CHRIST'S ALARM TO DROWSY SAINTS: OR, Christ's Epistle to his Churches.  
By WILLIAM FENNER, B. D. sometimes fellow of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, and Minister of Rochfort in ESSEX.  
REVEL. 2. 7. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the Churches.  
LONDON, Printed by J. D. & R. I. for John Rothwell, at the Sun and Fountain in Paul's Churchyard.  
M DC XLVI.   

Insigni Erudition & Pietate V: THOMAE HILL S. T. D.  
Acad: Cantabrigienss. Dignissimo Procancellario & Coll: Trin: in eadem Acad: Magistro▪ Posthumum hoc.  
GUILLIEL. FENNERI Opusculum In Debitae observantiae Testimonium D. D. D.  
J. R. Bibliopola.   

TO THE READER.  
THE Author of these ensuing Sermons was a Minister of God, famous in his Generation, a burning and shining light, one, to whom, if ever to any, God had given the Art of winning of Souls, whom I have often heard Preaching, and always in the demonstration of the Spirit and power, and not in the enticing words of man's wisdom. He was (as Nazienzen saith of John Baptist) Tota Vox, all Voice: A voice in his habit, in his gestare, and in his life and conversation, as well as his Doctrine; and being now dead, he is still a voice by his Works, which he hath left behind him. And in particular, by these Sermons (Printed according to a Copy written with his own hand) which handle a Subject very necessary for these times, wherein there are many that have a name to live, but are indeed dead, and many that are spiritually alive, but yet full of deadness, and unactiveness to that that is good. Now this Treatise will be useful (if God give a blessing to it) to make the dead Christian, living; and the living Christian more active and lively in all godliness; which that it may effect, is the prayer of  
Thy soul's friend in Jesus Christ, ALAMY.   

The Contents.  
THE Coherence. 
Page. 1  The Division. 
Page. 2  1 Observe. That Ministers are to be Angels. 
Page. 7  1 Use, The Ministry no base office. 
Page. 10  2 Use, If Angels, they must be holy. 
Page. 11  3 Use, If Angels, they must be ready to preach and labour in the word, 
Page. 13  4 Use, If Angels, they are mainly for Gods Elect. 
Page. 17  5 Use, If Angels, with what reverence ought we to hear them? 
Page. 19  2 Observe. All true Ministers as one. 
ibid.  How. 
Page. 21  What unity. 
Page. 24  Ministers ought to preach often. 
Page. 32  The reasons of their unity. 
Page. 39  1 Use Ministers not to envy one another for the faithful discharge▪ of their duty. 
Page. 41  2 Use Ministers must labour to be of one mind. 
Page. 42  3 Use, Good for Ministers that they preach one for another, 
Page. 44  Ministers may be in fault the people are no better. 
Page. 46  People a cause of the Ministers deadness. 
Page. 48  Particular Preaching does good. 
Page. 51  General preaching hartfull, seven Reason. 
ibid.  Moral preaching does no good. 
Page. 57  Not enough to profess only the name of Christ. 
Page. 61  The more the word convinces, the more subtleties the heart aeviseth. 
Page. 63  Cold preaching of the word, is unsuitable to the nature of the word. 
Page. 64  It is cold two ways. 
Page. 66  Evil life causeth th● Preacher seem vile. 
Page. 67  1 Use, A Minister may be the cause why the people are dead▪ 
Page. 68  2. Ministers of all m●n should care to be most quickened 
ibid.  3. People should pray for their Ministers. 
Page. 69  4. Ministers should take h●ed of their charge▪ ●●●irable Royalties of Jesus Christ. 
ibid.  1 That he hath the Seven Spirits of God. 
Page. 72  Gives the spirit to whom he pleases. 
Page. 75  The Reasons why. 
Page. 77  Use 1. If Christ have the spirits, what hath he not? 
Page. 80  2. We are without excuse, if we want the spirit, when Christ hath him to give. 
Page. 81  How we may obtain it. 
Page. 86  3. Those that want the spirit may have supplies from Jesus Christ. 
Page. 89  Signs of it. 
Page. 93  Second Royalty of Jesus Christ, he hath the seven Stars. 
Page. 96  Ministers why Stars. 
Page. 97  Every Parish should have one. 
Page. 98  Use 1. A Miserable thing when a Land is darkened. 
Page. 100  2. We are to bless God when the Stars shine. 
ibid.  3. Take heed those few Stars we have set upon us. 
Page. 101  Six fignes when they are about to vanish. 
ibid.  Why God will take away his Stars. 
Page. 105  Christ hath seven Stars in five respects. 
Page. 107  Use 1. They have their Mission from him, therefore 'tis comfort to true Ministers. 
ibid.▪  2. They must do his Message. 
Page. 108  3. They must give him account. 
Page. 109  4. A great mercy Christ should send unto them. 
ibid.  The heads of their Commission, their Authority. 
Page. 120  Use 1. If their Commission be from Christ, they are the greatest Ambassadors that are or can be. 
Page. 121  2. They must take heed how they discharge their Function. 
Page. 122  3. To condemn them that obey not the Ministry. 
Page. 124  4. God takes it not well at our hands that Ministers should be vilipended. 
Page. 126  5. They must preach no mercy at all to them that stand out wilfully. 
Page. 129  6. They that fear God must obey the voice of his Servants. 
Page. 131  Ministers had need of many rare gifts. 
Page. 133  1. To open the Scriptures. 
ibid.  2. To deduce from them. 
Page. 134  3. To Convince. 
Page. 135  4. To move affections. 
ibid.  5. To speak Pro Re Nata▪ 
Page. 136  6. To choose special Texts for special occasions. 
Page. 137  Use 1. A Minister had not need to be a fool. 
Page. 139  2. They are not Christ's Ministers that are not gifted. 
ibid.  3. They must go to Christ for gifts. 
Page. 140  4. Stir up those he gives them. 
Page. 141  5. They must rely on Christ. 
ibid.  6. People should pray for their Minister. 
Page. 142  Means to enlarge the Ministers hearts and gifts to the people. 
ibid.  Christ hath the prospering of his Ministers. 
Page. 149  The Reasons, 1. Because Ministers are nothing in the World. 
Page. 151  2. Conversion is supernatural. 
Page. 152  Use 1. The Ministers can only make try all whether they can convert the people or no. 
Page. 153  2. They must wait; though they have not success presently. 
Page. 154  3. It may condemn the World that lets not Ministers have success. 
ibid.  A Minister hath all good success from Christ. 
Page. 156  Use 1. Why some Ministers now adays have so little success. 
Page. 157  Carnal Ministers may sometimes convert. 
Page. 159  2. Christ doth bless true Ministers. 
Page. 161  3. If they have not success, they ought not to be discouraged. 
Page. 162  4. The greatest hurt to Ministers is, to deprive them of the joy of their labours. 
ibid.  Christ disposeth, continueth, or removeth them. 
Page. 163  Reason 1. Because no man is a Pastor that entereth not at the door. 
Page. 164  2. None can be placed in a Parish but by this Bishop Christ, the Archbishop of our Souls. 
Page. 165  3. He pays them their wages; therefore must set them on work. 
ibid.  4. They cannot otherwise look for his assistance. 
Page. 166  5. Nor have peace of Conscience. 
ibid.  6. The people can have no pleasure under such a Ministry. 
Page. 167  Use 1. Ministers ought to look for Christ's placing. 
ibid.  2. It condemns intruders. 
Page. 168  3. Use to them that have Ministers of Christ's placing among them. 
ibid.  4. Never complain of graceless Ministers. 
Page. 168  2. What is the reason there is no more able Ministers every where? 
Page. 169  5. God hath the placing of Ministers, than we know whether to go for good Ministers. 
Page. 170  The Reasons. 
Page. 171  Use 1. Ministers should not fear to be deprived of their liberty. 
Page. 173  2. A Reason why the Gospel continues any where, when the world cannot abide it. 
Page. 174  3. Christ hath the continuing of his Ministers. 
Page. 175  4. Reason, to be earnest with God to have his Gospel continued. 
Page. 176  Christ hath the removing of Ministers. And how. 
Page. 177  Use 1. If Christ remove Ministers, we ought to mourn before him. 
Page. 178  2. Look to the meritorious cause, our sins. 
Page. 179  3. Christ takes away Ministers, we ought to repent of our sin. 
Page. 180  Doct. 1. The Lord knows every man's ill courses. 
Page. 185  How. 
Page. 186  Why. 
Page. 188  Use 1. If God knows all men's sinful courses, than men cannot dawb before him. 
Page. 192  2. To condemn those that do not consider of this truth. 
Page. 194  3. A terror to all that go on with a selfe-condemning heart. 
Page. 195  4. Comfort to good people, that if he see sins, he sees goodness much rather. 
Page. 196  5. It should make us afraid at any time or place, even the secretest. 
Page. 198  Doct. 2. The knowing that God knows our works,▪ is the powerful means to all Gods Elect to quicken them. 
Page. 199  Reasons 1. God's knowing our works is not a mere knowing, but a marking. 
Page. 200  2. God sees our sins with a pure eye. 
ibid.  3. He records them in a book. 
Page. 201  4. If God see them, all one, as if the world should see them too. 
ibid.  5. Our disposition, we cannot endure any should know of our Wickednesses, that cannot endure them. 
Page. 202  Use 1. They that this point cannot work on, are graceless. 
Page. 203  2. If such means can work on our hearts, let us not harden them. 
ibid.  The Reasons why God knows all our works. 
Page. 210  What is meant by dead. 
Page. 214  A horrible thing to rest in the name of being Religious. 
Page. 215  The Reasons. 
Page. 216  An unexcusable thing, not to be alive. 
Page. 217  The Uses. 
Page. 218  2. What is meant by dead. 
Page. 219  Doct. 1. A dead Ministry none at all. 
Page. 222  2. The Scripture calleth it no Ministry in effect. 
Page. 223  3. It doth little or no good. 
ibid.  4. God seldom goes along with it. 
Page. 224  5. It profanes the word of God. 
ibid.  Use 1. We see a reason why a dead Ministry is applauded in the world. 
Page. 225  2. To reprove Ministers, that are no more lively in the Ministry. 
Page. 226  3. Of Exhortation, to labour for a quickening Ministry▪ 
Page. 228  Motives. 
ibid.  4. How to get a Ministry to be quickening. 
Page. 240  What meant by deadness of guilt. 
Page. 245  What by deadness of mind. 
Page. 246  What by deadness of heart. 
ibid.  What by deadness of conscience. 
ibid.  What by deadness of affection. 
Page. 247  Doct. 1. A dead Christian as good as none at all. 
ibid.  2. All duties of Religion, must be done with life. 
Page. 250  Reasons why a dead Christian none at all. 
Page. 253  Use 1. If dead Christians be none, what then that are not Christians in name. 
Page. 255  2. How dangerous to be a dead-hearted Christian. 
Page. 267  For, 1. All we do with a dead heart is nothing. 
ibid.  2. It does not please God. 
Page. 269  3. It cannot yield us any true comfort. 
Page. 271  4. Though it comfort us in time of prosperity, it cannot in adversity. 
Page. 272  5. We can never bless God with a dead heart. 
Page. 273  6. So long Religion is irksome to us. 
Page. 274  7. If a dead heart take it up, it will soon be weary of it. 
Page. 276  Causes of living Christianly, 1. Efficient, God. 
Page. 278  2. Instrumental, Faith. 
Page. 280  The parts of it. 1. Justification. 
Page. 281  2. Sanctification. 
ibid.  3. Joy and Comfort. 
Page. 282  2. What is the life of man? 
Page. 283  Six stirring acts in the minds of men. 
Page. 289  1. Application. 
ibid.  2. Meditation. 
Page. 291  3. Considering. 
Page. 292  4. Remembering. 
Page. 294  5. The Inventing of the heart. 
Page. 295  6. The judging of the mind. 
Page. 296  Use 1. How rude, or profane wicked Christians, are rejected for deadness. 
Page. 297  2. Condemnation of the sins wherein most part of the people are dead. 
Page. 298  3. What to be a living Christian. 
ibid.  Every act of an heart, not an argument of the life of it. 
Page. 304  No not her wouldings. 
Page. 306  When wishing is an argument. 
Page. 308  The same proved. 
Page. 310  The acts of the heart living, if converted to God. 
Page. 312  Five other acts of life in the heart towards God. 
Page. 319  What the life of a Conscience. 
Page. 327  1. A Conscience some what awaked may like of God and his ways. 
Page. 328  2. It may oblige a man to all manner of good things. 
Page. 329  3. It may be troubled about his sins. 
Page. 330  4. It may urge one to good things. 
Page. 332  5. It may be very eager in urging. 
Page. 333  6. It may prevail far by its cagernesse. 
Page. 334  7. It may make one look a great way as it prevail. 
ibid.  But these cannot be the life of conscience, and why 
Page. 335  Signs of a living conscience 
Page. 341  Two kinds of Conscience in a godly man. 
Page. 346  Four effects of a lively Conscience. 
Page. 351  Effects of a good conscience. 
Page. 355  What is an humbled Conscience 
Page. 356  How to know quickenings of Conscience. 
Page. 358  Arguments of a live conscience. 
Page. 360  Use 1. How few have live Consciences. 
Page. 362  When the memory is dead. 
Page. 363  When the memory is alive. 
Page. 364  Memory a great blessing, 
Page. 367  And that for 8 Reasons. 
Page. 368  There must needs be the office of the memory. 
Page. 370  Use 1. The only living memory that remembers God. 
Page. 378  2. We can never retain God's Commandments without some memory. 
ibid.  3. The want of this, cause of sin. 
ibid.  Seven causes of an alive memory. 
Page. 379    

CHRIST'S ALARM To Drowsy SAINTS.  
REVEL. 3. 1. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write, These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 
SAint JOHN being banished into the Isle of Patmos, though the persecuters of the Gospel thought to do him a displeasure, yet the Lord turned it unto his great good: For the place of his exile was like Paul's third Heaven unto him, he was ravished in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and had abundance of revelations vouchsafed unto him, of the things that should occur in the Church, and out, from thence unto the end of the world. Before which he hath a charge given him to write to the seven Churches of Asia, chap. 1. the Church of Ephesus, the Church of Smyrna, and of Pergamus, and of Thyatira, these four are written unto in the second Chapter; the other three are written unto in this: the Church of Sardis, and the Church of Philadelphia, and the Church of Laodicea. Now that which I have chosen to handle, and if God afford liberty, I desire to go through it, is the Epistle unto the Church of Sardis; wherein we may consider four things.  
First, The Inscription, containing a specification whom the Epistle is specially directed unto. And to the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write.  
Secondly, the Subscription, containing a description of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Church: These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. I call it a subscription, because in our letters we use to subscribe our names, or to write our names beneath at the latter end. But it may be called rather a suprascription, as Kings write their names above for honour's sake, so does Christ the King of Zion, write his Name above.  
Thirdly, the substance or matter of the Epistle, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, & strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God, etc. verse. 1, 2, 3, 4.  
Fourthly, the conclusion, He that overcommeth, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, etc. v. 5, 6.  
First, I say, the Inscription, And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write. In which words Saint John is directed whom to inscribe this Epistle unto, and that is, unto the Church which is in Sardis: but especially unto the Angel of it, that is, the Minister, or Ministers of it: for that's the meaning of Angel in this place.  
Secondly, for the Subscription, or rather suprascription, that contains the description of the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the Epistle is sent, and he is described by two Royalties, the first is, in having of the seven Spirits of God. These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, that is, that hath power to send the holy Ghost unto all the Elect: for so the holy Ghost is called the seven Spirits that are before the Throne, Rev. 1. 4. He means there the holy Ghost, not as though there were seven holy Ghosts, but he is expressed in the plural number in regard of the abundance of graces that he infuses into his Churches; and the number seven is rather taken then any other number, partly because this number is put for a perfect number, as implying the perfection of his influence, & partly because of the present business in hand, for here he writes to the seven Churches of Asia. Now the Lord Jesus Christ hath Spirit enough to send forth into them all. This is his first Royalty, that he hath the seven spirits of God. Another Royalty of his is, that he hath the seven Stars, that is, the seven Pastors of these Churches, Christ hath them all in his hand, it is he that preserves those Ministers that are faithful; he hath power to raise them up, to gift them, to protect them, to defend them; and they are called Stars, because they are to shine in the firmament of the Church.  
Thirdly, for the substance and matter of the Epistle, it containeth three parts.  
First, a Reproof, and the reproof is in these words, I know thy works; that is, I know them all, and they are stark naught for the most part, what ever they seem; they may seem to be very good, but I tell you plainly, I know them all what they be, q. d. generally they are stark naught; and then he instances in particular, as for example, thy deadness of heart in Religion, Thou hast a name to live, but thou art dead; that is, thou goest for an excellent Minister, and and excellent Church, ye do profess Religion very fairly, and in a goodly manner, that to see to thou art alive, and thou art taken so too of all thy Neighbour-churches, they all think and hope thou art alive; but the truth is, thou art dead, the grace of life is hardly in thee at all. This is the first, the Reproof.  
Then secondly, here's a remedy annexed: for he does not reprove them out of any ill will, but for their good, and so he prescribes them a remedy, and the remedy is twofold. The first is, To strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die. q. d. as many of you as are not quite and clean dead, stir up yourselves, quicken up your hearts: and this is amplified by showing how they should do thus: O, be watchful, says he, q. d. that is the reason why ye languish in this fashion, and ye will languish more and more because ye are not watchful: therefore Be watchful: and also by rendering a motive to press this remedy; For I have not found thy works perfect before God; that is, thou art hardly sincere a jot, thou art full of hypocrisy, and rottenness, and formality, and thou wilt lose all thy labour if thou dost not look well about thee: therefore shake up thyself, and strengthen the things that remain. This is the first remedy.  
The second remedy is, to repent, and this is amplified by showing how, and that is two ways: First, Remember how thou hast received and heard; that is, consider how thou hast been taught, and bewail thy declinings: for thou art horribly departed from what thou hast learned in the Ministry of the word.  
Secondly, Hold fast, that is, so bewail thy warpings, & wanings, and degenerating, that thou mayst get up again, hold thee fast there when thou art up. Now lest they should neglect the using of this remedy, the Lord Jesus sharpens his speech with a threatening, telling them the danger, if they will not be awakened: If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. This is the second part of the matter of this Epistle, the Remedy.  
Thirdly, another part of the matter of this Epistle is, a commendation of some particular persons in the Church, that were not carried away in the deadness of the times, and these he does praise very much, and he gives them an excellent promise; the praise is in these words: Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; that is, there be some among you, though they be but a few, that have not been sutted and soiled with others bad examples; though others be dead, yet they are not dead too for company: and then the promise is to them in these words, They shall walk with me in white; that is, I will give them the grace of repentance, and I will keep them unspotted unto my heavenly Kingdom and glory. And he adds a reason in these words: For they are worthy, not as though they did merit repentance and glory; no, but they are worthy in Christ, and Christ hath made them meet to be made partakers of this mercy. Thus you see the matter of the Epistle.  
The fourth and last thing is the conclusion of the Epistle; and that is in the fifth and sixth verses, He that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment, etc. In which words we have the conclusion of the Epistle, and it consists of two parts:  
First, a promise to every one that overcometh, He that overcomes, etc.  
Secondly, a precept to command every gracious Saint to attend to these things. The promise:  
First, it is to be considered to whom it is made; it is made to him that overcometh: that is, ye know there is to be a holy war against all manner of sin, and all temptations, and all the policies of Satan, and all the alluring baits of the world, and all the inclinations of the flesh. Now he that overcomes all these, which is no other but one that is born of God, who alone is able to overcome, He that overcomes, this is the party to whom it is promised.  
Secondly, what it is that is promised. Here be three things that are promised to him that overcomes: First, White raiment; He shall be clothed in white raiment; that is, he shall be preferred to everlasting blessedness, and he shall walk in triumph in a conquerors robe. Secondly, a permanent and lasting name in the Book of life, I will not put out his name out of the Book of life, that is, there be many hundreds that are written in the book of life in the judgement of men, and in the hope of men; but in the end the Lord blots them out, he makes it appear, that their names are not there: But this man shall never be blotted out thence. As he hopes his name is enroled there, so it shall for a certain appear to be enroled there, and it shall never be crossed out. Thirdly, Christ's confessing of that man's name before his Father and his holy Angels: And I will confess his name before my Father and his holy Angels; that is, I will acknowledge him to be mine. Thus you see the first thing, the promise which is made to him that overcomes.  
The second part of the conclusion is a precept to command every gracious Saint to attend to these things, and that is in the sixth verse; He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.  
Of these in their order, and first of the Inscription.  
And to the Angel of the Church of Sardis, write.  
By the Angel he means not the Angels of Heaven, no 
Some translate it so too, Which have received the law by the disposition of Angels, and have not kept it. Acts 7. 53. And so 1 Cor 11. 10. Because of the Angels.  nor the Angels of the bottomless pit: he does not mean the Angels of heaven, because they are perfectly holy, they have no sin in them. Now the Lord Jesus speaks of such an Angel here as hath much sinned; for he reproves him exceedingly. Neither does he mean any Angel of the bottomless pit, because they are perfectly evil, they have no spiritual goodness at all in them. Now the Lord Jesus speaks of such an Angel here, whom though he reproves for many things amiss, yet he commends him too for some gracious things; and therefore he can be Angel of the bottomless pit. It remains then, that a Metaphorical Angel is here understood, and that is the Minister of the Church. Now as the Angels are called Ministers, Bless ye the Lord all ye his Hosts, ye Ministers that do his pleasure, Psal. 103. 21. So the Ministers are called Angels, An Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, etc. Judg. 2. 1. that i●, a Minister, Phinehas, or some Prophet or other, as it seems, came and preached unto the people. The point than is this,  
That Ministers are to be Angels, as it were. 
Observe.   
They are Angels in some sense.  
1. Angels are Spirits, ye know they are spiritual substances, 
1.  as the Psalmist speaks: He maketh his Angel's spirits, Psal. 104. 4. they are spiritual creatures, their communion is spiritual, their food is spiritual, their delights are spiritual, their affections & minds are spiritual: so a Minister though he be a Body as well as his people, yet he should be a spiritual man. I confess every true Christian is spiritual, as the Apostle says: If any man be overtaken in a fault, ye that are spiritual, restore such a man in the spirit of meekness, Gal. 6. he speaks to every true Christian, he is a spiritual man: But a Minister should more especially be spiritual; nay, our own phrases will rise up in judgement against us, if we be not spiritual. Do not we call ourselves the Spiritualty, as though the people were carnal in comparison of us? Now if we should be more carnal than they, out of our own mouths the Lord will condemn us. The truth is, many of us may be called spiritual men, if we will: but we are mad spiritual men, as the Prophet Hosea speaks, The spiritual man is mad, Hosea 9 7. Mad spiritual men indeed, when we are nothing less than what we profess ourselves to be, when we are spiritual men in a mockery: ye know what a mock is brought up upon this name; people call a spiritual Pig, that is, the poorest of all the ten, that hath no substance in it, that is given to the Minister: so many of us are spiritual in a mockery, having no reason why we should be so termed, but only because there is no substance in us, no goodness, no holiness at all in us; whereas we should exceed others in it. We should be spiritual in a special manner, we should be like animae separatae, like spirits sequestered from bodily things, taken up with spiritual affairs, holding forth the fruits of the spirit; we should be as Angels in our Parishes, labouring to draw people from all their carnal courses, endeavouring to breed in them a savour and a relish of all the things of the spirit of God: our Sermons should not be only moral, but spiritual; our carriage should be a spiritual walking; where we come, our discourse should be spiritual, we should be like a company of spirits, for so the Apostle calls us, Try the spirits whether they be of God, 1 John 4. 1. that is, try your Ministers whether they be of God, yea or no; whether their doctrine be the doctrine of life, that will make the soul live: whether their conversation be after the spirit, lest ye follow a false guide: whether their Ministry be the Ministry of the spirit. If any man think himself to be a Prophet, or spiritual, 1 Cor. 14. 37. We cannot think ourselves Prophets, except we be spiritual men. When our courses are carnal, we sin against our callings: for we are to be as Angels by our places in this sense, lest our own profession hit us in the teeth at the last.  
Secondly, the Angels are creatures of another world, not of this world, though they walk up and down on God's errands here, yet they are creatures of another world; and therefore they are called the Angels of Heaven, Matth. 24. 36. Heavenly soldiers, Luke 2. 13. True, every child of God is a heavenly creature, but a Minister should be in a more special manner, a creature of another world, crucified unto this, as Paul says, I am crucified to the world, and the world unto me. The preaching of the word is called the Kingdom of heaven, so we that are the Preachers of it, should be of heaven too, not only in regard of the news we bring, but we ourselves that bring it, should be heavenly ones. When our Saviour Christ had told Nicodemus, that he must be begotten from above, O, says he, art thou a Teacher in Israel, and knowest not these things? How beautiful upon the mountains! The Ministers of the Gospel should be men aloft, the world should be a valley to them beneath, they should not be Secular men. What care Angels for fine houses, or great livings? They had rather be in the prison with Peter, then with Herod at the Court. Do Angels care for outward things? No, no more should Ministers. Paul was all for Jesus Christ, I determined not to know any thing among you, but Jesus Christ and him crucified, 1 Cor. 2. 2. He cared not though the great Philosophers of Corinth took him for a Dunce in all human learning; Jesus Christ and him crucified, Paul included all his learning in that.  
Thirdly, the Angels stand before God, as Daniel says, Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him, Dan. 7. 10. So the Ministers of God are to stand before God, as God saith to Jeremy, Thou shalt stand before me, Jer. 15. 19 The Ministers of God are to stand before God, to know what his pleasure is unto the people, what message he hath for them. Again, the Angels are Ministering spirits, sent forth for the good of them that are heirs of salvation, Heb. 1. 14. So Ministers, they are to minister unto them that are the heirs of salvation, to watch over their souls, to be useful unto them in all their ways. Again, the Angels pitch their tents round about them that are good, as the Prophet speaks; so the Ministers, they are the Church's Angels. Whether Paul, or Apollo's, or Cephas, all are yours, they are not their own: But as they are Christ's, so next under him, they are theirs that are Christ's, they are Ministers by whom they believe, helpers of their faith; they are Gods servants to bring Jacob again to him. Angels are Gods messengers, they never come but when they are sent from God: so it is said of Ministers, There was a man sent from God, whose name was John, John 1. 6.  
The use of this is, First, Here we see that the Ministry 
Use 1.  is no base Office; the world makes a matter of nothing of God's faithful Ministers; vile men will Sirrah them at their pleasure, and take them up as if they were their dishclouts. But beloved, here we see they are as it were Angels of God. Christ himself the Apostle makes bold to call him a Minister, Rom. 15. 8. Now I say (says he) that Jesus Christ was a Minister: the Apostle knew it was no disparagement unto him. Solomon when he would choose him his Title, and might have called himself, The King of Israel and Judah, yet he rather takes this as honourable enough, The Preacher; Thus saith the Preacher, Eccles. 1. 1. The office of a Minister is an Angel's office. When Zachary perceived that his child should be a Minister, though yet he were a little babe lying in the cradle, he admires him: And thou child shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation for the remission of sins, to give light unto them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide their feet in the way of peace, Luke 1. 76, 77. The Angels of heaven never go on greater errands than these. When they came to the Shepherds, what did they do? they did but tell them of the birth of Christ, of peace on earth, and good will towards men. Now this is the Ministers duty, let the world think what they will of us, as though our calling were mean, and they care not much whether they hear us or no, they will not regard what we preach. O beloved, consider what an office we have, we are Gods Angels unto you, to declare unto man his righteousness, Job. 33. 23. to pray men in Christ's stead to be reconciled unto God, 2 Cor. 5. 20. to gather together the saints, Ephes. 4. 12. These are no small things, no mean employments to treat between God and Man about eternal life, to be Christ's Paranymphs, and the friends of the Bridegroom, to deal about the getting of a wife for the Lamb, to cater for heaven, to bring in custom for the Kingdom of God. The whole world hath not a greater office in it; ye cannot despise neither our persons nor our message and be saved, as Paul says, Let a man so esteem of us, as of the Ministers of Christ, and the stewards of the mysteries of God, 1 Cor. 4. 1. q. d. O take heed how ye slight us, or our Ministry, ye cannot have the mysteries of grace without us, ye cannot have saving knowledge, nor regeneration, nor faith without us. I do not speak what God may do extraordinarily; but this is God's ordinary way: How can they believe on him of whom they have not heard? and how can they hear without a Preacher? Rom. 10. 4. and therefore our office is no mean office, we are as the Angels of God unto you, and people should honour our Ministry when a Minister comes into the Pulpit, even as if an Angel did appear. It is said when Samuel came to Bethlehem, the Elders of the town trembled at his coming, 1 Sam. 16. 4.  
Secondly, are Ministers Angels? then they must be holy; 
Use 2.  ye know the Angels are holy: When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy Angels with him, Matth. 25. 31. They are holy all of them: so should the Ministers be holy; otherwise they may be Angels indeed, but they are evil angels, angels of darkness; they are Devils if they be not holy. Every ignorant, graceless, and unconscionable Minister is ready to press the dignity of his calling, and what an honourable office he hath; but he never considers what a Minister than he must be. If we be Angels, brethren, why then as we like this honourable Title, we must have a care to be holy, or else, I say, we are Devils. Those Angels that are not holy, are Devils. Nay, our very calling supposes us to be holy, Let thy Urim and thy Thummim be with thy holy one, Deut. 33. 8. so that our very calling will testify against us, if we be not holy: We of all men should labour to be holy; What, a Minister, and yet a drunkard? a Minister, and yet a whoremonger? a Minister, and yet without the fear of God? a Minister, and yet have a dead heart? O consider what God says, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant within thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and hast cast my words behind thee? Psal. 50. 16, 17. With what face can we here stand in a Pulpit, and preach against sin, and teach our hearers to make conscience of all their ways, and denounce the judgements of God against them that do evil, if we that condemn another do the same things or as bad? How inexcusable are we, if we can preach the straightness of heaven's gate, and the narrowness of the way, and the strictness of the account the people shall be forced to give at the last day, and lay heavy burdens on other men's shoulders, and we ourselves not touch them with one of our fingers? Teach precisely, and live loosely, teach graciously, and walk broadly? This is gross hypocrisy; act zeal and goodness in the Pulpit, and be heartless and lukewarm in our private duties unto God.  
Again, we can never look to do good, if we be not holy; as Jet will not draw if it be not clean: For how can we hope our people will follow our exhortations, if they see we do not follow them ourselves? When S. Luke had showed how Barnabas exhorted the Christians to cleave close unto God, Acts 11. 23. presently he gives a reason why he might well exhort them to do so, For he was a good man, full of the holy Ghost and of Faith, v. 24. When our hearers are met with for any of their sins, when we rub their consciences with our Sermons, presently their eye is at us, and if they see us to be vain and worldly, this heals them again; though the word wounded them, yet this is an ease to them, O think they, he is as bad himself, and we see no such holiness in him, and we are as fair for heaven as he, he loves his penny as well as we, he is as ready to quarrel as we, he is as proud, and ambitious, and fearful, and idle, as we; he loves to sleep in a whole skin, what will not he do rather than lose his living? he'll break the Sabbath, and teach others to do so. Now, my brethren, how should we abhor this! O it should prick and spur us up to study holiness of life, that so our Ministry may be powerful.  
Thirdly, are Ministers Angels? Then they should be 
Use 3.  apt to teach, ready to preach, and to labour in Word and Doctrine. It is said of the Angels, that they have wings, One of the Seraphims came flying unto me, Isa. 6. 6. They are ready pressed to do any thing that the Lord gives them in charge; so should we be, or else how should we bear the name of Angels? We must labour, that we may be fruitful in our labour among our people. You know the Angels are called Reapers, and so are Gods Ministers▪ I sent you to reap, John 4. 38. When a man reaps he gathers; nay, Christ chooseth good Ministers for this end, that they should bring forth fruit in their places, I have ordained you that ye should go and bring forth much fruit, John 15. 16. Nay, our Saviour Christ supposes that all his true Ministers are fruitful upon some. Every sour though he 
Matth. 13. 3. 8.  have some highway ground to sow in, and some thorny ground, and some stony ground, yet he hath some good ground or other.  
For first, a good Minister it is the desire of his soul to see 
1.  the fruits of his labours; As a Hen, many a Hen will hardly ever off from her eggs, till she see a young chickens bill peep; nay, she will sit still till she die before she will off. What made Paul so desirous to come to the Romans? Was it only to see them, and to be among them, or to take his tithes or his maintenance? No, it was that he might have some fruit, Rom. 1. 13. And certainly, this is the study of every true Minister, that he may see his preaching fruitful in the conversion and salvation of some, that some are awakened by his means, that some are quickened, some are made to leave their sins, and to become new creatures unto God.  
Secondly, does not every man count it a misery to be 
2.  unprofitable? The Lord names it as a brand upon wicked men, that they are unprofitable, Rom. 3. 12. What a woeful brand is this, when we can live two, three, seven, ten, twenty years in a place, and our services are unprofitable, no man delivered out of ignorance, no man purged from his filthiness by our means; when our Ministry is a dead letter, we preach without life, and no man is translated from death unto life by it? I say, this is to be unprofitable, like salt that hath lost his savour. I confess the best Ministers may have little take, as the best tradesman may have little vent for his wares when his trading grows dead.  
Nay thirdly, this is the end of our gifts, that we may 
3.  profit with them; as the Apostle says, The manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal, 1 Cor. 12. 7. Hath he given us knowledge? He hath given it us that we should profit others with it. Hath he given us skill in the opening and applying of the Scriptures? He hath given it unto us, that we may do good with the same. And therefore, O how earnest should we be that our Ministry may profit, that our pains may be profitable and successful, that we may say with the Prophet Esay, Lord, behold I and the Children whom thou hast given me.  
Fourthly, this is the best argument that God hath of a 
4.  certain called us to be Ministers in his Church. If we have called ourselves, and run without sending, than no marvel if we be fruitless, and do little or no good. But if we find that God blesseth our labours, this is the best seal of our ministry: as if the arrow hit, it's a good sign it was sent out of the bow; it may fall out of the bow of it own accord, but than it never hits: but when it is sent out of the bow, ye know he that sends it, will aim; and therefore now when it hits, that's a sign it was sent indeed: so when a Minister converts people's souls, this is a good sign that God sent him; when a Minister can say to his people, as Paul to the Corinthians, The seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord, 1 Cor. 9 2. though I be not an Apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am unto you: For the seal of my Apostleship are ye in the Lord. So the seal of us Ministers are ye in the Lord: though I have not converted others, yet doubtless I have converted you unto God, as he says, Truly, the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you, 2 Cor. 12. 12, etc.  
Fifthly, this is that which will give us comfort, when 
5.  we lie upon our deathbeds, when we can say, we have been faithful in our callings, and can show a token of it too, by blessing of our faithfulness in the gaining of fowls, as Paul saith to the Thessalonians, What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy, 1 Thess. 2. 19, 20. This is a pledge of our glory. The promise is clear, They that turn others unto righteousness, shall shine as the stars, Dan. 12. 3. I do not deny, but a wicked Minister that hath parts, and is gifted of God with an Art of speaking to the conscience, may convert; and therefore it is not a naked argument. But when a man hath had▪ this success by his faithfulness, and hath set himself to do it in God's way indeed; what an unspeakable comfort is this! He is not the wisest Minister that can plot most for prefermet, or can preach best for applause, or the like: No, no; but he that can most compose himself to do good, He that winneth souls is wise, Prov. 11. 30. that is, as he had need to be a wise man, and to go wisely to work, that would do it: so he is a wise man, he is wise to himself, he lays up to himself a good foundation of comfort against the world to come.  
Sixthly, and lastly, if we can endure to be unprofitable, 
6.  not to stir up ourselves, not to point and sharpen our Ministry that it may pierce into men's consciences, nor never study how to do good, what a heavy woe will lie upon us? You read what was done to the unprofitable servant, he was bound hand and foot, and cast out into utter darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth, Matth. 25. 30. O then how careful should we be to do good, and to be effectual Preachers, that we may say, these and these I have been an instrument of good to; by the mercy of God these and these I have begotten through the Gospel, then are we Angels indeed, that are sent out for the good of Gods elect. I confess it is good to civilize our people, to abate their wickedness, to make them Professors, and I would to God we could see more of these effects rather than none. But to gather in Gods elect, this is an Angel's work, the conversion of one soul is better than the civilising of a thousand. And therefore let us be diligent and industrious, and preach in season and out of season, let us con the skill of preaching, not to tickle men's itching ears, not so much to make our people say, our Minister is a fine Scholar, a good Churchman, as to rouse up the consciences of our hearers, to pull down their hearts before God, to feed their souls with divine meat, with the good knowledge of the Lord, to show them the several wiles of Satan, as Paul says, Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober and grave, etc. Tit. 2. 1. that is, so preach, as to good, to old men, to old women, to young men, to young women, to Masters, to servants, to all, as it follows there; we must look unto our life, that we defile not our Angel's place, that we do not undo what we preach. Alas! if we do not sincerely practise all that we do deliver, if our lives do not answer our teaching, we are like unto kine that give very good milk, but then put their feet into the pail, or throw down the pail when they have done. This is to make our preaching of no effect: and therefore as the Apostle says to Timothy, Take heed unto thyself, and to thy doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee, 2 Tim. 4. 16. They are the best Ministers, that carry people unto heaven; when men think to send people to heaven, and not go themselves, suppose this should do the deed, yet what will it profit us, if our people go to heaven, and we stay behind, and never come there? Nay, we cannot look they will go, except they see us go before them; and therefore let us do nothing that may hinder the fruitfulness of our Sermons. Thus shall we be Angels indeed.  
Fourthly, another use is, If Ministers be Angels, then 
Use 4.  let us know that we are mainly for Gods elect, as the Psalmist says of every elect person, God shall give his Angels charge over thee▪ to keep thee in▪ all thy ways, Psal. 91. 11. Mark, the Angels have the charge of the elect, they are their main charge; may be they are to do many things towards others, but these are their principal charge; so it must be with God's Ministers, their chief charge is towards Gods elect, as the Apostle says, I endure all things for the elects sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, which is eternal glory, 2 Tim. 2. 10. We that are Gods Ministers, have all our gifts and graces for their sakes; He gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, & some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers. For what? For the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, Ephes. 4. 11, 12. And therefore if we have any that fear God in our Parishes, we should bend our main Ministry unto them, and for the adding of more to them; we should not be like those wretched Ministers that count such persons the worst of their flock, and they do most hate them, and oppose them, and jeer them: No, no, we should most dearly love them, and tender them, and bend ourselves unto them; nay, we should not altogether in these bad times, stand declaiming against drunkards, murderers, and so leave the Lords Saints without their portion. The truth is, ye that live in your ungodly courses, ye that walk after your wicked lusts, and will not be gotten to forsake your cursed doings, we could be content to lay hell here before you in every Sermon, and spend our shot on you, all the hours that we have of preaching in the week, are little enough to tell you what a damned condition ye are in. But if ye will not enter in into the straight gate, we must not neglect them that will; if ye will be filthy, be filthy still, and if ye will to hell, and we cannot persuade you to live out of your sins. Though there be but two or three that are well-minded in our Parishes, we are to bend ourselves chiefly unto them. Indeed as long as we have any hope of adding more to their company, we must preach points for them too. May be some of Gods elect are among you, and if there be, the Word will find them out. I say, this is our main charge, to be groping for Gods elect, and when any of them appear, to tender them most, so shall we show ourselves Angels indeed for the good of Gods chosen. More uses I might make, and very many too.  
But I will content myself with one more, and that shall 
Use 5.  be to you that are hearers. If God's Ministers be Angels, then how should you come to the hearing of the word of God? Even as if an Angel should drop down from heaven unto you. How should you receive the Ministers of God that desire to be faithful? Even as the Galatians received Paul, even as an Angel of God, Gal. 4. 14. yea even as Christ himself; ye must not look up into the Pulpit, as seeing nothing but a poor mortal man there, but as though an Angel of God were standing there. How grave should our meetings here be? how reverently should ye sit in your pews? how sacredly should we stand in our desks? how graciously should we deliver God's errands, and you hear them with fear and trembling? When a good Minister appears in the Congregation, it is as if an Angel of heaven appeared unto you to speak unto you. O what a homely manner do we come to Churches? the Majesty of the Word is not seen; nay, we may speak it with shame, neither by us the speakers, nor by you the hearers; we do not come to the Word as if an Angel from heaven had spoken it. But generally most people see little more than a poor mortal creature in the Pulpit, and so they deal with the Word accordingly, etc.  
Thus ye have heard the first Doctrine; To the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write. I should now speak of the singular number, he does not say, To the Angels, though there were many Ministers in Sardis, yet he speaks to them all as if they were all one. From whence we are taught The unity that is between true and right Ministers, they are all as one man. And then whereas he inscribes the Epistle, To the Angel of the Church, though he write to all the Church, and blames and condemns all the Church, yet he names none but the Angel; here we are taught, That a Minister shares in the good and in the evil of his Parish: if they be good, it is to his praise; if they be evil, commonly he is guilty of it.   
REVEL. 3. 1. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write, These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, etc. 
I Have made an entrance into the words: ye have heard the Analysis of the whole Epistle, and a short exposition, or a paraphrase upon all the verses. Unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write. This is the inscription or superscription of the letter that Christ would have written to the Ministers and Christians in the town of Sardis: Where first ye heard this point of Doctrine, That Ministers are as the Angels of God unto their Parishes. When God sends his Ministers unto a people, it is as if he sent his Angels from heaven unto them. But I will not trouble you with any repetitions.  
