that is awake, but wanders with his eye or heart, what doth he but sleep with his eyes open ? It were as good the servant should be asleep in his bed, as Avhen up not to mind his master's business. When God intends a soul good by the word, he draws such a one to listen and hearken heedfully to what is delivei'ed; as we see in Lydia, ' who,' it is said, * attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.' And those, Luke xix. 48 : ' The people were attentive to hear him.' They did hang on him as you shall see bees on some sweet flower, or as young birds on the bills of their dams as they feed them ; that is the soul which shall get light and life by the word. ' Hear, ye children, and attend to know understanding,' Prov. iv. L Labour, therefore, in hearing the word, to fix thy quicksilver mind, and set thyself to hear, as it is said Jehoshaphat did to pray, and that thou mayest before thou goest get thy heart into some deep sense of thy spiritual wants, especially of thy ignoi-ance of the things of God, and thy deplored con- dition by reason of it ; till the heart be touched, the mind will not be fixed. Therefore you may observe, it is said, ' God opened the heai't of Lydia, that she attended,' Acts xvi. 14. The mind goes of the will's errand; we spend our thoughts upon what our hearts propose. If the heart hath no sense of its ignorance, or no desires after God, no wonder such a one listens not what the preacher saith, his heart sends his mind another way. ' They sit before thee as my people,' saith God, 'but their heart goeth after their covetousness.' They do not come out of such an intent or desire to hear for any good to their souls, then they would apply themselves wholly to the work ; no, it is their covetousness hath their hearts ; and therefore as some idle servant, when he hath waited on his mastei", brought him to his pew, then he goes out to his good fellows at the ale-house, and comes no more till sermon be almost done ; so do the thoughts of most when they go to the ordinance, they slip out in the street, market, or shop, you may find them any where but about the duty before them, and all because these have their hearts more than God and his word.
Thirdly, Tliou must be a retentive hearer ; without this the work will ever be to begin again. Truths to a forgetful hearer are as a seal set on water, the impression lasts no longer than the seal is on ; the sermon once done, and all is undone ; be therefore very careful to fasten what thou hearest on thy memory^ which that thou mayest do.
First, Receive the truth in the love of it. An affectionate hearer will not be a forgetful hearer. Love helps the memory ; ' Can a woman forget her child, or a maid her ornaments, or a bride her attire ? ' No, they love them too well : were the truths of God thus precious to thee, thou wouldst with David think of them day and night. Even wlien the Christian, llirnugh weakness of memory, cannot remember tlie very words he hears, to repeal lliem ; yea, tlirn he keepr;
1^)4 AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS.