Matthew Poole and continuators on Luke 16:31

31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead.

How vain is Man in his imaginations? We are prone all of us, to think after the rate, that this Rich Man is here brought in speaking. That altho Persons be Deaf to the sound of the Word, yet some sensible evidence of the Wrath of God, would make a change in their hearts and lives. There is no such thing. There is not possibly in all the Book of God, a Text that more speaks the desperate hardness of a Sinners heart, then this, nor a Text, which looks more dreadfully upon Persons siting under the means of Grace, reading and hearing the Word of God, and yet find not their hearts so affected with the reading, and hearing of it, as thereby to be brought to repentance, and Faith, and such Holiness of Life as it requireth. If it were possible that such Men and Women should see one come out of the bottomless Pit, tearing his hair, and wringing his hands, and gnashing his teeth, and bewailing his Misery, and begging of them to be wise by his example, telling them for what Sins he is made so miserable, and with tears and highest expressions of Passion, beseeching them that while they have time, they would leave of those courses, acquaint themselves with God, and be at Peace, that thereby good might come unto them, they would not yet believe nor Repent, nor would this have any further effect upon them, then a little Passion, till they could get the Din out of their Ears. For tho sensible evidence, be the highest advantage in the World to moral suasion; yet these things are under no Divine appointment to such an effect. Henceforth let us wonder no more that a Drunkard sees his Companion drop down Dead before him, yet presently cries again, fill the Glass, that hundred of Sinners are daily hurried down to Hell in their Wickedness, and yet their Companions take no warning. In a fight at Sea or Land hundreds drop, yet their Companions do not fly, but are held up by their Stomachs, and Passion, and their Ears are made deaf by the noise of the Drums and Trumpets. So in the World hundreds of Sinners drop down daily into the Pit, yet the rest of their Companions, tumble their Companions into their Graves, and never consider the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation of his hands, till they also like Sheep be laid in the Grave, and Death comes to feed upon them, and Hell to devour them also. This now to those that duly con[illegible: 1 letter]ider not things, and in particular do not consider this Text, seemeth strange and amazing. But it is no more to be wondred at, then that hundreds read, and hear the Word of God, and are not by it Converted and Changed. It is not to be expected that any Providence of God, should work upon those Souls any salvifick change, upon whom the Word doth not work. That is the ordinance of God with which the holy Spirit joyns it self, which alone can produce this change. If God works not this change, he will work it by nothing else. Tho he sometimes maketh use of such Providences towards Souls to whom he intendeth good, to make them observe, and attend to the Word better, in order to so Blessed an effect.