The next point I foretold you of, that ariseth out of these words, is this, That all the true Ministers of the Church are all one as it were, there is or aught to be an unity between them all, even as if they were all one Angel, Unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write, and yet the Town was a great Town, and there were many Ministers in it; so we may see it was in Ephesus, the text says, that Paul called all the Elders of the Church of Ephesus together, and said unto them, Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers, Acts 20. 28. he speaks to the Ministers there as to many, and yet S. John is to write to them all as to one Minister, Unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, write, Rev. 2. 1. noting thus much unto us, That Ministers should be all as one Minister; there should be a sweet harmony and a glorious agreement, and consent and unity between them all, even as if they were all one Minister; so that the doctrine is plain. So again, John prophesying of John hus, and Jerome of Prague, and other godly Ministers in succeeding ages, that should mightily strive against the primacy and domineering of the man of sin, says, There followed another Angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, Babylon is fallen, Rev. 14. 8. he calls them all one Minister, intimating unto us how that they all agree in one.  
I do not mean, first, that if one Minister be a drunkard, 
1.  that all others should be so too; if one be a man-pleaser and a dauber, that all others should be so too; that if one be an ignorant Sir John, all others should be so too; every unity is not good, there is unity as our Saviour Christ shows, even among the very Devils in Hell. For if Satan be divided against Satan, how can his Kingdom stand? Mat. 12. 26. There is a unity among rogues and thiefs, Come, say they, cast in thy lot among us, and letus have one purse, Pro▪ 1. 14. There was unity among Ahabs four hundred false Prophets, they all hung together in a string, Go up and prosper. All the Prophets prophesied so, 1 Kings 22▪ 12. as the messenger said to Micaiah, All the Pophets prophesy good to the King with one mouth, let thy word be like theirs; be not thou singular, be not thou an odd fellow by thyself, they all agreed in one. There was unity among the Priests that were met together in a Synod for the condemning of Christ, they all were in one note, That he was worthy to die. The Prophet observes that there was unity amongst all the blind watchmen of Judah: They are all ignorant, says he, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber, they all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter, Isai. 56. 10, 11. This is an unity the world is full of, nay and hell is full of, like the unity of Sodom against Lot, the men of Sodom compassed his house round, both old and young from every quarter, Gen. 19 4. This is a Devilish unity, this is no true unity. True unity is in Bono, no matter how many are of one mind, and of one heart, and of one accord, if it be not an union in good, it is faction and no union, as Tertullian told the Marcionites when they bragged of their Churches, forsooth they were the Church, saith he, Wasps have their swarms: so when wicked Ministers shall cry, The Church, the Church, I say, these are swarms of Wasps, I do not mean such a unity; when it is not in good, the greater the unity is, the less union is indeed.  
Secondly, I do not mean neither, that Ministers should 
2.  thus hang together in one, that if one be a Boanerges, a son of thunder, another should be so too. For Ministers may be different in different auditories. Husbandmen sow their seed according to the diversity of their ground; the Physician tempers his Physic according to his patient's constitution: as long as people are of sundry dispositions, so certainly the Minister's manner of preaching may be various. And therefore I do not mean such an unity neither, that all Preachers should be moulded alike; nay, the same minister may and must differ from himself, sometimes come with cordials, sometimes with corrasives, to sing of mercy and judgement, to preach comfort to whom comfort, and vengeance to whom vengeance belongs, to some he must give milk, to others strong meat, Heb. 13. 14. Paul had a rod as well as the spirit of meekness. Zacharies Pastor was to have two staves, the one called Beauty, & the other called Bands, & so he was to feed the flock, Zach. 11. 7. A Chirurgeon hath aching tents as well as suppling oil. The Apostle Paul when he was to deal with Elymas the Sorcerer, he set his eyes on him, and called him the child of the Devil; but when he was to deal with Sergius Paulus, he was mild with him. Our Saviour Christ preached the acceptable year of the Lord to some; and to other some as though he were not the same Preacher, he had nothing but woes in his mouth. There were two mountains in Canaan, there was the blessing on mount Gerizim for some, and the cursing on mount Ebal for others.  
Again thirdly, we do not mean that all ministers 
3.  should be the same in gifts and parts, and measure of knowledge and sanctification; for that can never be looked for, every Parish can never be provided for alike. Stars are of different magnitudes, some stars are greater, some lesser: The Angels are not all of one rank, some are ordinary Angels, some Archangels, some are Principalities, some are Dominions, some are Thrones, Coloss. 1. 16. and may be, those that are meanest, so they be godly, and sent of God, may do as much good as those that are more excellent; nay more, convert more, awaken more, settle more: for it is not they that work, but God by them, who is not tied unto Organs, unity is not hindered by disparity. Paul calls Epaphraditus who was much inferior to him, his brother, and companion in labour, and fellow▪ soldier, Phil. 2. 25. Though Clement were a minister much meaner than he, yet he calls him his fellow-labourer, Phil. 4. 3. Though Tychicus came never so much short of him, yet he terms him his fellow-servant, Col. 4. 7. So that there may be unity for all this, and a gracious sympathy and agreement between ministers, though of never so different parts, so they be sincere and cordially minded to do good.  
You will say then, What is that unity that must be among ministers?  
I answer 1. They must be all competently endued 
1.  with ability for the work of the ministry, all must agree in this, that they be able men in some measure. He hath made us able Ministers of the new testament, 2 Cor. 3. 6. able to preach to the conscience, able to do it with power and might, able to divide the word aright, able to give every one his portion in due season. They are none of God's ministers that are not able men, that are not able to teach and to apply, to be the mouth of God unto the people, and the mouth of the people unto God, that are not able to seek that which was lost, to bring again that which is driven away, to bind that which is broken, to strengthen that which is sick. Those that are not able to do this, they are blind guides, Idol-shepheards, and no ministers. Paul says, that a minister must be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers, Tit. 1. 9 Faithful men, able to teach others, 2 Tim. 2. 2. This was one of the ends that Christ ascended upon high, that he might give gifts unto men for the ministry, as one Apostle speaks, Eph. 4. 8. and so as it follows, He gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers. All Ministers should agree in this, that they be able.  
Secondly, they must be all sent of God, though a man 
2.  be never so able, yet if he be not sent of God, he is not a Minister. Private Christians many of them have excellent abilities, as the text says, I am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another, Rom. 15. 14. he speaks of private Christians: I say, they are able many of them, and there is very great use of their abilities too, for the good of their families, for the good of Christian communion, and the like; yea, it is a shame that private Christians living under good means of grace, do not grow able to teach. When for time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God, Heb. 5. 12. Mark, he shames private Christians that do not grow able to teach. But yet this is not enough to make ministers; true ministers agree all in this, that they are sent of God. How shall they preach except they be sent? Rom. 10. 15. I have not thrust in myself for a Pastor, says Jeremy. They are intruders and not ministers that cannot prove their commission from God, as the author to the Hebrews says, No man takes this honour to himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron, Heb. 5. 4. Christ himself alleged this to bear out his ministry, He hath sent me to preach deliverance to Captives. Woe be to those of whom the Lord shall say, I have not sent these Prophets, and yet they run. It will be said to them one day, as to the man without a wedding garment, Friend, how camest thou in hither? The want of this is the reason that so many ministers make no more conscience of their duty, they make no conscience of taking pains, of strict preaching, of pressing the word upon people's hearts, of using all manner of means to root out sin in their Parish, because they have no dispensation from God committed unto them: if their consciences were charged with this, it would make them do otherwise then they do. The want of this is the cause that the ministry of many is impotent, they may preach all the days of their lives, and not one soul turned unto God, but themselves and their works perish together; whereas Ministers that are sent, make the Devils roar, and flesh and blood chafe, their Sermons are links of iron to bind Nobles and Princes, and stubborn hearts. The want of this is the reason why so many ministers are vile in the people's eyes, people care not a whit for them, dare drink and be drunk in their company, dare talk of their roguery before them; as Amnon before Jonadab, Jonadab asked him what he ailed he was so sad: O, says he, I would fain lie with my sister Tamar, 2 Sam. 13. 4. He knew before whom he was; if Jonadab had been a godly man, he durst as well have eaten his own tongue, as have told him his base lust. A godly man the very presence of him would have made him ashamed, and to have bitten in his lips. When a minister is unsent of God, no body does respect him out of conscience, they care not for his words: whereas when a minister is sent, this makes him as an Angel of God when others call him all to naught, the conscience of many will plead for him, as we see there of Jeremy, O this man is not worthy to die, for he hath spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord, Jer. 26. 16. There's never a sent minister, but if he come in trouble, except people's consciences be seared with a hot Iron, they will speak for him in their bosoms: Alas! why is he put down? Why is he imprisoned? Why is he opposed? He hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord. So that this is the second wherein all ministers should agree, they should be all sent of God, not contenting themselves with the calling of man, without being also called of God.  
Thirdly, they must all agree in the matter that they 
3.  preach; the same word is delivered unto all ministers to preach. Preach the word, 2 Tim. 4. The same Gospel, the same Truths, the same Duties, the same Commandments, the same Promises, the same threatenings: Ye know there is one God, and one Faith, and one Baptism, one Lord Jesus Christ; there is but one way of life, one gate to heaven, one salvation, one Bible: Now every minister must agree in this: You know all men are by Nature the children of wrath, in a damned estate; now all Pulpits should agree in this, every minister labouring to bring their people to a sight of their misery by sin; every minister should show his people what cursed creatures they are, until they be converted and renewed; every Minister should press the evil of sin, and open the wiles of Satan, the guilt of the conscience, the spiritualness of the Law, the necessity of humiliation, and repentance, and amendment of life, that there is no mercy but in Christ, no salvation but by Christ; except people take him to live in their hearts by faith. All ministers should let their people know the terror of the Lord, the strictness of God's judgements, the inseparable connexion of mercy and a godly life, that no profane person can enter into God's Kingdom; no hypocrite, no mere civil man; that a form of godliness will not serve turn, that none but Saints shall stand at Christ's right hand at the last day. All ministers should preach what a narrow path there is to Paradise, & how few there be that find it, that saving grace cannot stand with the reign of the least lust, that people must be pure and holy, what ever the world think of pureness, and preciseness, and strictness, yet without this no flesh shall be saved. If all pulpits sounded with these truths, and all ministers cried those aloud, & would lift up their voices like a trumpet, and not spare, what a land should we have? The want of unity in this matter, is the cause that wickedness does so much abound: a drunkard, a whoremaster, a muckworm may come to a Sermon, and go away with hope that he shall have peace. When ministers make the pulpit a scaffold, in which like Masters of Defence they play their prizes, blazon their own wits, descant upon their text, as though the Scripture were a Rattle for children and fools to sport with, tossing it to and fro, hither and thither, as boys at a Tennis: when they go about to amaze their hearers, to mount aloft, to be in their high phrases, and coined words, more like Mimics and Comedians than Ministers; when they search into moth-eaten Friars, affect allegories, would fain be thought Linguists, and interlace a many of allegations of Latin and Greek sentences, which a Schoolboy might do with a Polyanthea: or if they speak plain, they skim the truth of the Scriptures, and never dive deep to the edifying of the soul. May be they will preach good moral matter. But a man may go to hell, though he do as they teach; people may hear them a thousand times, and no man made to cry out, What have I done? They preach of repentance, but then they open it so slightly, that a man may repent as they say, and be damned: they preach of faith in Christ, but they make it so broad, that thousands have it and sink into the bottomless pit with it: they preach that sin must be forsaken, and a good life must be led, but they handle it in that wise, that their hearers may do as they say, and yet have no more grace than a reprobate, nor so much neither. Now beloved, the unity among brethren should be this, to agree in the right matter of preaching, that the word may be carved to all, as their need is, that they may see their own cases, that they may understand the wiles of the Devil, the fallacies of their own evil hearts, the counterfeits of faith and repentance, and new obedience, and that they may not be cozened with them. This is the third thing.  
Fourthly, they should all agree in the true manner of 
4.  preaching. That which our Saviour says of hearing, Take heed how ye hear, Luke 8. 18. he means of preaching too, let your Ministers take heed how they preach. Beloved, we that are the Ministers of God, we are to labour to turn Lions into Lambs, and to transform the heart of man, to breed new creatures unto God: and therefore it is not every kind of preaching will serve the turn.  
1. Then Ministers should agree in preaching with the 
1.  demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, as Paul says, not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made of no effect, 1 Cor. 1. 17. q. d. If we should preach wit, and learning, & eloquence, than the death of Christ would be of no effect, that is, no man would be converted, Christ would be offered to none; therefore we must preach nakedly, to flash the naked word into men's consciences, that they may see, Thus saith the Lord against their sinful courses, thus saith the Lord of their estates, this reproof is from the Lord, this threat is from the Lord, thus saith the Lord, you are a wretch, this is thy sin, and this is thy cursed condition, and it is the Lord and not I that does affirm it. It is said of Christ that he preached with authority, and not as the Scribes, Matth. 7. 29. What is it to come with authority? When a man speaks from God to the consciences of men; as when a Constable comes in the name of a King, I charge you in the King's name; this is to come with authority. Therefore we should not come with the affectation of wit, or of reading, of fine and filled speaking. You will say, What, would you have us be foolish in our preaching? I answer, Never object so, for it is the foolishness of preaching, that saves them which believe, 1 Cor. 1. 21. as one says, we must preach Christ crucified in a crucified phrase. The world would have gewgaws, and garish garnishings: and why so? because the naked Word is contrary to flesh and blood; like some eyes, they must have their silks & their cypresses to look upon the Sun by, forsooth the Sun beams are too glorious and shining otherwise. Pedestris oratio, as Jerome speaks, a Minister must have a foot-speech, and not speak a horseback, with trappings, and tassels, and deckings. Though this be foolishness unto some, yet it is wisdom to them that are of God. We speak wisdom to them that are perfect, 1 Cor. 2. 6. Mark, they that are perfect will accept it to be wisdom it is foolishness only to children and sots, and such as are not able to discern. God will have his mercies hidden under homely outsides, that men that will stumble at them, may; as men hide treasure under straw; as the woman of Baharim hid the two Worthies of Israel in a well under a course sack. Can gallant preaching make people pluck out their right eyes, and deny their own selves and ways? No, no, when the heart sees it hath to do with God, nothing but this will pull it down: away then with our own affections, let us labour to come with God into our pulpits, that people may see God dealing with them.  
2. Ministers should agree to preach differencingly, to 
2.  distinguish between the precious and the vile, the clean and the unclean; as we must not bruise the broken Reed, but deal gently with it: so we must not give children's bread unto dogs, Matth. 15. 29. we must not cast our seed into fallow ground: but we must let the fallow ground feel our ploughs tearing: we must not fling pearls before swine, nor bitter arrows against Christ his Lambs. This were as if we should call for snow in Summer, and rain in harvest. No, no, a whip for the Horse, and a bridle for the Ass, and a rod for the Fools back, Prov. 26. 3. If people be like Mules, that will not understand, we must put in a Bit into their mouths: If people will have their own ways, our word must be fires, and hammers, and axes, and chesils, and swords, and spears, that their bellies may tremble, and rottenness may enter into their bones.  
You will say, Why then belike we must have nothing in our mouths but hell and damnation.  
I answer, No, nothing but hell and damnation for the naught.  
You will say, that will drive them to despair.  
Why then let it: it were well if we had our people there, they must despair before they come to mercy, as Hezekiah says, O Lord, I am oppressed, do thou comfort me, or undertake for me, Isai. 38. 14. People must be oppressed with our Sermons, we must lay load and burdens on their consciences, or they will never be fitted for comforts and Christ's undertake. True, the servants of the Lord must be gentle unto all men, 2 Tim. 2. 24. and suffer the wickedness of all very patiently, praying if at any time the Lord will give them repentance, that the Devil may let them go. Nothing but hell and damnation is not good; we must not be like James and John, that would needs be calling for fire to come down from heaven to consume the Samaritans: no, we must be long-suffering, but yet we must not let a wicked man live, but we must give him his death's wound by the stab of the Word, lest his blood be required at our hands.  
3. Ministers should agree in preaching with all their 
3.  strength constantly, and duly, not quadragesimal Sermons only, or the like: but the Apostle commands Ministers to preach in season, and out of season, 2 Tim. 4. 2. It is a wicked cavil of some, and it is the Devil that doth suggest it, It is not good to cloy the people, is it not fair to preach once a Sabbath? must we have two, and a week day, too? This is overmuch, this is unseasonable, that people should trudge and troth to Sermons when they should be at their callings. Well, be it so, that it is out of season, we must preach out of season too, all will be little enough. I am sure the Prophet Haggai the word of the Lord came to him twice in one day, Hag. 2. 10, 20. Austin used constantly to preach twice a day, as appears in his 2d Sermon upon the 88 Psalms, nay in one place he says he preached thrice. Do not wonder my dear brethren, si hodie ter sermonem, that I have preached three times this one day. And he adds this besides, that it was not without cause, in his 33. Sermon to his brethren in the Wilderness. Nay, the ancient Fathers preached every day in the year, as it is well known to them that are used to read them. chrysostom in his Homilies upon Genesis, shows this almost in the beginning of every Homily. And one time perceiving his hearers somewhat few: O (says he) every hour in the day is seasonable for you to hear, nay the night is not unseasonable. Paul prolonged himself unto midnight, says he, Acts 20. I pray did the time hinder him? No though he were for a journey the next day, yet he would not think much to break his night's rest. Another time preaching by candlelight, O, says he, do you see this same lamp? take away the oil, you put out the light; even so it is with the gifts of the Spirit, the dulness of our hearing, the littleness of our profiting at once, our readiness to decline except we be pricked forward, our aptness to forget God, the commandment of having the word to dwell richly in us, the duty of meditating in it day and night, do plainly enforce this preaching.  
You will say, If Preachers should preach often, it would be but prating; we cannot preach often & sound.  
I answer, it is false: for all that I see, the ablest Divines have preached the most often, as Calvin, and Luther, and Wickliff, and others, and Mr. Greenham; nay, Austin preached extempore that Sermon of his upon the 95. Psalms; it seems that he expected his brother Severus to come and preach for him: but his friend failing to come, he preached himself, as Dr Don relates the story: So Basil also preaching two Sermons upon the works of God that he made in the six days, Genes. 1. confesses he had no more premeditation, than that very morning when he began to preach them. Thus many holy men by setting themselves to be instant in God's harvest time, have had such a door of utterance opened unto them to speak the mystery of Christ, that like wise Scribes, they could, as occasion was offered, bring forth out of their Treasuries, new and old. Who are they that cry down often preaching, whatever colour they would seem to have, be such as would cover their own shame by backbiting the diligence of any of their brethren. Like the Fox in the Fable, that because he wanted a tail himself to hide his own filthiness, persuaded the other beasts to cut off theirs too, pleading forsooth, O it is cumbersome, and weighty, and ye were better be without; but the truth was, it was only to hide his own deformity, which were it once in fashion to be without tails, should never be espied. A worthy Divine citys an excellent admonition of Hierom to Calphurnius, upon the like occasion to this, That if he wanted teeth himself, he should not be envious against them which were able to eat. Beloved, I do urge an equality of labour upon all; but this is most certain, that we are bound every one of us, to honour the Lord with all our strength, and to study the edification and salvation of our people's souls with all our might. It is a shame that ever our people should meet together at Church, and we not take compassion upon them, to quicken them with some word of exhortation or other. The Evangelists note of our Saviour, that when he saw a company about him, he had compassion on them and taught them, Mar. 6. 34. Whereupon was his Sermon in the mount, but because he saw a company about him? Whereupon was that Sermon of our Saviour, Matth. 13? It was because there was a company of people before him. Certainly, if we had compassion on our people, we would do so too: If we were not too worldly and dead hearted ourselves, as we are, we would never plead against it. Many talk much of the Fathers, O the Fathers, the Fathers, and they do not love these upstart Divines, but it were well they would learn of the Fathers. Tertullian says, there was never any public meeting in his days, but before the Congregation was dissolved, they were fed with a Sermon. Nay, Babington, a reverend Bishop among us, That a Minister can no more enter into the Congregation without a Sermon, and not be guilty, then Aaron could enter into the Congregation at any time without death, in case he sounded not his Bells when he entered. I might add many other particulars concerning the manner of preaching, wherein all Ministers should agree, but these shall suffice for fear I want time. 1. They should preach in the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power. 2. They should preach differencingly, putting a distinction between the precious and the vile. 3. They should preach constantly and to the utmost of their endeavours. This is the fourth thing wherein all Ministers should agree.  
Fifthly, they should agree in seeking of the Lord for a 
5  blessing on their labours, they should be earnest with God in the behalf of the people. Alas! how else do they expect to convert any men unto God? For when we preach, what do we do? We do but as Gehezi, who brought Elisha's staff to raise the dead child. Poor man! he could not raise it: for though he had Elisha's staff, he had not Elisha's spirit: So, my brethren, we do but bring our Master's staff, and therefore we should entreat him to send down his Spirit; otherwise the dead cannot stand up. We trim up a Sermon, & put we trim it well, nevertheless what is this? but as the rigging of the sails, and what will that do except the wind blow? So we should pray that the wind should blow upon our sails, & then the ship shall go indeed, as our Saviour Christ says, The wind bloweth where it listeth, Joh. 3. 8. The wind is free. When we have preached all that ever we can, yet the wind is free, whether it will blow or no. The Spirit of God is not tied to blow upon our endeavours, that they may have good success. What are Organs without breath? What is Paul's planting, or Apollo's his watering, without Gods giving of the increase? The Apostle tells us it is just nothing, 1 Cor. 3. 7. As a Divine makes the similitude; when one heard what admirable victories Scanderbegs sword had wrought, he would needs see it; and when he saw it, says he, This is but an ordinary sword: alas, what can this do? Scanderbag did him word, I have sent thee my sword, but I have the Arm that did all by it: So, beloved, we have Christ's sword, but we have not Christ's arm, and therefore let us pray him, that he would together with our preaching, reach forth his arm, and that will do our people good; without this, poor Preachers are we all, we may cut at men's sins, but they will never off without him: we may show people the great things of the Gospel, we may invite people to come in, to lay hold on eternal life; but O for Christ's arm! and therefore we should study as much how to pray, as to preach. The want of this is that which mars all. May be we preach well, but we are not earnest with God to give a blessing, we do not bewail the sins of our people, we do not lay to heart the things that provoke Almighty God, we do not get into the case, wherein God may prove all our pains.  
Sixthly, Ministers should all agree in the watching over 
6.  the souls of men. Preaching to, and praying for our people, is not the whole of a Ministers duty; but we should observe our people, & watch over them, as the Apostle says; Obey them that have the rule over you, & submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, Heb. 12. 17. And indeed how can we preach unto the purpose, except we watch them that are committed to our charge? as Solomon says, Be thou diligent to know the estate of thy flocks, and look well to thy Herds, Pro. 27. 23. This was Paul's course to inquire into the estate of people, how it fared with them. This was the news that he asked after, his desire was to know how grace went forward in the Ephesians hearts. I hear of your faith, says he, Eph. 1. 15. It seems he had been ask of it. Thus Epaphras told him of the Colossians estate. Thus he learned by some of the house of Chloe, the state of the Corinthians. Nay, all men will inquire and hearken after the health of their friends; parents, if their children be at the University, they will listen after them how they go on in learning. So should the Angels of every Church, they should listen what courses are in their Town, what sins break out, what corruptions appear, what proficiency the good ones make, who grow, who decline, who stand at a stay, who go aside, and wax worse and worse, that they may shape their preaching accordingly, that their words be fitted in their mouth, that they may apt their rebukes, their exhortations, their uses answerably. For than will their Sermons be like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver. It is no curiosity in Ministers to be inquisitive into their people's courses. It is the Objection of ill-minded ones, say they, What need Ministers busy themselves? they must have their tell-tales, we can do nothing but they must hear of it. O beloved, we can never preach fruitfully if we stop our ears with wax, and will not listen what our hearers do.  
7ly, Ministers should agree in ordering their own conversations aright, it is but a folly else to be a Minister, we do but make repentance dearer, and at a higher price. A Bishop must be blameless, as the Steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, nor to silthy lucre, Tit. 1. 7. It is a double wickedness for a Minister to be wicked, to be a company-keeper, to be a pot-companion, as God said to Aaron, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generation, that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God, Levit. 21. 17. We can never do good, if we blemish ourselves with vice. True it is, the efficacy of the Word and Sacraments do not depend upon the quality of the Minister; the seed sown in good ground may grow, though the sower had a dirty hand. Gold is gold, though it be in the hand of a thief; yet such is our weakness, that they are weak to us. People are apt to respect the Word and Sacraments the less, when they see the Minister is not holy, as we see in Elies' wicked sons; for men abhorred the offerings of the Lord, 1 Sam. 2. 17. Their eyes must be taught as well as their ears. Those things, says Paul, which ye have heard and seen in me, do. Phil. 4. 9 Except with Thomas in another case, they see, they will not believe. Let a Minister be never so godly, he shall do good little enough. The Prophet Esay, though a holy man, yet he complains he laboured in vain. Now if a godly man can do but little good upon the most, much less can a wicked Minister. A true Minister must be able to say as Gideon, Look on me, and do likewise, as I do, so shall ye do, Judg. 7. 17. Ministers must be examples unto the Flock, 1 Pet. 5. 3. First cast the beam out of thine own eye, & then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye. As it is said of Ezra, Ezra had prepared his own heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel, Ezra 7. 10. Our Saviour Christ did & taught, as Luke speaks. This is the course of a Minister indeed, to do his own Sermons. When a Minister does not do what he teaches, this makes him a vile person; nay, this makes him ridiculous. Like Lydians Apothecary, who had medicines in his shop to cure the cough, and told others that he had them, and yet was troubled with it himself. With what a forehead canst thou stand in a Pulpit, and publish the laws of God, and to undertake the charge of souls, that when thine own nakednesse appears, when thy tongue is of a larger size than thy hands, thy ministry is divided against itself, thy courses gives thy doctrine the lie; thou sayest that men must be holy, and thy deeds do declare thy mouths hypocrisy, thou dost more mischief than an hundred others, as ` Peter says of wicked Ministers, Many will follow their pernicious ways, 2 Peter 2. 2. one Minister shall have many followers. A good Minister shall hardly get two or three to follow him. But when a Minister is wicked, he shall have many that will follow him. From the Prophets of Jerusalem, profaneness is gone forth into all the Land, Jerem. 23. 15. If the springs be tainted, that taint runs forth into all the streams. People think themselves safe on an Alebench, when they have gotten the Parson with them; this hardens their hearts a thousand times more. But a true Minister is a godly man. Now when Ministers agree in godliness, this is another branch of this unity.  
Eighthly and lastly, Ministers should agree in concord 
8  and in amity, even as all dear fellow-servants, as Paul says of Epaphras, the Minister of the Colossians, As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow-servant, who is for you a faithful Minister of Christ, Coloss. 1. 7. Being to write to the Colossians, ye see what a tender care he hath of Epaphras, he labours to commend him to his people, that they may regard him the more. It is an horrible sin when one Minister will gird at another that is faithful, and that in the presence of some of his people. This helpeth the Devil to harden people's hearts against him, that he cannot do the good that otherwise he might do; when other Ministers will revile him, and traduce him, and speak filthy words, such as their malice doth prompt them with, Paul did not thus. When he knew Timothy was to go to Philippi, he does most dearly commend him unto them. O, says he, I have no man like minded, who will naturally care for your estate, Philip. 2. 20. So our Saviour Christ, how much did he countenance and back John the Baptists Ministry, to the encouraging of all that heard him? Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John Baptist, Matth. 11. 11. O it is an excellent thing when Ministers do not envy one another, when they love one another, and will live together in blessed Harmony: Thus ye see what this unity should be.  
The Reasons of this point, why Ministers should all agree thus, and be all as one, are:  
First, because this makes Ministers amiable in their 
1.  people's eyes, it commendeth their Ministeries unto the consciences of their hearers, as the Prophet Isaiah says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings, the publishers of peace, etc. Isa. 52. 7. You will say, How is that? How comes his feet to be beautiful? It follows in the eighth verse, Thy watchmen shall lift up their voice, with a voice together shall they sing. Mark, that was it that made his feet beautiful; because all the watchmen were of one note, they sung with one voice together: look as one preached, so preached another, one did not pull down what another built up, one did not preach more pleasing doctrine to the flesh than another; but they all sung in one Tune, they all were of one heart.  
Secondly, as it makes the Ministry more beautiful 
2.  and comely, so it makes it the more powerful, when the Ministers are all of one mind in the Lord, when they all draw one way, all walk by the same Rule, all set themselves to do good, and to promote one another's good. I say, this makes the Ministry the more powerful and profitable. The Apostle speaking of an ignorant man coming into the Church to hear the Minister preach, he shows how powerful the Word may be unto him, 1 Cor. 14. 25. O says he, the secrets of his heart are made manifest, and so falling down on his face, he worships God; that is, the Sermon is made effectual unto him, and turns his wretched heart. But observe now, how this comes to pass, the Text shows in the four and twentieth verse, it is by reason of the unity of the Ministers, He is convinced of all, he is judged of all; that is, all the Ministers were of one note, they all were in one consent, one did not preach loser doctrine than another, one told him he was a very wretch, and another told him he was a very wretch, and a third convinced him he was a very wretch; all had a blow at him: O thought he, I, I, I am a very wretch indeed; this burst his heart. If he could have heard any one of them preach easier doctrine, may be that would have given his conscience some foolish ease, and so the man had gone away never the better, but when he was convinced of all, and judged of all, this strikes him dumb. So, beloved, when a man can go into no Church, but every where he is met with, all the Ministers condemn him, all their lives condemn him, and all their Sermons condemn him to the pit of hell, and he can scramble comfort no where; if the man belong to God, this is the readiest way to beat him down, and subdue his heart. On the contrary side, when a man is wounded at one Ministers Sermon, by and by he drops into another, and there he catches hold of some ease: this makes him go on in his sins, and to blind his eyes against the truth. It is a great stumbling block unto the people this very thing.  
Thirdly, as it makes the Ministry more powerful, 
3.  so it brings more glory unto God. As it is said of John the Baptist, that when our Saviour did commend him, and made the people see, that he was of John's mind, and that he held the same Tenets, and that he would not speak against a tittle that John had delivered, but testified his unity with him; And made it appear what a reverend esteem he had of him: saith he, He is a Prophet, and more than a Prophet. Ye shall see how this brought glory to God. The Text saith, When the people heard this, and the Publicans, they justified God, being baptised with the Baptism of John. Luk. 7. 29.  
The use of this is, first, to condemn such as envy their 
Use 1.  fellow-Ministers, and will not be in the unity of mind, and heart, and life with them. In the most, the Proverb is too true, Figulus figulo invidet. One potter hates another, one Tradesman envies another's custom, so, one Minister, another: if there be a Minister that desires to pour out his soul in the doing of good, in the taking of pains, in the discharging of his Conscience, there are some that will envy such a one, their hearts rise up against him; nay, not only so, but the worst Enemy that Jeremy had, was Pashur, one of his own Coat, Jer. 20. 2. The sorest adversary that Amos had, was Amaziah, a Priest of Bethel, who would never leave heaving at him until he had gotten him away, Amos 7. 12. and why so! because he would not preach such pleasing Doctrine as he. Forsooth, the Land was not able to bear Amos his words, he Preaches as if he would scare people out of their wits. He preaches Schismatically, and as if he loved to be singular. The chief Priests were furious against our Saviour Christ, because his Ministry was more blest than theirs was, nay, they hated him more than Pilate, Pilate a very Pagan, his Conscience told him he found no fault in him, Why what evil hath he done? Their envy against Christ was so palpable, that he did discover it. He knew that for envy they had delivered him unto him. So when all the Country know in their Consciences that such and such teach the ways of God sincerely, set themselves to root out sin, and to save souls, nay, the very Drunkards you shall hear them say, I, I, he is a good man, God's blessing on his heart, he tells us our faults, we may do what we list for all such and such, but he tells us of our faults, and God help us to amend them, and when they are sick, they would rather have such a Ministers prayers, than twenty of other Ministers, that will sooth them up, and be haile-fellow with them: Whereas there be many of our own Coat, that are implacable against a Minister, that labours to be faithful. How contrary is this unto the Rule? The Ministers of God should be all one, and if one be godly, all should be, if one painful, all should be so, if one preach home to the conscience, all should do so, they should all live as Brethren. What says our Saviour Christ? Ye are the Salt of the Earth, but if the Salt hath lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden underfoot of men, Matth. 5. 13. That is, Salt may season others, but if it have lost its savour, nothing can salt it.  
A Minister is of an excellent calling, appointed to season men's hearts, but if he have lost his savour, he can never truly be seasoned again, nothing can do him good. An evil Minister, is a more desperate forlorn man than any else.  
Secondly, Another use is, that all that are the Ministers 
Use 2.  of God would be hence stirred up to be all of one mind, all drawing one way, all bending our forces to one and the same end, the glory of God, and the salvation of our people. It's a fine comely thing to fee any Brethren in unity. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments: as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commended his blessing, even life for evermore, Psal. 133. 1, 2, 3. I say this is a very comely thing, to see any brethren to dwell together in unity, it is like the perfume of Aaron, that made all his garments fragrant-sweet, it is like the dews of Hermon and Zion, that made all the ground fruitful, this is that which hath the Lord's blessing annexed to it, it is an excellent means unto eternal life. As the Apostle saith, If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies: Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, Philip. 2. 1, 2. if it be so necessary for Brethren to be united; how much more for Brethren in the Ministry? of all men, Ministers have most reason to be of one mind, because we are to teach union unto others. Besides, if we desire to do what we are commanded to do, we shall have enemies enough in the world. Our Tribe is a hated Tribe. Of all Offices, the office of a reprover is the most unwelcome. Paul was counted an enemy, because he told the Galatians the truth. Micaiah was hated because he dealt truly with Ahab: people love their lusts, as their members, yea, as themselves: Ergò of all men we are most hated. Every man is believed in his own profession but we; People do not hate Tailors that make them a good garment, nor a Shoemaker that makes them a good Shoe, nor a Cook that makes them a good Feast, nor a Physician that makes them a good potion, nor a good Lawyer that makes them a good suit, though these do but provide for the body, and yet we that provide for people's souls, if we make them a good Sermon that would save their souls for ever, so they would obey it; we are hated for our labour. Ergò, when Moses came to speak of Levi, that were the Ministers of Israel, he prays God, that God would deliver them out of the hands of their enemies, Lord smite through the loins of them that hate him, Deut. 33. 11. I say we have many enemies in the world, and therefore we had need to hang together, who ever be at odds, we should stick close. Our message is hardly believed, and therefore we had need to be all of one mind. The word which we preach is adverse to flesh and blood, and therefore we had need all jointly to obey it, otherwise how do we think that we shall persuade any others?  
Force, the more united the more strong. O if we would all join forces in one, we might make all our Parishes quake! all the wicked round about, their very hearts would be ready to fail them, if every Pulpit did rouse them. If they could come in no Church, but they were made to sit upon thorns, I verily believe, few would have any heart to go on in their evil doings.  
Thirdly, another Use is, how we see it is a very useful 
Use 3.  and a profitable thing, that one good Minister should now and then come and help another, and preach for another, that our people may see our consent, that we all preach the same thing, and that is not our private preaching, but all the Ministers that are of God, are just of the same mind: This made the Apostle, whensoever he was to write to a people, that he knew would be somewhat backward to believe them, he would join other Ministers with him, as consenting together with him. Indeed when he wrote unto Timothy, he would not do it, for he knew that he did not need, he knew the faithfulness of his heart. But when he writ to the Corinthians, where false Apostles had been, and had made many of them to doubt, he joined Sosthenes with him, as it were confirming the same thing, 1 Cor. 1. 1. when he wrote to the Galatians, he told them he had Peter on his side, and Barnabas and Titus, and James and John, and how the Apostles gave unto him the right hand of Fellowship, Gal. 2. 1. 9 He writing to the Philippians, he joins Timothy with him. Phil. 1. 1. And so writing to Philemon, about a thing, that though he hoped Philemon would do, yet because he knew he might have many carnal reasons against it, he joins another with him, Philem. 1. This is of very good use, when one good Minister comes and backs another's Ministry. For as it is with men-pleasing Ministers, that make as if the way to heaven were easier than it is, people hope that other Ministers will come, and confirming it, make it good. Ezek. 3. 6. O they love such a Doctrine alive, and they hope there will be more of that mind: So when they hear a strict Minister, that delivers the Word to them as it is, and as they shall find it at last day, tush, this is so uncooth, that they hope that it is but the opinion of their precise Minister, and that no body else is of his mind. Now when God shall bring a cloud of witnesses, it is I say, of very good use. I confess that when a Minister speaketh the truth, though no body else come to set it on besides him, he shall be a witness against all the people that will not believe, and vexed at the voice of his preaching. Noah condemned all the world, albeit there were none but he. But yet symphony and agreement, and the consent of the Ministers of God, is an Ordinance of God when it may conveniently be had.  
Thus I have spoken of this second point of Doctrine, of the unity of Ministers, To the Angel of the Church in Sardis. I acknowledge this point is not so much for the general profit of you all. But you must bear with me, for handling of it. We shall come now to you ere long. For I am sure, if any portion of Scripture may do us good, in these dead times, the Treating of this Epistle may. And yet it is not lost time, to speak unto the Ministers, if by any means I may provoke myself, and my Brethren, to the abounding in the unity of the Spirit, and of Faith, and heart and mind, for the further spreading and enforcing of good.   
Revel. 3. 1. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write: these things, saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest and art dead. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write. 
YE have had two Doctrines from hence, concerning Gods Ministers: I told you there is one more, and then I have done, and so will proceed. The Doctrine is this:  
That a Minister may be in fault, that the people are dead, that they have no more heart to good things, that they are so ignorant, so cold, so ungodly, so worldly, so vain as they are.  
I say the Minister may be in the fault; The point is very clear from this place. The Lord being to reprove the people here of Sardis, for their deadness in Religion, he directs his reproof to their Minister. To the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write: I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest and art dead.  
He accuses the Minister for the deadness of the Church, that was committed to his charge, he means the Church, but he speaks to the Minister. You will say, how do ye prove that he means the Church? I Answer, there be three places that do manifest the same. The one is Revel. 1. 4. There John tells us, that he indeed writes to the Churches, for that in the inscription of every Epistle, the Minister only be named. John to the seven Churches in Asia. So that this latter is sent to the Church that is in Sardis. John means it to the Church, and not only to the Minister. A second place is Rev. 1. 11. what thou seest write to the seven Churches in Asia, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamus, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The third is, the conclusion of every Epistle. Where it is said thus: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches, Rev. 3. 6. and so it is at the closure of every Letter, to all the rest of the Churches, and therefore the Holy Ghost there accuses the Church of Sardis of deadness. I know thy works that thou art dead, and yet he directs it to the Minister of the Church, as a thing that concerns him, and that may be laid to his charge, and that he is faulty in. To the Angel of the Church in Sardis write. I know thy works that thou hast a name, that thou livest and art dead. That is, thou hast a dead-hearted people, and thou art the cause of it: Thou dost not do thy duty, thou dost not do what lies in thee for to quicken them. But thou art too remiss in thy Ministry, and therefore their deadness may be imputed unto thee. Thus you see the Doctrine is very plain from the words. The good or bad estate of a people dependeth much upon the Minister. Commonly we see it so fall out, as the Prophet Hosea said, Like people, like Priest, Hos. 4. 9 Like shepherd like sheep. Such as the builder is, such is the building, as is the Husbandman, so is the husbandry. This we may find throughout all these Epistles, where the Minister is commended, the people are commended. Where the Minister is taxed, the people are taxed. And therefore they stand and fall together, they swim and sink together, a wicked Minister, a wicked people, an ignorant Minister, an ignorant people; and so a good Minister, the people either are a good people, or else they are Monsters; nay, if the Minister be good, though the world in his Parish be never so wretched, yet he hath a good people, the Church of God in his Parish, is very good, commonly.  
Well then, we have gotten our point out. The Minister may be in fault, that the people are dead, I do not say, it is always thus. For first, the Minister may be lively, and yet the people dead. The Lord tells us that Ezekiel had a stiffe-hearted people, Ezek. 2. 4. and yet he was not to be blamed, themselves were in all the fault. So Isaiah had a dull-hearted people: All the day long have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people, Rom. 10. 21. and therefore I do not say it was always thus.  
Nay, Secondly, sometimes the people are the cause of the Ministers deadness. The Jews hardness of heart under the Ministry of Ionas, was the cause why Ionas had no heart to go unto Niniveh. O thought he, if Israel will not hear me, much less will Niniveh hear me. Thus the people deadened Jeremiah at one time, that he had little or no heart to preach for a fit. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, Jer. 20. 9 Thus Ezekiel was deadened a while, by his people too. I came to them of the Captivity at Telabib, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days, Ezek. 3. 15. The Lord was fain to rouse his heart up, and to tell him he would require their blood of him, before he could pluck up a good heart to Preach livelily among them; The people deadened him. Nay more,  
Thirdly, sometimes the Lord locks up his good Ministers, and suffers them to be straitened in their utterance, and other gifts. May be the people are ready to lay all the blame upon their Ministers. O how tongue-tied are they! and it is their negligence, and torpor: Whereas it is for the people's sins, thus the Lord locked up Ezekiel, for the people's sins. I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them areprover, for they are a rebellious house, Ezek. 3. 26. Nay,  
Fourthly, Sometimes people's sins are the cause why their Ministers are quite dead, and have no life at all in them, the Lord sends foolish Ministers among them, merely because of their sins. So it was in Hosea's time. The Prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitudes of thy iniquity, Hos. 9 7. Mark, they had fools for their Ministers; fools, besotted Ministers, giddy Ministers, Ministers that were wild, and like mad men; you will say, these were the causes of much sin to the people: No, saith the Text, the people's sins were the cause of such Ministers. The Prephet is a fool, the spiritual man mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity. These four exceptions then there been of the point. Otherwise the point is too too true, that the Minister may be in fault that the people are dead.  
