Section 554
II. Being thus in the discharge of their duty, and using diligence therein, they found the church
Which is the next thing to be inquired into: they found me; that is, they fell upon the subject of my case and condition, in their sermons, and exactly took notice of and spoke to my case, as if somebody had told them of it beforehand, and as if they had particularly designed me above all the rest of their audience; which shews the power of the word, and its piercing and penetrating nature; it often finds out particular sinners in a congregation, and points out their particular sins unto them; it searches into the inward recesses of their hearts, brings secret sins to light, sets them in order before them, and brings them to an open and ingenuous confession of them; likewise it finds and points, out the particular cases of believers, oftentimes tin-known to the minister, and unlooked for by the believer, which seems to be the church's case here. It is amazing how this is sometimes effected; insomuch that some have thought that some friend or other, to whom they have communicated, their cases, have told the minister, and he has purposely treated on such a subject to meet with them; though when they have more narrowly inquired into it, have found it otherwise, to their great surprise; nay, sometimes a minister, by stepping out of the way, going off from his subject, and making a digression, has met with souls, and hit their case, as Austin did with the Manichee. God has given many instances of the secret energy of the word, and the mighty power and grace of the Spirit, in applying it to the different cases of persons. But,