Sermon

Exodus 20:10.

4. Having thus dressed your souls in a morning, for the further sanctification of the Sabbath, address yourselves to the hearing of the word preached.

(1.) And when you are set down in your seat,

1. Lift up your eyes to heaven for a blessing upon the word to be dispensed. For, you must know the word preached does not work as physic, by its own inherent virtue, but by a virtue from heaven, and the cooperation of the Holy Ghost. Therefore put up a short ejaculatory prayer for a blessing upon the word, that it may be made effectual to you.

(2.) The word being begun to be preached, set yourselves in a right manner:

1. With reverence and holy attention. Acts 16:14. A certain woman named Lydia attended to the things that were spoken of Paul. Constantine the Emperor was noted for his reverent attention to the word. Luke 19:48. Christ taught daily in the Temple: And all the people were attentive to hear him — in the Greek, they hung upon his lip. Could we tell men of a rich purchase, they would diligently attend: And shall they not much more, when the gospel of grace is preaching to them? Now that we may sanctify and hallow the Sabbath by attentive hearing, take heed of two things: 1. Distraction in hearing. 2. Drowsiness in hearing.

1. Distraction. 1 Corinthians 7:35. That you may attend upon the Lord without distraction. It is said of St. Bernard, that when he came to the church door, he would say, Stay here all my earthly thoughts. So should we say to ourselves, when we are at the door of God's house, Stay here all my worldly cares, and wandering cogitations, I am now going to hearken what the Lord will say to me. Distraction hinders devotion. Distraction in hearing is, when the mind is tossed with vain thoughts, and diverted from the business in hand. It is hard to make the quicksilver heart fix. St. Jerome complained of himself, Some times (says he) when I am about God's service, per Porticus deambulo, I am walking in the galleries, and sometimes casting up accounts. So often in hearing of the word the thoughts dance up and down; and when our eye is upon the minister, our mind is upon other things. Distracted hearing is far from sanctifying the Sabbath. It must needs be very heinous to give way to vain thoughts at this time, because when we are hearing the word, we are now in God's special presence. To do any treasonable action in the king's presence, is high impudence. Jeremiah 23:11. Indeed, in my house have I found their wickedness. So may the Lord say, In my house, while they are hearing of my word, I have found wickedness; they have wanton eyes, and their soul is set on vanity. This enhances and aggravates the sin.

Question. From where do these roving distracted thoughts in hearing come?

Answer. 1. Partly from Satan. The Devil is no recusant, he will be sure to be present in our assemblies: If he cannot hinder us from hearing, he will hinder us in hearing. Job 1:6. When the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them. The Devil sets vain objects before the fancy to cause a diversion. Satan's great design is to render the word we hear fruitless: As when one is writing, another jogs him that he cannot write even: So when we are hearing, the Devil will be jogging us with a temptation, that we should not attend to the word preached. Zechariah 3:1. He showed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

2. These wandering thoughts in hearing come partly from ourselves. We must not lay all the blame upon Satan.

(1.) They come from the eye. A wandering eye causes wandering thoughts. A thief may be let into the house at a window: So vain thoughts are let in at the eye. So that as we are bid to keep our feet when we enter into the house of God (Ecclesiastes 5:1), so we had need make a covenant with our eyes when we are in the house of God (Job 31:1), that we be not distracted by beholding other objects.

2. Wandering thoughts in hearing arise out of the heart. These sparks come out of our own furnace. Vain thoughts are the mud which the heart (as a troubled sea) casts up. Mark 7:21. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts. It is the foulness of the stomach sends up fumes into the head; and the corruption of the heart sends up evil thoughts into the mind.

3. Distracted thoughts in hearing proceed from an evil custom. We inure ourselves to vain thoughts at other times, therefore we cannot forbear them on a Sabbath. Custom is a second nature. Jeremiah 13:23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots, then may you also do good that are accustomed to do evil? He that is used to bad company, knows not how to leave it. Such as have vain thoughts keeping them company all the week, they know not how to get rid of them on the Sabbath. Let me show you how evil these vain distracting thoughts in hearing are.

First, To have the heart distracted in hearing, is a disrespect to God's omniscience. God is an all-seeing Spirit, and thoughts speak louder in his ears than words do in ours. Amos 4:13. He declares to man what is his thought. Therefore to make no conscience of wandering thoughts in hearing, is the affronting of God's omniscience, as if he knew not our heart, or did not hear the language of our thoughts.