You see here the Church of Sardis was grown dead, and the Lord faults the Angel of the Church for it. I know thy works that thou art dead. The like is said of Laodicea. Loadicea, was grown horrible lukewarm, no zeal of God, they were neither hot nor cold, and the Lord imputes it to the Angel of Laodicea: I know thy works, that thou art neither hot nor cold, and therefore I will spew thee out of my mouth, Revel. 3. 14, 15, 16. The same is said of the Church of Ephesus, that they had left their first love, and yet the Lord hits the Angel in the teeth with it. I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love, Rev. 2. 4. Beloved, the last day I spoke of the Ministers concord and unity, to the Angel of the Church, all the Ministers should be as one man, as if they made up one and the same Angel. And therefore our Saviour Christ made choice of Brethren, and Kinksfolkes. Simon and Andrew his Brother, James and John his Brother. St. Peter's bark is a fisherboat, not a man of War, it is not furnished with mortal Engines, but only with nets to catch fish. If Peter were reproved for drawing upon Malchus, what reproof had he been worthy of, if he had drawn upon any of his fellows? this was the Theme, that we spoke of the last day. Now then let us speak of the influence that a Minister hath in his people, he may be the cause of his people's deadness, if he do not take heed. And this he may be three ways; first, by his not preaching; secondly, by his dead manner of preaching; thirdly, by his dead manner of Life, and Conversation.  
First, I say, by his not preaching, ye know the Word of God is the word of life, Phil. 2. 16. The Word is that which quickeneth the heart, as David saith, Thy Word hath quickened me, Psal. 119. 50. Now when Ministers do not preach it, this deads' people's hearts. We see this in those places where the due preaching of the Word is wanting, people are dead to all goodness; nay, they that had some quickness in them before, do lose them more and more: As Solomon saith, Where there is no vision the people perish, Prov. 29. 18. that is, where preaching is defective, the people die, they are spiritually dead in trespasses, and in sins. Can a man live without bread, or without food? no more can people live without constant preaching. The Word is the bread of life, now when this is not broken unto people, they must needs die. Mark, how Zachary describes them that are without preaching, They are such as fit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, Luk. 1. 79. that is, they are blind and ignorant, and liveless, dead while they live, they are wicked, and abominable, in the power of Satan, under the wrath of God, strangers from the life of God; such Ministers as do not preach constantly, they are soule-murtherers, they are guilty of their people's blood, they do not give them that which should quicken them up unto eternal life, they should quicken them up unto newness of life, but they do not; they should pour in the words of eternal life into their hearts, but they do not; people are naturally dead to Prayer, and dead to communion with God, and dead to all holiness, they have no heart to pureness and righteousness of walking, and such Ministers do not study to revive them.  
Secondly, as a Minister may be the cause of his people's deadness by his not Preaching, so he may be the cause of their deadness by his Preaching, when the manner of it is dead. Preaching may be dead in the manner of it, 7 ways,  
First, When it is too general, when they preach only in general. That which we say is very good, for the general, but we do not apply ourselves, to every particular man's Conscience, this ●eads people's hearts. Beloved, it is particular Preaching that does people good. When Nathan told David, Thou are the man, 2 Sam. 12. 7. this stirred David's heart. When Peter had said to his hearers, Ye have crucified Christ, Act. 2. 36. This pricked them to the heart. General preaching cannot quicken. First, because generals cannot act. Actio est singularium, as we say. It's only a particular, works. Let a man preach home and in particular, and this will work on the hearers. This made Michah a powerful Preacher, when he preached particularly to his people's Conscience. Truly, I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgement, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin, Mich. 3. 8. this made him a powerful Prophet to quicken up his people, because he told every man his sin, and smote every man conscience for his transgression. No man is stirred till he feels his case laid open, till he sees the Minister beats upon him, and hit him; till the Minister treads hard upon his toes, he will never cry out.  
Secondly, General Preaching leaves the Sermon to the people to apply it; now the people will never apply it while the world stands. Nay, David himself would not apply, as long as Nathan dealt with him in general, as long as Nathan was speaking of a man in the clouds, a rich man that had wronged a poor man, David's heart was as whole as a fish, till he came to Thou art Him. Now he cries out, I have sinned. Nathan was fain to make application. For David would never have done it else: Will a truantly Boy ever whip himself? the Master may lay the rod before him, but except the Master lay it on, he will go scot-free if he can. The words of the wise are as goods and as nails fastened by the Masters of Assemblies, Eccles. 12. 11. Mark, the Masters of Assemblies must fasten them into the post, lay the nails by, the post itself will never knock them in; So, though the Sermon be never so good a nail; yet he must knock it in, the people will never do it. The Prophet Jehu must come and say to Jehosaphat, Shouldst thou help the ungodly? Wrath is upon thee from the Lord, 2 Chron. 19 2. He fastened in the nail; though Jehosaphat were a good man, yet the Prophet knew he would not do it. Nay, people are so far from applying the word unto themselves, that they will apply it to any body else rather than to themselves, the Minister met with such a one to day, there was a lesson for him: But none will say, this was for me, and I am a vile wretch, and vengeance hangs over me, unless I do amend, and therefore certainly general Peaching, is a dead manner of preaching.  
Thirdly, General Preaching is confused, when Ministers tell people they must repent, and believe, and serve God, and be godly, and carry themselves well, in all their places and callings. When they do thus in general, this is like, as if the trump should give an uncertain sound, like the noise in a battle, a confused noise, as the Prophet speaks, Esa. 9 5. Like the confusion in Ephesus, Great is Diana of the Ephesians, they kept a great stir, Act. 19 32. the Text saith, The assembly was confused, and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together, so while we preach only in the general, Great is the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are great sinners, and great is the need of repentance, but we neither tell the people how, nor when, nor who, nor what: may be our Sermons may keep some pother in men's Consciences, but people have no distinct edification, they go away and say, O it was a very godly Sermon, I pray God give us grace to follow it! But no man is the better. They hear admirable things about repentance, but they are not taught how to go about it, there they are at a loss. They remember gracious things about the serving of God, and about a good Conscience, and the like. But they know not how in the earth to set about these things to any purpose, if ever we would quicken our people's hearts, we must let them see distinctly, the will of God concerning them, the particular means, and helps, and signs of it, the particular motives, and Arguments to it, the particular circumstances of it, the particular hindrances; lets, and impediments of doing of it, and you can never do the will of God, as long as ye do thus and thus, and this course will break your neck, this practice of yours will be your utter undoing: when people hear distinct Preaching, this doth them good, if any thing will. General Preaching is like the setting of good Physic before the Patient, without giving him directions for the taking of it.  
Fourthly, General Preaching is deceitful, Est dolus in generalibus, as we say, there is deceit in the generals, we Preach that people must love God, and fear him, and thank him, and they must be new men, and they must leave their sins, and they must Pray, and hear the Word, and they must do every thing to God's glory. Now mark what deceit there is in such preaching as this; this is in the general: People go away, and deceive themselves in the particular. They think they serve God, and they love God, or else they were not worthy to live; they think they say their Prayers every day, and that they are thankful unto him, they never eat their meat, but they say Grace, they never recover out of sickness, but they bless God; Whereas if we should deal with these men in particular, it would appear, they are haters of God, they are graceless and unthankful wretches; they never prayed true Prayer to God in all their lives: hence it is that people generally like a general Minister, Why? they can go along with such a man and be heart-whole. But now if a particular Minister should come and tell them they are worldly, and mockers of God and all goodness, as they are in very good deed; they cannot abide him, they would say wherein? Such were the Jews under the overly Ministry of the Priests. When Malachy dealt particularly with them, saith he, Ye have despised the name of the Lord: Wherein say they? Mal. 1. 6. Ye have wearied the Lord with your words: Wherein, say they, have we wearied him? Mal. 2. 17. Ye have robbed God: Wherein have we robbed him, say they? Mal. 3. 8. Your words have been stout against the Lord, yet their answer was, Wherein have we spoken so much against the Lord? Mal. 3. 13. Alas, alas! their Priests had taught them only in general, and therefore when the Prophet was to deal particularly with them, and told them what vile courses they took, they cried, wherein? and whereof? and why do you say so of us? he was forced to come to particulars. Otherwise they would have gone away and blessed themselves.  
Fifthly, General Preaching lets people see their sins if they will. But beloved this will do no good, if we let you see your sins, if you will; we must make you see your sins. Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, Ezek. 16. 2. We must not only let you understand, if ye will, it is said of the good Priests, that they caused the people to understand, Neh. 8. 8. Naturally people love their own selves and their lusts, and they will not see them till they needs must, they do not love to be precise, they will not willingly yield that they must be so strict, and so mortified, as the Lord Jesus will have them, if they mean to be saved, and therefore if they can put it off they will; show them there is a difference between people and people, some are the people of God, and some are the children of the devil, some are the redeemed of Christ, and some have nothing to do with Christ, some are clean, and some are unclean; though we show them the difference between these two, they will shut their eyes if they can. General preaching does no more, it shows them these things. But may be neither the Minister nor they will see for all that, now we must cause them to discern whether they will or no, if we can. They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, & cause them to discern between the unclean, & the clean, Ezek. 44. 23. that is, tell them this is unclean, and this is clean; such and such persons are profane, and such are holy: Hold it before their eyes, cause them to discern; this is the way to quicken men's hearts. Now General preaching does not do thus. It only puts the truth before men, that they may see if they will, but if they will not, it does not urge them, this deads' our people, and does them no good, for people will not be awakened, as long as they can shift it.  
Sixthly, General Preaching is aloft and aloof off, particular preaching is the most close, and the most plain, and the most sensible preaching of all, if any Preaching will sink into people's heads, this will: it makes the truth even sensible after a sort, as King James said of a Reverend Bishop of this Land, that is now dead and gone: This man, saith he, Preaches as if death were at my back. So a press Preacher preaches, as if death were at a man's back, as if judgement and hell were at a man's back, he brings the point home to the soul's door, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 
Arist. Metaph. l. 1.  General's are not plain. Ignorant people are most led by sense. People may live seven years under a general Teacher, and be never the nearer, such a Ministry breeds only swimming knowledge, it does not lay the Truth at every man's door; may be they get knowledge, but their knowledge does them little good: it is said of the good Levites, that they taught the people the good knowledge of the Lord, 2 Chron. 30. 22. That is, such a knowledge of the Lord, as made the people good, they laid the Truth at every man's door, they preached to the people as if 〈…〉 were at their backs. They did livelily teach them, 〈…〉 inform them, this did them good. General preaching is like an Arrow shot at rovers, that does not hit the mark, as if the Minister would lay his Sermon on his Cushion, and never dart it into his people's bosoms. Alas Brethren! if people do not feel our points at their backs, and like spears in their sides, and swords in their bellies, they will feel nothing, it is naked preaching, when we make men's estates even visible before their eyes, when we preach so of God's wrath, as if they saw it, when we so set out Christ, as if he were palpable to men's senses, this quickens and no other, as Paul saith: O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, and crucified among you? Gal. 3. 1. Mark, how sensibly he had preached Christ to them, even as if he had held him before their eyes, and therefore he saith, they were even bewitched that they could not see them; q. d. how is it possible that ye should not see him, that ye should not obey the truth, where it hath been so sensibly preached unto you, and painted to the life, even before your very eyes! If any Preaching will quicken, this will, and therefore General Preaching, that will not do the deed.  
Seventhly, General Preaching is against the nature of Preaching, for wherefore is preaching, but to take the word of God, and apply it unto people in particular, it is called the dividing of the word of truth aright, 2 Tim. 2. 15. When the Minister is a good carver, to divide to every man his portion: Conviction to the ignorant; reproof to the offender; terror to the obstinate; comfort to the broken heart; judgement to the wicked; mercy to the Saints, and true penitent souls; Then the Minister applies it unto every man. Preachers are Gods Harvest-men, as our Saviour Christ saith: Pray ye the Lord of the Harvest, that he would send forth labourers▪ 〈◊〉 his Harvest, Matth. 9 38. Now Harvest-men, what▪ 〈…〉? Do they only bring a scythe or a sickle into the field, and give a slash, a general slash, at one Corn of the field, as though that would fetch down all the Corn? No, they apply it to the Corn, to reap it down. The preaching of a General Sermon is but a sickle, now except it be applied to all the people, it is not the way to reap in God's harvest. Preachers are called Christ's seed-men: The sour went out to sow his seed, Luk. 8. 5. Now what does the seedsman? does he only bring in a sack of seed, and pour it all on a heap in the field? does he think that every spot of ground will draw it unto itself? No, he sprinkles it, and disperses it abroad, that every Lea may have its part. Whence comes that foolish conceit, that reading is Preaching, a tenet which many hold? the truth is, it comes from hence, because General preaching is made by most Ministers to serve the turn; Now, if this were Preaching, reading were Preaching indeed: But this is no preaching, preaching is the opening of the Word of God, and the applying of it, according as every man hath need. The not doing of this leaves poor people in their hardness and deadness of heart. This is the first. General Preaching is such a manner of preaching, as leaves the heart dead.  
Secondly, Moral Preaching is a dead manner of preaching. When Ministers preach honest matter, but do not go to the quick, they strike at the boughs: They preach against Drunkenness, and intemperance, and malice, and hatred, and tale-bearing, and lying, and covetousness, and making of shows, it is very good to preach against these things, and we must too, and let them know they are far from the Kingdom of God that live in these or any other such lusts. But alas! this is only to strike at the boughs. If we would awake the Conscience indeed, we must preach deeper than so. The axe is laid at the root of the tree, Mat. 3. 10. John the Baptist was a lively Preacher; now the Text shows he did not only strike at the boughs, but he laid his axe at the root of the tree. When Ministers preach only good moral matter, this kind of preaching does not quicken.  
First, Because Moral preaching does not hit all, many are very Moral people, that have not one whit of grace in their hearts. True, this may hit some. Paul told Felix of his intemperance, and how that there was a day of Judgement to judge all such persons, this made him tremble. Felix trembled, saith the Text, Act. 24. 25. I say, moral preaching may startle some, but it does not startle all. Many Heathens have been sober and temperate, and true in their speeches; and just in their dealings; and loving in their carriages; and painful in their callings; as Paul saith, they have done by Nature, the things contained in the Law. Now ye know the Heathens are without grace, and are not acquainted with God, neither have they any communion with God, Pour out thy wrath upon the Heathen, that know thee not, Jer. 10. 25. Mark, they have no communion with God, they do not know Jesus Christ, nor the mysteries of saving Grace. So that a man may be very finely moral, and yet be without grace. Now then, if a Minister should content himself with good moral teaching, many would go away, and conclude well of their own estates, though they have no grace.  
Secondly, Moral preaching, those that it does hit, it does them indeed some good, but it does them not the good, it never quickens them up unto eternal life; it seemeth to civillize their lives, and to reform them a little, but it never reneweth them, neither does it put them into Jesus Christ: Let a Drunkard hear he is a damned wretch, if he do not give over his drunkenness, if this Sermon hit him, what does he say? why than I will be sober, and I will never be a drunkard more. And I can tell you, this is very rare too. But suppose it be, he may go to hell for all this. Suppose we do make all our people moral, which were a fine thing if we could, but grant we could, this does not quicken them together with Christ; No, no, a man must see his vile nature, and loathe himself, and be made to deny himself, to mortify his carnal reason, to put off his corrupt will, to feel his cursed condition in himself, to be emptied of himself, that Christ may be all in all to him, that he may be led by the Spirit of Christ, and guided by the word of Christ, that he may hang only upon the promises of God in Christ, that his mind may be taken up with Christ, and his thoughts and affections daily be laboured to be fixed upon the things above, none are alive unto God, but such, Now Moral preaching will never do this.  
God-forbid, I should speak against Moral preaching absolutely, or against Morality itself, it is a very good thing; Who will not commend Abimelech for the integrity of his heart, that he pleaded before God? Gen. 20. 5. Ye know how the Lord himself liked of it; who will not say but that the young man in the Gospel, was a very commendable man, that had observed all these from his youth: Nay, the Text saith, That Christ, in some sense, did love him, Mark. 10. 21. Daniel told Nabuchadnezzar what an excellent thing Morality was. O! saith he, If thou wilt break off thy sins, and be righteous, he means Moral righteousness towards man; if thou wilt show mercy to the poor, it may be God will lengthen thy tranquillity, Dan. 4. 27. The Prophet Esay tell the Moabites, what a deal of good they might do to themselves, if they would but be morally honest: saith he, Take Counsel, execute Judgement, hide the outcasts, let mine outcasts be with thee, Esa. 16. 3. Q. d. If thou wilt be kind and loving to my people, thou shalt far the better. When the King of Babylon punished the wickedness of Tyre, the Lord rewarded them very richly for it. I have given him the Land of Egypt for his labour, saith God, because he wrought for me, Ezek. 29. 20. Moral goodness is commended of God, as well as spiritual goodness in Jesus Christ; Nay, it is needful that Ministers should insist very much in pressing of moral duties, and the godly are to be willing to hear such Sermons, to look to just dealing, to Civil honesty, to justice between man and man; How abundant is the Scripture in urging this Theme! it is thought by some, there is no Divinity in this, and such a Minister is not deep enough, and why does he stand so much upon such things as these, which the light of nature calls for. But these do greatly err, the Holy Ghost is careful to urge such duties as these, to be honest. Walk honestly towards them that are without, saith the Apostle, 1 Thess. 4. 12. Let us walk honestly as in the day, saith he, Rom. 13. 13. Provide things honest in the sight of all men, Rom. 12. 17. Nay, honesty, civil honesty between man and man is a sweet thing; the Apostle himself brings it among other things, as a testimony of his sincerity: We trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly, Heb. 13. 18. O it is an excellent beauty to a servant of Jesus Christ, when his Morals are sound, and exemplary, and there cannot be any thing that will make the profession of Religion odious in the eyes of the world, then want of Morality, when Christians fail palpably in their Morals. May be such a one thou wilt think, comes far short of thee in grace, in the knowledge of good, in the belief of the Truth, in a spiritual insight into the mystery of Christ; O then count it a shame that he should go before thee in the keeping of his Word. There cannot be a greater dis-honour unto God, than when a natural man shall be able to accuse thee of any dis-honesty in any kind. The Spirit of God sets it down as a great shame upon Sarah, that Abimelech, a Heathen man should be able to reprove her; Thus was she reproved, saith the Text, Gen. 20. 16. When Jacob perceived that his sons had sinned against moral honesty, there in the matter of Shechem: O, saith he, ye have made me to stink among the Inhabitants of the land, Gen. 34. 30. Ye have troubled me, saith he, it was a great grief of heart to the good man, he knew this would be a great dis-honour to God, as well as a shame unto himself; and therefore God forbid I should speak against a Ministers speaking for morality.  
Yet, Beloved this know, that this is not enough, a man may profess the name of Christ, and think verily that he Believes in jesus Christ and be a very admirable moral man and yet never quickened up to the grace of life. Saint Paul shows this plainly in himself. I might have confidence in the flesh, if any other man might trust to that, I might be circumcised the eighth day: of the stock of Jesse: of the Tribe of Benjamin: an Hebrew, of the Hebrews: as touching the Law, a Pharisee: Phil. 3. 4, 5, 6, 9 if any fine-carriaged man under heaven could hope he is right; I could before my conversion. I was admitted into the Congregation of Christ by the Sacrament of Circumcision: I was borne in the true Church of God, I had godly Parents, I was of the Commonwealth of Israel, Nay, I was a Pharisee, which was so admirable a strict order, that after his conversion, he was not ashamed to be still called a Pharisee. I am a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee says he. Act. 23. 6. He calls himself a Pharisee still: Nay he was zealous, and concerning the righteousness of the Law, he was a very blameless man, so that if any fair cariaged man under Heaven were right, he was right. But the truth is S. Paul Confesses that when God came to opon his eyes, he find that he was a dead man, a vile wretch he shows, he had gone shear to hell for all this, if God had not converted him. So that morality is a poor thing. And yet people makes it their Idol and trust to it, and think certainly they are the children of God, certainly they shall have mercy, certainly they shall to heaven. And how many Ministers make this to be true Religion, and preach nothing but this? This then is another way, whereby Ministers do leave a dead Congregation by moral preaching.  
Thirdly, A flat preaching, is, when there is no keenness in our Sermons, when we do not strive to stagger men's consciences that are to be staggered. When a man goes on in a tract, Preaches true doctrine, though it were to be wished that more Ministers would do thus: This does not hunt the heart out of its own starting holes: this Ministry leaves people dead. It is said of our Saviour Christ, that the people were astonished at his Doctrine. Matt. 7. 28. he stun'd their consciences: he set them at a stand, so if a Minister would quicken, he should labour to set the wicked at a stun. Ye know every wicked one gets somewhat or other to hang on, to hope they shall not be damned for all they are no better. Now when a Minister sets himself to put his hearers to a stun; still to startle truth in an astonishing manner, that may flash the bare truth into the soul, and to make them see their bad estates, this is quickening preaching. But when a man's Ministry is cold, there is nothing to stun the heart, their heart may have its starting holes for all it, his Ministry does not labour to meet with them, this leaves people dead, a Minister that still goes on in a tract, can never look to quicken.  
First, Because a good Minister must make Conscience to bring out new things, as our Saviour Christ speaks: The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto an Housholder, that bringeth out of his treasure things new and old, Mat. 13. 52. that is, though he bring none but the old things that were brought before; Yet still he brings them forth as new: He labours to keep the Word still new unto the heart, the reason is this, when people have once been convinced of the truth, presently it grows stale to them, and so they are subject not to be quickened by it at all. O this we knew before, and so the heart makes little or nothing of it. I knew this before. Now when the Ministry of the Word darts it in anew, and makes it look still with a fresh look upon the Conscience; this is a quickening Ministry. Like a man that keeps his Barrel still fresh, when a man gives the drinker still fresh from the Barrel: so when a Minister preaches still fresh from the Word, But when a Minister does not do thus, he is like a man that gives one liquor that hath stood a great while in the Cup, it grows dead.  
Secondly, Because a good Minister must go further and further, or else he cannot quicken. My meaning is this, the more people are convinced by the Word, the more subtleties still the heart does devise; the more word is in the Conscience, the more wiles the heart mints, the Devil also prompting thereunto: so that if a Minister do not follow men's hearts still further and further, this will leave the people dead. The reason is this, Because when the heart hath once invented a wile to maintain its own hopes for all the same truth, we may preach the truth all the days of our life, it will never quicken that man's heart: because still when he hears that truth, he hath a wile lying by him that still defends himself from it: so that there is a necessity for a Minister to go further and further. The Word of God is a deep mine, there is no Bottom, a man may still dig deeper and deeper, Thy judgements are a great deep., Psal. 36. 6. When the Minister besieges the heart, he is to dig round about it, and dig deeper and deeper. Still as the heart bears itself, he is to come with more and more supplies out of the Word, against it. It is a strange thing to see how deep Ministers have gone, and yet people arm themselves against the Word of God and are not converted by it. Tell them they must be new Creatures, they confess it, and though they be none, yet they have many fair colours to hope they are. Tell them of Communion with God, and fellowship with his son jesus Christ, and heavenly-mindedness, and hatred of all sin, love to universal obedience, plucking out their right eyes: looking at the Glory of God: not to trust in their performances to go out of themselves; People make a shift to have something to answer all. All these things they hope they have done, in some measure. Now when Ministers go on and on, and do not go further and further, this leaves such people dead. It is said of a Preacher that is wise, that he still teaches the people knowledge. Because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Eccles. 12. 9 That is, people could never come to him, but still he made them know more and more. You will say, how can a Preacher do thus?  
I Answer, if a Preacher be well studied in his own heart, and in the Book of God, this will help him to do it. For still as he sees further into his own heart, still he will see further into the Word of God, and let out more and more light. It is said of Christ's Ministry, That in it the light did spring up, Matth. 4. 16. So, this is a true Ministry indeed, when the light springs up in it. Ye know in a Spring, the water springeth up more and more; now when a Minister goes on in a tract, and does not do thus, this is a deading Ministry. This is the third thing, Flat Preaching leaves people dead.  
Fourthly, Cold Preaching too, when a Minister preaches coldly, when the Word floweth coldly from his mouth. When a man hides the affectionateness of the Word, from the people, by the coldness of his uttering of it. Beloved, the Word is full of affections: what a deal of affection is there in all the Truths of the Gospel; they are all steeped in the warm blood of the Son of God, there is affection in the promises, they proceed from the tender bowels of God: Affection in the threatenings, they all issue from the infinite wrath of God against sin. The Word of God is as fire, Jer. 23. 29. Now when a Minister shall preach the Word coldly, he preaches the Word otherwise than it is: He does as much as in him lies, to hide the affectionateness of the Word from the people's hearts. Suppose the Town were all on fire, would ye not count the man a ridiculous man, that should come to us, and tell us a cold story? Sirs, let me tell you a thing, there is a great fire in the Town, and I verily think it may burn all the Town, and you should do well to go and quench it: This man tells us so indeed, but would not you count him a fool, for telling us such a thing, in a cold careless manner, as if it were a small matter? Nature teacheth us another course in such a case. Fire, fire, help, O help, for the Lords sake, water, water, in all haste. Alas, alas! we are undone, quickly, quickly, run for ladders, run for buckets, run for wet clothes; ah, you lazy villain, run apace for iron hooks, and the like: Thus nature teaches to deliver such a truth that does so nearly concern us, affectionately: So it is here, Brethren; what weighty things does the Word contain? Truth's that our very bowels should yern, and we should pour out our affections in the Pulpit, that we may show by our delivery, what they are. Now, when this is not done, this deads' people's hearts. They fit as quiet at a Sermon, though they hear of matters of life and death, eternal life, salvation and damnation: Yet they sit like blocks in their seats, as though it were no great matter. Why, they hear one standing in the Pulpit, as though he were saying his lesson; wicked people will not believe they are going to hell, though we tell them, they will not believe the ways of Jesus Christ are so good as they are, though we tell them. It is a pretty story of Demosthenes, when one told him that he was beaten and misused by such a man; it seems he told it very dreamingly, and coldly, showing no affection at all; Why, saith Demosthenes, hath he beaten thee? I do not believe it, No? saith the man: and so the man was as it were in a great passion: I am sure thus and thus he did to me, and do not you call this beating? Nay, saith Demosthenes: now I believe he hath beaten thee indeed. Now you speak as ye had been beaten, as ye say. So when a Minister preaches unto people in a dreaming manner, though the things be never so weighty, yet they will not believe them. He saith in a cold manner, that Drunkards are in a bad case, and such and such persons are in a sad condition, and saith, ye must repent, or you will all perish. But people hear him speak so frigidly of these things, that they will not enter into their hearts. If these things were preached as they should be, it would make people quake. It is said of our Saviour, That when he was teaching, the Disciples hearts burned within them, Luk. 24. 32. Did not our hearts burn within us, when, etc. Keckerman makes that to be the meaning of St. Matthew, where he saith that our Saviour Taught with Authority, and not as the Scribes; that is, saith he, he did not preach coldly, but with life and zeal, and this went with Authority.  
Now the manner of Preaching is cold, two ways, and, so dead.  
First, When it flows not from the heart, for than it is unlikely that ever it will go unto the heart, Pectus facit esse disertos. The heart is the best Oratory, as Paul saith, What do you weeping and breaking my heart, Act. 21. 13. they spoke so heartily, and affectionately, and meltingly to him, this burst his very heart. In the 17 of Acts the 16 verse, it is said, Paul's spirit was stirred in him, to see all Athens given to Idolatry: He was inwardly moved in his own heart, in his preaching unto them. Now if you look into the 34 verse of that Chapter, how this quickened some there; Dionysius, and Damaris, and some others cleaved unto him: that is, he preached so movingly, that he made their very souls cleave unto him. Why? he spoke from his heart. There be many clamorous Preachers, saith Galvin, who declaim against the sins of the people, and thunder against them, make as though they had a great deal of zeal, and yet never move a jot, because themselves have a dead heart, and a secure heart, the people see through their actings, that they are not moved themselves, and therefore this does not move them neither: when people can see through a Minister, that he does not preach out of his own heart, this deadeth their hearts; God bade Ezekiel eat the Book, etc.  
Secondly, The manner of preaching is cold, when the Sermon is not delivered in a lively manner; when he preaches dully and bluntly. The Apostle shows in the first of the Colossians, that Epaphras did a great deal of good in his Ministry at Colosse. Now in the fourth of the Colossians, and the 13 verse, the Apostle saith, he was a zealous Preacher; I bear him record, saith he, that he hath a great zeal for you. But when a Minister hath a cold delivery, this is a great hindrance to the Word.  
You will say, how can this be? Is it not the same word whether preached coldly, or with heat? Yes, it is: But the Word hath two things in it; first, the bare naked truth: secondly, the fatherly affectionateness of God in the same. Now a zealous Minister; le's the people, in some measure, see both. But a dull Ministry holds out the one, and hideth the other. Again, though the Word only convert, it is not the Minister that works, but the Word, yet the Minister is appointed of God to be a means to draw people's attentions to the word. Now when he does it in a cold manner, the people are the more apt to let fall their intentions, and not mark it▪ Thus you see how a Minister may be guilty of the deadness of his people two ways, first, by his not preaching at all. Secondly, by his dead manner of preaching.  
There is one more yet remains, and that is, Thirdly, by his dead life and conversation; an evil life in the Minister, makes preaching seem vile: When he makes it appear by his course, that he makes no conscience of framing his life according to his own teaching: Is strict in the Pulpit, and dissolute in the street: I confess many are ready to quarrel with the lives of their Teachers without cause, as the false Apostles, with Paul, as though he were carnal, 2 Cor. 10. 2. But when a man will be a Minister, and yet walk like men hating to be reform, and running into the same excess of riot with others; how doth this harden people's hearts, and deadeth the Doctrine itself? it makes preaching seem but a ●oy. When a man will seem to persuade to that which he neglects himself, and to cry out against that, of which himself doth make a common practice. Let no man despise thee, says Paul unto Timothy. You will say, how shall that be? Be you an example unto them that Believe. 1 Tim. 4. 12. But I am prevented of time. There is nothing that more deads' a man's Ministry then this, when the people know in their Consciences, that the Minister is as vile as one of them. Let him preach never so excellent things; they will say, alas, alas! we know he loves his penny, he loves the pot, he is not right, no more than one of us. But I am forced to give over.  
The use of this is. First, Is it so, that a Minister may 
Use 1.  be the cause why the people are dead? Then here we see the reason why the Devil is so busy to poison Ministers. He knows, if he, can poison Them, he can quickly poison all the Parish well-neare. Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to sift thee. Luc. 22. 31. when Joshua was exercising the office of the Highpriest, Satan stood at his right hand Zach. 3. 1. The Devil is like the Syrians. O says he, fight neither against small nor great, save only against the King of Israel: If they could slay him, they knew they should quickly take his Army; so if the Devil can take the Minister, he cares not. If he can make him a worldling, or a drunkard, or a Drone, or a Pluralist that is it he desires. The deading of one Minister, deads' a 100 others, if he can be a lying spirit in a Minister's mouth, he is able to deceive 200. at once.  
Secondly, Here we see that Ministers, of all men, should 
Use 2.  have a care to be quickened. For if we be not quickened, Brethren, our guiltiness is very great, we shall involve many others in our sin: It will go hard with every private person that is dead to all goodness: He cannot be saved, he cannot escape the second death. How then can a dead Minister escape, that hath not only his own deadness to answer for, but also the deadness of all his people? What says the Lord to the Ministers of the dead Churches of Sardis Repent, Repent says he, lest I come against thee, as a thief, in an hour before thou art aware. Rev. 3. 3. And therefore let us be awakened, that we may be quickened. Beloved, the times now are very dead, and it is we that are the Ministers of the Church, have let this deadness in, our not being watchful, our not being lively and stirring in our places, our not being quickened. O what wrath hangs upon us, if we do not labour for life, that we may communicate it unto our people! The common deadness up and down should be an argument unto us to excite us. When Elisha saw the badness of the Church in his days, he was very earnest to have the spirit of Elias doubled upon him. 2 King. 2. 9 We have need of a double spirit of the good Ministers of God that were before us, the days do require it, never was there more deadness than now is. There are not many that profess holiness at all, but of them that do; O how many are dead, and without life! now who should be a means to quicken people but we?  
Thirdly, This should teach good people to pray for their 
Use 3.  Ministers: the more quickened the Ministers be, it is the better for them. But if they be dead, the infection will descend down into you. When Paul and Silas went out to preach, the Text says. They were Commended by the Brethren to the grace of God. Act. 15. 40.  
Fourthly, This should be an exhortation to us of the Ministry, 
Use. 4.  that we would take heed unto ourselves and to all the Church of God that is committed unto our charge: that we would rouse up ourselves, and specially now, when there was never more need. When the children of Israel were about to go back again into Egypt, the Text says, how Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the Congregation of Israel, to beseech them to forbear. Num. 14. 5. They were so mightily affected with the people's sin, that they fell upon their faces before them, q. d: For the Lord's sake, and for your own soul's sake, Take heed of this sin. What! will you pull all Heaven about your ears? Will you provoke the living God against you? O my Brethren take heed what ye do, so we should do, we should labour to be affected with our own and our people's deadness. We should call upon them to be quickened. O be quickened, the Lord will not endure a dead people, get life if ye be wise, it is but a folly to have a name to live, except ye be alive indeed.  
Now the way for us to quicken our people, is, First, If we be good ourselves. When Jehosaphat would encourage the Levites to quicken up the people; Says he, The Lord shall be with the good. 2 Chron. 19 11. He will bless your labours, he will strengthen your Sermons to do good, though not to all, for the greatest part are not of God, yet unto his people. Nay if we were good indeed, we might have hope do too much good, as it is said of Barnabas he was a good man, and much people were added to the Lord. Act. 11. 24.  
Again, Secondly we should be earnest with God to quicken all our hearts, that so we may the better quicken our Brethren, as Christ says to Peter, when thou art converted, strengthen thy Brethren, so we should desire God to quicken us, that we may quicken our Brethren, that we may wash our hands of our people. What an excellent comfort was that unto Paul, When he could take his people to record, that he was pure from the blood of all men! Act. 20. 26.  
Thirdly; We should mark which of our people are dead, Ezek. 8. 6. And then think, what, are not we guilty of his deadness?  
Fourthly, Let us lay about us sound, that we not may be guilty of their sins in any kind.  
Fifthly, Another Use is to let us see, What a great danger 
Use. 5.  Ministers are in, they may be guilty of all the evil in their Parish, if they do not their duty, which is a great thing to do, they have all the sins of their Parish lying at their door, This should keep us from security and from pride, many grow proud that are Ministers, but alas! they know not what an Office they have, that do so. Our very Calling should make our hearts tremble and quake to think what a charge is imposed upon us. This made Moses and Aaron and many a good man more, so fearful to enter upon this function. No man takes this honour unto himself, saith the Apostle (meaning no godly man, no man in his right wits, no man that is well-advised what he does) but he that is called, Heb. 5. 4. as our Saviour Christ saith, Pray ye the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth labourers into his Harvest, Matth. 9 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so it is in the Original, that he would thrust forth labourers into his Harvest, q. d. God will have no good labourers, otherwise those that are good are not overforward to enter into the Ministry, as a Father says, it is a burden that the very Angels shoulders would tremble under, as the Apostle said, Who is sufficient for these things? If there were no other Argument but this in the Text, it might sway all Ministers hearts in the world, lest we be guilty of our own deadness, and of others too.  
Another Use should be to the people, that they would be forward, and willing to hear, and greedy to drink in the word of life. The want of this is the deading of many a Ministers heart. I was in much bitterness, saith Ezekiel, but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me, Ezek. 3. 14. that is, I had had no heart at all to preach, but that the hand of the Lord was exceedingly assistant unto me; whereas the forwardness of people, is a great means to quicken up their Ministers. When the whole City flocked in to hear Paul, though the wicked were mad at it; The Text saith, He grew bold, Act. 13. 44, 45. When the people crowded in upon our Saviour, that he had not so much as time to eat bread, Mark. 3. 20. the Text shows that he so be-stirred himself there, that his own Kinssolk thought he had been mad, Vers. 21.   
Revel. 3. 1. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write: these things, saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, etc. 
WE have done with the Inscription, And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write. We come now to the Subscription, and that is in these words. These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars; Which words contain a description of the Lord Jesus Christ, from whom this Epistle is sent unto the Church, and he is described very gloriously, to the intent that what he says, may be the more reverently and seriously regarded. The Description sets forth two admirable properties and royalties of our Lord Jesus Christ. First, That he hath the seven Spirits of God, that is, he hath the Holy Ghost, to give to whomsoever he please. Secondly, That he hath the seven Stars, that is, the Pastors and Ministers of the Church. Christ hath them all in his hand, to send them, to gift them, to assist them, to preserve them, to vouchsafe them to a people, or to take them away, as he lists: and the Ministers are called Stars, because they are to shine in the firmament of the Church.  
First then, the first royalty of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is, that he hath the seven Spirits of God: by the seven Spirits of God, he means the Holy Ghost; you will say the Holy Ghost is but one Spirit. By one Spirit we are all baptised into one Body, 1 Cor. 12. 13. There is one Body and one Spirit, Ephes. 4. 4. Through him, we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father, Ephes. 2. 18. The Spirit of God is but one. Ye know there is but one God, in three persons: one Father, one Son, one holy Spirit. There be three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one, 1 Joh. 5. 7. there is but one Father, and one Son, whom the Apostle there calls the Word, for so he is often called in the Scripture. The Word was made flesh, that is, the Son of God was made flesh: so there is but one Holy Ghost, one Holy Spirit. Why then does the Text here say of Christ, that he hath the seven Spirits of God?  
I Answer, ye may know that the Revelation uses peculiar phrases, august, and mystical. Now the reason why John speaks thus in the plural number, is.  
First, because he alludes to the manner of his Visions, now in his Visions, the holy Ghost was thus represented unto him, as ye may see, Rev. 4. 5. where he saw seven Lamps of fire, burning before the Throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. So, again, Rev. 5. 6. where he saw a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. So, that this is one reason why he calls the Holy Ghost, the seven Spirits of God, because he speaks after this manner, of the Vision that he saw.  
Secondly, another reason is, because he was to write to the seven Churches of Asia. Now he speaks of the Holy Ghost in the same number, because that one and the same Holy Ghost, is severally and entirely poured upon them all. The Spirit of God was in Ephesus, and the Spirit of God was in Smyrna, and the Spirit of God was in Pergamos, and so in Thyatira, and so in Sardis, and Philadelphia, and Laodicea: and therefore he calls him the seven Spirits of God, though he be but one and the same Spirit.  
Thirdly, he calls him the seven Spirits of God, by a common Metalepsis, of putting the effects for the cause, because there be many and sundry gifts and graces, of the holy Spirit of God; the number seven being put to signify the perfection of them, and the universallnesse of them.  
Now that the seven spirits of God, are nothing else, but that one and the same holy Spirit of God, is plain, out of Rev. 1. 4, 5. John, to the seven Churches in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace from him, which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven Spirits which are before his Throne, and from Jesus Christ, which is the faithful witness. Which words are Saint john's saluting of the seven Churches in Asia, wherein he wishes them all grace from the blessed Trinity, q. d. Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from the holy Spirit of God, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful and true witness: Calling the Father, which was, which is, which is to come, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful and true witness, and the Holy Ghost, the seven Spirits of God. It is the very self same salutation that Paul uses in all his Epistles, in effect; saving that this is more full, and more lofty and august. Now then by the seven Spirits of God, he cannot mean any creature or creatures, as Angels, or so: but he must needs mean the Holy Ghost, because he prays for grace from the seven Spirits of God, which no creature is able to give. Ye know God only can give grace, God only, is the Author of all grace: He only can justify, and sanctify, and quicken, and give a man eternal life, as James, Every good and perfect gift cometh from above, Jam. 1. 17. It were Idolatry in John, to wish to the Churches, grace from the seven Spirits of God, if he meant by them any Angels, or any other creatures. We might worship the Angels, if they were able to give us grace, we might pray to them, and serve them, and fear them and adore them, if they could be the Authors of grace to us. Now this is Idolatry. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve, Matth. 4. 10. Of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory for ever, Amen. Rom. 11. 36. Ye know it is the glory of God to be the Cause of all grace. Now what says God? I am the Lord, that is my Name, and my glory will I not give to another. Isa. 42. 8. Well then, you see what is here meant by the seven Spirits of God, even the holy Ghost himself, that one & the same holy Spirit of God. These things saith he, that hath the seven Spirits of God, that is, these things saith Christ, that hath the holy Spirit of God, to give him to whomsoever he pleases.  
Not as though that were all, that Christ hath the holy Spirit of God, for so Paul had the holy Spirit of God, I suppose also that I have the Spirit of God, 1 Cor. 7. 40. so Peter, and David, and all the Saints, all the people of God have the holy Spirit of God, nay, a man is dead in trespasses and sins, and is a mere carcase, like a dead body without a soul, that hath not the holy Spirit of God, therefore that is not all the meaning of it, that Christ hath the holy Spirit of God; for so all the children of God have him, and are quickened by him up to all goodness: But Christ hath the holy Spirit of God, that is, he hath him to give to whomsoever he pleases.  
