Itching ears.

dened under the word, and being now sermonproof, receives no more real impression from the gospel, than the flinty rock from a shower of rain. Alas! alas! How often may one bewail these uncircumcised ears!

The apostle reminds us also of itching ears, which are not so desirous of their own proper exercise of receiving the truth, as of being tickled and amused. A light thing, a mere feather, will answer this purpose better than that two-edged sword, which cuts beneath the skin, and penetrates to the very thoughts and intents of the heart. The itching ear takes a wonderful pleasure in quaint or odd expressions, or in flowing, polished, or rhetorical phrases and language. To it there are no such charms, as the charms of manner and words; a rich and glowing diction, a correct and masterly style, the grace of delivery, the force of reason, and the prettiness or sublimity of thought. These are excellencies indispensable and invaluable to the curious ear. A good story, especially if there be any wit in it, will tickle it almost to an ecstasy. Sometimes mere rodomontade will serve the end, which is to divert and be diverted: A pathetic or melancholy discourse will also tickle well an itching ear, though in a different way; for if the animal passions be moved, if the old Adam be wrought upon, if the common feel ings of the carnal nature be excited with any degree of emotion; these will gratify and please that carnal nature, like the hearing of tragedies and oratorios, even to rapture and excess, so as almost to be mistaken for religion and grace. all this, there may not be one particle of that life of the new man, which is renewed after the image of him that created him. I do not mean that a

In

All ears.

Christian is to be divested of the common feelings of humanity, but that he is not to mistake these for the actings of grace in the things of God, nor from the word of God to seek for so low an object as the gratification of these. He is not to be entertained, but edified; not to be amused, but corrected; not to be pleased only, but profited; not to crave indulgence to the desires of the flesh and of the mind, for this every worldling craves; but through grace to subdue his evil propensities and affections, and to confine nature within its bounds, that the life of Christ may be made manifest, and that the fruits of faith may abound to the divine glory. O how much more wise and happy is this for the soul, than the mean and trifling enjoyment that can be procured for itching ears!

No

There is also, to mention no more, what a gracious and dear friend of mine has well styled, that monster in profession, who is all ear. faculty, in religious matters, but this one: No heart to apprehend, no heart to love and experience, no hands to act for Christ, no feet to walk in the obedience of God: but all-all ear! A new preacher, a fine preacher, a long sermon, sermon after sermon, discourses about the talents of preachers and the beauties of sermons, and sometimes matter not quite so good as these, are objects of supreme delight for too many, who rather wish to hear about Christ than to live upon him, and to have a good seat under the sound of the gospel than to be enjoying the power of it. O what a poor sort of professing life is this! To mistake air for food, and mere hearing for godliness; alas! what will this avail the soul, when it shall need strength and courage to resist the

Ears opened.

powers of darkness, and to enter the gloomy valley of the dead!

The true servants of God have, in a certain subordinate sense, their ears opened, or pierced, according to the meaning of the rite in the law; and thus they are made his own for ever. They come willingly, in the day of his power, to the door of his house, and even to CHRIST the only door of the true tabernacle which God hath pitched, and not man; and there each of them joyfully declares; "I would not, and in thy strength I will not, go away, O Lord, from thee, because I love thee and I love thine house, and because it is good for me to be with thee." By this spiritual operation, they are made alive to God, and are enabled spiritually to hear his word, and to have it written in their inward parts, and thus to serve and live for God in Christ with life eternal. They cannot endure another service; and any voice, but the voice of their Master, they will neither delight in, nor obey. As dutiful servants, and adopted children, they listen to his holy word, follow his heavenly will, seek not their own but his honour and glory, and count nothing of so much value beneath the sun as to finish their course with joy. O my soul, mayest thou be found with these, when the Lord shall make up his jewels, and shall spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him! Thou shalt then enter into his house indeed, and dwell with him for ever and ever.

Another type in the law affords us a further idea on this interesting subject. The sanctifying oil was not only to be put upon the right hand, the right foot, and the right ear of the leper, but upon the extremities, the thumb, the great toe,

Unction of the Holy One.

the tip, of those right members; in order to show, that, in our renewing by the Holy Spirit, we must expect all true strength, even the least and to the utmost, all our right obedience, and all our hearing to profit, from that UNCTION OF THE HOLY ONE. This ANOINTING, which is received of Christ, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, abideth in the real Christian; and by this, in fact, he becomes a Christian, that is, an anointed person: And the same anointing teacheth him of all things, and is true and not a lie.-Thus he hears, and hears aright. He hears inwardly, and with life; and by grace, in this hearing, increases life. Sounds, mere sounds, are nothing; and words alone are nothing; but the word and truth of Christ, spiritually received and experimentally digested, are, in his eye, and heart, and ear, the all in all of every ordinance and proclamation of the Gospel.

I would come into the power of these things, O my Lord, more and more; and I lament with deep compunction, that my progression is so small, my true hearing so dull, my affections so cold, my faith so weak, my hope so drooping, and my whole man so often disordered and defiled by infirmity. O how great and difficult a thing is it to be a Christian! To live, and hope, and walk, truly by the faith of thee the Son of God! Do thou, who art the High-Priest of my profession, circumcise and pierce my ear, that I may be made affectionately thine own for ever: anoint it also with thine HOLY OIL, that I may receive rightly and understand truly the words of eternal life, the rich and the profound mysteries of thy heavenly kingdom. So shall I hear, and live, and learn, and love, till I see thee in thy

Declension.

glory; and then, stripped of all my own imperfection and frailty, but clothed upon with thy righteousness and salvation, I shall magnify thine holy name amongst thy redeemed, in the great, the universal, the everlasting, Hallelujah.

CHAP. XXXIX.

UPON DECLENSIONS FROM GOD.

ALAS! how prone am I to fall into sin, and to leave the Fountain of living waters! My infirmities often prevail against me, and, contrary to the better will of my soul, drag me into the snares and bondage of corruption.

I have sinned: What shall I say unto thee, O thou Preserver of men! If thou leave me to myself, if thou recover me not; I am gone for ever. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Thus I mourn and am vexed, when my corruptions are ready to overpower me. I should be lost, but for thy merciful aid: I must perish entirely, if the blood and righteousness of my dear Redeemer were not again and again applied to save and to comfort me.

O what a vile and miserable body do I bear about with me! It is the very load, and plague, and prison of my soul. And yet how foolishly do I love it, and care for it! and how much more time do I spend in nourishing this evil flesh, than in seeking the peace of God, or the advancement and prosperity of my immortal part?-I am