Secondly, To give way to wandering thoughts in hearing, is hypocrisy. We pretend to hear what God says, and our mind is quite upon another thing. We present God with our bodies, but do not give him our hearts (Hosea 7:11). This hypocrisy God complains of (Isaiah 29:13): This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me. This is to prevaricate, and deal falsely with God.

Thirdly, Vain thoughts in hearing discover much want of love to God. Did we love God, we should listen to his words as oracles, and bind them upon the table of our heart (Proverbs 3:3). When a friend whom we love speaks to us, and gives us advice, we mind it with seriousness, and suck in every word. The giving our thoughts leave to ramble in holy duties, shows the defect of our love to God.

Fourthly, vain impertinent thoughts in hearing defile an ordinance: they are as dead flies in the box of ointment. When a string in the [reconstructed: lute] is out of tune, it spoils the music. Distraction of thoughts puts our mind out of tune, and makes our services sound harsh and unpleasant. Wandering thoughts poison a duty, and turn it into sin. (Psalm 109:7) Let his prayer become sin. What can be worse, than to have a man's praying and hearing of the Word become sin? Were it not sad when the meat we eat should increase bad humors? So when the hearing of the Word, which is the food of the soul, should be turned into sin?

Fifthly, vain thoughts in hearing anger God. If the King were speaking to one of his subjects, and he should not give heed to what the King says, but be thinking on another business, or playing with a feather, would not this provoke the King? So when we are in God's presence, and God is speaking to us in his Word, and we mind not much what he says, but our hearts go after covetousness (Ezekiel 33:31), will not this anger God to be thus slighted? God has pronounced a curse upon such; (Malachi 1:14) Cursed be the deceiver which has in his flock a male, and sacrifices to the Lord a corrupt thing. To have strong lively affections to the world, here is a male in the flock; but to hear the Word with distraction, to give God duties fly-blown with vain thoughts, this is to offer to the Lord a corrupt thing; this brings a curse, Cursed be the deceiver.

Sixthly, vain thoughts in hearing (when allowed and not resisted) make way for hardening the heart. A stone in the heart, is worse than in the kidneys. Distracted thoughts in hearing do not better the heart, but harden it. Vain thoughts take away the holy awe of God which should be upon the heart, they make conscience less tender, and hinder the efficacy the Word should have upon the heart.

Seventhly, vain distracting thoughts rob us of the comfort of an ordinance. A gracious soul often meets with God in the sanctuary, and can say as (Song of Solomon 3:4) I found him whom my soul loves. He is like Jonathan, who having tasted the honey on the rod, his eyes were enlightened. But vain thoughts hinder the comfort of an ordinance, as a black cloud hides the warm comfortable beams of the sun from us. Will God speak peace to us when our minds are wandering, and our thoughts are traveling to the ends of the earth (Proverbs 17:24)? If ever you would hear the Word with attention, do as Abraham, he drove away the fowls from the sacrifice (Genesis 15:11). So when we find these excursions and sinful wanderings in hearing, labor to drive away the fowls; get rid of these vain thoughts; they are vagrants, and we must not give them entertainment.

Question: But how shall we get help against these vagabond thoughts?

Response 1. Pray and watch against them.

2. Let the sense of God's omniscient eye over-awe our hearts. The servant will not sport in his master's presence.

3. Labor for a holy frame of heart. Were the heart more spiritual, the mind would be less feathery.

4. Bring more love to the Word. That which we love we fix our minds upon. He that loves his pleasures and recreations, his mind is fixed on them, and he can follow them without distraction. Were our love more set upon the Word preached, our minds would be more fixed upon it. And surely, there is enough to make us love the Word preached, for it is the Word of life — the inlet to knowledge, the antidote against sin, the quickener of holy affections: it is the true manna, which has all sorts of sweet tastes in it. It is the Pool of Bethesda, in which the rivers of life spring forth to heal the broken in heart. It is a sovereign elixir or cordial to revive the sorrowful spirit. Get love to the Word preached, and you will not be so distracted in hearing. What the heart delights in, the thoughts dwell upon.