But it may be objected, is it not God the Father that gives the holy spirit to all his poor children?  
I Answer, Yes, it is very true, He hath him to give to whomsoever he is pleased to give him, for the Holy Ghost is his Spirit as well as Christ, he flows from them both. And therefore saith our Saviour, How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luk. 11. 13. so that the Father gives the holy spirit to whom he will, but it is in Christ's name, Christ is the store-house of this gift. When the Father gives his holy spirit unto any man, it is only in Christ's name, as himself speaks: The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, Joh. 14. 26. Mark, it is only in Christ's name.  
Well, now we see the point, That Christ only hath the Holy Spirit of God to give to whom he pleases: If any poor creature would fain have the holy spirit of God to be in him, he must come to Christ for him. Though the barrel be never so full of good Wine, yet when it is hooped round about, if one would have any, he must draw it at the tap: so, Beloved, the Lord hath hooped himself up from men, he hath closed himself up from all men, by reason of men's sins, he hath shut himself up, no man can have any of his holy spirit, but he must come and draw it at the tap: he must come to Jesus Christ, the Lord vents himself only in him, as Christ saith, he that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall slow rivers of living water. What is that? this spoke he of the spirit, which they that believe on him should receive, Joh. 7. 38, 39 Mark, Christ is the tap, ye must come to him by true believing, or ye cannot receive any of God's holy Spirit. He only hath him to give to them that do embrace him. From him proceed all the graces of the Spirit, that any men do enjoy. This is his Royalty, as being the only King and Head of the Church, and the opened fountain, that all that would be saved must repair unto. He is the beginning of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost proceedeth from him, as he is the Son of God, and as he is man, he is anointed with him. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me saith he, Luk. 4. 18. Ho, every one that would have him, come unto me for him. Away with your sins, and take me, abhor all your own ways, see what damnable creatures ye are in yourselves, whether your lusts and corruptions carry you, what will become of you, if ye go on in your own paths? if ye would have grace, and mercy, and life, and salvation, come to me, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to pour him upon you, that ye may be saved. I say Christ is anointed with him, the Lord hath given him his Spirit in abundance, he hath enough spirit to infuse into all that lay hold upon him, as John saith, God hath not given the Spirit by measure unto him, Joh. 3. 34. No, he hath the holy Spirit without measure, he hath all store of spiritual graces, to afford to them that lack; a Treasury of all heavenly blessings, to enrich all his poor distressed Members.  
The Reasons of this Point, why Christ only hath the holy Spirit of God, to give where he will, are three.  
First, Because there is none but he, that God is well-pleased in. God is out with all the sons of men, by reason of sin and wickedness, they are all hateful unto him, they are odious in his sight, and the whole world cannot make him and them friends again, that ever he should give them grace and favour, much less his holy Spirit. There is none in whom God is well-pleased but in his Son. This is my wellbeloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Father, and Holy Ghost, Both came and rested upon him, saying, This is the only He, in whom I am well-pleased, Mat. 3. 16, 17. q. d. If ye get him to be your Advocate, take him, and come unto me with him, than I will be friends with you, he may help you with reconciliation with me, he may get me to give you my holy Spirit, I am well-pleased in him, and in none but him. This is one Reason, so that Christ only can put his holy Spirit into thy heart, and so send thee to his Father. As Paul put a loving mediating letter in Onesimus his pocket, and so sent him to his Master: then he will be well-pleased with thee, when thou haste Christ's Letter of commendation about thee, than thou mayest go to God from day to day, and be accepted with him: None can do this for thee but only Christ, he only can put a mediating Letter in thy hand, he only can give thee the intercessions of his holy Spirit. Thousands go to God in man's duties from day to day, and because they are without this, Christ hath not given them his holy Spirit, therefore they are not accepted. God is not pleased with them, they pray without his spirit, they cry God mercy without his spirit, they seek to enter in without his spirit, and so they are not admitted. Now when a soul comes to Christ, God is well-pleased with Christ, and therefore Christ can give him this love-token, Christ can give him the holy Spirit, and so he shall be admitted into favour with God. God is well-pleased in him. As Pharaoh was in Joseph, and therefore Joseph could present his Brethren unto Pharaoh, Gen. 47. 2. If any body else had presented them, they should never have found favour, but Joseph could put acceptance upon them. Pharaoh was well pleased in him. So God is well pleased in his Son, and therefore he can do it and none but Herald  
Secondly, Another Reason is, Because the Holy Spirit of God will never enter into man more, except God's Justice be satisfied. God is resolved he will not put up those indignities that men offer unto him, except they bring with them one, in whom his wrath is appeased. As Saint John says, The Lamb slain hath seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God. Rev. 5. 6. That is, he hath satisfied God's Justice, and therefore he hath the Holy Spirit of God so given, the Holy Spirit of God will go to those men that he hath satisfied God's justice for, I say the Holy Spirit of God will not go to any man, without satisfaction, if any one will show him satisfaction, than the Spirit of God will say, I will go where you will have me, only let me have satisfaction. Now, Beloved, Christ only can say to the Holy Spirit come along with me to this man, here's a satisfaction unto Justice, Therefore he only hath the Spirit at his dispencing. And therefore if any man would have Gods Holy Spirit, he must bring the Lamb Divine slain, with him to God. Lord here I have the Lamb slain, and now let me see thy face, now let me have thy Spirit, as David said to Abner, bring me Michol, or never think to see my face. 2 Sam. 3. 13. q. d. never come to me, except thou bring me my Michol with thee. The bringing of Michol with him, this might help him to see the King's face. So, Beloved, when a man getteth the Lord Jesus Christ, and brings him with him to God, this may help him to God's Holy Spirit. Bring him along with thee, and thou shalt see my face, thou shalt have my holy Spirit. Neither will God send thee his Holy Spirit, neither will the Holy Spirit come to thee otherwise. Christ only hath him to give. Have Christ and have him.  
Thirdly, another Reason is, why Christ hath the Holy Spirit to give, Because he is flesh of our flesh, and Bone of our Bone, and we may go to him: he is the fittest to have him to give, because he being man aswell as we, we may make bold to go to him: My Brethren, we are not able to go to God for any thing, much less for his Spirit, we are not able to look upon him immediately, as a man is not able to look upon the Sunbeams in their strength, specially if he have sore eyes: But let him get a Scarf, or a Cypress, and now he may. Now the Sunbeams will shine upon him through the Cypress, and not hurt him. The Scarf is able to convey unto him the Sunbeams, without dazzling of him. So, beloved, Christ is able to convey the Holy Spirit of God into any man, our sore Consciences may look up to God through him, he moderates God's look, he can make us look God in the face, in a comfortable manner. Now we may ask any thing of him, even his Holy Spirit, and he will give him, as the Apostle says: By him we have boldness, Eph. 3. 12. O, beloved, they are great things that we need. We have need of such great matters, that when the Conscience is awakened, it can have no hope to obtain, that God should pardon such vile wrecthes as we, that he should accept of such poor services as ours, that he should love such filthy ones as we are, that he should give us a Kingdom, and his own Holy Spirit to enliven us, to establish our hearts, to be an earnest of Heaven to us: how can we hope he will give us such infinite mercies? Now the Lord hath put all these Blessings into the hands of his Son Jesus Christ, that is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones. Now we may boldly go to him for them. As Moses when his face shone, Aaron was afraid to come near him, Exod. 34. 30. Therefore he put a veil over his face: Now Aaron and others were able to come nigh him; so before, none were able to come to God for any thing, but now the Lord hath put a veil of flesh upon himself by incarnating his own Son, now we may make bold.  
The use of this, is, First; Is it so that Christ hath the seven 
Use 1.  Spirits of God? Then, what hath he not? He is an all sufficient Saviour. He is God's Steward, God hath put all his goods into his hands. No man can be assured of any thing that is good, but by coming unto him. All things are delivered to me of my Father. Mat. 11. 27. That is, I have all my father's goods in my hand: Favour, Pardon, Mercy, Grace▪ Comfort, Heaven itself, yea and his holy Spirit and all, I have the distributing of them all. He is the store-house whither all needy souls are to go, He is full of all manner of good things, as John says, Of his fullness have we all received. Joh. 1. 1●. Look what grace any of the Saints have▪ they have it all of him, he is God's Conduit-pipe, the Lord opens himself only in him; he is the tap, he lets out God's Blessings, and Graces, and Spirit, like a sluice. He is the Lord Treasurer of Heaven and Earth: As Joseph in Egypt, if any one would have Corn; they must go to Joseph for it, if they came to Pharaoh but for a peck, or a gallon, presently he sent them to Joseph, so the Lord sends all that will have any drop of mercy, to his Son, if ye will not go to my Son, ye shall not have one drop, ye shall die in your sins. This is my well-beloved Son, says he, look ye hear him: harken to him: obey him: be ruled by him: bow down unto him: do as he bids you: if ye anger him, and will not stoop unto him: if your hearts will not burst, if your minds will not off from the world, and other things, and be wholly intent unto him, if ye slight him, and suffer vain things to draw away your affections and thoughts and meditations from him; there is no redemption for you. No Salvation but only by believing in his name, he hath all the seven Spirits of God, no Spirit of Grace at all can be had but only of him, he was the Rock, that Moses must stand on, that the glory of God's goodness might pass before him.  
Secondly, Another use is, hath Christ the seven Spirits of 
Use 2.  God? then we are without excuse: if we be without the Holy Spirit of God, Christ hath him to give: and yet how few will seek him of Jesus Christ! as Christ says, Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life. Joh. 5. 40. That is, if ye would come unto me, I would make your dead hearts to live, I would quicken you to all goodness, I would pour my Holy Spirit upon you: But you will not come unto me, for it. This makes us without excuse, That Christ hath the Spirit in him, for all that have a mind to him, and we have no mind. How few among you to this very day have gotten yet God's Holy Spirit? Ye pray, but ye have not the spirit of supplieation, to pray by, to lift up your hearts, to enliven your desires, to be able to wrestle with God to any purpose, no Spirit of grace stirring in you. When ye come to the house of God, ye hear Sermons but the Holy Ghost does not fall upon you to make them effectual and mighty in operation, to convert you to God, to knock off your base lusts: ye are dead in all holy duties, void of all Heavenly graces, dull to every good thing, even as the Body without the spirit is dead. Nay the Spirit of the world dwelleth in most men tying and glving them to the things here below, and will not let them savour and relish the things of Heaven. Whereby they cannot cease from sin nor work the works of God. Rare is that man, nowadays, that hath the Holy Spirit of God remaining in him in any measure: nay if people were asked, whether they have the Spirit of God, yea or no, their own Conscience could answer. No they have not: they never felt any such Divine guest; their earthliness and lumpishness of heart in all the ordinances of God, their unaquaintednesse with God, their unsettledness, and nakedness, and blindness in all the ways of peace, plainly does declare it; and yet they will not come unto Christ that they might have life: he hath the seven Spirits of God, and yet they cannot find in their hearts, to be instant and earnest with him, when Pharaoh appointed Joseph to distribute corn to all comers; Go to Joseph, says he, Gen. 41. 55. the Text says, all Countries came to Joseph for Corn, because the famine was sore in all lands. But God hath appointed his own Son to be a dispenser of the Spirit, and there is a sore want of the spirit every where in all Towns and Parishes, and yet hardly any will come in. Certainly, this is the condemnation, that men intent their pleasure, and their profits, and every outward thing, and never seek to Jesus, to have the Holy Spirit of God.  
For First, many of us have hard hearts that cannot melt at our own sins, nor the public provocations whereby God is provoked, nor the general calamities of the Church: our hearts are like a stone, and we are not affected, nor can be affected, no relenting at the Word, no bleeding in any other good duty, nothing moves us: the spirit could soften, yea, and take the stone away, and Christ says he would give him unto us, if we did desire him. I will put a new Spirit within you, and take the stony heart out of the flesh. Ezek. 11. 19 He hath spirit enough in him to do it, and yet we will not sue to him but in a feigned manner, and so a hard heart possesseth us still, which mars all our familie-duties, and all that we do in the public assemblies: nothing comes of all that we do. If our foolish hearts would come down to be fervent after Christ, this might be be remedied. He hath the seven Spirits of God for the nonce. But a spirit of slumber bewitches us, and and nothing can awaken us to this very day. Never was there a more hard-hearted time, never more hard-hearted Christians, numbed, and past feeling, wishing indeed the things might be mended, but never putting forth our hand to have them mended.  
Secondly, scarce any of us can pray, but in a blunt-hearted-wise: our prayers never stir Heaven, never give so much as a lift to any of our lusts, neither are they any whit answerable to the miseries that are on us, whether Personal or national, the spirit could help us, and enlarge us, as Paul says of the good Romans, Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby ye cry Abba Father. Rom. 8. 15. and Christ hath this Spirit in his hand, to give. But we would rather sit woulding and yawning then be down on our knees before God. Every one almost hath heavy things that he is conscientious of: terrible guiltiness, horrible misgivings, self-condennings, uncertainties about his later end, doubtfulness whether any thing be sound, yea or no; and yet no heart of prayer, no strainings after Christ to have the Holy Spirit of him. Nay, tittle tattle is preferred before coming about Christ: and every idle business more takes up our thoughts, then how we may enjoy Jesus Christ.  
Thirdly, where is the man well-neer, that is holy? some indeed are civil, and not very many, no, not of them that would be held for Professers. For what Civility, Honesty is there, when people are palpably proud, and palpably covetous, and palpably malicious, and spiteful, and envious? but, put case many be Civil; yet holiness is hardly any where to be seen. Where are any that are mortified unto sin? Crucified to the world? Pilgrims on earth, Heavenly-minded? taken up with God? The Spirit indeed, is a Spirit of Holiness, Rom. 1. 4. And Christ hath him to give but he cannot have our custom: We are not thirsty after such matters.  
Fourthly, Where is the Communion of Saints? a Theme I spoke of the last Sabbath day. We are all like unto Ephraim. Ephraim hath mixed himself among the people. Hos. 7. 8. that is, they had no Communion of Saints there among them. They were a mish-mash people; there was a Chaos and a confusion and a medley among them. If there be any that bear the name of Saints; They are like Lambs feeding all alone in a large place. Like Israel when they are scattered. Hos. 4. 16. Lambs without flocks: Birds without mates: As if they were all frighted asunder: No Communion of Saints, no Communion of graces, nor duties, nor hearts, nor affections. I confess if we had the Holy Spirit of God, we would make a communion among us: As Paul says. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all, Amen. 2 Cor. 13. 14. He would make a Commuinon among us, and Christ hath him too, and there we might have him, but we care not for him: which is a most fearful thing: a sign of horrible deadness and livelesnesse in good: as it is with the boughs of a tree, when they are dead, they fall off, but they hang together as long as they are alive. Though communion of Saints, be an Article of our faith, yet we let it die. We see in nature, if we sling any meat to a Hen, presently she cluckes for all her Chickens to have part: So, look what graces we get, we should impart what we can: the Lord hath appointed mutualgiving good example unto one another, edifying one another, exhorting one another, admonishing one another, comforting one another, conferring one with another, supplicating one with and for another. As it is said, Luke 5. 10. That Simon and James and john were partners in their fishing, look what fishes they caught, they divided among one another; so Christians should be partners. What they get at a Sermon, they are to impart, What they get in prayer, or at Sacraments, or in affliction; there be others that should be partners with them: as the Apostle says, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Phil. 2. 4. O says he, if there be any fellowship of the Spirit, thus it must be, that is, the Spirit would breed this fellowship and communion among you. Now, Beloved, where is this holy Spirit to be had but in Christ? I say we are without excuse, if we do not get the Holy Spirit of God, Because Christ hath him for us, if we would resort to him, and therefore we can have no plea.  
First, We cannot plead, we have no need of the holy Spirit of God: what need we have him, as long as we believe there is such a one? Is it needful we should have him? ay, that it is; why else did God make his Son to be the dispenser, and the distributer, and communicater of him? O, Beloved, the Lord hath done this, because we cannot be saved without the holy Spirit of God: would we be regenerated and born again; we cannot without the Spirit: That which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit, Joh. 3. 6. We can never be spiritual without the Spirit of God: none but spiritual men and women shall enter into the Kingdom of God. Drunkards, and adulterers, and liars, and muck-worms, and better men than they, are carnal men. Now to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded, this only is life and peace: so that we cannot plead that.  
Again, We cannot be justified without the Spirit of God, Ye may say, O, we hope to be justified only by Faith in Christ; True, but if ye have not the Spirit of God, ye have no Faith, none have true faith in Christ, till first they have the holy Spirit of God, and therefore it is called the spirit of Faith, that is, a spirit inclining a man unto Christ; bowing of the mind, and heart, and soul, to all heavenly things in Christ, no man can be justified without this, as Paul tells the Corinthians, But ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God, 1 Cor. 6. 11.  
Again, Ye cannot have freewill to do the will of God without the holy Spirit of God. I confess, by nature no man hath freewill: I, but if ye be not more than nature, ye cannot be saved. Ye must have freewill to all the ways of God, or ye cannot be saved. Now ye never can have this without the Spirit of God. Can ye mortify every wicked lust? can ye resist the devil every day? can ye keep out the world, and ward off the temptations of the flesh, ye can never do it while the world stands in a holy course, without the holy Spirit of God. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, 2 Cor. 3. 17. Mark, there is freewill to all these things, that man hath liberty to do supernatural things, that hath the Spirit of the Lord, and no man else.  
Again, Ye are none of Christ's, if ye have not the holy Spirit of Christ; that is the Mark he brands all his sheep with, as a man says, when he hears tidings of any of his sheep; saith he, if they be mine, they have such a mark: they have an A. and a B. on the left side, or so: so says Christ, if they be mine, they have my Spirit, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his, Rom. 8. 9 Hereby we know that he abideth in us, saith John, by his Spirit which he hath given us, 1 Joh. 3. 24. so that we have need of the spirit, and therefore this cannot be our plea, that we have no need: we have such need of God's holy Spirit, that we cannot be saved without the having of him.  
Secondly, we cannot plead, we know not where to have him. For Christ saith, he hath him to give to all that will receive him. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, saith he, Esa. 61. 1. that is, he is poured upon me, that he may run down upon all them that come to be my members. If Christ indeed had not come, if God had not made him Vehiculum Spiritus, if God had not put his spirit upon Christ, like water in a Fountain, to run out upon all that will hold their hearts under him; then we might have some excuse: Lord ● we know not where to have the Spirit. But the Lord hath told us where we may have him. We may have him in his Son Jesus Christ.  
Thirdly, We cannot plead, we cannot tell how to have him: For as ye know where to have him, so ye may know how to have him too: and ye all do know, if we had a heart we may have him four ways.  
First, By the hearing of the Word: you will say, ye have heard the Word many times; yet ye never received the holy Spirit yet. I answer, that's certain, but it is because ye do not come to it with a greedy yerning heart, with an open ear, and a willing mind to be guided by it. For if ye came thus with this mind, ye would quickly have the spirit. Lord tell me any thing, I do unfeignedly desire for to do it; reprove any thing in me, I do sincerely desire to leave it. Come thus to the Word; I dare say, thou shalt not be one quarter of an hour without the spirit, as Christ saith, Turn ye at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit un to you, Prov. 1. 23. You will say, this is strange, and have I heard so many Sermons, and never got the spirit yet? ay, you never heard Sermons with an honest heart: You shall see, Cornelius and his company got the spirit at the first Sermon that they heard, when Peter Preached, the Holy Ghost fell on all those that heard the Word, Act. 10. 44. How so? ye may read there in the Context, O says Cornelius, We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. Ver. 33. Now, if we have the Word daily preached, and we get not the holy spirit of God; we are without excuse.  
Secondly, By Prayer, if we did pray faithfully unto God, we should have the holy spirit, as Christ says: If ye that are evil, can give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luk. 11. 13. You will say, ye have prayed many a time and often, and yet ye find no such thing, and no marvel; when a man's heart prays only by the by: but if ye made it your business, from day to day, if ye would seek for him as for life, and look upon it as more necessary than life itself; than ye should quickly speed: But when ye will give God the blind, and the lame, and your hearts run a whoring after other things; Heaven is not the main of all your care, and study: the Lord knows a hollow heart, and can tell how to deny it: none shall have his spirit, that do not desire him above all things, and labour after him above all things, and use all manner of means for him. The Spirit of God is a great gift, and we must know its an infinite mercy to obtain him, and therefore we must seek him accordingly. They that get him, do not go dreamingly to work.  
Thirdly, By repentance; this is another means to obtain the Holy Ghost, as the Lord saith, Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God, etc. Joel 2. 13. what follows? And after that I will pour my Spirit upon you, saith he, ver. 28. Never think to have Gods holy Spirit, and live after the flesh, or go on in a form, or a careless way: not only drunkenness and whoredom, and capital sins, keep him out, but any other lusts and corruptions, that the heart clings unto; Rend your hearts then, let your drowsy doings pain you at the heart, let all your security, and unbeleef, and luke warmness, whereby ye part stakes with God, let all these be a burden unto you, and you heavy laden with them: this is the way-making for the Spirit of Gods coming in.  
Fourthly, Take no denial, let not ill-successe beat you off; this is that which thrusteth back thousands: They find little success at the first, and so they give over. But, Beloved, this is it, howsoever we find cold success in our holy labours, at the first, yet we must go on, though we do not find our lusts die, though we do not find that speeding in Prayer that we could wish, that prevailing in our endeavours, that we do desire, yet still we are to go on, and still wait upon God, in abounding in our care, until the Lord grant us better success. The hard success that we have, must not hinder us, as the Apostle saith, Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due time we shall reap, if we faint not, Gal. 6. 9 That is, let us not be discouraged with hard successes, or any other such like thing: certainly, if we go on we shall speed. When the Wisemen came seeking for Christ at Jerusalem, they had no good success there, they did not find him there, yet they would not return back without him; But they went down to Bethlehem, and sought for him there. When the Church had sought Christ in her bed, she had no success for that time. I sought him, says she, but I found him not, Cant. 3. 1. What, would she give over because of her bad success at the first? No, she trudged out into the Lanes and the streets, she enquired of the watchmen and still she had little or no success. But the Text saith, she would never give over, till she light upon him. Beloved, we must take heed of this. It is the impatience of men's hearts, if they cannot find a blessing at first dash, they will seek no further, than they strike into a former, or a worse condition: In the first of Haggai, ye may read, that when the Jews had been hindered by Cambyses, from building of the Temple for a fit, they gave over: Because they had no success, they would build no more, but fell a building their own houses, ver. 4. ye know it was their sin, and the Lord plagued them for it. Therefore, Brethren, it must be our care, although we do not speed at the first, not to slacken, or give in: As Isaac would still be building▪ Wells, he built one, and that had no success, he built another, and that had as bad; still there fell out strife, what then? did he give over so? No, he never would have done, till the Lord gave him a Rehoboth, a Well that there was no striving about, Gen. 26. 22. so, we should never be quiet, until the Lord give us his holy Spirit; though we do not feel his workings in us at the first, no bad successes though never so many, should make us weary: But still we should go on, a seeking of the holy Spirit of God. Thus, as we know where to have the Spirit of God, namely in Christ, so, we know how too, and therefore we are without excuse, if we suffer ourselves to be void of God's holy and blessed Spirit; this is the second use.  
Thirdly, another Use, is, to you that do indeed complain 
Use 3.  of great want of the Spirit: here you see where ye may have supplies even from our Lord Jesus Christ, he hath the seven Spirits of God. They labour to know Christ more and more: this is the way to have more and more of the Spirit, as the Apostle saith: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, Ephes. 1. 17. Get the knowledge of Christ more and more, and thus the spirit shall come to thee more and more. It is said of the Indian Gymnosophists, that they would lie all the day long, looking upon the Sun in the firmament, so should Christians do, they should lie looking upon Christ, the more spirit still they shall have, if they do so.  
First, May be ye want spirit to make you know the Lords will, you find yourselves backward from day to day: little or no heart to God's Commandments; look up to Christ, and say, Lord there is enough spirit in Christ, and he hath it for all them that do want, and would have the same; O give me some together with him, as he says, I will put my Spirit into you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, Ezek. 36. 27. q. d. look up to me, I will do this for you.  
Secondly, May be ye want strength, ye have many temptations, and you have no strength to resist them, they come in upon you like the breaking in upon you; may be ye are tempted to deny all, and to say ye have nothing in you; sometimes ye are tempted to give over all, saying, it is but a folly, I shall one day be damned, and I were as good give over now, as to do it afterwards, when it will be worse, and ye have no strength to hold out; sometimes ye cannot meditate; ye cannot pray, ye are fain to break off in the midst; with base fears; with security, and vain hopes; you are tempted to do as the world does, and ye have no strength to oppose them: Look up to Christ, ye know the Spirit of Christ, is a spirit of power, and strength, 2 Tim. 1. 7. and he hath him for you: Look up to him then, and cry for his strong spirit. Who knows? may be, you may be able to say in the end, as Paul does: I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.  
Thirdly, May be, ye want boldness to call God your Father: ye are in a quandary, whether ye should call him so or no: ye are afraid, he is none of your Father, and that ye are none of his adopted ones: ye shall but blaspheme him to call him your Father, or to expect of him a child's portion; Look up to Christ, he hath such a spirit in him, whereby ye may cry, Abba Father, Gal. 4. 6.  
Fourthly, May be ye want life and quickening, you find yourselves very dead, even as the Church of Sardis in this place; I know thy works, that thou art dead. Look up to Christ, as here he does bid thee, he hath the seven Spirits of God, and hath that which will quicken thee. Christ himself, when he was naturally dead, he was quickened by his own spirit, 1 Pet. 3. 18. That very spirit can quicken thy spiritual deadness, to every good word and work. His spirit is life, and that will make thee lively, though thy heart be little better than a Timber-logge in duties, yet if that spirit get within thee, it will make thee agile, and active in every good thing. It is a horrible thing to see, how little, Christians know of Jesus Christ, though they have been thought to know Jesus Christ so long a time, yet they do not know him. Christ takes this very ill, as he told Philip: Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me, Philip? Joh. 14. 9 Christ could be even angry with him, for learning him no better: what little spirit is there in Christians now adays! a sign, though they have been a long time a learning Christ, yet they hardly know him: For if we knew him, Brethren, we could not be at enmity with the holy Spirit. We do not look up to Christ.  
You will say, what is it to look up to Christ in all your ways?  
I Answer, It is to follow Christ, as where John said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.  
The Text says, That two of his Disciples went away and followed after Jesus, Joh. 1. 36, 37. O thought they, is he the Lamb of God, does he take away the sins of the world, we will follow him then. John bade them look at him, and they followed after him, that is, they looked at him indeed, as a man looks at one whom he follows: when a man so looks up to Christ, that he follows him: when a man sees him his only means to be happy, and godly, and in the favour of God, the only means to do well, and to be well, and desires indeed to follow after him, this is to look up to Christ, when a man labours sincerely to follow the counsel and direction of Christ, in all his ways; He bids him to deny himself, and that is the thing that he labours for; He bids him to repent of all his sins, and to ply himself to all Gods holy paths, and to rely upon him for strength and acceptance, and mercy and pardon, and every blessing. whatever thing he looks for at the hands of God, he sets himself to follow Christ's counsel, and to expect it in him. If he see his sins, he looks up to Christ, and there he sees his death to defray them; when he sees what power they have over him, he looks up to Christ for his Spirit to subdue them, in the use of all those means that he hath appointed; Prayer, Meditation, Watchfulness, Striving, Purposing, Endeavouring, and Fight against all the lusts of his flesh. And wherein soever he fails, he labours to be humbled, and yet to look still up to Christ, for forgiveness, and more help against another time: This is to see the Son of God. Every one that sees the Son, hath everlasting life, Joh. 6. 40. This is to look up to Christ, to believe in Christ, to have Christ, to be in Christ, to dwell in Christ, and Christ in him.  
But you will say, I am afraid I never looked up to Christ then, I never yet had him, for I have not his holy spirit, how shall I know whether I have the holy spirit? I Answer, first, I will tell thee, what be not signs; and then secondly, what be signs.  
First, What be not signs, there are four signs that people take to be signs, and are not: First, a civil Life, when a man is a merciful man, kind to the poor, quiet and peaceable among his Neighbours, gentle, affable, courteous, well-conditioned; These are no signs of having Gods holy Spirit: True, they are very commendable, and they that have the Spirit of God, must have them, and better than them. But a man may be without the holy Spirit of God, and yet have all these; Paul shows that the very Barbarians showed him no little kindness, they kindled him a fire, though they were mere natural men, Act. 28. 2. Our Saviour Christ shows that some are chaste by nature, that are born so; so, many are temperate by nature, and loving by nature, and meek by nature, patient by nature; therefore, these are no supernatural graces, these are no signs of the holy spirit.  
Secondly, the profession of Religion▪ This is no sign of the Holy Spirit neither for many profess they know God, and ye are reprobate to every good work. Tit. 1. 16. that is, many profess Religion, they will hear the Word, they will have prayers in their families, they will be of the better side in their Parish where they are, if there be any godly ones, they will be of their Company, if they can, and seem to to do as they do, and yet they have a carnal heart, they do very good works every day, but they have a Reprobate and unapproved heart in them. They do not do them right.  
Thirdly, Every kind of repentance is not a sign neither, we read that Pharaoh Confessed, his sin, and desired the prayers of God's people. Exod. 9 27. Saul wept for his sins. 1 Sam. 24. 16. Judas made restitution: Esau bought repentance with tears. The world think certainly these were times of God's Spirit; no, no: They were only Common effects of the spirit. The wicked may in a sort repent of their sins and beat them down too, but the truths is, they do not mortify them. Like as if a man should come into a garden, and see how a mole hath cast up the earth, and made a fowl stir in the Alleys, and in the Garden knots, if he tread it only down with his foot, and do not kill the Mole, anon after it will be as bad as before, so many wicked men may do, they may beat down their sins every day, but they rise up still as bad as before; now they beat them down, and so their lusts like the Mole cast up again. Thus the Mole is not killed. This is no sign of the Spirit. But a godly heart, he kills the Mole, he mortifies his sin, indeed new Moles may breed, and cast up again; but he rids his soul more and more.  
Fourthly, Every kind of faith neither, is not a sign of God's holy Spirit, ye know the stony ground Believed, Luk. 8. 13.  
Secondly, Now, for those signs that be▪ First, When a man is sound convinced of his sins; This is an act of Gods holy Spirit, Joh. 16. 8. When a man hath the unction from the Holy one, The Text says, that abides for ever, where it is, The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you. 1 Joh. 2. 27.  
Secondly, When a man hath had a sound prick for his sins, this lets in the Holy Ghost▪ as Peter told his hearers, That were pricked in their hearts. Act. 2. 37. he told them they should receive the Holy Ghost.  
Thirdly, When a man hath had an unsatisfiable desire of reconciliation with God, as it is said of Paul, that when he was rightly touched by the spirit indeed, he could neither eat nor drink▪ Act. 9 9 he could not be quiet, till Ananias came and told him he was reconciled with God.  
Fourthly, When a man is another, and a new creature, Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature, 2 Cor. 5. 17. the Spirit of God, where▪ ere He is, He is a new spirit, and He carries with him a new heart▪ Ezek. 36. 26. He works a thorough change, and he renews mind▪ will, and affections, inclinations, memory, appetite, members and all: He does not only new-plaster them over, but he pulls a man quite down, and builds him up a new habitation of God, as Christ told the Centurion, if I come, I will heal thy servant, so, if Christ do once come with his spirit into any man's heart, he heals it, he works a mighty mutation in that man into another man, as Paul tells the Corinthians, Ye were drunkards, but now ye are washed, ye were railers, ye were adulterers, ye were covetous, ye were unrighteous, But now ye are washed, 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10, 11. As Paul says, I was a blasphemer, and I was a persecuter, but blessed be God, now I have obtained mercy. Now I am not the man that I was; I was a liar, but now, blessed be God, I have the lip of Truth; I hated them that were godly, but blessed be God, now they are the dearest people to me in the world.  
Fifthly, when a man does supernatural good things; natural good things, a natural man may do, without the holy spirit of grace: when you see a man list up a hundred, or two hundred pound weight, you will say. ay, this he may do by nature; But if you should see a man lift up five thousand pound weight, you will say▪ there is more than nature in him: so, beloved, when you see a man loves sin and comes to be vain, and cannot abide to be strict; if he be strict a little, he is soon weary of it, and lays it aside; you may know this man hath not the spirit of God in him, but if ye see you love holiness, and hate every evil thing, that nothing humbles you so much as sin, nothing takes you up so much as how to please God; now ye may know the spirit of God is in you, Why? This is above Nature. This then is another Use.  
Lastly, Hath Christ the seven Spirits of God, to give them to all that will come unto him? then what may Christ say to them that are contented without him, that have no care at all to come at him, that like not his government, that will not draw water at his Well? He hath taken pains to procure a stock of grace for them, to provide Merits enough for them, a salve broad enough for all their sores, spirit enough to pour into all their hearts; and when he hath done all this, they regard other things more than him. Truly, he may say as David did, when he was told of Nabals churlish answer, Surely, in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath, in the Wilderness. 1 Sam. 25. 21, Even so may Christ say: surely, in vain have I suffered for these men; in vain have I come out of my Father's bosom for them; in vain did I die upon the cross: They will have none of my ware, they respect not my graces, they will not come at me for my holy Spirit, etc.   
Revel. 3. 1. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write: these things, saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art dead. These things, saith he, that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. 
THese words contain the Description of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom this Epistle is sent unto the Church in Sardis, and in particular to the Minister there, who is here called the Angel of the Church in that place. And the description does instance in two royalties of our Saviour Jesus Christ.  
First, That he hath the seven Spirits of God, that is, he hath the Holy Ghost, and all his spiritual graces in his hands, to give to whomsoever he pleases, for the quickening of them, and the sanctifying of them, that if any of his members want spirit, or any spiritual good, he hath it for them: These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God: This we handled the last day.  
Now we proceed to the second Royalty of our Lord Jesus Christ, That he hath the seven Stars, he speaks of the seven Churches of Asia, Christ hath all their Ministers in his hands, and he calls them stars.  
First, because the stars do direct: It's a great help when Mariners can see a star in a dark night. When Paul and they that sailed with him could see neither Sun nor Star, the company were without all hope of coming safe to Land, Act. 27. 20. they knew not what to do, when there was not a star to be seen: The stars serve for direction in the night. So good Ministers are for direction unto people, they serve to direct people to Christ. Like the star in the East; When the Wisemen saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy, Matth. 2. 10. that star directed them to Christ, it went before them all the way, and showed them where to find Christ: so a poor soul rejoices to find a godly Minister; O thinks he, he is a star to direct me to Christ.  
Secondly, Because the stars do shine, so good Ministers do shine forth, and hold out a light, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death. Ye are the light of the world, says Christ, Matth. 5. 14. when a man sits in a dark house, he cannot see to do any thing, but if one come and open a window, or a casement, and letteth in light, now he may see to go about his business: so, Beloved, people that dwell in dark Parishes, where no sound Ministry of the Word is, they know not what to do to be saved: they err, they wander, they grope, they stumble and fall, they see not how to be godly, and happy for evermore. But when a faithful Minister comes, now light is let in, and those that have a mind to go to Heaven, now they may see the way thither, so that in this sense too, Ministers are stars.  
Thirdly, Because stars have influence upon these inferiors bodies, as God says of the Pleyades and Orion, which are a company of stars in the heavenly Orb. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleyades, or lose the bands of Orion? Job 38. 31. the stars have influences into things here below. The Pleyades open the earth, they make herbs and flowers grow, the spring is when they arise once, Trees begin to sprout, and the plants do wax green; Orion, it produces cold, the Winter comes when that shows itself; the stars have a great influence into sublunary bodies, so it is with Ministers. Bad Ministers are like the stars of Orion, they serve to cool people's hearts, and dead them to all goodness. But good Ministers are as the stars of Pleyades, no soul can have any mind in him to that which is good, but they do exceedingly help and further, they quicken the heart, they warm and fructify the souls of Gods Elect.  
Again, the Stars do hang high, so the Ministers of Christ are set high; they hang high, that all the people may have the benefit of their glistering. Zachany calls them the Prophets of the most High, And thou child, shalt be called the Prophet of the most High, Luk. 1. 76. But I have handled this Point in effect, when I spoke of Ministers being Angels, and therefore I will omit it now. Thus ye see the Ministers are stars. Now he calls them seven, because he speaks of seven Congregations, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Seven Churches, seven Congregations, and every one had their several stars. Whence we see that every Parish should have a particular faithful Minister. Paul appointed Titus, to ordain Elders in every City, Tit. 1. 5. The Apostles ordained Pastors, and Elders in every Church, Act. 14. 23. So it was in the time of the Law, as the Text says, Moses of old time hath in every City them that Preach, being read in the Synagogues every Sabbath day, Act. 15. 21.  
The Reason is, first, because those Towns that have not a faithful Ministry in it, generally do all perish. I do not deny, but some souls in such blind places may come otherwise to be converted and saved, but generally they perish for ever, that live in such places: as the Evangelist says of Galilee. True, they had sorry Priests, but they had not a faithful Ministry. says he, The people sat there in the region and shadow of death, Matth. 4. 16. that is, till they had a better Ministry, they were in a damnable estate. So that it is a pitiful thing, when any Town or Parish are without a faithful Ministry, no star of Heaven shining among them.  
Secondly, because when people have no faithful Minister of their own, generally they care not for removing of their dwelling, neither will they go a mile or two for the means, they content themselves with what fare they have at home, though it starve them to death: Like the people under the false Prophets, they liked them well enough. My people love to have it so, Jer. 5. 31. Nay, they love such prophets better than them that would deal plainly with them; Nay, there be many, that when they have a faithful Minister at home, will be sneaking out, to a drunken Minister abroad, they would rather live under such a one.  
Thirdly, Another Reason why every Church should have its particular Star; every congregation had need of a faithful Ministry of their own: Because, if there be any godly Soul, or any one that desires the salvation of his Soul, and lives under a blind guide, he cannot go out, without giving very great offence, it will be thought a giddiness, and a flighting of their own Minister at home; now if every Parish had a sound Ministry in it, this would not be: When people came out of every Parish round about unto John, they had no Pastor of their own, but they came flocking unto John, no question but this bred heartburning against John: ay, and ill-will against those people, that would not be satisfied with what teaching they had in their own Synagogues. Now, I say, if every Parish had its several shining Star, this would not be.  
Fourthly, When some Parishes have their Stars and many have not. This casts in a bone of discord between Ministers, for they that are idle, and vain, and scandalous, will envy them that spend themselves in giving light. Again, the people of such Parishes have many times occasion of conversing together, and falling into one another's company. Now, how will this harden one another's hearts, when people shall say, God's blessing on our Minister's heart, he does not meddle or make with us, we may do what we will for all him! who would dwell in such a Parish as yours is? we hear he keeps a horrible stir with you, he will not let you alone, you cannot be merry now and then, but you are sure to hear of it: he is so strict forsooth, and so precise, you must have preaching, forenoon and afternoon, and there is such ado to get precise Constables, that you cannot be quiet. What a woeful thing is this? how does this harden the Country's hearts?  
The Use of this is; first, this shows what a miserable thing 
Use 1.  it is, when a Land is darkened, that hath but a few stars; May be here one and there one, but most places are in darkness, and have none: Beloved, this is a sign of the wrath of God. God is wroth with such a Land, and powers his wrath upon such a people, as the Prophet says. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, is the Land darkened, Esa. 9 19  
Again, secondly, you that have your stars shining among 
Use 2.  you, how are you to bless God, when there are so many places in the world that have none! Suppose the Harvest should be coming, and the earth hath great need of rain, to plump up the ears, the Corn is quite spoilt for want of rain: if it do not rain; Alas! our Corn will be burnt up, and prove little worth. Now if God should rain upon your fields, and not upon your Neighbours: Your Closes, and Leizes have rain, but on the other side of the hedge there is none; What a special mercy is this unto you? As God says, I have caused it to rain upon one City, and caused it not to rain upon another, one piece was reigned upon, and the piece whereupon it reigned not, withered, Amos 4. 7. is not this a great mercy to the owner of that ground where the rain falls, and does not fall elsewhere? so, my Brethren, you that have the spiritual rain in your particular parishes, what a mercy of God is it unto you? when so many Parishes have not one drop of it.  
Again, thirdly, let us take heed lest those few stars that 
Use 3.  yet be, set upon us, and so we be all in darkness, we have a little rain yet, here and there some. O let us repent and be more forward to bring forth more fruit, if we continue to provoke God with our unfruitfulness, as we do, that little shall be taken away from you. When God's Vineyard in Judah became barren, and brought forth no grapes, but wild ones; What says God? I will command the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it, Esa. 5. 6. q. d. I will take away all the rainy clouds: ye shall have clouds still, but they shall be clouds without rain, stars without light and heat, Ministers that shall do you no good, this is a fearful case, and yet God will bring it upon us, for a certain▪ if we do not take heed.  
There be six signs of all the stars vanishing away, that God will take away those few stars, those few godly Ministers away, that are left.  
First, when people will not walk in the light, while they have the light. As our Saviour Christ says: Yet a little while is the light with you, walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you▪ Joh. 12. 35. q. d. ye have the light; a little while the Lord lets you have it, he lets it stay with you a little while longer, but if ye will not walk in the light, the light shall be gone, and ye shall be in darkness, this is an evident sign that the light will surely away from us: what a deal of light is yet held before our faces, and scarce any have a heart to walk in it! When servants are idle, and will not mend their clothes, in the day time at spare hours, why should the Master allow them any candle? so, we have a day among us, and people will not bestir themselves, they go all rent and tottered in their garments, they care not for doing of their business, therefore, the Lord will allow them no candle, he will put out all the lights.  
