Attention is a special thing. How many sermons are lost in this city, that are as seed drowned, that never come to fruit ! I think there is no place in the world where there is so much preaching, and no place where there are so many sermons lost. Why ? Because people want a retaining power and faculty to attend, and retain and keep what we hear. She ' attended to the word preached.'
To give a little direction in this point of attending and applying the mind. Not to speak much, I will name two or three principal things that I think fit at this time.
1. If we should come, as we should, to the word preached : Lctvs search our u'cints he/ore ive come, and all the occasions we shall have to encounter ivith ; all temptations that iie are like to encounter with, let us forecast bij pre- senting to our souls. I am weak in knowledge, and I want such graces. I am like to encounter with such temptations, I am too weak for it; I shall meet with such adversaries, I know not how to answer them ; I am plunged in such businesses, I shall be lost in thorn without grace. Then the soul comes with a mind to be supplied ; and then it will attend, and will pray for the preacher. Oh, Lord, direct him that he may speak fitly to me ; somewhat for my understanding ; somewhat for my affections ; somewhat to help me against such and such a temptation. This is wanting ; and therefore we profit no more by the word than we do.
2. Then w'hen we come to hear the word, let us hear it tvith all spiritual suljection, as that ivord that hath power to command the conscience. This is tiie word of God. The minister of God speaks in the place of God to me. I must give an account of it. I will subject my conscience to it. It is spoken with evidence, and proved ; I will stoop to it. Thus we should
528 lydia's conversion.
come ■with subjection of soul and conscience to whatsoever is taught ; and not come to judge and censm^e, or to dehght in it as music, as if we came to a play, to hear some pretty sentences. But come to hear God, as to the ordinance of God, come as to that word that shall judge our souls at the latter day. That is the way to attend.
3. Then again, if we would attend when we have heard the word of God, let us labour hij all means to hriiuj it near to us, that it may be an ' engrafted word,' James i. 21 ; that the sonil may be leavened by it, that it may be so engrafted in the understanding and aticctious, that we may think the better in the virtue of it, and love, and speak, and do the better, as a scion* savours of the plant it is put into. Let us labour that the w^ord of God may be written in our souls, in the tables of our hearts, that the truth of God may be near us, as any temptation shall be near us, or any corruption near us. What is the reason we yield to corruptions and temptations ? They are near and the word is far ofl". We never attended to the word to bring it near home. If the word were as near as corruptions and tempta- tions, that it were engrafted and invested into the soul, we should have the word ready for every temptation. There should not be a temptation offered, nor a corruption arise, but we should subdue it and beat it down with the blessed truth of God accompanied with the Spirit. Let us labour to get it near us, that the reasons of the word and our reason, that the judgment of God and our judgment, that the will of God and our own will may be all one ; and so to have it incorporated and naturalized into our hearts, that we may speak, and think, and do nothing but that which is divine ; that is, to have the word written in our hearts, our attention should be to that end. Therefore, when we hear, we should do as nature doth with the meat we eat. It sucks out a strength suitable for every part. Every part hath a power to draw out nourishment, what is suitable to itself. So when we hear the word of God, we should be able to say, this is good for such and such an end ; and never leave thinking of the word of God when we have heard it, till we have turned the word into our souls, till we have it fixed in our understandings, that we can say, now I know it ; till we have sub- dued our hearts to it, and we be moulded and delivered up to it, that we can say, now I have it, now the word is mine. Let us never leave the truth we hear till we be brought to that. Alas ! to what purpose is it to hear except we make it our own, as nature makes the meat our own that we eat. There is a second or third digestion that goes before digestion be pei'fectly made, and the meat turned into it. It is ruminating and meditat- ing, and altering of that we hear, and working on it ; that makes spiritual nourishment. Thus we should do to attend to purpose.