Therefore poor souls, when they want good evidence, when they doubt whether their estate be good or no, let them consider what relish they have of divine truths ; whether it be co-natural to the word * or no ; whether it be savoury or no ; whether they could be without the means of salvation or no ; and let them judge of themselves by their delight in God's truth. Her heart was opened ' to attend to the word.'
' She attended to the things which were spoken of Paul.'
Which were the blessed truths of salvation, the forgiveness of sins, the free mercy of God in Christ. The particulars are not set down, but it ■was the gospel, and she believed upon it. Therefore it must needs be the word of faith. We see here then that
The seed and ground of faith is the cfospcl.
Her heart was opened to attend to that that Paul spake, which was the gospel. And indeed so it is. The foundation of faith, the word of faith, is the gospel. Nothing can breed faith but the word of God ; for how can we hope for heaven and happiness, but by the mind of God discovered ? Can we look for anything but God must discover his mind to bestow it V And where have we the mind and bosom of God opened to us '? Is it not from the Scriptures, the word of God, from the good word especially ? It is called the • word of grace,' and ' the word of the kingdom,' and ' of glory,' the * vrord of life ;' because by it all these blessed things are conveyed to us."
Now it is not the word simply here, but the word ' spoken by Paul ;' that is, the word preached hj an authorised minister is the usual means of faith. Her heart was opened to attend to what was spoken by Paul, an authorised minister. So the word preached is the ordinary, though not the sole foundation of faith. Therefore the apostle saith, that God by that converted the world, ' by the foolishness of preaching,' 1 Cor. i. 21. And in the ladder of heaven, in Kom. x. 14, seq., ' How shall they call on him of whom they have not heard ? . . . and how shall they preach except they be sent ?' So there is no faith without teaching. The point is plain. You hear it oft. The word is the gi'ound of faith ; and the word especially as it is preached by a Paul, by a minister unfolding it.
Use. Therefore be stirred up, as ye favour the souls of God's people, to pray to God ' to send labourers into his harvest,' Mat. ix. 38 ; and to pray that the gospel, and the preaching of it, may have a free passage, that God would set up lights in all the dark corners of the kingdom, and every- where to ' those that are in darkness, and in the shadow of death,' Ps. cvii. 10. And blessed are their endeavour that labour that the gospel may be preached in every part of the kingdom. For we see here it is the •word unfolded, ' the unsearchable riches' of Christ spread open, the tapes- * Qu. ' heart ' ?— Ed.
lydia's coN^^^^vSIo^^ 527
try laid opcu, that usually beget faitli. The mine must be JiggeJ ; people must see it familiavh' laid open.
Therefore saith he here, Lydia's heart was opened, ' and she attended to the words spoken bj^ Paul.'
Let this teach us to set a price upon the ordinance of God. Doth God set up an ordinance, and will he not give virtue asd power to it ? Yes. There is a majest;,- and a power in the word of God to pull people out of the kingdom of Satan, to the blessed light of God's kingdom. It was the word, and the word opened b}^ the ministry of Paul.
But it was the word, and the M'ord opened and attended to. She mixed it with her attention, and her heart closed with it. There are these three go together ; the word, and the word preached, and then attending to the word preached. That was the ground of her faith ; these three meet- ing together.
There are these four things must always be in the senses of our body. If we will see, there must be an object to see, we must see something ; and a faculty to see, our eye ; and their a light whereby we see ; we cannot see in the dark. And then there must be an application of the eye to see the object by that light. So in spiritual things there is the blessed truth of God, the mere}' of God in Jesus Christ. That we may see these things, we must have a light by which we may see them. And there must be a power to see, which is the sanctified, opened understanding. When the understanding is opened, then there is an application of the soul to attend to the word of God by the light of the word. So that there mast be appli- cation and attention to the word. Before the word can' do us good, it must be applied to the object, the taste to the thing tasted ; and so in all the other senses.