Secondly, when people grow deader and deader, when they forsake their first love, they were once more earnest for heaven, more tender in Conscience, more eager for good things, more lively in Prayer, more zealous in holy duties, but now they abate, and slacken, they are told of it, and yet they do not amend, when it is once come to this pass, the Lord will remove the faithful Ministry of his Word. To what end should he let it stay any longer? as Christ says to Hphesus, Remember from whence thou art fall'n, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy Candlestiks out of its place, except thou repent, Rev. 2. 5. this is another sign of the Ministeries departing away from us, Candle and candlestick will away, for we will not amend. We have been told of our formality, we have heard whole Sermons against our luke warmness, and against our declinings, and yet nothing will fetch us up again. We will not think sound from whence we are fall'n, we will not be persuaded to do our first works, our hearts are grown senseless, and nothing can pluck them up, therefore how can we hope but our candlestick will be removed, and quickly too.  
Thirdly, when people wax weary of God's Ordinances, they are even cloyed with them, like the Israelites there in Amos, when will the New Moon be gone that we may fallen corn? when will the Sabbath be over, that we may set forth Wheat? Amos 8. 5. q. d. here is such ado with Lectures, and Sermons, we can hardly have time for our Markets: such ado with the Sabbath, it is so tedious, so irksome, we are not able to hold out, Prayers in the Family come so fast about, and duties come so thick, we have hardly any space for our other businesses. Ministers require so much of us, Sermons are so strict, Sacrifices are so often, we can have no breathing: thus people are cloyed, they are full fed, they care not much if they had less, nay, some will not stick to say it, and others that in their hypocrisy will not say it, yet they have no stomach, no appetite, there is so much Word, that they are not able to digest it, neither have they any mind to concoct it; therefore mark there what follows. Behold! the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord, ver. 11. that is, you are more afraid of a famine of bread, ye would be more troubled if you had no Bread to eat, nor liquor to drink, you care not so it be not that famine. But think what you will, I will send you a worse famine than that, a famine of hearing of God's Word. Ye shall have Preaching little enough. Little enough food for your souls, seeing ye will be filthy, ye shall be filthy; seeing ye will be heartless towards heavenly things, ye shall be heartless; ye shall be hardened, ye shall be let alone; and the blind shall lead the blind, and both shall fall into the ditch; the wicked shall lead the wicked, wicked Ministers the wicked people, and both shall perish together: and then though ye would never so fain have a Sermon that may come to the Conscience, ye shall be long enough before ye shall hear it: Ye shall starve for want of spiritual knowledge: starved to death for want of life: Seared in your sins; ye shall have no Sermons to dispossess you of Satan, no teaching to purge your hearts, to humble your souls before God, or to minister the Spirit unto you, ye are weary of the sound Ministry of the Word, therefore ye shall not be troubled with it. This then is another sign that God will take away those few Stars that are yet remaining. And then woe be to you.  
Fourthly, when there are hardly any sons of peace, that the Ministers peace may light upon, than the Lord bids them pack away: Like the Market folks, when they see their Commodities lie upon their hands, they take up their Commodities lie upon their hands, they take up their Commodities, and go home. O say they, people will give nothing, they will not give our price, we and our children will have them for our own selves, rather than we will part with them for nothing. So they go away, so, God's Ministers go away, when the Market is dead, no Customer will come to their stalls. So Paul and Barnabas went away from the Jews, Ye put off the word from you, and therefore, lo, we turn unto the Gentiles, Act. 13. 46. q. d. ye will have none of it, we have offered it to you, and we were bid to do so, but ye put it off from you, therefore fare ye well. Die in your sins. So people now put off the word of God, our Doctrine sinks no where almost; one puts it off from him, another puts it off from him: Like as the Cities of the Philistims did with the Ark. The men of Ekron, they cried out, and do you bring it to us? and so the men of Ashdod, said, and it shall not abide with us. 1 Sam. 5. 7. Every one put it off, they would have none of it.  
Fifthly, when people oppose, they are so far from repenting at the preaching of the Word, that they fall to oppose, and to mis-use the bringers of it, as the Jews did Saint Paul. The Text says, He shook his raiment at them, and told them, your blood be upon your own heads, and away he went, Act. 18. 6. when people lay their heads together, how they may heave out the Minister, many times God gives them leave for to do it, that they may bring evil on their own heads, the Lord lets them have their cursed wills, to their own utter destruction and condemnation.  
Sixthly, when God hath sent all his Ministers that ever he means to send: He sent one Minister, and they would not hear him, he sent another after him, and they would not hearken to him neither, a man would wonder, surely God will send no more, well, may be God in his great goodness sends another good man, and he does what he can, but the people will do wickedly still. Yea, but when God hath sent all that He means to send, now he will send no more; as God did with Judah. I have sent unto you all my servants the Prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, return from your evil ways, but ye have not inclined your ear unto me, Jer. 35. 15. when God had sent all, than he would send no more.  
You will say, how can this be a sign? when God hath sent all that he means to send: who can tell that?  
I Answer, Beloved, God may show it plainly, that God hath sent even all that he means to send; when he blocks up the way, that more cannot be suffered to come to us, than those that are come, when such courses are laid, that ne'er a faithful one more is permitted to enter; when Gods faithful ones are forbidden to Preach, as Paul says, They forbid us to Preach. When people will have Pashur's, and not Jeremiah's: When there be Laws made, Look ye speak no more in his name: When they say to the Seers, see not, and to the Prophets prophesy it. When the good Levites are made to go away, and to leave their own places, as it was in Jeroboams time, 2 Chron. 11. 14. Again, when the shadows wax long, it is a sign that the Sun is going down.  
The reason why God will take away all his Stars, when matters are come to this pass, is,  
First, because it is but lost labour, and Cost cast away, to administer physic to such patients whose diseases are desperate: my Brethren, God is a wise physician, and he knows whom he hath to deal with: when he sees men rend in pieces his Prescripts, and pull off his plasters, and vomit up his wholesome potions, that he gives them for their good; he gives them up for gone, he will be their Physician no longer. This was the reason why God did leave Judah, Thy disease is incurable, Jer. 30. 12.  
Secondly, because it is not only lost labour, but it is worse than lost, to let such people have the Ministry of the word: it makes them much worse. Why should ye be smitten any more? ye will revolt more and more, Esa. 1. 5. why should ye be preached to any more? ye will, etc.  
Thirdly, Because if men will needs go on in their sins, God would rather they should do so without his word, then with it: as a husbandman, if the ground be stark barren, he would rather never plough it, and sow it with seed, then to have it barren after the seed sown; when people will needs be wicked, God would rather have them do all their wickedness out of his sight, then in it, I will cast you out of my sight, Jer. 7. 15. God cannot abide to look upon a people, that will have their own ways; they anger him more, when they commit all their wickedness under his Word; God looks towards a people when he sends them his holy Word, he looks upon them to do them good, he looks towards them in pity, and calls them to repentance, that they may find favour with him, and therefore, if they do evil now, this provokes him more a thousand times. A drunkard where the word is truly preached, an adulterer there, a muck-worm there, a proud person there, a profane wretch there; I say, this angers him more a thousand thousand times. The times of ignorance, God winked at, Act. 17. 30. If your sins were committed in blind Parishes, God would wink at you, in a manner, that is, your damnation should be less. God would excuse you himself, in some measure. Alas! poor creatures, they know not what they do; let them have less hell, they do not deserve so many plagues; he winks at the wicked that live without his Word: But you that live under the word, he cannot wink at you. He will punish you to the full. O! Beloved, above all things, the Lord cannot abide that people should be wretched and vain under his Word: But I will pass over this point. Thus ye see they are seven Stars, every Congregation had its Star, every Church had its Minister.  
Now in the next place, we see here that Christ hath these seven Stars. These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. Christ hath the seven stars. Christ is said to have the seven stars, in five respects.  
First, in respect that they have their mission from him, secondly, in respect they have their Commission from him, thirdly, in respect they have their abilities from him, fourthly, in respect they have their success from him, five, in respect they have their Protection from him; of these in their order.  
First, they have their Mission from him. It is Christ that sends forth all true Ministers: As my Father hath sent me, so send I you, Joh. 20. 21. it is Christ that sends Ministers to the Church, as he told Jerusalem: Behold I send unto you Prophets, and Wisemen, and Scribes, Matth. 23. 34. He called the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two, etc. Mark. 6. 5. So he called the seventy and sent them also, Luk. 10. 1. so it is Christ that sends Ministers to this day. True, the Church does ordain them; I, but if they be not sent by him too, they are intruders. Now when he sends them, they are his Ministers, though it be the Church that puts them into Orders. As it is with a true Constable, though the Parish choose him, yet he is the King's Officer, and does things in the King's name; so it is with every true Minister, Christ hath the sending of him, he is the Minister of Christ, as the Apostle says, Let a man so account of us as the Ministers of Christ, 1 Cor. 4. 1. and therefore look what we do in our Office, we do it in his name. As he said, in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk. So we say unto God's Elect, in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. In the name of Jesus Christ Repent of all your wicked ways, and Believe, and though the world will not stir at our speech, yet they that are elected of God do stir: they are none but the Reprobate, that lie still in their sins, sometime or other we get all▪ the Elect for to hear us.  
The Use of this is; first, for comfort to us that are true Ministers, Christ hath the sending of us, therefore certainly he will be with us in all his errands, the world may be against us, we may meet with many wolves: Behold! I send you as sheep among Wolves; people may threaten and speak their words against us, a foot and a half long; what need we care for all their great speeches, as long as Christ sends us? Christ will be with us for the good of his Elect, in all the course of our Ministry, be it short, or be it long: We shall be useful to them what ever the world do: if there be any that belong to God, we shall find them out, no matter for others. Christ will be with us in the Pulpit, in the prison, in the dog-hole, if ye would put us into it, as Christ told his Ministers, Go and teach all Nations, Baptising them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost, and lo I am with you to the end of the world, Matth. 28. 19, 20. this is our comfort that Christ will be with us, and this is the Elects comfort, they shall be sure to find him with us in our Ministry.  
Secondly, if Christ hath the sending of us, we must be 
Use 2.  sure we do his message, that we perform the work he sends us to do, every messenger should do thus, nay, Christ himself did thus. I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me; Joh. 5. 30. If a Merchant should send a servant beyond Sea, to be a Factor for him, if that servant should go and trade for himself, to get moneys for himself, and an estate for himself, and neglect his Master's business; he may look for a cold welcome home: so when Christ sends us to be Factors for him, to see what Souls we can gain unto him; if we should now seek ourselves, how to be rich, how to be somebody in the world, how to get preferment, and so leave his business undone; we may look for a cold welcome home, when we shall be brought before God. Certainly, if Christ sends us, we should mind his work, glorify Christ, labour to reveal Christ, to win Souls to Christ; this is our business to do. When David sent Hushai to Absalon, to be a factor for him, we see how well he did the message, he turned the counsel of Achitophel into foolishness, he marred all that wicked wretches plots, he did all for David: so we should do all for Christ, we should labour to turn the devils plots into foolishness, to undermine Satan, and where God hath any to save, we shall prevail.  
Thirdly, If Christ hath the sending of us, we must give 
Use 3.  him account when we have done. When Christ had sent his Disciples to preach, they returned again, and gave him account of what they had done, Luk. 10. 17. Lord even the Devils are subject unto us. Lord I have done thus and thus, I have declared all thy whole counsel, I have kept nothing back: I have done thy message, and such and such have heard me, but such and such will not hear me. A messenger is bound to give an account unto him that sends him: nay, the devil himself returned to give an account: when the Lord sent him to tempt Job, he came again, and told what he had done, Job 2. 1. when the children of Dan sent spies to search the land, they came and gave up their account. The very devil may teach us this lesson, to go and give Christ account of what we have done. We see there how they that had received the Talents, how they came and gave in their account, Lord thy pound hath gained ten pounds.  
Fourthly, another Use is to you; what a great mercy is 
Use 4.  this, that Christ should send unto such as you be? If Christ had sent unto you, when ye had sought him and turned unto him, it had been very much, but that he should dispatch messengers to you, when ye had not a thought of him; nay, when ye sinned against him, O what a great mercy is this! It was a great kindness, that Joseph would send unto his Father, and his Brethren, and bid them leave all, and come into the Land of Egypt, and willed them that they should not care for their stuff, for the best of the Land of Egypt shall be yours, ye know his brethren were unkind unto him. Beloved, Joseph was never so unkindly dealt with by his Brethren, as Christ hath been by us, and yet that he should send to such wretches as we are: O leave all, and come unto me, regard not your stuff, regard not your profits, never trouble yourselves with this thing and that thing, for all the best of heaven shall be yours; O what an infinite kindness is this! when he will send such treasures of his to us, by his Ministers. As Joseph filled his brethren's sacks with corn, which they carried to their father's house, in Canaan, to preserve them alive till they came over to Egypt; So the Lord Jesus Christ, hath put his spiritual treasures into a sack, and given them his Ministers to dispense them to their brethren, to nourish them, and preserve them, until they come home to him: he fills his Ministers sacks every week for us, they come with sack-fulls of heavenly and divine truths every week to us, with sack-fulls of food to feed our souls unto eternal life, and when that is spent, he sends us every Sabbath more; and therefore how should we esteem a true Minister that comes to us from Jesus Christ! He is one of a thousand, as Elihu speaks, if there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one of a thousand, to declare unto man his righteousness, than he is gracious unto him, Job 33. 23, 24. that is, then is God gracious to us indeed, such a one is one of a thousand, such a one declares to us our righteousness, he brings to us the righteousness of Jesus. This the Lord Jesus Christ sends unto us, when he sends us a true Minister, he sends us an excellent present, even his own righteousness and merits, and the glad tidings of peace, how we may live and be saved: So that we should be thankful unto God, that Christ sends to us his Ministers, with such precious things. If the King should send to any one of us but five pound, O how would we wonder at it, who ever were the messenger, we would bid such a one welcome, and, what! does the King take notice of me? such a poor man as I? who would have thought that ever he should send such a token to me? what a condescending is this! I tell thee, if thee, if the King should do thus for thee, thou wouldst make very much of it, I, and talk of it too, where ever thou comest; nay, it would make thee glad, and a very joyful man, and it would make thee think thyself highly preferred. O Beloved, and what a horrible shame is this, that the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, should send a messenger to us every day almost, not with five pounds apiece to every one of us, but with all the riches and treasures of heaven, to enrich us for ever, to make us happy for ever, Blessed that ever we were born, and yet that we should not be affected hardly! My Brethren, we that are the Ministers of God, we come with heavenly and glorious things, every day from our Lord Jesus Christ: though we have them but in earthly vessels, yet they are things that the whole world is but dross and dung in comparison of, and therefore think how ye should come to Church; think how ye should come to hear Sermons: Now I come to hear a message from Christ, now shall I hear an Ambassador from heaven, that will break open Christ's Letter to me, a reproof from Jesus Christ, a counsel from Christ, Directions from Christ concerning the framing of my life, Lessons from Christ, how I may come to glory. O, says the Apostle, He hath given to us the Ministry of reconciliation with God: to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now than we are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ his stead be reconciled unto God, 2 Cor. 5. 18, 19 20. q. d. Ah ye poor creatures, God and you are out, ye are enemies of God, by your evil works, the wrath of God hangeth over you, wrath for all your sins; wrath for your drunkenness; wrath for your covetousness; wrath for all your carnal courses; ye lie under the wrath of God, wrath that will damn you, and undo you for ever. Now the Lord of Heaven and Earth hath sent us as Heralds of Peace, we come Ambassadors from the Lord of all glory, we have the word of reconciliation, the word that we preach, will make God and you friends, if ye will believe it. O, we pray you in Christ his stead consider of it, and be reconciled unto God, hear our message, embrace our Embassage: O do not slight what we say to you, we speak to you from Christ, do not receive it as a word only from our mouths, but as indeed it is, the Word of the great God. This is the only Word that can make God and you friends, O how highly does it concern you to submit hereunto!  
How will this judge the world, that the Ministry of the Word, is no more regarded or heeded! When God sends his Ministers unto people, and because forsooth, their flesh and blood does not like it; they look little after it: Whereas this contains eternal life, and if ye reject this, ye reject eternal life. I beseech you judge what I say: Do you meet with a reproof, that crosses your corrupt lusts? I pray you reason the case thus with your own Souls, O let me not put off this reproof, it reproves me of my drunken doings, it reproves me of my security, it reproves me of my sins: if I put it off, I put off the word of reconciliation: This is one of those truths, that comes to reconcile me to God: I stand out in rebellion, and desiance against God, if I do not take it home. So of any other passage of the Word. Still when the Prophets would speak unto the people, this was their voice, The Lord sent me: so says Isaiah, the Lord sent me; and Jeremiah too, the Lord sent me. When they refused to hear what he said: O, says he! Surely the Lord sent me to speak thus unto you. One would think it were enough to strike terrough into the hearts of men, to put off any Sermon, any rebuke, any exhortation, of Christ's Ministers, when they know the Lord sends them. May be, the Minister is as poor a creature as one of you; O, but remember who sends him, as Christ says, he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that refuseth me, refuseth him that sent me, Luk. 10. 16.   
Revel. 3. 1. These things, saith he, that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. 
I Have begun to handle this Epistle, wherein I noted four things:  
First, the inscription, declaring to whom this Epistle is sent, To the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write: that is, to the Minister of the Church, and to the Church itself.  
Secondly, The Subscription, declaring from whom it is sent: These things, saith he that, etc.  
Thirdly, The Substance, or subject matter of the Epistle: I know thy works, etc. Usque ad, ver. 4.  
Fourthly, The Conclusion, He that overcommeth, etc. ver. 5, 6.  
I have already Analysed all this whole Epistle, and Paraphrased upon every part of it, and showed you the meaning of it, and the scope of it; and have made some entrance upon it; namely, to reprove their deadness and coldness in Religion, and to quicken them up unto life, lest the judgement of God fall upon them. I have dispatched the Inscription: And to the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write: and so I pass on to the second: Namely, the Subscription, These things saith, etc.  
These words, as ye heard, contain a description of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom this Epistle is sent. The Description is not a whole and an entire description of him, but only accommodated to the business in hand. And therefore it describes him only from two admirable Royalties that are in him. The first is this, That he hath the seven Spirits of God, that is, he hath the Holy and quickening Spirit, to give him to whomsoever he please, q. d. if ye would be quickened, harken unto me, come unto me, I have all the graces of the Spirit to quicken you withal.  
Secondly, That he hath the seven Stars, that is, as I told you, he hath all the Ministers of the Church in his hand, and at his dispose, These things, saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars, That is, Christ hath all the Stars, all the Ministers of the Church, they are all in his hand. I told you, he is said to have them in five respects: 1. They have their Mission from him. 2. They have their Commission from him. 3. They have their Abilities from him. 4. They have the success of their labours from him. 5. They have their protection from him, he opens their mouths as long as he lists, and shuts them, when he seeth fit so to do.  
I have spoken of the first; The Ministers of Christ have their Mission from Christ, he hath the sending of them, As my Father hath sent me, so send I you, Joh. 20. 21. it is Christ that sends Ministers to the Church, as he told Jerusalem, Behold! I send unto you Prophets, and Wisemen, and Scribes, Matth. 23. 34. He called the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two, Mark. 6. 7. So he called the seventy and sent them also, Luk. 10. 1. so, it is Christ that sends all true Ministers, to this day. True, the Church does Ordain them, I▪ but if they be not sent by him too, they are intruders. Now when he sends them, they are his Ministers, though the Church put them into Orders. As it is with a true Constable, though the Parish choose him, yet he is the King's Officer, and does things in the King's name. So it is with every true Minister, Christ hath the sending of him. He is the Minister of Christ, as the Apostle says, Let a man so account of us, as of the Ministers of Christ. 1 Cor. 4. 1. And therefore look what▪ we do in our Office, we do it in his name. As Peter said, In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. So we say unto God's Elect, rise up and walk, in the name of Jesus Christ repent of all thy wicked ways and believe, and though the world will not stir at our speech, yet they that are elected of God do stir, they are none but the reprobate that lie still in their sins. Sometime or other we get home all the Elect, they hear us, they obey us, they submit to our Doctrine, in the name of Jesus Christ.  
The Use of this is; first, for comfort of the poor Ministers 
Use 1.  of Christ, may be we meet with many wolves in the delivery of his errands. We meet with sour faces, and wry looks, suspensions, oppositions, and such like wolvish dealings, for doing of our message; what need we care for all these, as long as Christ sends us. Certainly, if he send us, he will be with us, as God said to Moses, I send thee, certainly I will be with thee, Exod. 3. 12. he will be with us for the good of his chosen, in all the course of our Ministry, be it short, or be it long. We shall be useful unto them, though the reprobate world will not obey any of our words. Christ will be with us in the Pulpit, in the prison, in a dog-hole, if the wicked put us in it, as Christ said, Go and teach all Nations, and lo I am with you to the end of the world, Matth. 28. 19, 20. This is our comfort, Christ will be with us, and this is the Elects comfort, they shall be sure to find him with us in our Ministry: if we be in the Pulpit, there they shall hear us teaching of them; if in the prison, there they shall have us sealing of the truth to them.  
Secondly, if Christ hath the sending of us, we must be 
Use 2.  sure to do his message, that we perform the work he sends us to do. Every messenger should do thus. I seek not mine own will, saith Christ, but the will of the Father which hath sent me▪ Joh. 5. 30. if a Merchant should send a servant beyond the Seas, to be a Factor for him, if that servant should go and trade for himself, to get money for himself, and an estate for himself, and neglect his Master's business, he may look for a cold welcome home: So when Christ sends us to be Factors for him, to see what Souls we can gain unto him, if we should now seek ourselves, how to be rich, how to be somebody in the world, how to get preferment, and so leave his business undone; we may look for a cold welcome home. Certainly, if Christ sends us, we should mind his work, we should glorify Christ, labour to reveal Christ, to win Souls to Christ▪ This is our business to do.  
Thirdly, If Christ hath the sending of us, we must give 
Use 3.  him account when we have done. When Christ had sent his Disciples to preach, they returned again, and gave him account of what they had done, Luk. 10. 17. Lord even the Devils are subject unto us. Lord I have done thus and thus, I have declared all thy whole counsel, I have kept nothing back: I have done thy message, and such and such have heard me, but such and such will not hear me. A messenger is bound to give an account unto him that sends him: nay, the devil himself returned to give an account: when the Lord sent him to tempt Job, he came again, and told what he had done, Job▪ 2. 1. So we should come again, and tell God what we have done. When the children of Dan sent spies to search the land, they came and related what they had done, so should we do. Lord, behold, here am I, and here are the people that I have begotten by thy Word, and here are the rebels that I could never get to reform their wicked ways. We see how they that had received the Talents, how they came and gave in their account, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. O what a case shall we be in, if we cannot give up a good account at the last day, of what we have done in our places and callings!  
Fourthly, If Christ send us unto you. O, Beloved, what 
Use 4.  a great mercy is this ●● that Christ should send unto such as you be? If Christ had sent unto you, when ye had sought him and turned unto him, it had been very much, but that he should dispatch messengers unto you, when ye had not so much as a thought of him; nay, when ye sinned against him, This was a mercy indeed! It was a great kindness, that Joseph would send unto his Father, and his Brethren, and bid them leave all, and come into the Land of Egypt: O, saith he, regard not your stuff, for the best of the Land of Egypt shall be yours, ye know his brethren were unkind unto him. Beloved, Joseph was never so unkindly dealt with by his Brethren, as Christ hath been by us, and yet that he should send to such wretches as we are: O leave all, and come unto me, regard not your stuff, regard not your profits, never trouble yourselves with this thing and that thing, for all the best of heaven shall be yours; O what an infinite kindness is this! when he will send such treasures of his to us, by his Ministers. As Joseph filled his brethren's sacks with corn, which they carried to their father's house, in Canaan, to preserve them alive till they came into Egypt; So the Lord Jesus Christ, hath put his spiritual treasures, as it were, into a sack, and given them his Ministers to dispense to their brethren, to nourish them, and preserve them, until they come home to him: he fills his Ministers sacks every week for us, they come with sack-fulls of heavenly and divine truths every week to us, with sack-fulls of food to feed our souls unto eternal life, and when that is spent, he sends us every Sabbath more; and therefore how should we esteem a true Minister that comes to us from Jesus Christ! He is one of a thousand, as Elihu speaks, if there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one of a thousand, to declare unto man his righteousness, than he is gracious unto him, Joh 33. 23, 24. that is, then is God gracious to us indeed. When God sends us a messenger from him, such a one is one of a thousand, such a one declares to us our righteousness. Ye know we cannot stand before God without righteousness. Now such a one declares to us righteousness. He brings us the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So that we should be thankful to Christ that he sends us any of his true Ministers. O my Brethren, we that are the Ministers of God, we come with heavenly and glorious things, every day from our Lord Jesus Christ: Though we have them but in earthen vessels, yet they are things, that the whole world is but dross and dung to; and therefore think how ye should come to Church; think how ye should be affected with our message, think with what affections ye should hear our Sermons: Now I come to hear a message from Christ, a Letter from Christ, a Direction from Christ, a reproof from Christ, counsels from Christ, for the framing of my life, now I shall be told, what I may do to inherit glory. O, says the Apostle, He hath given to us the Ministry of reconciliation with God: to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespassesunto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now than we are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ his stead be reconciled unto God, 2 Cor. 5. 18, 19 20. q. d. Ah ye poor creatures, God and you are out, ye are enemies of God, by your evil works, the wrath of God hangeth over you, wrath for all your sins; wrath for all your drunkenness; your covetousness; worldliness; wrath for all your carnal courses; your slighting of heaven and heavenly things, the wrath of God abideth on you. Now the Lord of Heaven and Earth hath sent us as Heralds of Peace, we come as Ambassadors from the Lord of all glory, we have the word of reconciliation, the word which we preach, will make God and you friends again, if ye will believe it, and embrace it. We pray you in Christ his stead to consider of it, be reconciled unto God, hear our message, do not slight what we say to you, we speak to you from Christ, This is the only Word that can make God and you friends.  
O how will this judge the world, that the Ministry of the Word, is no more regarded nor heeded! When God sends his Ministers unto people, and because forsooth, their flesh and blood does not like it; they look little after it▪ Whereas this contains eternal life, and if ye reject this, ye reject eternal life. I beseech you judge what I say: Do you meet with a reproof that crosses your corrupt justs? I pray you reason the case thus with your own Souls, I am reproved for my looseness, and my vain ways, my fashioning of myself according to this world, my fawning, my flattering, my gaming, my scandalous courses, my sinning against light, I have had good education, I have lived under good means, but I am very graceless, if I put off these reproofs, I put off the word of reconciliation: This is the word that comes to reconcile me to God, if I have faith to apply it, but if I put it from me, and do not regard it, I refuse all reconciliation with God. So, when the Word shows you your duty, how to believe, how to live, how to walk, in all holiness and true righteousness. Consider, if ye put it from you, ye put away from you the only word of reconciliation. These are the truths that are sent unto me, to reconcile me unto God: O, if I will have none of them, I cast off the Son of God, and everlasting life. Still when the Prophets would speak unto the people, this was their preface, The Lord sent me: so says Isaiah, the Lord sent me, Esa. 48. 16. so says Jeremiah, the Lord sent me. When they refused to hear what he said: O, says he! Truly the Lord sent me, of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you, to speak all these words unto you. Jer. 26. 15. One would think it wore enough to strike terror into the hearts of men, to put off any Sermon, any rebuke, any exhortation of Christ's Ministers, when they know the Lord sends them. Of a truth the Lord hath sent me to speak all these words unto you. May be, the Minister is as poor a creature in himself, as one of you; O, but remember who sends him, as Christ says, he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth me, and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me, Luk. 10. 16. So much shall suffice to have been spoken of the first way, whereby Christ is said to have the seven Stars, that is, the Ministers of the Church, namely, he hath the sending of them.  
Secondly, He hath them, that is, he hath the giving of them their Commission, as they have their Mission from him, so they have their Commission from him too. They are not only messengers but Ambassadors. This Commission hath two things; first, the heads of their Embassage, that Christ sends them to treat of. Secondly, the authority of their Embassage, that Christ invests them with.  
For the first, the heads of their commission, Christ hath the appointing of them, what they shall treat of, and they are five. First, they shall preach the Word. Go and preach the Gospel to every creature, Mark. 16. 15. Secondly, to remit the sin of all them that do embrace the Gospel, Joh. 20. 23. that is, to pronounce all the promises of the Covenant of Grace, and in particular, forgiveness of sins to all true penitent and believing Souls. Thirdly, to administer the Sacraments of the New Testament, to all the said persons, to whom the promises of eternal life do belong, for the assuring of their hearts, concerning all the things of the Kingdom of God to them in particular, Matth. 28. 19 Fourthly, To build up the Church of God, for the perfecting of the Saints, and the edifying of the body of Christ, until they all come, etc. Ephes. 4. 12. Fifthly, to shut the Kingdom of Heaven upon all that have an evil heart of unbelief, to go on in their sins, and not to stoop to the Sceptre of Jesus Christ, Mark. 16. 16. and in divers other places. These are the heads of their commission, that Christ will have them treat of in their Embassage unto men.  
Secondly, now for the Authority that he invests them with, it is not any carnal or earthly authority, to jet, and to vaunt, or to domineer, as though they were Lords, and God's heritage, 1 Pet. 5. 3. no, says Christ, it shall not be so with you. But he that is greatest among you, he shall be as the least, Luk. 22. 26. and therefore I do not here speak of any earthly authority: No, the Authority that Christ's Ministers have, and they have it from him, is a spiritual Authority: vamely, not only to preach, and to declare forgiveness of sin, and to administer the seals of the covenant, and to build up the Saints, and to denounce wrath and damnation to all that continue in their unregenerate estate through impenitence & unbelief, but to do all these things with a heavenly Power and Authority, to have an Office under Christ for the doing of them, so as to be the very mouth of Christ, and that which they do according to their commission from him, to stand firm and good, for ever and ever. I will give power to my two witnesses. Rev. 11. 3. The Lord hath given me power and authority says the Apostle, 2 Cor. 10. 8. You will say this is great power indeed, all the Kings & Potentates of the earth have not so great power as this, this is a power of life and death, not natural, nor temporary, but Spiritual and eternal, this is a power not oven men's Bodies but over their souls, not in small matters▪ but either for salvation ordamnation. This is a great Commission, how come they by such a great one as this is? O says Christ, I am able to invest them with as much as this comes to. For all power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth. Matth. 28. 18. q. d. I am able to furnish you with all authority and power, go you in my name, and preach you in my name, in my name bid people repent and believe, in my name open heaven to all that do obey, and shut it upon all that do disobey, and I will make it good.  
The use of this is. First, have the Ministers of Christ such 
Use 1.  a Commission from Christ? then they are the greatest Ambassadors, that ever were, or can be. Ambassadors of earthly Kings, have a great Commission, they represent the King's person from whom they come, Alas, what are they to these? they come about petty things, about civil peace, or war and yet they are Lord Ambassadors, they are Lords by their places, they are much respected among men. O then what great Ambassadors are the Ministers of Jesus Christ, that represent the King of King's person, that represent the person of the Lord of Lords, that came to Treat of peace between God and Man, or of open Hostility between the Creator and the Creature? as Paul says now then we are Ambassadors for Christ, As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled unto God, 2 Cor. 15. 20. that is, we have a very great commission, we represent the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come to treat with you about eternity, according as you hear us, or hear us not, so it will be with you unto all eternity. O consider what we have to do, you are enemies unto God from the womb, as long as your sins do remain, ye are enemies still, we come to set you at one again. Ye know the condition, ye know what the heads of our commission be, if ye will not hearken unto them, and submit, ye are damned for ever; if ye do, blessed and happy are ye for evermore, was there ever such a great Embassage as this? as the Apostle says, To make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which, I am an Ambassador in bonds, Ephes. 6. 19, 20. q. d. though the wicked and blind world, look upon me as a schismatic, and a malefactor, and cast me into the prison, and here I am in bonds, they see no such thing in me, as an Ambassador of the great God, yet the truth is, though I be in bonds, they shall know it one day to their cost, who I was, and what a commission I had, and what it is to slight it, and put it off. I am an Ambassador of the mystery of the Gospel, though I be in bonds.  
Secondly, Have some Ministers, such a commission from 
Use 2.  Christ? then let them learn how to behave themselves in their function. My Brethren, Christ hath committed unto us the custody of his own power, and authority, and therefore we are to exercise it in his name, our commission is to charge the great men of the world, Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, 1 Tim. 6. 17. True, we are your servants for Jesus his sake, and we are to be humbled, and to wait upon men of lowest degree, and to condefcend unto men of meanest capacity, and there is a time when we should for loves-sake entreat, but the truth is too, we have power to charge and command, These things command and teach, 1 Tim. 4. 11. These things speak and exhort, and rebuke withal authority. Tit. 2. 15. We must not betray the power and majestical simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have Christ's own power and authority in our ministry, and therefore we are to command you in his stead: as ever you will answer Christ, before his Tribunal at last day, neglect not those things, which we preach to you from him. Now we command you, Brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly, and not after the Tradition which he received of us. 2. Thes. 3. 6. True, we are inferiors to Kings, and Princes, and Magistrates, and the Nobility and Gentry of the land: There be thousands and thousands that are our Betters, in all civil respects; but our Embassage is above all.  
The Lords own Power and Authority goes through the ministry, as a Trunk. As, the King may send a Command to the greatest▪ Nobleman of the Kingdom by the hand of a mean man▪ and he is to hearken to it: though the messenger in himself be his underling, yet his message is above him, and he loses his head if he despise it. So, beloved, we are over you in the Lord, that is in regard of our message. Though we be your inferiors, and some of you be our betters, and we are to stand with Cap in hand to you; yet ye lose your souls; if ye will not hear us, and obey our Embassage. We must not bow to your humours, nor make the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel to bend and comply with human lusts. If Princes and Potentates were by, we must not spare their sins. Nathan deals roundly with King David. Thou art the man. Jehu, with King Jehosaphat, wrath is upon thee from the Lord, because thou hast helped the ungodly. We must let all the world know that Christ whom we preach, is above them all, we must not prostitute Christ's Sceptre, no not at a Monarch's foot. If we be men-pleasers, we are not the servants of Christ. We must not suffer Christ's word to be bound, whosoever is our hearer, whether high or low. We defy popish Divinity that exalt their Antichristan Clergy, above the civil Magistrate. Belarmines' Martin is but a foisted story. But yet in this sense we are above all the Kingdoms of men, as God says, Behold I have put my words in thy mouth, and lo I have set thee this day over Nations and Kingdoms, to plant and to root up, to build and to throw down. Jer. 1. 9 10. Let no man think we are saucy, though we reprove the greatest of you all, as long as we do it in Christ, and from Christ, we are the mouth of the Judge of quick and dead, and he will make our words good; The meanest Sergeant in the King's name dares arrest the greatest Duke. So, my Brethren, we come in the King's name, in Christ his name, and therefore we must not be afraid of your faces, As Paul told Philemon, I have great authority in Christ to command thee, that which is convenient. Philem. 8. We have great authority to command every one of you, to do your Duties towards God, and man. We have Christ for our Author, and therefore he will be a wall of Brass to us. We are his Ambassadors, and therefore our Message is with great power.  
Thirdly, Have we this Commission from Jesus Christ? 
Use 3.  then this may serve to condemn all such as do not obey our Ministry. Though we have all this authority, the very power of Christ himself in our mouths, that equally binds King and Beggar; Yet who obeys our commands? who stirs? who reputes? who submits himself unto our commission? we have called for humiliation, but no man will humble himself▪ We have cried for reformation, and amendment of life, but no man relents; we have read our commission every week unto people, we show them our Letters Patents from the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are counted as idle tales by the most. O what an indignity is this unto our Lord Jesus Christ! we are his Ambassadors, and your standing out against us, is not against us, but against him, and he will repay it. O, says the Apostle, if any man obey not our word, By this Epistle, note that man, 2 Thess. 3. 14. q. d. note him with a brand of infamy, note him as a Rebel against Jesus Christ, look upon him as a wretched miserable creature, take heed of him, avoid him, withdraw yourself from him, point at him, yonder goes a wretch, that will not obey the voice of his teacher, excommunicate him from your company, have as little to do with him as you can. Be ye shy of such a man, certainly there is great wrath hangeth over him. So, Beloved, if any obey not our word, note such persons, note such parishes, note all such families, the wrath of heaven hangeth over them, their stubbornness, and hardness of heart is not against us, but against the Lord. These are notorious Towns, notorious people, that have Christ's Ambassadors among them, and yet will not be obedient, and yet how is our Embassage made nothing of! if King's only, and Princes, and Lords, and great men should make nothing of it, we should not so much wonder, because they are greater men, than those that God sends his Embassage by, and yet if they were wise, and knew what they did, they durst not do as they do, but every base fellow stops his ear, and hardens his heart, against the God of Heaven and earth, and will not obey our word: nay, men can hear their sins ripped up, and the anathemas of Christ spread before their faces, and not blush. They can hear that those very sins they live in, do separate from God, do adjudge them to hell, and show them to be under the blackness of darkness, and the sentence of damnation, they can see it shown them out of the word, which they cannot deny for their hearts, though they would never so fain, and yet they will not repent nor return that they may have mercy. Not one drunkard will leave, nor one Mocker leave, nor one Covetous person, nor one graceless wretch leave, they will have their own ways, do the Ministers of God what they can. We can get none to be awakened, none quickened, none stirred, none startled to any purpose. Setting aside here one and there one that truly obeys the voice of God's servants, the whole country lying in ignorance of God, in the privation of his Spirit, unreconcilednesse with heaven, voidness of faith, emptiness of grace and life, the nakedness of an outward profession, having no true quickening within, nay the most in gross wickedness, drunkenness, company-keeping, unruliness, disorder, uncleanness, lasciviousness, covetousness, mocking at the pure in heart, malicious alienation of spirit against the holy ways of God. Nay since we have spoken to them in the name of the Lord, yet none will hearken to any effect that their souls may live.  
Fourthly, therefore, I pray you let me add one use more; 
Use 4.  do but consider, how the Lord taketh this at our hands, that his Ministers are thus vilipended. They are in more danger of their liberty for reproving, than the wicked for committing of their sins. Are his Ministers, his Ambassadors? then he will never endure that his Ambassadors shall be abused. When the King of the Ammonites had abused David's Ambassadors, that he sent him in love. 2 Sam. 10. Ye know what it cost, it cost above 40. thousand men's lives. The Romans slew the Illyrians and the Tarentines, for misusing of their Ambassadors, and as Cicero says, our Ancestors says he, for this very thing destroyed all Corinth. For alas how could Princes deal with one another, if Ambassadors should not go safe, and be harkened unto? Therefore Ambassadors must be regarded. When Scipio Africanus took a ship full of Carthaginians, though he meant to rifle all they had, yet when they said they were Ambassadors, he would not meddle with them. True, they were not, they did but counterfeit, that so they might escape. But yet you may see how inviolable Ambassadors were, the least indignity offered to them, was punished as if it had been offered to the person of that Prince, that they did sustain. Well then, how do we think will the Lord take it at people's hands, that his Ambassadors are abused, and disobeyed, that people will not diligently come to them, and acknowledge their errands, and yield obedience to him, no Nation under heaven hath had more Ambassadors from Heaven than we have had, and though some have harkened to them, yet for the most part they meet with Ammonitish dealings they are disfigured, and mocked, and laded with indignities, denied to deliver their message, every paltry rascals complaint admitted against them, none walk in so much danger as they, none more shot at, than they; scarce any will hear them and submit to their Embassage, and those few that do, are counted the only factious people, and pestilent fellows in the land, O, what wrath is there against us for these things▪ For this very cause, the Lord plagued all Judah even because they would not listen to God's Ambassadors that he sent to them early and late, as the Prophet speaks. Jer. 29. 17, 18, 19 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts. Behold I will send upon thee the sword, the famine and the Pestilence, and will make them like vile Figs, that cannot be eaten they are so evil, and I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine and with the Pestilence, and I will deliver them to be removed to all the Kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment and an hissing and a reproach, among all Nations whither I have driven them. Mark now; what is the reason, why God would do thus? Because they have not harkened to my Word, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by my servants the Prophets, rising up early and sending them, but ye would not hear saith the Lord. This was the reason, why God would plague them so grievously, because they would not listen to his Ambassadors that he sent them for their good. The like we read of the ten Tribes: the Lord poured his vengeance on them too for this very reason, because they would not hear his Ambassadors, therefore the Lord cast them out of his sight, and flung them away from being his people and he would never be their God more, the place is 2 King. 17. 13, 14, 15. The Lord testified against Israel & Judah, by all the Prophets & Seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways and keep my Commandments and my Statutes, according to all the Law which I commanded your fathers notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their Fathers, and did not believe in the Lord their God, and they rejected his Statutes and his Covenant, that he made with their Fathers. Mark, this was the cause why the Lord was so angry with them, and removed them out of his sight. Because they would not do as his Ambassadors did command them in his name. Now as God hath let out his fury upon them for not attending to his Ambassadors, so he hath done, and daily doth and will yet more do upon us. For though for temporal Judgements, God be patient and forbearing, beyond all admiration, we feel yet no Sword, no Famine, no Pestilence, we may be astonished to see how long suffering he his, O if we had the grace to consider of it, nevertheless the Lord is effusing out upon us the very dregs of his Cup, he fat's us up for his eternal ire, he hath done converting of our hearers, he hath done blessing of our Sermons, he hath made us Loammies, and Toruhamahs, & turned us into a generation of his wrath. You whose eyes God hath opened, whose hearts God hath inclined unto him, whose Consciences God hath purged and Sanctified and made you Saints. Bless him and praise his holy name, and make more of his infinite grace and goodness. For it is to be feared God will now add no more to your number, he delivers people now to a reprobate sense, he resolves to be revenged on our land in fire and Brimstone, for the contempt of his glorious Gospel, that hath been preached so long a time. He lets men fill up the measure of their sins, that those that are filthy may be filthy still, those that are drunkards may be drunkards still, those that are led with their lusts, shall be so still, to the intent that he may bring upon the world, all the fierceness of his spiritual and everlasting wrath, and that he may revenge the quarrel of his Covenant, and the labours of so many Ambassadors, whom he hath sent unto you, and ye would not hear. O that this might move some of your souls, that so ye might prevent this dreadful judgement and be plucked out like Brandes out of the Burning.  
