of you some favour, or by presenting some petition, which you are not disposed to grant, and to which, consequently, your will is not inclined to listen;—is it not plain, in this case, that though your bodily ear receives the sound of your friend’s voice, and though your intellectual ear receives his meaning, yet the ear of your will, which is most properly your ear, doth not receive his meaning, and of course doth not hear the real and most important part of his discourse!
It is evident, then, that the sense of hearing in man is twofold, viz. external and internal, and that the internal sense again is twofold, viz. intellectual and voluntary; and that, of course, man can never be said to hear completely, until he hears both with his outward or bodily ear, and also with his inward or mental ear; and not only with his intellectual but also with his voluntary ear.
And this leads me to my second caution, grounded in the consideration, not only of the organ which hears, but also of the thing heard. In treating, however, on this subject, I shall not waste your time with varieties, but shall confine my observations to that one thing needful, viz. THE WORD OF GOD, which, I am persuaded, you will think, with me, to be infinitely better worth your attention than any other word, or speech, that can enter your ears.