2. If you would sanctify the Sabbath by diligent attentive hearing, take heed of drowsiness in hearing. Drowsiness shows much irreverence. How lively are many when they are about the world, but in the worship of God how drowsy, as if the devil had given them some opium to make them sleep! A drowsy temper is (now) very absurd and sinful. Are not you in prayer asking pardon of sin? Will the prisoner fall asleep when he is begging his pardon? In the preaching of the Word is not the bread of life breaking to you, and will a man fall asleep at his food? Which is worse, to stay from a sermon, or sleep at a sermon? While you sleep, perhaps that truth was delivered, which might have converted your souls. Besides, sleeping is very offensive in these holy assemblies: it is not only a grieving the Spirit of God, but a making the hearts of the righteous sad (Ezekiel 13:22). It troubles them to see any show such a contempt of God and his worship; to see men busy in the shop, but drowsy in the temple. Therefore as Christ said (Matthew 26:40), Could you not watch one hour? So can you not wake one hour? I deny not but a child of God may sometimes through weakness and indisposition of body drop asleep at a sermon, but it is not voluntary or ordinary. The sun may be in an eclipse, but not often. If sleeping be customary, and allowed, it is a very bad sign, and is a profaning of the ordinance. A good remedy against drowsiness is to use a spare diet upon this day. Such as indulge their appetite too much on a Sabbath, are fitter to sleep on a couch than pray in the temple. Now, that you may throw off distracting thoughts and drowsiness on the Lord's Day, and may hear the Word with reverent attention, consider,

1. It is God that speaks to us in his Word; therefore the preaching of the Word is called the breath of his lips (Isaiah 11:4). And Christ is said now to speak to us from Heaven (Hebrews 12:25), as a King speaks in his ambassador. Ministers are but as the pipes and organs; it is the Spirit of the Living God breathes in them: when we come to the Word, we should think thus with ourselves, God speaks in this preacher. The Thessalonians heard the Word Paul preached, as if God himself had spoken to them (1 Thessalonians 2:13): When you received the Word of God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but (as it is in truth) the Word of God. When Samuel knew it was the Lord that spoke to him, he lent his ear (1 Samuel 3:10). If we do not regard God when he speaks to us, he will not regard us when we pray to him.

2. Consider how serious and weighty the matters delivered to us are. As Moses said (Deuteronomy 30:19), I call heaven and earth to record this day, that I have set before you life and death. Can men be regardless of the Word, or drowsy when the weighty matters of eternity are set before them? We preach of faith, and holiness of life, and the day of judgment, and the eternal recompenses; here is life and death set before you; and does not all this call for serious attention? If a letter were read to one of special business, wherein his life and estate were concerned, would not he be very serious in listening to that letter? In the preaching of the Word, your salvation is concerned, and if ever you will attend, it should be now (Deuteronomy 32:47): It is not a vain thing for you, because it is your life.

3. To give way to vain thoughts and drowsiness in hearing, does much gratify Satan. He knows, that not to mind a duty, is all one as not to do a duty. Quicquid cor non facit, non sit; in religion, what the heart does not do, is not done. Therefore Christ says of some, Hearing they hear not (Matthew 13:13). How could that be? Because though the Word sounded in their ear, yet they minded not what was said to them; their thoughts were upon other things; therefore it was all one as if they did not hear. Hearing they hear not. And does not this please Satan, to see men come to the Word, and as good stay away? They are haunted with vain thoughts, they are taken off the duty while they are in it; their body is in the assembly, their heart in their shop; hearing they hear not.

4. It may be the last Sabbath that ever we shall keep. We may go from the place of hearing to the place of judging, and shall not we give reverent attention to the Word? Did we think thus when we come into God's house, Perhaps this will be the last time that ever God will counsel us about our souls; before another sermon death's alarm will sound in our ears: with what attention and devotion should we come here, and our affections would be all on fire in hearing!

5. You must give an account for every sermon you hear (Luke 16:2). Redde rationem: Give an account of your stewardship. So will God say, Give an account of your hearing. Have you been affected with the Word? Have you profited by it? And how can we give an account, if we have been distracted in hearing, and have not taken notice what has been said to us? The judge to whom we must give an account is God. Were one to give an account to man, he might falsify his accounts, but we must give an account to God. Nec donis corrumpitur, nec blanditiis fallitur. He is so just a God, that he cannot be bribed; and so wise, that he cannot be deceived. Therefore being to give an account to such an impartial judge, how should we observe every word preached, remembering the account! Let all this make us shake off distraction and drowsiness in hearing, and have our ears chained to the Word.