Fifthly, Another Use is, are God's Ministers, his Ambassadors? 
Use 5.  then they must Preach no mercy at all, unto such as wilfully stand out against Jesus Christ. When Antony was a Rebel, O says Tully, it is not fit to send him Ambassadors of Peace, to treat with him of Peace; as Theseus said once: Go, says he, and tell Creon, Theseus offers thee a gracious offer; Yet I am pleased to be friends, if thou wilt submit. This is my first message: But if this offer prevail not, look for me to be up in Arms. So, Beloved, God's offers of peace have been made already, again, and again, and they have been rejected. Now his Ambassadors must cry. Arms, Blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. At the first God dealt with us, as Tullus with his Enemies, Quae verbis componere potuit, armis non decrevit: as long as he could reconcile them with his word, they should not have his blows: So the Lord hath dealt with us, at the first he persuaded us with the promises of his Word, now seeing no more can be gotten in that way, he will have his Ministers lay the axe at the roots, to hew down, and to destroy, and to slay people with the sword of his lips. Do not wonder, when we preach hell and damnation to all rebellious souls▪ You will say, here is nothing but judgement, Preachers send us all to the devil, they preach, as if they would drive us to despair: they should put in, except we repent.  
I Answer, it is enough now to understand it; when the Gospel hath been a long time in a place, God's Ambassadors must hold out the black flag: when Tamberlane had hung out his White flag, and that would not do, and his Red flag, and that would not do neither; then he hung out his Black flag. Now look for no mercy. So, Christ's Ambassadors should do. When Paul knew that the Gospel was contemned in Corinth, the white and red flag had ceased to do good; You see how he hung out his black one. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Be not deceived, No idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor railers, nor covetous, shall ever inherit the Kingdom of God, 1 Cor. 6. 9, 10. He does not put in, now except ye repent; no, no, now look for no mercy. So the Apostle John. The fearful, and unbelievers, and whoremongers, and liars shall be cast into the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone, Rev. 21. 8. he does not put in, except ye repent: if we should be ever putting in, except ye repent, and concluding with mercy upon condition of repentance, what would hard-hearted people say? O we had a terrible Sermon to day, but the Preacher gave us comfort in the closure, he had a sweet bit at the last, and thus they heal all again. Nay, when people grow once to be stubborn, than Prophets have been so far from putting in except ye repent, or any other term of mercy, that they used to meet with the people's presumption of repentance. So Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and others, they threaten destruction to the wicked, and they add this above all, though they cry for mercy, nay, though they fast, and could get Noah, and Samuel, and Job and Daniel to pray for them, yet they shall have no mercy: q. d. ye think to avoid these judgements, by repenting another day; no, no, when ye cry for mercy, ye shall not have it. When a Nation, or a Parish, or any people grow perverse, and have rejected the sweet tenders of mercy, God's Ambassadors are to look upon such wretches as rebels; no indenting with them more, no terms of peace more, as the Law says, with Pirates, and Traitors, and Rebels, the Law of Arms is not to be observed, as Baldus speaks, they have broken the league, as Florus speaks: when Spartacus the Rebel, desired an Embassage of peace, he would fain have Crassus' contract a league with him, Crassus scorned the motion; when Talfarinas that egregious Robber and Traitor, sent an Ambassador with treaty of Peace to Tiberius the Emperor, Tiberius took it with indignation, that he should be so sawey with him. No Embassage of peace is to be made with rebellious wretches; we need not put in, except ye repent, when we are to deal with such; No, no, when ye grow once to despise reproof, see you to that. True, if ye do repent, who knows what God will do? Though Crassus would not parley with Spartacus about peace, yet when he did repent indeed, he received him to mercy. So will God do with you. But in the mean time, know that the God of Heaven is at defiance with you, and all the curses in his Book, are directed against the face of you. Ye have played the deaf Adder, against the gracious tenders of mercy from day to day, and therefore see your damned condition. The Ambassadors of Christ have not one tittle of mercy of you, if we could see you melt, and cry out, and down on your knees, and your hearts turn, and your spirits sink down before God, than we might say something unto you; therefore, Brethren, if the Ministers of the Gospel do daily preach more and more judgement, do not think much, they ought so to do.  
Sixtly, and Lastly, one Use to you that fear God, and 
Use 6.  believe his Ambassadors, and are besought by them. Let me say to you, as the Prophet Isaiah said, Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servants, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God, Esa. 50. 10. that is, be of good comfort, though all the world, and all the devils in hell be against you, yet be of good cheer; what, although ye meet with never so many temptations, and fears, such a fog of them, that ye can see no light, yet it shall assuredly go well with you. Though others have not come in at the preaching of the Word, ye have. Howbeit others will not reform, will not see the Lords hand lifted up, they will not acknowledge their sins and sinful doings, and damned case, yet ye have. Ye have seen it, and felt it, and run to the throne of Grace, and have sought the Lord, according as God's Ambassadors have directed you out of his Word, ye have feared God, and obeyed the voice of his servants, though others make a mock of such as will be ruled by Preaers; tush, they shall not curb me, says one, and they shall not control me, says another. What, does he think to lead me in a string? Yet ye do fear God, and ye dare not stand out against the preaching of his servants, ye desire that ye may ever practise their Word, and lead your lives according to it, what ever others do. Be of good cheer, says the Prophet, The Lord is your God, and do ye stay yourselves on him. the Doctrine that God hath sent unto you by the Ministry of his servants, is the only Doctrine of Salvation, and therein ye shall find eternal life.   
Revel. 3. 1. These things, saith he, that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. 
THese words are the Subscription of the Letter, unto the Angel of Sardis, containing a description of Christ, from whom the Letter is sent. Now Christ is here described, according to the matter in hand, from two royalties of his; first, That he hath the seven Spirits of God, that is, he hath the giving of the Holy Ghost, and all his gifts and graces to whomsoever he pleaseth; Secondly, that He hath the seven Stars, that is, he hath the disposing of the Ministers of the Church. And this, I told you, is to be meant divers ways. Christ is said to have the Ministers of the Church five ways. First, he hath the sending of them, they have their Mission from him. Secondly, he hath the delegating of them, they have their Commission from him. Thirdly, be hath the gifting of them, they have their abilities from him. Fourthly, he hath the prospering of them, they have the success of their labours from him. Fifthly, he hath the keeping of them, they are put into a place, continued, or removed, they have their liberty from him, and when they are put down or silenced, it is he that does do it.  
The two first I have handled already; first, that he hath the sending of them; Secondly, that he hath the delegating of them. I come now to the third, He hath the gifting of them; look what good gifts and abilities they have, they have them all of him. As Paul says, He hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament, not of the Letter, but of the Spirit, 2 Cor. 3. 6. and this was one of the ends of his Ascension, as the Apostle says, He ascended up on high, and led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, Ephes. 4. 8. that is, this was one end of his ascending up to Heaven, that he might send down gifts unto his Church. Now what gifts does he mean? True, he sends gifts to all his true Members, but he means the gifting of his Ministers, as it follows: And he gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Ministry; and so forth, ver. 11, 12.  
And the truth is, it is not without cause, for of all men, we that are the Ministers of Jesus Christ, have need of singular and rare gifts and abilities.  
First, To open the Scriptures: the Scriptures are a great deep, and they have under the Letter, much admirable spiritual matter encouched, and many things are hard in them as Peter says, And a Minister is to open them, and to give out the sense, as it is said of the Priests, They read the Law distinctly, and gave out the sense, and made the people to understand the Reading, Nehem. 8. 8. Now if a Minister have not gifts from Jesus Christ, what mad work will he make? the Scripture will be a clasped book unto him, and a Fountain sealed up. Like the Philistines, that in three days could not expound Sampsons' Riddle. It is said of Christ, that he opened the Scriptures, Luk. 24. 32. The Scriptures are shut, and contain Mysteries folded and lapped up, now the Minister had need of abilities to open them.  
Secondly, To Teach; as a Minister is to open the Scriptures, which requireth great gifts: so, he is to teach the people out of them, to draw Doctrines out of the same, and this requireth great gifts too, to inform the judgement, to let out the light of the Word, to scatter the beams of the Sun of righteousness abroad, to dispel the darkness of men's minds, to shine round about them in spiritual knowledge. This is a work of much ability, as the Apostle speaks to Timothy, the things which thou hast heard of me, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others, 2 Tim. 2. 2. and therefore it is called Prophesying. Despise not Prophesying, that is, despise not Teaching, a man had need of a special gift, to be able to Prophesy, so, if a man would be a Teacher; when Nicodemus would express what an able Teacher Christ was, says he, Thou art a teacher come from God. A man had need to be one that hath been with God, that would teach aright. There is a gift of fitness and aptness, without which a man cannot do it. The servant of the Lord must be apt to teach, 2 Tim. 2. 24. the Apostle tells us, there be heaps of naughty teachers in the world, a good teacher is a rare man, it cannot be without all wisdom, as he says, Teaching every man in all wisdom, Col. 1. 28. we are to teach people the learning of the holy, how to know God, how to fear him, and love him. We are to teach people how to pray, how to walk in all holiness and righteousness of living: the great things of God's Law, the deep things of the Spirit, the mysteries of eternal life, to open the wiles of Satan, the mistakes of the hearts of men, the many byways of the soul, ye know sin is covered over with pleasures, and profits, and carnal reasons, and evasions, and we are to lay it out naked, as indeed it is. Gracious and godly courses, seem grievous, and irksome, and uncouth, and vile, and needless, and we are to discover the inward pleasure, and commodity, and necessity and glory of them, and therefore we have need of abilities.  
Thirdly, to Convince, ye know how the heart does use to put off the Word, and if it meet with a doctrine, or a reproof, or a precept, that it does not like, it will deny it, it will cavil and carp, O, it is false, as Johanan and others said to Jeremiah, it is false you do not say true, we will never believe it. When we paint out a drunkards damned estate, he is ready to gainsay it, or an adulterers, he is ready to except, people contradict such passages of the Word, as are against their lusts, and they give us very little better than the lie, many times, therefore a Minister should be able to convince, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort, and to convince the gainsayers, Tit. 1. 9 when people are subject to condemn us for harshness, and hard sayings, and that we do not preach placentia enough, we must be able to use some speech that cannot be condemned, Tit. 2. 8. when a Minister preaches weakly, Sermons like wide nets, or rotten threads, that the Birds may get through or break, this is not able preaching, as Zwinglius said of Carolostadius, when he heard him disputing weakly against consubstantiation, O, says he, I am sorry that so good a cause should have such a weak defendant. It is said of Apollo's, that he mightily convinced the Jews. Stephen, the University-men there, that came huddling about him, they were not able to withstand the Spirit, and the wisdom by which he spoke, Act. 6. 10. it is the promise of our Saviour, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay, or resist, Luk. 21. 15.  
Fourthly, to move the affections, Ministers have need of abilities to move the affections of their hearers; not only to inform their judgements, but also to work upon their affections, not only to illighten their understanding, but also to stir up their hearts, as Peter says, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up, 2 Pet. 1. 13. a Minister is to stir up his people, to stir their hearts and affections: he may preach a wholesome Sermon, and the hearers be like Mill-posts, and not stirred a jot: Paul laboured to stir affections too: Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, 2 Cor. 5. 11. that is, we labour to work upon your affections, and therefore Christ sent a Seraphim with a live coal unto the Prophet Isaiah, to touch his lips, Esa. 6. 6. he had need of live coals in his lips, to fire the affections of his auditory; So, he sent the Holy Ghost down upon his Apostles in fiery tongues, without this the information of the judgement is little worth. Religion consists more in the will and the affections of men, then in any other faculty of the soul. I confess the Minister must shine too; I, but he must heat too. John the Baptist was a burning and a shining light.  
Fifthly, To speak Pro re natâ, a Minister hath need of extemporary abilities, sometimes he shall be called before Councils, he preaches such doctrine as angers the world, and therefore he is in danger to be had before Councils, and therefore he had need to have an extemporary faculty, that he may answer as he sees cause, as Christ says, When they deliver you up, take no thought, how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour, what ye shall speak, Matth. 10. 19 sometimes to preach upon short warning, as Augustine did, when he relied upon his Brother Severus, to Preach for him, he not coming, he was fain to go up extempore himself, and so he preached upon the 95 Psalm; So; when there was a sudden judgement of God that fell out there in Hippo, though Augustine had preached twice that very day before, yet he went up again, and preached the third time: O, says he, do not wonder, my dear Brethren, Si hodie ter Sermonem, etc. do not wonder that I preach thrice this same time, it is not without cause, etc. Again, a Minister may be put upon it as Philip was by the Eunuch, concerning the meaning of a place of Scripture to speak of it at first sight, & a Minister must not only have this knowledge in his notebook, but in his lips; that is, to be in a readiness upon every occasion. His lips must preserve knowledge. Mal. 2. 7. Sometimes he may come among his people, he may light upon their company by chance, now if he have not good abilities, he cannot do the part of a Minister. As Paul says, I long to see you, to impart unto you some spiritual gift, Rom. 1. 11. A Minister when he sees his people, he should be a well-stored man, to impart some spiritual thing or other to them, a word of instruction, a word of exhortation, a word of admonition, when he does but see them, he should be able to drop something among them.  
Sixtly, to observe seasons, to be able to make choice of special Texts for special occasions. For howsoever all Scriptures are full of divine and Heavenly truths; yet some Scriptures sit some persons and some occasions better than othersome. Aaron's bells must be wisely rung, sometimes in one tune, sometimes in another as the occasion serves. A Minister is to change his note, as the circumstances do require. A Steward in a family must have aswell wisdom to Minister every own his portion in due season, as fidelity to dispense his Master's goods. A word fitly spoken in due time, is like Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver, Pro. 25. 11. The very Heathen man Commends much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a man speaks in due season. S. Paul had this gift, in all his preaching to ponder all circumstances, who, and what, and where, & when, & how. I made myself a servant unto all, says, he that I might gain the more, To the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews: to them that are under he Law, as under the Law, that I might gain them that are under the Law. To the weak I became as weak that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 1 Cor. 9 22. To Beloved, we are the ministers of God, and we have need of abilities to fit our doctrine to the present time and occasions and persons, that we may profit hearers. When the Apostle came to Athens, he took his Text according to the present hint. He found an Altar with this inscription, To the unknown God, and so he spoke of that. Act. 17. 23, 24. He took occasion from thence to speak of the God of Heaven and Earth to them. When our Saviour Christ saw the woman of Samaria come to draw water, he took opportunity to preach unto her of the living water. Joh. 4. 10. Ministerial gifts are for this very purpose as the Prophet says. The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season. Isa. 50. 4. It is noted of John Baptist, that when he saw the Scribes and pharisees came in to hear him, he had about with them. O generation of Vipers, who hath forewarned you to sly from the wrath to come, q. d. What do you make here? ye are Hypocrites, ye are vile wretched persons; repent or else you'll to hell. This was now in due season. So when a Drunkard comes in, we should let fly at him. Weep and howl ye drunkards. See what God says of you: to whom is woe but to you? See what the Scripture says of your courses, ye shall never inherit God's Kingdom, none of you, as the Apostle speaks. So, when Whoremongers step in, we should give them their doom, O ye Whoremongers & Adulterers, God will judge you one day. This is like the former and the latter Rain. Then it comes, when the ground hath need of it. So when a Minister observes seasons, than the word comes, when the soul hath need of it. It comes pat, as we say, Then people may see a special providence in it. I see a special providence of God that the Minister should speak of such a Theme this day, that he should hit so right upon my sin; when a man hath been cozening, then to come to Church and there hear of it again: When a man hath been swearing and lying, then to turn in to the preacher, and hear of that very sin, and the danger of it, and the damned estate of the commit of it: When a man hath been thinking to do evil, then to sit in his seat and hear his evil ripped up, and all his secrets laid open, and woe to you wretch, that devise evil, the Lord knows your devilish intentions, ye are thinking to be revenged, but God will be revenged on you, ye are minding to go by-and-by to such a piece of villainy, but the Lord will find you out. This is preaching in season. So when a soul cannot be cast down, but when he comes to a Sermon, there he meets with his own case, his temptations are treated of wine and oil is poured into his wounds, this is to preach in due season. O what gifts had a Minister need to have! He had need of daily inflvence from God: Daily instincts, that God should guide his tongue and his heart. Now, Beloved, it is Christ alone that gifts all his true Ministers. I will be with thy mouth, says he to Moses.  
The use of this is. First, here we see that a Minister had not 
Use 1.  need be a fool, no; no, he that winneth souls, is wise, Pro. 11. 30. he must be a wise man that would be a Minister, it requires more than human wisdom to catch souls, when the heart hath so many put-offs, so many deceits, so many strongholds, so loath to obey the word, so subtle to invent excuses, so crafty to thrust away the truth; There is some wisdom required to catch fishes, and birds, and vermin; how much more, to catch men! who is sufficient for these things? The best of us all may blush to think how unfit we are to be Ministers. O how should we bless God, if he fit any of us in any suitable measure! and when we have done our best, we had need to go home, and down on our knees, and cry shame on ourselves for not doing better.  
Secondly, Then they are none of Christ's Ministers that are 
Use 2.  not gifted for this mighty work. Will he send a fool on such a weighty Message as this is? He that sendeth a Message by the hand of a fool, cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage, Pro. 26. 6. That is, if a man have a business of any great importance, He had not need to employ a fool in it, lest he suffer great damage. It is all one as if one should chop off ones feet & then bid him go on our errand. O, Beloved, preaching of the Gospel is a work of infinite importance, the humbling of men's hearts, the convincing of consciences, the converting of men's Souls, these are great businesses, doubtless they are no Fools that Christ sends on such errands. True, all Christ's Ministers are not alike gifted, some have meaner gifts then othersome have, but he that hath least, he is fitted in some measure to dispense divine mysteries, to call home Gods elect, to build up the called, to judge all his hearers, to stop the mouths of gainsayers, to hew down the obstinate, to show unto men the things belonging to their peace, to give the Saints their due, and the wicked their due. That a good man cannot come, but he shall have heavenly meat to feed on: Nor a wretch neither, but his Ministry will single him out & give him his bit to chew upon. He that cannot do this in any measure, he is none of Christ's Ministers. Surely he will not send such a Message by a fool's hand, but either he makes him a wise able man, or else he runs without his sending.  
Thirdly, than my Brethren, hence we learn whether to go for 
Use 3.  gifts, if we would be enabled to our calling, let us go to Jesus Christ that hath the seven stars in his hands, he can make our inflvences strong, and our light & heat mighty, he can give us a gift of boldness to fear no men's faces. He can untie our stammering tongues that we shall have liberty in speaking. He can make our tongues a sharp sword. He can make us sons of consolation unto some, & of thunder, unto others. If we want knowledge in the mystery of Christ, let us make our wants known unto him, & he will instill into us. If we want words, he can make them flow in unto us. If we want affections, he can purge away our iniquities & fire our hearts & lips. While the Apostles were together at prayer. Act. 1. 14. suddenly the Lord Jesus sent them the gift of the holy Ghost in fiery cloven tongues Act. 2. While Paul and Silas were praying in the prison, the Lord backed them from Heaven, & made them instruments of turning the heart of the Gaoler. Let us pray, then, not only in our Pulpits before our Sermons, but also in secret, God giveth the greatest gifts in secret, and like man revealeth himself apart: as secret meals make a fat body, so does secret prayer, it makes a well-liking soul.  
Again, this should teach us to stir up the gifts that he 
Use 4.  gives us: We should labour to put them forth, a man may lose the benefit of Christ's gifts, for want of rousing up himself, and putting of them forth, as Paul says to Timothy, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee, by the putting on of hands, 2 Tim. 1. 6. we must stir up the gift in us. When Father Isaac would prophesy to his Sons, he stirred up his spirit with savoury meat. When Elisha would Prophecy before the three Kings, he called for a Minstrel to stir up the spirit of Prophecy in him. Deborah cries, awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, O my soul, says David. When Christ would pray to his Father, the Text shows, how he stirred up himself, These things spoke Jesus, and lift up his eyes unto heaven, Joh. 17. 1. He lift up his soul and his spirit, as Samson went and shook himself, if his spirit had been in him it had been well, but like a fool he had driven him away. But it should seem, when he had the spirit in him, this was his wont, he shook himself as at other times, he used to stir up the Spirit in him, so we should stir up the Spirit in us, we should rouse up our gifts, like sparks out of the ashes, and bestir ourselves sound, remiss using of them, lets them warp and wane.  
Again, we should labour to rely more upon Christ, we 
Use 5.  trust too much to our notes; but, O if we could trust more to Christ, that's warmest matter that comes down from heaven in the speaking, not that we should leave all without study, till we come into our Pulpits: No, prepare as much as we can. But then if we would trust in Christ for his present assistance, and yearn up to him for prompting, it would make our Ministry more lively. When a Sermon is an effect of Faith, that's it that does most good: then Christ's Spirit Preaches, and not we, as the Prophet David says, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, 2 Sam. 23. 2.  
Again, this should teach the people of God, if they would have their Ministers enabled indeed, to do their souls good; that they should pray for them, that Christ would mor furnish them. How often does the Apostle tell the people, that Ministers might have greater gifts, if they had a heart! O says he, Pray for me, that I may have utterance, and that I may speak boldly, to make known the mystery of the Gospel, Ephes. 6. 19 q. d. if ye have a heart to pray, I do verily think that I shall be the more assisted, a great deal. Our Chariot drives the more heavily, because it wants the wheels of your Prayers, and the truth is, God uses to punish people thus, that because they are dead and dull, and have no heart, and are weary of the Word; therefore he withholds from the Minister on purpose, to plague them back again; as God told Ezekiel, Son of man, thou shalt be dumb, and when thou wouldst reprove, thou shalt be tongue-tied, thy tongue shall cleave to the roof of thy mouth: now mark the reason; why? for they are a rebellious house, Ezek. 3. 26. Mark, it was long of Judah's sins that the Prophet Ezekiel was tongue-tied and locked up: An excellent Minister, and yet straitened for the people's sins.  
O, Beloved, I will tell you what would enlarge our hearts and our gifts towards you. First, if you would more flock to the Word, and attend. It is said in Matth. 5. 1, 2. That Christ seeing the multitude, He opened his mouth, that is, he was the more enlarged to Preach, upon the sight of such a great auditory. Who would not cast his net amidst multitudes of sishes? The Text says, When Christ saw the multitude, he had compassion on them. So, if Ministers could see all their Parish come in, all that might hear; the sight of such a multitude would stir up pity. O would we think, O what a goodly company is here! O it is pity but they should have somewhat, O if I could win some of you. There may be a lust in this thing, and we must take heed of it too, lest we be tickled with flockings, or discouraged with thin pews. This is pride, but yet there is a truth in this. What a shame is it, that there should be fewer of our own Parish every Lecture-day, than of strangers? is it not just with God to make the breasts dry, when the Children care not for sucking?  
Secondly, if God had more among you to be saved, as God said to Paul, concerning Corinth, Be not afraid, speak, hold not thy peace, I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, I have much people in this City, Act. 18. 10. this opened Paul's mouth, this made him find abundance of assistance from Christ, because God had much people there.  
Thirdly, if you would hear with alacrity, and with a ready and a greedy mind. When Cornelius and his company were all listening, and earnest to hear, and to hearken, O say they; Speak Peter, we are all here before God, to hear every thing thou speakest. Then Peter opened his mouth, Act. 10. 33, 34. But when people look dully, and blockishly, and sit sleepily and drowsily, as though they were weary of hearing, and cared not whether they heard or no; Nay, this is the reason why the Devils instruments are so bold to oppose the Ministry of God, they see they are not much cared for, none but here one, and there one, a sort of precise fools: whereas, if people would be eager to hear over all the land, they durst not meddle with them, as it is said of our Saviour, the Chief Priests, and the Scribes sought to destroy him, but they could not find what they might do, For all the people were very attentive to hear him, Luc. 19 48.  
Fourthly, if ye would be fruitful in obedience, and in learning; this would put life into our Prayers at home, this would quicken our labours and pains in the Pulpit. The very hope of having fruit, made Paul very eager to come to Rome, Rom. 1. 13. The very thought that the people are gracious, and godly, and fruitful, carries the Preacher beyond himself. Nay, it's strange to consider, how, when the Minister knows he hath but one understanding judicious hearer, one gracious Soul in his Parish, it provokes him very much, it makes him look about him the more, a great deal: How much more, when there be many such? But when a Parish is senseless, and heavy, and froward, it is unspeakable to consider how it straitens a Minister. Let a man be to pray in a meeting, where they be graceless, and dull, and hardly any almost godly, he cannot tell what to say almost, he is not himself. Whereas, if he were to pray among them that he knows can savour gracious things, there he hath more liberty to let out himself.   
Revel. 3. 1. These things, saith he, that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. And the seven Stars. 
THe Doctrine we continue yet in, is, That Christ hath the seven Stars, he hath all the Ministers of the Church. I told you he is said to have them five ways. First, he hath the sending of them; they have their Mission from him. Secondly, he hath the delegating of them; they have their Commission from him. Thirdly, he hath the gifting of them; they have their abilities from him. Fourthly, he hath the prospering of them; they have the success of their labours from him. Fifthly, he hath the disposing of them, either for placing, or removing, for freedom, or restraint.  
The first three I have handled already; the last whereof was this; That He hath the gifting of his Ministers; As Paul says, He hath made us able Ministers of the New Testament, 2 Cor. 3. 6. This was one of the ends of his Ascension; He ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, Ephes. 4. 8. Thus the Text says of the Apostles, they preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following, Mark. 16. 20. So Paul had great gifts, and abilities, which he calls the signs of an Apostle. Truly, the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you, in all patience, with signs and wonders, and mighty deeds, 2 Cor. 12. 12. they that are not competently, at the least, gifted for the Ministry, they show no sign that they are the Ministers of Jesus Christ. Christ gives all his Ministers a gift of utterance, a gift of speaking to the Conscience, a gift of dividing of the Word aright, mighty deeds. They may all say to the people, Truly, the signs of a Minister of Jesus Christ hath been wrought among you. These gifts are the witnesses, whereby he gives witness to a man, that he comes from God to a people, as Paul says, God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers Miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will, Heb. 2. 4. I confess such wonders and Miracles are now ceased; I, but the gifts of the Holy Ghost, are poured out still upon all the true Ministers of Christ, and these are Gods witnesses, that people may know they are sent of Jesus Christ.  
I showed you how Ministers have need of excellent and rare gifts; I, and you have need that they should be well-gifted, that so they may be able to do you good:  
First, for the interpreting of the Scriptures, they are a sealed and a clasped book, they are shut up naturally to a man. It is said of Christ, that He opened the Scriptures, Luc. 24. 32. So, a Minister had need of gifts to open the Scriptures; to give out the sense, as the Priests in Nehemiah did, St. John wept, when no man could open the sealed book. When a Parish hath a Minister that cannot open the sealed Book, it is enough to make good people weep and lament.  
Secondly, they have need of gifts to teach. He that would teach, had need to be an able man, as the Apostle says, that are able to teach, 2 Tim. 2. 2. The servant of the Lord must be apt to teach, 2 Tim. 2. 24. there is a gift of fitness and aptness, without which a man cannot be a good teacher.  
Thirdly, they have need of gifts to be able to convince, it requires a great art to speak irrefragably to men's minds. Many truths the hearts of men do not like, and therefore they labour to put them off. And therefore a Minister had need of a gift of convincing, That he may be able by sound Doctrine to convince the gainsayers, Tit. 1. 9 as it is said of Stephen, they were not able to withstand the spirit, and the wisdom by which he spoke, Act. 6. 10.  
Fourthly, to move the affections; a Minister is not only to inform men's judgements, but also to work on their affections, as Peter says, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up, 2 Pet. 1. 13. a Minister is to stir up his people, to stir their hearts and affections: as Paul says: Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, 2 Cor. 5. 11. that is, we labour to stir your affections, Christ sent a Seraphim with a live coal to touch Isaiah his lips, Esa. 6. 6. we had need of fire coals in our lips, to heat your affections. Religion consists in the will and affections of men, more than in any other faculty of the soul.  
Fifthly, To speak Pro re natâ, a Minister hath need of extemporary abilities, to be able upon short warning, when Severus, Augustine's Brother, failed him one day, he was fain to go up extempore into the Pulpit himself and Preach. A Minister may come into the company of his people, now if he be not habitually furnished, how unprofitable will he be? Saint Paul says, when he came among his people, he would impart unto them some spiritual gift, Rom. 1. 11.  
Sixthly, A Minister had need of abilities to observe seasons, that Aaron's bells may be wisely rung, sometimes in one tune, sometimes in another, as occasion serves, A word fitly spoken in due time, is like apples of gold, in pictures of silver, Prov. 25. 11.  
The use of this was First, here we see that a Minister had 
Use 1.  not need be a fool, no; he must be a well-gifted man. He that winneth souls is wise, Pro. 11. 30. he must be one that may win souls, and therefore he must be a wise man, when the heart hath so many wiles, and so many put-offs, and so many evasions, and distinctions, and excuses, and strong-holds, he had need be a wise man that will go about to catch it. There is some wisdom required to catch birds, and beasts, and fishes, and vermin; because they are all subtle in their kind, how much more, to catch the heart? This is Onus humeris angelorum for midandum, as Chrysost. speaks. Who is sufficient for these things, says the Apostle? 2 Cor. 2. 16. The best of us all may blush to think how unfit we are to be Ministers: and therefore how should we bless God, if he fit any of us in any suitable measure?  
Secondly, another Use was, Then they are none of Christ's 
Use 2.  Ministers that are not gifted for this mighty work. Will he send a fool on such a weighty Message as this is? He that sendeth a Message by the hand of a fool, cutteth off the feet and drinketh damage, Prov. 26. 6. There is great damage in the Church, because so many fools have the handling of God's message. But I let this pass.  
Thirdly, Hence we learn then, whether to go for gifts, if 
Use 3.  we would be enabled to our callings, let us go to our Lord Jesus Christ, that hath the seven Stars in his hands, he can make our influences strong, our light mighty; he can give us a gift of boldness, to fear no man's face; He can untie our stammering tongues, that they shall have liberty in speaking, that words may flow in; He can make our tongues a sharp sword; He can fire our hearts and lips. While the Apostles were together in prayer, Act. 1. 14. the Lord Jesus Christ sent down the Holy Ghost on them in fiery tongues, Act. 2. 1.  
Fourthly, This should teach us to stir up the gifts that 
Use 4.  he gives us; we should strive to put them all forth, as Paul says to Timothy, Stir up the gift that is in thee by the putting on of hands, 2 Tim. 1. 6. we must stir up the gift that is in us: when father Isaac would Prophesy to his sons, he stirred up his spirit with savoury meat: when Elishah would Prophecy before the three Kings, he called for a sacred Minstrel, to stir up the Spirit of Prophecy in him: so Samp son used to go and shake himself, when he went against the Philistims; as Deborah, while she was at her work in God's worship: Awake, awake Deborah, says she; she shook up herself; we should labour to use all our gifts to the full, as the Apostle says, Make full proof of thy Ministry, 2 Tim. 4. 5. so, we should make full proof of every one of our gifts, put them out to the utmost. Ministers should be able to say, as Paul does, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ, Rom. 15. 19 to preach fully, to convince fully, to exhort fully, fully to terrify the hearts of the wicked, not to use our gifts by halves. O, how shall we answer it, if we let our gifts rust for want of sound using of them?  
Fifthly, We should rely more on Christ, we may trust 
Use 5.  too much to our notes; but, O that we could trust more in Christ, that is warmest matter that comes down from Heaven in the speaking, not that we should leave all without study, till we come into our Pulpits, and then hope to have it given us in that moment; No, we must prepare as much as we can: as Solomon says, Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thy house, Pro. 24. 27. So, we must prepare our Sermons, and make them fit for our people in our studies, and then come and preach them, Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to Doctrine, says the Apostle, 1 Tim. 4. 13. God gives gifts by means, but than if we would trust Christ for his present assistance, and ●erne up to him for prompting, it would make our Ministry more lively. When a Sermon is an act of Faith, that's it that does most good, than Christ's Spirit Preaches, and not we, then, than God speaks, and not our notes, as the Prophet David says, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, 2 Sam. 23. 2.  
Sixthly, this should teach the people of God, if they 
Use 6.  would have their Ministers enabled indeed, to do their souls good; to pray for them, that Christ would more furnish them. How often does the Apostle tell the people, that Ministers might have greater gifts, if they had a heart! O says he, Pray for me, that I may have utterance, and that I may speak boldly, etc. Ephes. 6. 19 q. d. if ye have a heart to pray, I do verily think that I shall be the more assisted, a great deal. The truth is, God uses to punish people thus, because they are dead and dull, and have no heart, and are weary of the Word; therefore he withholds from his Minister on purpose, to plague them; as God told Ezekiel: Son of man, thou shalt be dumb, and when thou wouldst reprove, thou shalt be tongue-tied, thy tongue shall cleave to the roof of thy mouth: now mark the reason; why? for they are a rebellious house, Ezek. 3. 26.  
But I will recapitulate no more of what I have delivered. Thus ye have heard the third thing, how Christ hath the gifting of his Ministers? They have their gifts and abilities from him. Now I proceed on to the fourth. That he hath the prospering of them: They have the success of their labours from jesus Christ. Christ bids us preach, Repent, repent, but it is he that must give the Repentance; So, Paul preached to Lydia, and had good success, for the text shows how she was converted by his Ministry: But, it was God that opened her heart. As Rebeccah cooked the Venison, but Isaac gave the blessing. So we may cook the Word for you, but the blessing is in Christ's hands, as the Apostle says. We are Ministers by whom ye Believed, even as the Lord gave to every man, 1 Cor. 3. 5. that is, when we preached among you we had good success, you believed. What? as we would ourselves? No, Alas we would fain have had you all to Believe but even as the Lord gave to every man, the success was as he would; soto some he gave only conviction by the word to some only knowledge, to some good reformations, to some a true faith. It was as he was pleased to give to every man. So when he preached unto other Gentiles he confesses, look what good success he had, he had from Jesus Christ. I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by Word and deed. Rom. 15. 18. that is, as who should say, that the Gentiles did hear me, that they were brought to obedience in word and deed, that I had so good success in my labours; God forbid I should say or think it was my doing. I dare not say so for a world. No, no, It was Christ, and he alone that did work by me as his poor Instrument. I have all my good success from him. The success is merely as he will. If he will be pleased to give so good success, Peter shall convert 3000 at one Sermon. But if he be pleased to deny a good success, the Prophet Esay shall preach in the reign of 4 Kings, about fourscore years and convert hardly one, as he says to Israel, as the Apostle quotes him. All the day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and a gainsaying people. Rom. 10. 21. All successes are of God, and therefore much more success here. Let it be in any calling. As for example, fishing; that when a man goes a fishing, he sindes good success, this is of God. Simon and his company toiled all night and took nothing. But when Christ came and gave them good success, than they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, two shipfull of fishes at one draught, Luk. 5. 5. So when a man runs, who shall get the Goal; the man may run, but whether he shall get the Goal, that he cannot tell. When a man fights, the man may fight, and be the better man of the two, but whether shall overcome, that is uncertain unto them; the success is of God, as Solomon says, The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor riches to the wise, time and chance happens to them all, Eccle. 9 11. that is, not as though the swift do not sometimes get the race, and the strong the Victory, and wise men riches, yet they do many times; namely, when God gives success, otherwise they do not. How many times do men go about businesses, and in all likelihood, they might hit well, yet how often do they not? the Lord will have us see that success is from him.  
Now if it be so in outward things, how much more here, in other things, the work is more in the man's hands, and the thing is traceable to him, but it is not so here: We may labour to convert Souls, but this work is not in our hands, the using of the means, the Lord Jesus Christ puts that into our hands; but the doing of the deed, the success is only from him.  
First, Because we are nothing in this work. We may be something at other works, we may study, and in an ordinary providence we may make a Sermon. But when we come to preach, it is not an ordinary providence that will make us to convert souls; no, here we are nothing, Paul may plant, and Apollo's may water, Now mark what follows, he does not only say, it is God that gives the increase. Paul may plant, and Apollo's may water, but God gives the increase. 1 Cor. 3. 6. that is, all their success and all the fruit of their labour is from God. That is not all he says. But in the seventh verse, says he. Neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth any thing, but God that giveth the increase. As if he should say, as excellent gifts as these men had, they did nothing in this work, the whole success is of God. Beloved we can but set before you, life and death, we can but tell you thus ye will be damned, and thus and thus ye may be saved. But it is God that must bless this unto you. Otherwise we can do nothing. We may preach our hearts out; and yet you'll to hell, do we what we can, except the Lord break your career. Elisha's man could lay his Master's staff upon the child, but the child stirred not, till Elisha came himself, and then the child was raised. So we can but lay our Master's staff upon your dead souls, But except our Master come himself, ne'er a dead soul will stand up: what is all our preaching, and dressing up of our Sermons, like the riging of the sails, that's nothing except the wind blow. The Spirit of Christ is the wind, except he blow upon you, we are nothing: the tampering on the Organs is nothing, but when the breath comes, than there is music; So, we may keep ado to turn your hearts, but till God breath into you, there is nothing done. True, the preaching of the Gospel is a very powerful thing; I, when Christ's arm goes along with it, it is the sword of the Spirit, but if the Spirits arm be not with it, we may brandish it here every week, and do little; as Scanderbagge said: One hearing what mighty feats Scanderbagges sword had done, sent for it, and when he saw it, he made nothing of it: Is this the Sword that hath done such great exploits? what's this Sword more than other swords? O, says Scanderbagge, I sent thee my sword, but not my arm, that did handle it. So, my Brethren, the word which we preach, is but Christ's sword; God sends you his sword many times, when he keeps his arm to himself, and so nothing is done. So then, we are nothing, and therefore all success is of Christ. First, our wills are nothing to do it, we may will to do you good, but Converts cannot be made by our wills, as the Evangelist says, Joh. 1. 13. Secondly, our pains and labours are nothing; we may labour and take pains, but look Esa. 49. 4. Thirdly, our gifts are nothing; who had better gifts than Christ had, as he was man? and yet that would not do it, Joh. 12. 38. Fourthly, our Prayers are nothing, they may do something, sometimes, but except God be pleased to give success, they are nothing, Jeremiah prayed, Jer. 14. 7, 8, 9 yet the Lord told him, that should not do it, ver. 11.  
Secondly, the Conversion of Souls, is a supernatural work; we that are Ministers, preach to make men new creatures, to turn Leopards into Kids, as if we should preach to make Blackamoors white, the dead alive, which is a work for God alone to do, and therefore the success must needs be from him, Alas, what are we able to do? as the Apostle says, You are God's workmanship in Christ Jesus, created to good works, Ephes. 2. 10. we are his instruments, that's true indeed, but ye are his workmanship, you are the Epistle of Christ, administered by us; Written, not with Ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, 2 Cor. 3. 3. The Epistle of Christ, but ministered indeed by Christ, his is the hand, we are but the pen; when we bid you repent, and believe, and be holy, and godly, and heavenly minded men; deny yourselves, be dead to the world, and alive to God, come out of Satan's power, come into Christ's Kingdom: it is like Ezekiels bidding of the dead bones to gather flesh, and stand up living men. All the success must needs be of God.  
And therefore what does this teach us? The Use of it is: 
Use 1.  First, That we that are the Ministers of God, can but make trial whether we can convert our people, or no; as the Apostle speaks, proving, if at any time, God will give them repentance, 2 Tim. 2. 25. so it is in some of your Bibles, so, we must make proof: we must try; come into the Pulpit every week, and try, sharpen our nails as sharp as we can, and strike them as far in as we can, and so try, often try, as the wiseman speaks in another case, In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening let not thy hand rest, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, this, or that, or both, Eccle. 11. 6. So Jeremiah did, he would try; first, he went to the poorer sort, to see whether they would hearken unto him; when he had no success there, then thought he, I will try the great men, I will get me to the great men, Jer. 5. 5. we should make assays, we do not know, may be God will give us good success, we must make assays, as it is said of Paul and Silas, That they assayed to go into Bythinia, but the Spirit suffered them not, Act. 16. 7. O, thought they, here be a great many souls in this Country, we will try, whether there be any for Christ, yea, or no. Indeed, they found that they had no success in their attempt. But they made an assay though.  
Secondly, This teacheth us to wait, though we have not 
Use 2.  success presently, yet we should wait, all success is from Christ, and therefore it is fit we should wait for it, and therefore a Minister is commanded to be patient. The servant of the Lord must be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient, 2 Tim. 2. 24. q. d. he hath not the success in his own hands, to have it when he will; no, though he do no good yet, nor yet, he must be patient. He is not apt to teach poor people else, except he be patient, as he is not fit to teach a dull Scholar, that is overhasty. And therefore, my Brethren, though we have lost all our labour hitherto on the most of you, yet now again we speak to you, come, will ye yet go to heaven? come are ye yet in the mind to hearken and obey? we come to you once more, will ye yet, etc. as Jeremiah says, Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be? Jer. 13. 27. Beloved, we are dull Scholars in Religion, and people are hard to take their learning in this kind, and therefore if we would be apt to teach, we must be patient, what though we see no good yet, this must not make us out of heart, or to grudge our pains, we must be patient still, we are to think, may be the next time I preach God will give me good success, Isaiah and Paul gave not over, though they had cause to complain.  
Thirdly, This may serve to condemn all the world, whether 
Use 3.  the Gospel comes, and specially us hereabouts, that do not let Ministers have any good success, you will say, how do I make this use of it? If all the Ministers success be from Christ, than one would think, this were an excuse unto people.  
I answer; no, the meaning of the Doctrine is this, that the people are so contrary to the Word, such enemies to the ways of Jesus Christ, that a Minister can look for no success, except the Lord turn their hearts: This is the meaning of the point. Does this excuse any? what, does your enmity against Christ and all goodness afford you any excuse? nay, this aggravates your sin. Now this is the meaning of it. As Saint Paul, when he spoke, how little success he and all the rest of his fellow-Apostles had, he lays the blame upon the people; All the day long, I have stretched out my hands against a disobedient and a gainsaying people, Rom. 10. 21. So the Prophet Isaiah, from whom these words are taken, complains of the unfruitfulness of his Ministry, as being the people's fault, and therefore he complains of them unto God; Lord who hath believed our report, Esay. 53. 1. The conscience of man knows this to be true, for he knows he sins willingly, and he knows he would not do otherwise, he daily feeleth God's Spirit haling him to good, and telling him he ought to live thus and thus, and yet he is loath and will not, he inclines the other way, and rather would do as he does, then as he knows God would have him: what is this but contempt? and indeed this is the great sin of this Land, the contempt of the Gospel, people count it not a precious, but a tedious thing. Never merry world (says some) since we had so much Preaching: as if the Sun shone too bright; like the Israelites who stumbled at the plenty of Manna: Nay, they are akin to the Devils, who asked Christ if he were come to torment them; they account the Gospel a torment, because it crosseth their lusts, and lets in so much light. These can spend days and nights in vanity, but an hour at a Sermon is tedious, if they had any delight in the Word, they would not care though their Minister stood somewhat long. Though Zachary stayed long in the Temple, yet the people waited for him till he came out, Luk. 1. 21. they marvelled indeed he stayed so long; but the Spirit of God notes, that they waited for him. But our people sit upon thorns at a Sermon, but they can lie soaking at an alebench as though they sat upon soft cushions. The Onions of Egypt have a better taste with them, than the Quails of the Wilderness. They had rather live at the Hogs-trough, than in their Father's house. With the Gadarens they parfer their Pigs before our Saviour Christ. O say they, we cannot live by Sermons; Sermons are too holy and straight for them. Bid them take up Christ's yoke, they care not for it except it were wider. The Ministry hath no success at all with them unto any purpose. What a thing is this Brethren! Whence is it that we regard the Gospel no more? The sooth is, people know not their damned estate, neither will they believe it, though we tell them; nay, they care not whether they hear it or no. But if they knew the goodness of it, they would run from East to West for it, if drunkards, and worldlings, and such rabble, knew their fearful estate, the Minister should be as welcome to them, as bread to the hungry, or a pardon to a Thief; So that ye see this condemneth them deeply, that the Word hath no success with. Thus ye see the Ministers of Christ have all success from Christ, if any one soul come in at their teaching, it is an evident sign, it is of Jesus Christ; for otherwise people hold off, some hold off altogether, others yield a little way, but will not yield full out; if a man yield to us indeed, it is merely by Jesus Christ.  
Now I will show you, that as a Minister hath all his good success of his labours from Jesus Christ. So if he be a true Minister of Christ, Christ uses to give him good success. When Christ put Peter into the Ministry. He told him from hence forth thou shalt catch men. Luk. 5. 10. That is, as I have made thee a Minister, So thou shalt have good success. They shall have some good success, as we see in the sense though three parts fell into hard ground, yet some fell into good ground, Mar. 4. 8. Nay, though Christ's Ministers come into the most Desperate places that can be, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, notwithstanding the places they went to, were deeply rooted in Idolatry and full of persecuting Jews, and they were ready to be stoned to death, the people were so mad against their Doctrine; yet they never Preached any where, but they had good success with some. When Paul came to Thessalonica, the text notes, some of them believed, and joined in Company with him. Act. 17. 4. When he came to Athens, though some mocked, and some hung in suspense, like Neuters, that were neither fish, nor flesh, howbeit certain men clavae unto Paul, and believed Act. 17. 34. So when he came to Rome. Though some stood out, yet some were persuaded, Act. 28. 24. Yea when Philip came to Samaria, though it was a Town, that was bewitched, full of sorcery and witchcraft, and they had even given their souls to the Devil. A Minister could hardly come into a worse Town, yet the people gave heed to those things that he spoke. Act. 8. 6. Nay, the context shows he had marvellous good success, the Lord maketh that precious account of the Ministers of the Gospel, that he never bestows it upon any place, where he hath not some elect; other blessings God bestows more promiscuously, Reprobates have as great plenty as others. All things come a like to all. But this blessing he gives to no place, where he hath not some to save. Either some in the Town, or some there abouts.  
The use of this is, first, Here we are to inquire then what 
Use 1.  may be the reason that Christ's Ministers have so little success now adays. First, Some Ministers have the less success by raising up of others that have greater. As Calvin after Luther. Luther had admirable success for a time, and then when Calvin came, he did increase, and Luther did decrease. So John observed of himself, he had admirable success for a time, but when Christ came, John had the less. He must increase but I must decrease. Joh. 3. 30. Again, it may be people's unthankfulness, for the Ministry of the Word. When people have had the Word along time, and yet they will not obey it, may be God says to them as he did to the Figtree, Never fruit grow on thee more, while the world standeth. Then God sends Esay to make the heart of the people fat. Then Jeremiahs' errands most an end to pluck up and to pull down. Then John is to say, He that is filthy let him be filthy still. Then Hosea cries, Ephraim is joined unto Idols; let him alone.  
Thirdly, Some Ministers may be have the less success, for their own fault in not speading of the net, when their preaching is little better than reading. True, it may be a man may be converted by reading, as Luther says he was. And John hus by reading Wiclefes books. Austen says he was converted by reading the 13. of the Romans and the 14. verse. There is a Blessing that may be looked for by reading. Blessed is he that readeth Rev. 1. 3. But this is very rare. There may a fish or two hang on the net, being let down on a heap, but that is a chance. No, no, it is not the net lapped up together that bringeth in the draught, but hailed out at length and spread all abroad, this closeth in the fish. So it is the spreading of the Word, the stretching of it out upon every soul present, this is the way to catch some: When a Minister labours to hit all.  
Fourthly, some Ministers may be unsuccessful for not preaching roughly enough. Beloved our times are knotty times. Rough hewing is needful. Now people had need hear of hell and damnation, and wrath and vengeance, against their sins, Some save with fear, as the Apostle speaks, plucking them out of the fire, Judas 23.  
Fifthly, Again, May be a Minister's success is not seen, may be he is successful, though he shall not live to see it, as Christ says, One sows and another reaps, Joh. 4. 37. as the Prophets sowed, and the Apostles reaped: So, Beloved, we may sow now, and those that come after us, may be they shall be the reapers. The present age, now may sow seed for the succeeding. Arbores serit, quae alteri prosuit saeculo. As the Chinah make their dishes: the Fathers lay them into the fire, and the third generation after takes them out. Though we do not see our seeds to come up; may be we meet with no harvest, this may be our comfort, if we can but sow, for others afterwards to reap. Let us have a care of sowing, many a man that now hears the word, and now is brought up under a good teaching Ministry, though yet he do not obey it, who knows what God will do? may be God may cast him into some horrible affliction yet before he dies, and sling terror into his Soul, and then what we have delivered may do him good: And therefore we should never lin sowing, though we never see the Harvest: this should be our comfort, that the ground hath the seed. Let us still power in good examples into our people; Parents into their children, Masters into their servants, Ministers into their hearers, let God alone with it, when, and what, and where the Harvest shall be.  
Lastly, Some Ministers are not godly, and then how can they look for good success? as God says, If they had stood in my Counsel, and caused my people to hear my words, than they should have turned them from their evil way, Jer. 23. 22. I dare not say absolutely, that a carnal Minister shall never have good success in his Ministry. As if a Minister should conclude he were a good man, because God hath blessed his labours; No, that is not a good argument: for,  
First, It is the Word that converts, and not the person of the speaker, I dare not tie God to the goodness of any man's person. God, as he is a Creator he is a wise God, and can write well with a bad pen, and cut well with a blunt naughty knife.  
Secondly, Such may be sent of God, and gifted for the Ministry, and therefore for all that I know, they may be an Organ of conversion sometimes.  
Thirdly, Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached by the false Apostles, though it were but of envy, Phil. 1. 15, 16, 17, 18. you will say, how could he rejoice in that? that was a wicked manner of Preaching. Why surely he could not rejoice in it, but that he did think that it might do some good.  
Fourthly, This may be thus, or else, no man can be assured of his salvation: For, if a carnal Minister cannot be the means of conversion, etc.  
Fifthly, They may say at last day, Lord, Lord, we have Prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have we cast out devils, and yet Christ will say unto them, I know you not, etc.  
Sixthly, Why else does our Saviour Christ bid people hear the Scribes and Pharisees, but that he implies, they may be a means of good to them.  
Seventhly, Judas was sent out to Preach, Matth. 10. 4. Christ said to him as well as the rest, When ye go Preach, saying, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, ver. 7.  
Eightly, Experience hath found this to be true; some godly souls have confessed this very thing, that such as now they see to be palpably carnal, have been the means of their conversion, etc. Many helped Noah to build his Ark that perished in the waters. God may make the crowing of a Cock, to be a means of a wakning Peter's Conscience. The temptations of the Devil, to be the means of Luther's quickening: and therefore, I do not simply affirm that carnal Ministers cannot convert. But this I say, it is a very rare thing, as Christ says, If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch, Matth. 15. 14. So, if a Hypocrite lead a hypocrite, the Drunkard lead the drunkard, etc. It is a woe to a Parish, when their Ministers are not godly: Woe to the City says God, Zeph. 3. 1. why so? Her Prophets are light persons, ver. 4. Woe to such Towns whose Ministers will go to the Alehouse, whose Ministers will keep company, and be hail fellow with every vain fellow, whose Ministers will embrace this present world, whose Ministers are proud, and envious, and malicious, that give a bad example to the people, that depend upon their charge. Woe to them, says God. The curse of God is upon such Parishes. God hath hardly any intention to save such people's souls. Or, if he have any of his Elect there, God will save them some other way; as God told the naughty Shepherds. ay, even I will search out my sheep and seek them out, Ezek. 34. 11. that is, I will search them out some other way, I will not do it by you. and therefore when he hath a mind to save a poor people, he sends good Ministers among them, or them to good ones. Turn o backsliding children, says God, and I will take you, one of a city, and two of a family, and I will give you Pastors according to my heart, Jer. 3. 14. etc. God would have none but wise-hearted men to work in his manual Tabernacle, Exod. 35. 10. how then do we think he will let fools, as all carnal Ministers are? etc. Saint Paul said, it was a part of the hope that he had in the presence of Christ, at his coming, that God had made him the instrument of gaining souls to his Kingdom. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing, are not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, at his coming? 1 Thess. 2. 19 and hath made a promise to such as convert souls; so runs the Promise, They that turn others to righteousness, shall shine as the stars, Dan. 12. 3. indeed this is but a secondary evidence of Salvation, etc. O, Beloved, if we could convert any of your Souls, what a comfort would it be? whereas, if a man be a wicked man, what hope can he have that God will bless his labours? nay, he hath said expressly, that if a man will not obey the voice of the Lord: cursed shall he be in the field, and in the house, and so in the Pulpit, in his studies, he cannot look for God's assistance, as God told the wicked Priests: I will curse all your blessings, if ye will not lay it to heart, Mal. 2. 2.  
Secondly, Another Use is, does Christ use to bless and 
Use 2.  prosper his true Ministers? then let us labour to get this blessing of him. Let us seek to him to give us good success, O how eager is Paul every where in prayer to God for good success?  
Thirdly, Another Use is, if we have not the success that 
Use 3.  we could wish, let us not be discouraged; as the Prophet Isaiah says, My labour is with the Lord: though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious, Esa. 49. 4, 5. The Husbandman looseth by an ill crop; I, but if we be faithful, we shall not lose, though our crop be never so ill, if we have ploughed well, and sown well, no matter what the crop be, we shall have our pay. If I preach and you repent not, it shall never repent me of my pains, I will preach still. For though my preaching be not a sweet savour, yet it shall be to God, even in thee, and thou shalt smart for it; and therefore let us not cease working, many a draught the poor fisher man makes and takes nothing, yet he leaves not off; many a time is the net of Preaching shot forth, and yet none converted thereby. So it pleaseth God to exercise the patience of his servants. Yet still the work must be followed, and the Lords leisure must be waited for. Oftentimes the net taketh fish, and they slip out again; So, there be many that seem to be pulled in by the Gospel, nevertheless they slide away again. Again, there is oftentimes brought in into the net, that which is yet good for nothing when it is got, there comes in frogs, and weeds, and a great deal of trash, which in the end are cast away, and yet for love of the fish, the fisherman is content to hale all in that he can; So, Beloved, we draw in many hypocrites, many that prove nought, and yet for hope of good fish, we must still be a labouring, and may be we may have a good Harvest yet, though yet we see little likeli-hood. Be not weary of well-doing, says the Apostle, for me shall reap if we faint not. Gal. 6. 9  
Fourthly, another Use is to you, that you do not wilfully stand out, to deprive us of good success. The shrewdest turn you can do your poor Ministers, is to deprive them of the joy of their labours; the way to rejoice them, is to embrace the Gospel they preach, it will be heavy for you when we shall groan to God, that we could not persuade any of you. If thou wilt not now hear that which may profit thee, thou shalt hear one day that which shall make thy heart ache. Go ye cursed into everlasting fire. O, remember Sodom, and do not stand out against the Ministers that come from Jesus Christ to you.   
Revel. 3. 1. These things, saith he, that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. 
HAving done with the inscription of this Epistle, To the Church that is in Sardis write, we came to the Subscription, containing the person from whom the Epistle is sent. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is here described from two Royalties of his, First, that he hath The seven Spirits of God, that we have handled already. Secondly, that he hath the seven Stars, or the Ministers of the Church. This we have almost finished too; we showed you that Christ is said to have the Ministers of the Church five ways.  
First, he hath the sending of them; they have their Mission from him.  
Secondly, he hath the delegating of them; they have their Commission from him.  
Thirdly, he hath the gifting of them; they have their gifts and abilities from him.  
Fourthly, he hath the prospering or not prospering of them; they have their success from him.  
All these four I have spoken of already. Now remains the fifth and the last, he hath the disposing of them, the placing of them in a Town, the continuing of them, or removing of them, the holding of them up, or the pulling of them down, as the Apostle speaks, He hath the key of David, he openeth and no man shutteth, and he shutteth and no man openeth, Rev. 3. 7. that is, he hath all power in the Church, to place it or displace it. To settle it or to transplant it, to prescribe or not prescribe, to absolve or to condemn, to save or to destroy, to give Ministers liberty or to take it away. As Christ tells the Minister of Philadelphia, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. Rev. 3. 8. good Ministers shall have Liberty to preach in their stations, as long as he pleases, and they never can be hindered, till he is pleased so to permit it, or appoint it. So when Paul was at Ephesus though he had never so many adversaries there, that would fain hinder him if they could, Yet as long as Christ gave him an open door, to preach and to do good, none of them all could withstand him. A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries, 1 Cor. 16. 9  
First, Christ hath the placing of his Ministers. As he saith to jeremiah I have set thee. So Christ says to all his true Ministers, I have set you. God hath set to all men the bounds of their habitations. Act. 17. 26. that one man shall dwell here; another there, one in this Parish, another in that Parish. How much more does he appoint unto his Ministers their habitations, that John the Baptist shall be in the Wilderness of Judea, Titus shall be in Crete, Epaphras shall be at Colosse, Epaphroditus at Philippi, Timothy at Ephesus, and the like. Nay, he is no Minister of Christ that is not of Christ's placing. As the Apostle speaks. Take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. Act. 20. 28. Over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. He is a true Minister to this or that Congregation; that can say that the Holy Ghost hath made me an overseer to them.  
The Reason is, first, Because no man is a Pastor or a Shepherd to any sheep, that did not enter in by the door into those sheep. He that entereth in by the door, is a shepherd of the sheep. Joh. 10. 2. Now who is this door but Jesus Christ? I am the door saith he, By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. As it follows there in the ninth verse. As he is the door, no man can enter into the Ministry rightly but by him. He must have his Letters of Orders from him. So he is the door into any flock, and if a man have not institution and induction from him, he is no Shepherd of the flock. Nay, Christ tells him flatly, he is a thief and robber, and a hireling. When the Danites asked the Levite in Mount Ephraim, who brought thee hither? What makest thou in this place? Judg. 18. 3. ye know he put himself there, he sought for the place himself, and it was maintenance that brought him thither. His own conscience told him he was a hireling. He could not say, the Lord brought me hither. He came not in by the door; Now every true Minister comes in by the door into a Parish, and therefore he comes in by Jesus Christ.  
Secondly, No Minister can be placed in any Parish, but by the Bishop of the Diocese. Now Beloved, who ever be Christ's substitute, Christ is the main Bishop of every Diocese, Christ is the Shepherd and Bishop of our fowls, 1 Pet. 2. 25. Indeed there be other Bishops under him, other Shepherds under him, I but he is the great Shepherd of the sheep, Heb. 13. 20. the Arch Shepherd. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5. 4. The chief Shepherd. When the chief Shepherd shall appear. Well if he be the chief Shepherd, it is fit that he should institute and induct into Pastoral charges. It's fit that his word should be followed, in every one's coming into a living, to go no where, but where his word doth allow. To take no care of Souls, but of such as he commits to our custody. All true Ministers are his Curates, and therefore if they be not of his placing, they came not in right.  
Thirdly, If it be he that must pay them their wages, than reason good, that he should set them on work. If a man thrust himself into a Parish, it was not Christ that moved him to come there, but forsooth he wanted a Living, he would fain have maintenance, there is so much Per annum, this was his motive, Christ never moved him, this man can look for no wages from Jesus Christ. When he hath gathered in his Tithes or his quarterage, Christ will tell him as he told the foolish Pharisees, Ye have the record. He that set you on work, he will pay your wages. I never set you on work, and therefore ye can look for nothing at my hands. Certainly if Christ must pay a man his wages, good Reason that he should have the putting of a man into this or that Vineyard. He called in the Labourers and paid them their wages that gave them their task. Matt. 3. 20. 8.  
Fourthly, How can they look for his assistance and Blessing, if they be not placed by him? when the Lord had placed Jeremiah a Prophet in Judah, the Lord undertook to assist him. I have made thee this day a defenced City and an iron Pillar, and Brazen walls, I will be with thee Jere. 1. 18, 19 A Minister hath need of Christ's assistance, where e'er he is, his Preaching else will do little good, his Sermons will be of no effect, Christ's assistance and Blessing is all in all. Moses prays for Levi, Bless Lord his substance, and accept the work of his hands. Deut. 33. 11. No man hath more need of Christ's blessing to go along with him then a Minister. Now when a Minister is not there where Christ would have him to be, How can he expect that Christ's blessing should be with him? if he can say, Christ would have me here, Christ hath placed me here, than he may look for Christ's being with him.  
Fifthly, what peace of Conscience can they have, when they lie on their deathbeds, except they can comfortably say, Lord thou didst place me in this Parish, Lord I came in by the door, and by no other way. It was not by-ends, nor filthy lucre, nor gain, as Jeremiah says, I did not thrust in myself to be a Pastor, Lord thou madest me a Minister to this Congregation, I have faithfully tended those Souls, that thou gavest me to feed, this is a sweet thing. Ye know people are apt to say, who sent for you, who made you our Minister? we will not acknowledge you to be our Minister. As Shemaiah said of good Jeremiah; Thou hast made thyself a Prophet to this people, Jer. 29. 27. Now if Jeremiah had not his own Conscience to prove his Institution from God, what a taking had he been in?  
Sixthly, And lastly, what comfort else can the people of God have to live under such a man's Ministry, unless they can say, this is my Minister, set over me in the Lord! This is so needful, that without it, he were as good have no Minister at all. As the Apostle tells the good people of Colosse, Epaphras is for you a faithful Minister of Christ, Col. 1. 7. This is their comfort indeed, when they can truly affirm that this man is for us a faithful Minister of Christ. This Minister is our Minister in Christ. This is the ground of their Consciences, submitting to his Ministry, and of their receiving of him, as an Ambassador from Christ unto them. Now when a man is not placed by Christ in a Parish as their Minister, what joy can they have to hear him? What hope that God will sanctify his labours among them?  
The use of this is, first; For us that are Ministers, that we 
Use 1.  look we be of Christ's placing, that we may be able to conclude to our people, as Paul to the Corinth's, Though I be not an Apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am an Apostle unto you. So that we may be able to conclude to our people, doubtless I am Christ's Minister unto you. As our Saviour Christ says. Who is the faithful wise Shepherd, Whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his household? Luk. 12. 42. Hath the Lord made us Rulers over his household? We are all shepherds in such and such Parishes. But did the Lord put us there? We are Spiritual Rulers over such and such households of God, but did the Lord make us Rulers over them? otherwise we are not Stars in his hands; No, We are blazing Comets out of his Orb, if we be Stars in his hands, we can prove our placing from him.  
Secondly, This serves to condemn them that are thiefs 
Use 2.  and intruders into God's Heritage, that never came in by the door, but by some other way, that are hirelings and will leave the sheep, for their own advantage; Gain makes them take livings, gain makes them chop and change, that never went to Christ for his approbation, it is said of the Apostles that the Rulers and Elders perceived that they had been with Jesus, Act. 4. 13. Those are Ministers of Parishes indeed, that have been with Jesus, But these men, no man can perceive that ever they have been with Jesus Christ, that ever they had any allowance from him, and yet they will be crowding in into Livings. But I let this pass.  
Thirdly, Hath Christ the placing of Ministers? then this 
Use 3.  is of use unto you, that have Ministers of Christ's placing among you. Take heed how ye carry yourselves under your Ministry. If you do not obey their Doctrine, you sin against Christ. O reject not their reproofs, put not off the Word of God in their mouths, if ye do, ye do not put off men but God. It was an excellent exhortation of that godly King, Jehosaphat: Hear me, O ye inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, believe the Lords Prophets and ye shall prosper, 2 Chron. 20. 20. O, if Kings and Princes would do so now, call upon people up and down, O Sirs, believe the Lords Prophets and ye shall prosper: Ye that have Gods Ministers among you, believe them, may be when they threaten against all your sinful courses, they tell you of hell, and damnation, and heaven and salvation, ye hardly believe any such thing: O believe them, that it may go well with you. Remember they be of Christ's placing among you. He put them into your Pulpits, he gives them the Themes that they preach to you from day to day. Believe them.  
Fourthly, Hath Christ the placing of Ministers? then never 
Use 4.  complain of graceless Ministers; O, ye have graceless Ministers, and our Minister is not as he should be, he is not a good liver, he does not preach to the Conscience. People are apt to complain of Patrons, and such and such causes, but let me tell you, you murmur against Jesus Christ, every Parish in England might have a good and a godly Minister, a Minister after Gods own heart, for all that I know, if they would go to Jesus Christ, he hath the placing of Ministers.  
Now what is the reason that there are no more able worthy Ministers every where?  
Answer, Surely if Christ were sought to, this would quickly be holpen, when Judah had no Ministers in the Captivity, their souls starved for want of good feeding, thousands perished, and their souls were quite lost for lack of Vision. What says Christ to them. Turn ye backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you one of a city, and two of a Family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you Pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding, Jer. 3. 14, 15. people are subject to murmur, and this is long of such and such, that we have no better Ministers, whereas the Truth is, it is long of ourselves, iniquity abounds every where, the love of many waxes cold, people grow weary of wholesome Doctrine, they have itching ears, they are full fed, any Ministry is good enough for them, if a man prophesy of Wine and strong drink, he shall even be the Prophet of this people, Mich. 2. 11. that is, any Prophet is good enough for them, fitter than a better. One that would show people how to get Bread and Drink, and Wine, and profits, and pleasures; People would rather hear such a one preach, than to hear of Repentance and Mortification; and Faith, and Holiness, and the ways of God, they care not for these things. The true Preaching of the Word, is as contrary to the disposition of men as can be. Nothing is more irksome unto them, as the Word rightly taught. It goes against their lusts, it crosses their wicked wills. They are weary of it, they say unto God depart from us, they will not let Christ reign in their hearts, therefore we may rather wonder that there is any good Minister in the Kingdom any where, we are to bless God, and pray for our Governors, that we have any good Ministers at all, the truth is we deserve not any. There is so little Religion every where, so much hypocrisy, so much profession without any power of godliness, such a deal of vanity, and unsoundness, and hollow-heartedness; nay, among such as have gone for good Christians, so much falsehood and rottenness, and apostasy, to what end should Christ let us have any more Preaching. We give the world occasion to think, that Preaching is the cause of all this wretchedness. What a dishonour is this to Jesus Christ? and therefore no marvel we have no more, we may admire the patience of God that we have any.  
Fifthly, Hath Christ the placing of Ministers? then 
Use 5.  see whether to go for good Ministers. Christ is the general Patron of all Livings▪ He can present whom he will to a Parish, and therefore we should pray unto him. When our Saviour Christ preached here and there, and saw how the people came out of all Parishes to him, it seems, though they had Levites in their own Synagogues, yet they did not know how to feed their flocks; they were as sheep for all them without a shepherd▪ there was hardly ere a good Minister among them all. Mark, what the Text says. Jesus had compassion on them, because they were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd: O says he, Pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest, Mat. 9 38. so much for the first.  
Secondly, Now as Christ hath the placing of Ministers, so he hath the continuing of them, as long as he pleases. He continued the Prophet Isaiah in his Ministry during the Reign of four Kings. He kept the Prophet Hosea in his function, during the reign of five Kings, though the times were very bad. When it was told Christ that Herod sought his life, that he would not only put him besides his Ministry, but also his very life; says he, Go tell that Fox, Behold I cast out Devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfect, Luk. 13. 32. Christ had his time appointed him by his Father himself, and he would Preach all that time out, and all the devils in hell, and all his Enemies on earth should not hinder him. So, Beloved, it is with all his Ministers, he hath set them a time, and he hath power to continue them all that time. I shall preach to day, and to morrow, and such a day, do the world what they can, they cannot hinder his ministers from preaching, till Christ please, as he told his people: Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner any more: But thine eyes shall see thy Teachers. Esa. 30. 20. q. d. though thy Ministers have been put by, yet I will restore them again, and they shall not be put by any more. I have power to continue them as long as I will; when he called Noah to preach to the old world, he appointed him 120. years, and he continued him all that while, whether the wicked world would or no.  
And the Reason is, first, because Ministers are his Ambassadors. Now a King it is in his choice, how long his Ambassadors shall lie Lieger in a foreign Country, he hath so many businesses for them to do, and so long they shall continue there. So, true ministers are the Ambassadors of Christ, as the Apostle Paul speaks, Now than we are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled unto God, 2 Cor. 5. 20. we are Christ's Ambassadors, and therefore he will continue us as long as he list; as long as he hath any business to do; as long as he hath any souls to save, any men or women to reconcile to his father, or to build up, so long he will continue us. It's a doleful sign when Christ takes away his Ministers from a place, it's a sign he hath no more souls to save; if he had, he would let his Ambassadors lie beseeching still: so that this is one great reason, because, Ministers are His Ambassadors.  
Secondly, Because Christ hath all power in Heaven and in Earth, as he told his Apostles, when he sent them out to preach, All power is given to me in Heaven and in Earth, Math. 28. 18, q. d. I have power to send you, and I have power to continue your Ministry as long as I think fitting, and I have power to take you away, I have power to ordain you either for salvation or the damnation of men. Whom I will I can convert by your Sermons, and whom I will I can deliver up to the counsel of their own hearts, that they shall not be converted by you. Now: if Christ have all power in Heaven and in Earth, than he hath power to continue his Ministers as long as his will is. I need not stand to prove this, it is too evident: he hath power to lengthen his Ministers lives, to prolong their liberties, when he takes away one, he hath power to put in another as good: when he meant to take away Elias, he anointed Elisha in his room. If their enemies be never so many, he can tie up their hands; he delivered Paul from the mouth of the Lion: though forty men had vowed to take him away by death, he diverted their plot, and continued him still: nay, when he was in Bonds, yet he was able to get him liberty to go abroad with his keeper, and to preach the Kingdom of God to as many as came. Suppose the world be never so mad against Christ's Ministers, yet as long as he hath any more work for them to do, he can hold off their singers from meddling with them, till they have finished the Task that he hath given them to do.  
The Use of this is; first, That Ministers should not fear 
Use 1.  to be deprived of their liberty, so long as they do well; indeed if they do ill, if they be wicked or idle, or unworthy, such Ministers should fear they do deserve to be put down. But if we be godly Ministers, it is our baseness to fear any such thing. Christ hath the continuing of us, our times are not in men's hands, but in his. What a horrible thing is it, that we should go against our conscience in any thing, or be afraid to speak what God bids us, to be mealemouthed, to be discouraged with rumours, or dangers, we should keep nothing back of the whole counsel of God, we are stars in his hands, and he hath the continuing of us; though men fight against us, they cannot prevail against us, till our business is all done. As the Lord told the Prophet Jeremiah: They shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, Jer. 1. 19 Let us then be afraid of nothing but sin. Let us be afraid to do any evil, either towards God or towards man; let us be harmless in the midst of a crooked, and a perverse generation. Let us deal faithfully with our people, let us undauntedly Preach, Rebuke, Exhort, with all long suffering and Doctrine, make our faces hard against the wickeds faces, no matter for their rail, their threatening speeches, their malicious accusations, and not fear, the Lord Jesus hath the continuing of us.  
Secondly, Here we may see the reason why the Gospel 
Use 2.  continues in any place, a man would wonder it should continue any where, because the world cannot abide it. Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted? saves Stephen, Act. 7. 52. They that do evil, hate the light, it cuts them to the heart; Every one hates me, says the Prophet, he was reproached for the Words sake. Report, say they, and we will report it. One time they put him into a dungeon; Another time they would have killed him. Shemaiah writ Letters to the high Priest against him, Jer. 29. 25. And yet he continued his Ministry, until the day of the Captivity. Nay, he had liberty, when others had their liberty taken away. Ye know Christ himself Preached daily in the Temple, and they took him not, though they gnashed their teeth at his Doctrine, and sometimes were in the mind to throw him down headlong and break his neck, sometimes to stone him; yet till his hour was come, he had his liberty.  
And the truth is, a man would wonder how any of God's Ministers have their Liberties continued; when there be so many Drunkards, so many Enemies of all goodness, so many that follow their own ungodly lusts, and the Gospel is an eyesore unto them, and yet in many places it stands still. This is God's doing. You see here Christ hath the continuing of his Ministers; they shall have their liberty, as long as God hath any use for them.  
Thirdly, Is it so, that Christ hath the continuing of 
Use 3.  his Ministers? then this is of use also unto you; Now you hear whence to have your good Ministers continued, even by seeking to Jesus Christ, he can lay a charge upon all the world where they are, to let them alone. He can say, Do my Prophets no harm, Psal. 105. 15. you will say, why? what shall we do?  
I Answer; first, let us repent of our sins, it is our sins that removes the Ministers of God, if we would repent us of our sins, and turn from our wicked ways, and let the Word work upon our hearts, this would continue the ministry of the Word, as God told Judah, when they should repent of their sins, O says he, I will be your God, and you shall be my people, and my Sanctuary shall be among you for evermore, Ezek. 27. 27, 28. that is, by Sanctuary he means his public Worship, the preaching of his Word, and other of the means of grace, when they repented of their sins, than these should be continued: So, Beloved, if ye would repent of your sins, I do not mean one or two, or a few, or so; But if there might be a general Reformation among us, this would fasten the Word among us, as in a sure place.  
Secondly, Let us prise the Gospel, the Gospel loves to stay there where it is welcome: it will never go away, if it might have good entertainment, if we would honour it, and glorify it, and pluck up our affections, in the dearest manner to it, this would preserve it among us for ever. The Church of Philadelphia, that used the Word best, had it longest, etc. Our Saviour Christ hath a saying, Into what soever Town or City ye enter, inquire who is worthy, there abide, Matth. 10. 11. And as he says, Luk. 10. 7. Go not from house to house. The Gospel does not love to change houses till it be urged; so it does not love to change Towns, if it may have good usage; So, Beloved, if we would give the Gospel good usage, the Lord would continue it; like a Guest that is the willinger to stay when he sees he is among Friends.  
Thirdly, Let us bring forth the fruits of it. The Husbandman will ever continue ploughing of his ground, as long as he sees it will give him a good crop. But when he perceives it will not quit charges, than he lays it Fallow. So Christ would have stayed his word still in Judah and Jerusalem, if they would have brought forth competent fruit. But when once they grew barren, he said he would take his Kingdom away. The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a Nation that will bring forth the fruits thereof, Matth. 21. 43.  
Fourthly, Let us be earnest with God, to have his Gospel continue. Importunity may do much: Importunity held Christ a night longer with the Disciples, Luk. 24. 29. Importunity held the Levite three or four days longer than otherwise he would, Judg. 19 4, 5, 6, 7. O If we would be importunate with Christ to stay his Gospel still; as Jacob did the Angel, Thou shalt not go till thou bless me, Lord thy Gospel shall not go till it convert me; and it shall not go till it convert me, and it shall convert me first; if every one would hang upon Christ, to stay his Gospel still, and thou shalt not let it go till it hath done my soul good, till it hath enlightened mine eyes, and quickened my heart, this would obtain much; may be some do do thus! as Jeremiah did: O thou hope of Israel, Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the Land, and as a wayfaring man, that turneth aside to stay for a night, Jer. 14. 8. Alas! that would not do, if there had been many Jeremiahs▪ to do thus, than they might have gotten him to stay longer. So, may be some do cry importunately thus, O thou hope of Jerusalem, etc. And so I fall upon the third thing: ye have heard; first, how Christ hath the placing of his Ministers; secondly, he hath the continuing of them.  
Thirdly, Now it follows, he hath the removing of them too. People are prone to look upon second causes, But Christ is the supreme, he is the principal cause of this judgement upon men, to take away his Ministers, as the Prophet Isaiah speaks, The Lord of Hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah, the mighty man, and the Judge, and the Prophet, Esa. 3. 1, 2. Whether it be by death, or removeall, or imprisonment, or suspending, or any other way: It is he that deprives a people of his faithful Ministers, whosoever be the instrument.  
First, He can take them away by death out of the world, Thus the Lord took away the Prophet Enoch, Genesis 5. 24.  
Secondly, He can take them away by removeall, thus he took away Ionas from Israel, and sent him to Niniveh, Jon. 3. 1. Ye know he was a Prophet in Israel, and the Lord removed him thence to the Land of Assyria.  
Thirdly, He can take them away by letting them be imprisoned, thus he took away John the Baptist, by letting Herod put him into prison, for telling him of his sins, Mark, 16. 17. So, Ahab imprisoned Michaiah for telling him the truth.  
Fourthly, He can take them away by letting them be suspended, and inhibited from Preaching, by letting wicked men have their wills, That say to the Seers, see not, and to the Prophets, prophesy not, Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Esa. 30. 10. Thus King Amaziah silenced the Prophet that reproved him, 2 Chron. 25. 16.  
Fifthly, He can take them away by silencing them himself, this is as bad as taking them away for the time, thus himself stopped Ezikels mouth, and made him dumb.  
Now the Reason why Christ does do thus, is; first, because of the wicked, they will not receive their Doctrine. Thus the Lord Jesus took away Paul out of Jerusalem. Make haste, get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me, Acts 22. 18.  
Secondly, The Lord does it in regard of his own people, because they begin to forsake their first love. This was the reason why the Lord threatened to take away the Ministry of the Word out of Ephesus, I will remove thy Candlestick out of its place, except thou repent, Revelations 2. 5.  
Thirdly, The Lord does this sometimes in regard of the Ministry itself, that it may be more precious afterwards, as it is said there in Samuel, when the Lord had deprived Israel of his Prophets, for a matter of fourscore years together, O says the Text, The Word of God was precious in those days, because there was no open Vision, 1 Sam. 3. 1.  
The Use of this is, first, Is it so, that it is Christ that 
Use 1.  removes Ministers? then this should teach us to mourn before him, if ever any of our Ministers be taken away by any means, we should see whose hand is upon us, the hand of the Lord is gone out against us, it is he that inflicteth this judgement, and therefore we should mourn unto him, as the Church did. When all their Prophets were gone, and all Religion went to wrack, and the enemies had burnt up their Synagogues, and broken up all their godly Assemblies: O how they mourned unto God for it. O God, why hast thou cast us off? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy Congregation, which thou hast purchased of old. Remember mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelled, Psal. 74. 1, 2. this was a heavy judgement indeed, they felt the Lords anger smoke against them then. Why? What was the matter? We see not our signs, there is no more any Prophet, Ver. 9  
Secondly, Another Use is, Let us look into the meritorious 
Use 2.  cause, which is nothing but our sins. If God's Ministers be put down at any time, it is our sins that put them down. For if Christ be the inflicting cause, certainly our sins are the deserving cause; we can blame none but our own sins, if any thing stop any good Minister's mouth, it is they, it is people's drunkenness, and disorder, you are the cause, your unfruitfulness, and security, and hypocrisy, and formality, you do not learn goodness and godliness under the Word, ye remain vain and blind, and hardened in your hearts under the same. What Parishes more disorderly, than those where most preaching is, where is more hatred of word, and virtue, and piety then there? where is more railing at a good life, and holy walking, and such as desire to do well? the more preaching people hear, for the most part, the worse they grow. People come to Church it may be, but they make it a cloak for their villainies, they will give us the hearing, but no obedience, no practice, no Reformation, no sign of amendment, no love, no truth, no faithfulness, no communion at all, welaneare, where most Preaching is! if any thing stop our mouths, this will do it. And indeed what may men think of us, but that we are a company of hypocrites, and teachers of vanities; what are these Preachers, we see little good they do, what becomes of all their Preaching, factions and odd opinions, in one Town, and dissoluteness and all manner of licensiousnesse in another. If the whole world should let us alone, I verily fear God himself would put us down immediately, in the end. So many scandals, so many thousand offences are given every day, that its a wonder we stand as we do. That the Lord of heaven lets any Minister in England, come into a Pulpit more; nothing but pride, and self-conceits, and selftrusting, and feared consciences, dead hearts, and profaneness; unless it be a very little handful; O Beloved, if where preaching is, it were honoured as it ought to be, and obeyed as it should, if people would do as we teach, I dare be bold to affirm we might Preach long enough. If our Towns would sweetly reform, set up good Government, root out all disorders and cursed abuses, live like Christians indeed, be humble, and sober, and loving, and dutiful to God and Man; Giving to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are Gods. If we would fear God, and honour the King: Reverence God's Courts, obey the voice of his servants, love Christ and his word, above our appointed food, this would lengthen the Ministry of the Land, this would be a means for the establishing of God's Kingdom among us, Christ would never repent that ever he sent his Gospel unto us, where we have some, we should have more, where we have more, we should have a hundred times more, as the Apostle Peter says, Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good, 1 Pet. 3. 13.  
Thirdly, Another Use is, is it Christ that takes away 
Use 3.  Ministers, either by death, or restraining, or by any other way? Then let it be a means to exhort us to repent of our sins, that Christ may still give a door of utterance to his Ministers, that they may still speak in his name. This should move us to seek God. When Peter was cast into prison. O what fasting, and crying, and praying was there to God for him, till he was restored again, Act. 12. 5. they did not go to Herod to restore him; No, they knew Christ was he that took him from the Church, whoever were the instrument, therefore they sought to Heaven for him again, if any people's Ministry be gone, this is the best way to fetch them again. Paul knew this to be true, and therefore when he was in prison at Rome, he writes to Philemon thus. I trust that through your prayers, I shall be given unto you. Philemon v. 22. Nay, he is so confident that if people would but cry hard for him to God, that he should quickly be enlarged. Nay, says he, prepare me a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers I should be given unto you. q. d. I make no question but I shall out of prison, if you will but be earnest with God. So, also it seems the Author to the Hebrews, was restrained from Preaching. Now mark what an exhortation he uses, Pray for us, says he, and I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored unto you the sooner, Heb. 13. 18, 19  
Thus I have finished this part of the Description of Jesus Christ, That hath the seven Stars in his hand, and the whole Subscription too: These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars. I come now to the Epistle itself. I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest and art dead, but of this more, etc.   
REVEL. 3. 1. And unto the Angel of the Church in Sardis, write, These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. I know thy works, etc. Revel. 3. 1. I know thy works, etc. 
YE have heard two things concerning this Epistle. First, the Inscription, that declareth the person to whom it was sent, To the Angel of the Church in Sardis write. That is, it was sent principally to the Minister of the Church in the Town of Sardis, and also to the Christians that were in that Church.  
Secondly, the subscription that declareth from whom it was sent, These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven Stars: that is, it was sent from Jesus Christ.  
Now we come to the third thing, and that is the subject matter of this Epistle, which consists of three things.  
First, a Reprehension of the sins of the Minister, and the body of his congregation.  
Secondly, a Direction, or the showing of the remedy, for the curing of their sins.  
Thirdly, a Commendation of some particular persons in that Congregation, that were not carried away with the sins of the times.  
The reprehension is either in general, I know thy works, that is, I know them all, and I know them to be stark nought for the most part, whatever they seem, they may seem to be very good, but I tell you plainly, I know them all what they be, q. d. Generally they are stark nought.  
And then in particular he instances in two: first, the sin of hypocrisy, or seeming to be good, Thou hast a name that thou livest. Secondly, the sin of deadness of heart; But thou art dead. This is the reprehension, or the reproof.  
Then follows the Direction, or the showing of the remedy, for he does not reprove them out of any ill will, but for their good. And therefore he prescribes them a remedy, and the remedy is twofold: The first is, to strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die. v. 2. q. d. as many of you as are not quite and clean dead, stir up yourselves, quicken up your hearts; and this is, first illustrated by showing how they should do thus. Be watchful says he, q. d. that's the reason why ye languish on this fashion, and ye will languish more and more, because ye are not watchful, therefore be watchful: and then it is urged by rendering a motive to use this remedy: For I have not found thy works perfect before God, that is, thou art hardly sincere a jot, thou art full of hypocrisy, and formality, and thou wilt lose all thy labour, if thou dost not look well about thee; therefore shake up thyself, and strengthen the things, etc. this is the first remedy. The second remedy is to repent, v. 3. and this is amplified by showing how, and that is two ways, 1. Remember how &c. i.e. consider how thou hast been taught, and bewail thy declinings, for thou art horribly departed from what thou hast heard out of the Word. 2. Hold fast. i.e. so bewail thy warpings and degenerating, that thou mayest get up again, and hold thee fast there, when thou art up.  
Now lest they should neglect the using of this remedy, the Lord Jesus sharpens his speech with a threatening, telling them the danger if they will not be awakened, if therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know, etc. Thus you see the remedy.  
Then the next thing is the commemoration of some slain persons, raw Birds, that were not carried away with the sins of the times, and in the common deadness of the Congregation, where they lived, and these he does commend very much.  
And then an encouragement to give them an excellent promise. The commendation is in these words. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, vers. 4. That is, there be some among you, though they be but a few; and he commends them for two things. 1. From the place, that they could be in Sardis, and yet keep their quickening. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis. Even in Sardis, q. d. in dead Sardis, even there be some lively Christians, that are not dead. 2. from the quality of their care expressed by a metaphor of keeping their garments clean, which have not defiled their garments, that is, they have been very careful indeed, that they are not sooted and soiled with so many ill examples; though others be dead, yet they will not be dead too for company.  
And then their promise follows for their encouragement in these words. They shall walk after me in white, in the same verse; that is, I will give them the grace of presence, and will keep them unspotted unto my Heavenly Kingdom and Glory; and he adds a reason why he makes them such a promise, in these words. For they are worthy; not as though they did merit presence and glory; no; but they are worthy in Christ, and Christ hath made them meet to be made partakers of this mercy. Thus you see the matter of the example.  
Well, now to come to the reproof, and first in general, 
Doct. 1.  I know thy works, that is, I know them all, and I know them to be stark naught for the most part, what ever they seem; they may seem to be very good and godly; but be it known unto you, I know them all, what they be, q. d. generally they are stark naught. The first point we hence gather is that the Lord knows every man's ill courses; he is privy to every man's sins, though men carry them never so cleverly & closely, yet he knows them.  
First, he sees men's sinful works; they can do nothing, 
1  but he sees it, as Elihu speaks, his eyes are upon the ways of men, and he seeth all their goings. There is no darkness nor shadow of death, where the works of iniquity may hide themselves, Job. 34. 21, 22. what ever evil men do, they cannot hide it from him; they may go into a house, and think to shut out all men from seeing of them, but they cannot shut him out; they cannot get out of his sight be they never so private, and who sees them? yet the Lord sees them.  
Secondly, he knows every syllable that men speak 
2  at any time, as David says, There is not a word in my Tongue, but lo O Lord thou knowest it altogether, Ps. 13. 4. The Prophet Elisha could tell what the King of Aram spoke in his privy chamber, 2 Kings 6. 12. the Lord can tell what words people speak under the Rose; what they say in their beds, what they whisper in their close meetings, what they belch out on their Alebenches. Enoch says he will have them all up at the day of judgement, nay if a word be but at the Tongue's end, he hears it.  
Thirdly, he knows every thought in men's hearts, as 
3  Moses says, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the Earth, and the very imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, Gen. 6. 5. Though men's thoughts be sly things, and are out of men's eyes, and Devil's eyes, and Angels eyes, yet they are not out of his eye, he sees what men think.  
Fourthly, he knows all that ever a man hath done in 
4  times past; he revealed unto Moses what Adam did in the Garden, what Cain in the seld, what brags Lamech used before his Wives, what villainy Lot's Daughters did in the night time, many 100 years after they were done. He knows what was done yesterday and t'other day, and t'other day, seven hundred hundred years ago. He hath a Calendar of all the sins of men ever since the beginning of the World; what people did in their childhood, what in their youth, what in their manhood, though they themselves have forgotten, yet he remembers; there's no time out of mind unto Him: as Solomon says, God requireth that which is past, Eccl. 3. 15.  
Fifthly, he knows what sins men will commit hereafter; 
5  Christ told his Apostles before hand, what wicked dealings they should meet with; the Lord told Moses what Pharaoh would do, before he went to him, I know he will not let you go, Exod. 3. 19 So likewise when the children of Israel were in the Wilderness, the Lord told them even then that he knew all the wickedness that ever they would do when they came into Canaan. I know their imaginations even now says he, before I have brought them into the Land which Isware, Deut. 31. 21.  
Sixthly, He knows not only what sins they have 
6  committed heretofore, nor only what they will commit hereafter, but also he knows what they would commit, in such and such cases. He knew Abimelech would have taken Sarah, if he had not hindered him. He knew that the men of Keilah would betray David, if he should stay there, 1 Sam. 23. 12. He knows what a rich man would do if he were poor; what a poor man would do if he were rich; He knows that such a one would play the apostate, rather than lose all his living; He knows that such a man would do mischief, if he had wherewithal; he sees what is in every man's heart, what lies particularly in every man's nature; It may be her's one that dies in his infancy, the Lord knows what he would have done, if he had lived till he was a man; here's one that dies at 40, the Lord knows what a wretch he would have been, if he had lived to twenty or thirty years longer; here's one that dwells now in a good family, it may be now he conforms to good duties, he does not fly out, but the Lord knows how he would be a very rakeshame; if he lived in another place.  
Seventhly, the Lord knows what men are and what they have been, and what they will be, as he knows all their thoughts, words and works, He knows all their dispositions, their persons, their natures, their qualities, their affections, and ends and aims, and motives and estates; he knows how many are rotten though they profess never so much, how many are unfound though they be never so well esteemed in the Church; He knows in what estate every man stands in. He knows vain men, he fee wickedness also; will not he then punish it? Job. 11. 11. The reasons of this point, that God knows all men's sins and sinful courses, he knows all that they ever have done, or do do, or will do, or can do or would do are:  
First, because God is infinite in knowledge, as David 
1.  says, his understanding is infinite, Psal. 147. 5 as the Prophet Esay says, there's no searching of his understanding, Isa. 40. 28. well, if he be infinite in Knowledge, what can a poor Creature keep close from him? who can hide his iniquities from him? who can set such a colour upon his wicked devises that he can not discover them? let a man excuse himself, may be his excuses may pass currant among men, but God must needs know the falseness of his excuses, and that they are but Fig leaves: men may pretend what they will, and deny what they will with an impudent forehead, and set a good face upon what they will and this may go unperceived among men; but God's understanding is infinite, and therefore he knows all that men do, he knows how every man stands affected unto him, he knows how people come to Church, and whether they mean to do what they have been taught, whether they mean to reform what they have been reproved for; for, He is infinite in Knowledge, and therefore he is privy to all the sins of men.  
Secondly, as he is omniscient, so he is omnipresent; he 
2  is present every where; whether can any Creature go from his presence? if he go into Bed, or Chamber, or Closet, or Street, or high way, or Alehouse, or Drabhouse, home or abroad, he can go howhere but where God is, and how can he do aught, but God must needs see him? God himself argues on this manner, Can any hide himself in secret places, that I should not see him▪ 〈◊〉 not I fill Heaven and earth? saith the Lord, Jer. 23. 24. q●d if I be every where, I must needs be able to see every where.  
Thirdly, the Lord is omniprovident, as I may so speak, 
3  he hath a hand either in the making of all things, or at least in the permitting and disposing of all things. All that is good, he does it himself, or else it cannot be done. All that is evil, he must permit it to be, or else it cannot be committed; nothing is done without his concurrence or sufferance; therefore he must needs know all men's sins he knows what he hath suffered to be▪ or does suffer, or will suffer; not so much as the sins of men can fall out without him; as Peter speaking of Judas his sins, and the jews, and Pilat's, and Herod's, they did nothing but what he knew they would do; why they did nothing, but what his Hand and Counsel determined before to be done▪ Acts 4. 28. therefore he knew the Jews would be betray Christ; he could tell the Prophet Zachary divers hundred years before, that he would take 30 pieces of Silver to do it. He could tell the Prophet Esay that they would fmite him, and buffet him, that they would reck on him among transgressors; he could tell the Prophet David that they should pierce his hands and his Feet, and that they should offer him Vinegar to drink, the Lord knew all these sins of yours; why? because he had decreed them. True he did not decree that he would make them commit them, but he decreed that they themselves should be the agents of them▪ it should be merely their fault, their covetousness, their malice, their men-pleasing, their wicked disposition; I but he ordered these things, and therefore he must needs know them. The drunkard could not hold up the cup to his mouth, if God had not intended to preserve his arms, and his mouth, at that time; he could not go to the tippling house, but that God intended to continue him his feet, and his health; no man could think a wicked thought, nor speak a naughty word, but that God upholds his heart and his tongue in the interim; if God should forbear his goodness to them, he would be speechless, and not able to think so much as any thought at all, and this aggravates man's sins, that he hath need of God's goodness at the same time▪ and yet that he should sin against his Maker.  
Fourthly, the Lord knows every man's sins, because 
4  he hath a Candle in every man's bosom; he hath made men's hearts on that wise, that he hath a Candle in them all. Ye know there is a spirit in a man, that we call conscience, that is God's Candle, as Solomon says, The spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly, Pro. 20. 27. well, if he have a Candle shining in every man's bosom, what can there be hidden in the dark? nay he knoweth men's hearts and ways better than they knew them themselves, as the Physician can better judge of his Patient's body than himself; Christ knew Peter's unbelieving heart, when he knew it not himself, though all men be offended in thee yet will not I; Christ knew he would be offended in him that very night; so he knew Hazaels' wicked life, when the man that owned it, would not believe it; is thy servant a Dog says he, that I should be so wicked? yet he knew he would be so wicked and cruel; and therefore God can bring to a man's mind a thousand things that he never dreamt of before; many a man deceives himself all his life time; But when he comes to sicken and die, than God shows him what he is, and what he hath done, and now he sees he is a damned wretch, and yet before though all the Ministers in England had told him so much, he would not have believed it.  
Fifthly, he must needs know every man's sins, because 
5  he is the Judge of all the World, and he is to judge every sinner according to his deeds; now if he should not know all his sins, he could not judge righteous judgement. The Judge must know all secrets, otherwise he cannot well judge. Now beloved God is a righteous Judge, and therefore no sin can scape him; God shall bring every work into judgement with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil, Eccl. 12. 14. True it is, he shall not want witnesses in the day, for conscience shall be a thousand witnesses; yet it is needful that himself should have perfect knowledge of all the actions of men. For why is conscience so ready to accuse a man, when it is awakened? it is only because it is conscious that God knoweth all its doings; now if God had not perfect knowledge himself, conscience would not witness all then, neither could it make a sinner confess all. But Gods knowing all, this is it that will make conscience to speak truth. 
Jeremy hath a very excellent saying, let. 11. 20.  The Psalmist being to dispute against a company of Atheistical people that said, tush God shall not see, Psal. 94. 7. mark how he reasons against them. He brings an argument from Gods judging of men to prove that God must needs see; O says he, it is he that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? vers. 10. q. d. ye deny God to be judge; if he say he does not know, how can he correct them? will he judge men for that he knows not what? no, if he be the judge of the whole World, he must needs know all that men do.  
The use of this is, First, is it so that God knows all 
Use 1.  men's sinful courses, if men be dead-hearted, he knows it; if they be heartless in good duties, he knows it; though they would be loath that men should know what they are, and do keep it from them, yet they cannot dawb it before God; he knows it; then this may serve to confute them that say God does not know sin. This was Averro his opinion, who says God does not know sin; God knows all that ever he knows by knowing of himself, and how can he know sin, because he can see no such thing in himself? I answer this is to derogate from the knowledge of God, and to deny the perfection of it. True, sin is an evil, yea the greatest evil of all evils; yet the knowledge of it is good: nay, it were strange to say that God does not know who sin against him; that were a pity; if men be abused, we say it were pity but that they should know of it; and if we do love them, we tell them who they be that abuse them, and what the abuses are. Certainly God knows who do abuse him, and how people carry themselves towards all his Commandments and worship; it is a part of his perfection to know it. Again we ourselves may know sin, and may know sin by the contrary, as we know what darkness is by the contrary, which is light; and shall we say that God do not know it? God damns all the wicked one after another for it, and therefore he does know it, nay we see that God brings secret things to light here in this World, when people had thought that no body should ever come to know it, yet he does often bring secret sins to light here in this World, how much more at the last day? And though God knows all that ever he knows by looking upon himself, and sin be not there, but nothing but good and goodness itself, yet he can know it as a Medium to bring good out of it; And so it is good as he wils it, and therefore he decrees it, and therefore he must needs know it and know it in himself. For the permission only of it is in himself, and the acting which is evil is out of himself, neither does it follow that God's understanding should become vile by knowing so many vile things, as Vorstius and others do blasphemously astirme, & thence they would conclude their cursed Atheistical axioms; we indeed may make ourselves vile by looking upon vile and base things, because we cannot keep our hearts from savouring of them; whose end is damnation, etc. who mind earthly things, Phil. 3. 19 that is, their mind becomes vile by so doing. Hereby people come to be unacquainted with God, and with Heavenly things. They know how to buy and sell, how to earn and get gain, how to plough and sow and such earthly things, and they do so savour their minds, that they make their minds base with them, and therefore we are commanded to ennoble our minds and understandings, for these things make them vile, and therefore we should think of them no oftener then needs must, for our minds are debased by base objects; This is to be meant in regard of us, not as though any thing that God hath made were vile, but our corruption makes us vile; when we look upon vile things, we are apt to run a whoring after them, and our affections to be hampered by them; but God can daily and every hour see and look what vile things men do; for he keeps a continual and an uninterrupted hatred of them, as the Psalmist says, he is angry with the wicked every day, so he hates their courses every day.  
Again does God know all men's sins? then this confutes the Anomists, that say God cannot see the sins of his people, God sees no sin in his people say they; abusing that place there of Balaam. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen transgression in Israel. Numb. 23. 21. what's this but to pervert Scripture, he speaks there of the eye of his Justice, He does not speak of the eye of his Knowledge; He speaks of such things as is in the wicked: That indeed God do not see in his people; for it is not there to be seen; otherwise, if God's people sin, God makes them know and confess that he sees it; as David says, O God thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee, Psal. 69. 5. The garments of salvation that God puts upon his people, are not to hoodwink Gods All-seeing Knowledge, but to keep of the destroying Angel.  
Secondly, another use is to condemn the most sorts of 
Use 2.  men, that do not consider of this truth; they little think that God sees all their doings. I fear there is hardly any among us, that will seem to deny but that God can see all his ways; and yet we see it is too apparent by men's lives, that few men do believe this indeed. There is this vile Atheism skulking in all our hearts naturally (otherwise we durst not do as we do) that either God is such a God as the Epicures made him, that sits in Heaven and regards not what men do here below, or at least we do not charge this truth on our hearts, that God sees us; this is the cause of all the sins that are among us; That there is so much luke warmness in the better sort, so much heartlessness in holy performances before God, so much wickedness among others; for why? if men did seriously consider that Gods sees all and marks all, nay he marks all that men do, so curiously that he can set them in order before them, all that ever they have done, Psal. 50. 21. in the same order that they committed them; mark he can set before us in order all that ever we do from day to day; this sin then, and that sin then; such a sin we did at such a time, such sins in the morning, such at noon, such the last night, such lusts were in our hearts in such a place, and such in such a place; he can set them in order before us, he knows them so well, and will too before he hath done; I say if we did charge this upon our souls, we could not live so loosely as we do.  
You will say, yea, but we are Christians, why do you tell us such a known truth? what need so many arguments to prove that God knows all our sins? we know that already and no body will deny it, we are Christians. I answer, this is the hypocrisy of men hearts; their hearts will confess it to be a truth, but in their works they do deny it. The Prophet David speaks of men that were in the visible Church of God aswell as we, and that would confess this truth aswell as we, and yet he says of many an one of them; He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten, he hath hid his face, he will never see it, Psal. 10. 11. And the truth is, this is the cause of all the boldness of people to go on in their sins, or to yield to sin at any time; they put this out of their bosoms that God sees them; As Ezekiel speaks, the land is full of blood, the City is full of perverseness, for they say the Lord hath forsaken the Earth, and the Lord seeth not, Ezek. 9 they say so in effect; they put God afar of, and they do not consider that he sees them. Beloved there's none of us all but hath need that this truth should be urged upon us, that God beholds all iniquity and evil; we can never do amiss, but he takes notice of it.  
Thirdly, another use is; is it so that God sees all men's 
Use 3.  sins? Then this is a terror to all that go on with a self condemning heart. O consider what the Apostle says, if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows all things, 1 Joh. 3. 20. q. d. if we have a self condemning heart, how much more shall we find a self condemning God? If our own heart can find us out, if that can find out our worldliness, or our irreverence, or our carelessness of God, how much more will God find us out? He knows all our sins better than we ourselves; and therefore, O let us quake all of us to go on with a selfe-condemning heart; it is a bad badge, it is a prodigious token of the fearful judgement of God; if we do not get our sins done away, by the blood of Jesus Christ, and by his sanctifying Spirit, God will find us out; for he knows what we are, and what we do daily, and how we live every day and hour. Again, this is a terror to them that are Hypocrites; If God could not see a rotten heart, he should speed as well as the best. O but says God, I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings, Jer. 17. 10. and therefore woe be to such as are otherwise within then they seem to be without; without they are painted sepulchres, but within they are full of rottenness, they profess godliness, but they suffer within a Worldly spirit, a guilty conscience, a vain mind, an unbelieving heart, no love of God, no zeal to his glory, no feeling of the Church's misery, no compassion with the Saints, no delight in them that fear God indeed; and yet they will go for Christians forsooth. God sees all their works, and will unmask them in his due time, either in this world, or in the world to come, and will pour everlasting contempt on them.  
Fourthly, this is comfort to good people, for if God see 
4.  all men's sins, than he sees all men's goodness much rather; what a comfort is this in prayer to consider, that he that searcheth the heart knows what is the mind of the spirit? Rom. 8. 17. He knows all thy groans, He knows all thy desires; what a comfort is this when ever an honest soul is put to it sound in temptation, when the soul is accused by Satan, hardly thought on by men, and God lets bitter temptations to come on? I say what a comfort is this, that God knows all the good things that are in man? all one's affections, all one's endeavours, all one's combats against sin, all one's griefs for corruption, as Peter said, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee, Joh. 21. 17. Peter was put to it sound at that time; But yet this was his comfort that God did know all things. He had many tokens of Gods gracious goodness about him, he had love to Jesus Christ, he had deep desires to do all that he bade him. O says he, and thou knowest it. Again this is an excellent comfort in time of affliction. When job was in affliction, and his friends scorned him, than did he go and pour out his Tears unto God, and this was his comfort, Behold my witness is in Heaven, and my record is on high, Job. 16. 19, 20. Again this an excellent encouragement to serve God in these bad and sinful times; people generally never look after God, nor holiness; the World looks after their pleasures and their profits, and preferments, and friends, and the like; but Religion and devoutness, and Godliness of living, few people look after that as though God did not regard what people do. Now beloved, when we hear that God sees all that men do, and marks it, and will call all men to account, what an encouragement is this to serve God, as David said to Solomon, Know thou the God of thy Fathers and serve him with a perfect heart, for the Lord searcheth all Hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts, 1 Chron. 28. 9 Again, what a comfort is this against false accusations? He knows all our innocency, when our Neighbours say all manner of evil of us. He knows we do that in simplicity, which others think we do out of a sinister respect, or out of pride, or popularity, or for applause. What a comfort is this, when we can appeal to God, as Paul says, the Lord knows that I lie not, as David says, I have not refrained my lips from Preaching thy Righteousness O Lord, thou knowest, Psal. 40. 9 He knows the uttermost endeavours and desires of our hearts is to be as good as we seem, though the World take us for Hypocrites He knows we be true men, that reverence every power that is of God, though the World esteem us factious and humorous. Little does the World think what the Saints do every day, what wrestlings with God, what conflicts in their minds they endure; this is sufficient, the Lord knows.  
Again, what a comfort is this? if we desire to know our sins, God is able to show them unto us▪ He can open our eyes to behold them for our humiliation, that we may say with the Prophet, I know mine own iniquities and my sin is ever before me; if we want a right sight of our sins at any time, it is but going to God, He knows them all, he can help us to see them aright.  
Fifthly, does God know all men's sins? then this should make us afraid to do evil at any time, or in any place, yea in the secretest; we can never do any evil, but God will spy us out; we cannot have a thought in our heart, but he does discern it; nor omit any duty but he does perceive it; nor slubber over any good duty, but he stands by and looks on; may be when ye are among yourselves, ye can shoot out your Arrows even bitter and malicious words, may be no body can tell what ye said, tush it shall never come to such a ones Ear; Who can tell that you did say so? Who? why God can Thus ye said and thus ye said, says the Lord; That have you said O house of Israel, for I knew the things that came into your mind every one of them, Ezek. 11. 5. He knows thy adultery and with whom and in what Bed; neither Curtains, nor Doors, nor Lock and Key can hide from him. He knows how thy heart hath risen up against the Word, He knows how many times thou hast smothered thine own conscience, and gone against it, and outwrestled it; He knows how thou lettest thy mind rove in Prayer, how many times thou hast come to the Lords Table unworthily, omitted Family duties or huddled them over without due regard; He knows what tricks thou hast to put off conviction, what a base esteem thou hast of the strictness that God's Word doth require, when thou hearest it laid open. O I say, this should make thee to fear God, this should make thee to fear everywhere as the Psalmist says, Thou compassest my paths and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways, Psal. 139. 3. Thou hast beset me behind and before, within and without; thou possessest all my reins. O what an awe should this breed in us! But I let this Use pass. This Use will better come in the next Doctrine.  
Well then, the next Doctrine is this. The knowing 
Doct. 2.  that God knows all our works, is the powerful means to all Gods elect, to do them good, and to quicken them, and to make them take heed of all manner of sin; when the Lord would quicken his people here in Sardis, he uses this as his first means to do it by, I know thy works; we may see this in David. I have kept thy Precepts and thy Testimonies, for all my ways are before thee. Psa. 119. 168. when Solomon would confute a whorish heart, he uses this for his argument, Why wilt thou my Son, be ravished with a strange Woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? for the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his goings. Prov. 5. 20. 21. why wilt thou doth us? q. d. thou art mad, thou art desperate, if this argument will not prevale with thee.  
The reasons of this point are, First, because the Lords 
1.  knowing of our works is not only a mere knowing of them, but also a marking and a pondering of them too; He diligently observes what we do, he ponders and considers whence it proceeds, and whether it tends, as the Prophet says, The Lord's Throne is in Heaven, his Eyes well consider, his Eyelids try the Children of men, Psal. 11. 4. And therefore when the Scripture would tell us that God knows men's hearts, it sometimes expresses it thus, The Lord pondereth men's hearts, Prov. 24. 12. if God did only see what we do, it were another matter, but when the soul shall hear that he marks, and that he ponders, and considers men's sins, and weighs them how heinous they are, what punishment they deserve, and how horrible it is that they do, how much it is against his glory; it's a sign of a desperate heart, when this will not work.  
Secondly, because when God sees all our sins, it 
2  is with a most holy and pure Eye, and such an Eye as cannot abide such an object before him, as the Prophet Habakuk speaks, Thou art of purer Eyes then to behold evil, thou canst not look on iniquity, Hab. 1. 13. if God saw our sins with such an Eye as men see them now and then, it were no such great thing; for we know that most men can endure to see our sins well enough, and like us little the worse; but they are infinitely offensive unto God, he sees them with such an eye, that if ever the conscience be a wake but to perceive how he looks, it will burst the very heart of a man.  
Thirdly, because when God sees our sins, he records 
3  them, he notes them in a book, that he may never forget them; as he told the people of the Jews, behold it is written before me, I will recompense and render it into your bosom, Isay. 65. 6. if God did see our sins, and there's an end, than indeed this doctrine of Gods seeing would do little; may be God would forget them again; yea, but when he sees, he registers too, nay he lays it up in record to be in store by him against another day; nay, he seals them up in his treasure; is not this laidup in store by me, and sealed among my Treasures? Deut. 32. 34. now when the Soul shall come to mark this, this will wound it to the quick, this must needs do a man good, and strike an awe into him of God.  
Fourthly, because when Gods sees our sins, it is even 
4.  all one as if all the world should see them too; as Origen notes; for let our sins be never so secret, our inward unsoundness never so unknown, yet if God know it, it is as bad and worse than if all the world knew it; for all the world shall know it one day, God will lighten all things that are hid in darkness, and will make manifest the secret counsels of men's hearts; then shall every man have praise of God, 1 Cor. 4. 5. that is, whosoever have been godly, God will bring all their godliness forth, and every one of them shall have praise of God; this shall be an honour to them before all the world: so if a man have been evil, than God will produce all his naughty courses forth, then shall he have shame from God, God will shame him before all the World. There is nothing now covered that shall not then be revealed, nothing hid that shall not then be laid open; what a shame than will this be for thee, that thou which hast gone so many years for an honest man, and may be hast been some body here in this world, when all the Saints shall see thee standing as a wretch, as a hellhound as a limb of the Devil, on Christ's left hand? what a shame will it be, if we that are now earnest Preachers, if any of us shall then be found among the goats? what a shame to any of you, that would count it a sore disgrace to be called a wicked man, to be led forth with evil doers, and sholed among the damned? well then, if Gods seeing of men's sins be such a kind of seeing as this is, no marvel it work so effectually on them that are of God.  
Fifthly, an other argument may be taken from our 
5.  disposition; our disposition is such, that we cannot abide that our wickednesses should be seen of any body that we know can't abide them; Which among us when we pray and have base roving thoughts, would not be ashamed that a man should see our thoughts rove? which of us, that are unsettled and dead-hearted, would not blush that men had a casement to see how dead he sits at a Sermon, and how dead at a Sacrament, how dead in other of God's Ordinances; what base and impure thoughts sometime do arise in his mind; if he did think that any man should see them, he would not hardly be able to show his face among men. Let but an adulterer that is naught with a whore, have but a few men, or but one man come and take him in the act, O how it will gall him and vex him to be seen 〈◊〉 as job speaks, if one know them, they are in the terror of the shadow of death, Job. 24. 17. they abhor the light, they cannot abide to be brought out to be known. Now beloved if this be our disposition by nature, that we cannot abide that so much as a man should know us; nay, not a child of six or seven years of age, then O what a terror is it that the God of Heaven and Earth should know us, that he should see all our lusts, all our sinful and vile thoughts, all our unclean and noy some affections, all our by ends and carelessness of God O what a powerful thing is this to work upon the heart, except it be delivered up to a reprobate sense, to sleight God, and care less for him then for a little Boy, or a mortal man? so than ye see, this is a powerful means to work upon a soul, to know that God knows all his works; though the Woman of Samaria stood jesting, and playing, and contesting with our Saviour a good while: yet when she perceived that he knew all her villainy, this burst her heart; O says she this is no other than Christ, he hath told me all that ever I did, Joh. 4. 29.  
The use of this is. First, here we see they are desperato 
Use 1.  that this point cannot work on; its certain they are graceless that can hear that God sees all their works, and yet it does not purge them from day to day; it's an evident argument that a man contemns God, and makes nothing of him. When David had showed that the wicked care not for God's eye, they make a matter of nothing of it; tush God does not see, Psalm. 19 11. say they; that is, they knew he saw indeed, but they made nothing of it; as long as men did not see them, they counted Gods seeing as nothing; now mark what follows, wherefore do the wicked contemn God? Psalm. 13  
Secondly, is it so, that this is such a powerful means 
Use 2.  to work upon our hearts? let us not harden our hearts, but let us consider of it, that it may cut between the bone and the marrow, and divide between the soul and the spirit; God sees all our works. This point should fall upon our hearts, like the almighty hand of God, as it did upon Job, I know thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be hid from thee, Job, 42. 2.   
REVEL. 3. 1. That thou hast a name, that thou livest, and art Dead. 
WE are come to the subject matter of this example; and First, we meet with the reproof that Christ gives to the Church of Sardis; the reproof is either in general; I know thy works, i e. I know them all to be stark naught for the general; and then in particular, first, their hypocrisy, thou hast a name that thou livest; secondly, their deadness indeed, and art dead. The general reproof we spoke of the last day, I know thy works, and there ye heard that God knows all the sinful courses that any man takes; he is privy to every man's sins: though men carry them never so closely and cleverly, yet he knows them.  
First, he sees all men's sinful actions, as Elihu speaks, 
1  his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he sees all his goings; there is no darkness or shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves, Job. 34. 21. 22. people cannot get out of his sight, they cannot sin so in private but he seeth them; they may go into a secret room, and shut every living creature out, but they cannot shut God out.  
Secondly, he knows every syllable that men speak, 
2  I have heard what the Prophets said, they prophesy lies in my name, jer. 23. 25. the Lord can tell what men speak under the rose; look what the King of Aram spoke in his bed▪ chamber, he could tell Elisha. As Enoch speaks; he knows all the speeches that wicked men speak, and will have them up at the day of judgement against them.  
Thirdly, he knows every sinful thought that is in men's 
3.  hearts, as Moses says; God saw the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, Gen. 6. 5. though men's thoughts be sly things, and are out of men's eyes, and Angels eyes, and Devils eyes, yet they are not out of his eye, he sees what men think.  
Fourthly, he knows all that ever a man hath done as 
4.  the woman said of Christ; come see one that hath told me all that ever I have done, Joh. 4. 29.  
Fifthly, he knows all the evil that ever men will do 
5.  hereafter; the Lord told Moses what Pharaoh would do before he went to him; I know he will harden his heart and will not let them go, Exod. 3. 19 while the Children of Israel were in the wilderness, he knew what they would do when they came into Canaan; I know their imaginations even now before I have brought them into the Land which I swore to give them, Deut 31. 21.  
Sixthly, he knows all the evils that men would do 
6.  in such and and such circumstances; he knew Abimelech would have taken Sarah, if he had not hindered him; he knew that the men of Keilah would betray David, if David should stay there, 1 Sam. 23. 12. he knows what a rich man would do if he were poor, what this or that poor man would do if he were rich; one dies in his infancy, he knows what he would have done if he had let him live to be a man: her's a man that lives in a good family, and may be carrieth himself very squarely, but the Lord knows what he would do, if he lived in another place.  
Seventhly, the Lord knows men's dispositions, their 
7  natures, their qualities, their projects, their intentions; he knows how many are rotten, though they profess never so much; he knows men's persons, he knows vain men, job. 11. 11.  
I told you the reason of this, First, because he is omniscient and knows all things, his understanding is infinite, Psal. 147. 5. let a man set as good a colour▪ as he can upon his wicked devices, God can discover him, let a man have never so many excuses; though they pass for currant among men, yet God sees what they are; men may pretend what they will, and deny what they will, and set an 
1.  impudent forehead and face on the matter, and go unperceived among men, but they cannot go unperceived by Almighty God, his understanding is infinite.  
Secondly, as he is omniscient, so he is omnipresent, he 
2.  is everywhere; whether can any creature go from his presence? if he go into the street, or alehouse or drabhouse, or his house or his closet, or his privy chamber, he can go nowhere but where God is; and therefore how can he do aught but God must needs see him? can any hide himself in▪ secret places, that I should not see him? do not I fill Heaven and Earth, saith the Lord? jer. 23. 24.  
Thirdly, the Lord hath his providence in every thing, 
3  nothing is done without his concurrence or sufferance, if it be good, it is done by his assistance; if it be evil, it cannot be done without his permission and disposition; therefore he must needs know every thing. He knew whether the Devils should enter into the herd of swine, for they could not enter in, until he suffered them: he knew all that judas, and Pilate, and Herod, and the Jews and the High Priests did against Christ, because they did nothing but what his hand and counsel had determined before to be done, Act. 4. 28.  
Fourthly, the Lord knows every man's sins, because 
4  he hath a candle in every man's bosom. The Spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly, Prov. 20. 27, that is a man's conscience, that's the Lord's Candle; well, if He have a Candle standing in every man's bosom, what can be done there in the dark?  
Fifthly, because He is judge of the whole World; O Lord 
5  of Hests that judgest righteously, that tryest the Reins and the Heart, Jer. 11. 20. He could not judge every man righteously else. A man may do well, and yet seem to do evil; again a man may do very evil, and yet seem to do well; ye know the heart is all in all; now if God did not know all men's hearts, all men's looks and aims, and intents, and meanings, the circumstances, and every thing that men do, He could not judge every man according to his works, as he will for a certain. He will judge every man according to his works, and therefore He knows what every man's works be.  
The use of this was, First. To confute Averro and others 
Use. 1.  that say that God does not know men's sins; O say they, God sees all things by looking on himself; now there is no such thing to be seen in himself. Beloved, here you see that this is a blasphemous Doctrine; for God knows what ever men are▪ or think, or speak, or do, or have done▪ or shall do, or would do in any case; and though sin be not in God, yet the suffering of it is in God and He may suffer it in his just judgement and wisdom; though the commiting of it be wicked, yet his suffering of it is good, and just. The Eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good, Pro. 15. 3. But I let this pass.  
Secondly, to condemn the most sorts of men that do 
2  not consider of this truth; for though men will grant that God knows all the evil that they do, yet this vile Atheism is lurking in men's hearts, they either make God as the Epicures hold, that he sits in Heaven, and regards not what men do, or at least God will not require it, Psal. 10. 13. they do not charge this truth on their hearts; This is the cause that men are so daring to do evil.  
Thirdly, this is a terror to all that do evil. This 
3  is a terror to them that have condemning hearts, as John says, if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things, 1 Joh. 3. 20. again this is a terror to all Hypocrites; if God could not see a rotten heart, than a Hypocrite should speed as well as the best. But God sees what men are; seem they what they will, He sees what they be.  
Fourthly, this is comfort to good people, for if God 
4.  see all men's sins, than He sees all men's goodness; what a comfort is this in Prayer to consider, That He that searcheth the Hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit? Romans 8. 27, He knows all thy groans and sighs; though thou canst not utter what thou wouldst in Prayer, yet He knows what thou wouldst have. What a comfort is this in temptation, in the midst of the accusations of Satan, when a man is pitifully put to it in spiritual conflicts, that God knows what is in us? all our secret affections, our mournings after him, our private seekings of him, all our hidden meanings to him, all our combats against sin, all our griefs for corruptions; as Peter says, God thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee, Joh. 21. 17. Peter was put to it sound at that time, yet this was his comfort that God did know all things; and as He knows more evil by us then ourselves, so He knows more good by us then ourselves.  
Again, what a comfort is this against the nicknames and false judge of wicked men? He knows all our innocency, when men say all manner of evil of us; He knows we do that in sincerity, which men think we do in Hypocrisy; He knows our. simplicity, when men judge that we do it out of by and sinister respects; what a comfort is this when we can appeal to God as David says, the Lord knows that I lie not; as David says, I have not refrained my lips from preaching thy Righteousness, O Lord thou knowest, Psalm 40. 9 little does the World think what the Saints do every day, what wrestle with God, what goings out unto him they have; this is a comfort; the Lord knows. Again, what an encouragement is it to serve God in these bad and sinful times? People generally never look after God, nor holiness, as though God had forsaken the Earth; most people are of the mind, that if a man be precise, he is little the better; and if he be not so precise as some be, he shall never be the worse for that, as though God cared for no such matter. Beloved, when we hear that God sees all that men do, and marks and will call all men to an account, what an encouragement is this to serve God? as David says to Solomon, Know thou the God of thy Fathers, and serve him with a perfect Heart, for the Lord searcheth all Hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts, 1 Chron. 28. 9 This was the first pont.  
And then the Second point was this. The consideration of this that God knows all our works, is a powerful means to all Gods elect, to do them good, and to quicken them and to make them take heed of all manner of sin; when the Lord would quicken his people here in Sardis, he uses this as his first means to do it by; I know thy works; we may see this in David; I have kept thy Precepts and thy Testimonies; for all my ways are before Thee, Psalm 119 168. when Solomon would convert the whorish man, he uses this for his argument, why wilt thou O my Son be ravished with a strange Woman, for the ways of man are before the Eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his goings, Pro. 5. 20, 21.  
The reasons of this point, are. First, because the 
Reas. 1.  Lords knowing of our works is joined with a marking and a pondering of them too. He diligently observes what we do; He ponders and considers whence it proceeds, whether it tends; what light we go against, what checks of conscience we meet with, what mercies we abuse, what pricks we kick against; He does not barely see what we do, but He considers what we do, how heinously we sin, what a vile thing it is that we do; He considers how cursed we are, what a great One we offend. The Lord's Throne is in Heaven, his Eyes do consider, and his Eyelids try the children of men. Psalm 11. 4. He ponders men's hearts, Prov. 24. 12. if God did only see what we do, it were another matter, but when the soul shall hear that He marks and considers, and that he ponders men's sins, and weighs them how horrible they are, how much against his glory, what punishments they deserve, how inexcusable they be, how just it is to damn them, it's a sign of a desperate heart when this will not work.  
Secondly, the Lords seeing of our sins is with most 
2  holy and pure Eyes, and such Eyes as cannot abide such an object before Him, as the Prophet Habbakuk speaks; Thou art of purer Eyes then to behold evil, thou canst not look on iniquity, Hab. 1. 13. If God saw our sins with such an Eye as men see them with, it were no such great thing; many men can endure them well enough, and like us little the worse; nay may be they will like us the better; but they are infinitely offensive to God. He sees, them with such an Eye, that if the soul did but see how God looks, it would burst the very heart of it; as when Peter had denied Christ, Christ looked upon him; But it was such a look, that burst his very heart and made him go out with shame, and weep bitterly.  
Thirdly, the Lords seeing of our sins is joined 
3  with recording of them; He notes them in a Book that he may never forget them, as he told the jews, Behold it is written before me, and I will render it them into their bosom, Isaiah 65. 6. if God did see our sins and there's an end, than indeed this Doctrine of Gods seeing of our sins would do little good, may be God will forget them again; yea, but when he sees them, he registers them too, and he will never forget them; now when a soul shall come to consider them, this will wound it to the quick. O he will never forget them, he sets them on our score, and we shall hear of them another day, except we make our peace with him.  
Fourthly, when God sees our sins, it is even all 
4  one as if the whole World saw them; nay he will show them before all the whole World, He will bring to light things hidden in darkness, 1 Cor. 4. 5. wouldst not thou be loath that all the World should see all thy thoughts, and hear every word that thou speakest, and know all the evil thou hast done; would it not much bridle thee, if thou couldst do nothing, not think a thought but all the whole World should see it? why man, the Lord sees thee, and that is all one and more too; for he will open it before all the World, before he hath done.  
Fifthly, another argument may be taken from our 
4.  disposition; our disposition is such that we cannot abide our wickedness should be seen by any body; which among us when we pray, would not be ashamed that any body should see how our thoughts rove? which of you that are unsettled and deadhearted would not blush that men had a casement to see how dead he sits at a Sermon, how dead and blockish at a Sacrament, how dead at other of God's Ordinances? What base and unclean, and blasphemous thoughts do sometimes come into our hearts? if a man did think that any man should see them, he would hardly be able to show his face among men: should an Adulterer be but taken in the act by any Man or Woman or Child, O how it would gall him and vex him to be seen! as Job speaks, If one know them, they are in the terror of the shadow of death, Job. 24. 27. now beloved if this be our disposition by nature, that we cannot abide that a man should see us do something that we do, nay not a child of seven years old, then O what a terror is it that the God of Heaven and Earth should see us and know us; that he should see all our lusts, all our noisome and unclean affections, all our vile and hideous thoughts! O what a powerful thing is this to work upon the heart, except it be delivered up to a reprobate sense? The Woman of Samaria she was brisk and frolic a great while, till she perceived that Christ knew all her villainy, this made her ashamed, and broke her very heart.  
The use of this was: First, here we see they are 
Use 1.  desperate that this point cannot work on; its certain they are graceless that can hear that God sees all their works, and yet it does not purge them from day to day, it's an evident argument that a man contemns God, and makes nothing of him.  
Secondly, is it so that this is such a powerful means 
Use 2.  to work upon our hearts? O let us not harden our hearts, but let us consider of it, that it may cut between the bone and the marrow; God sees all our works. This point should fall upon our hearts, like the Almighty hand of God; so it did on Jobs. I know thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be hid from thee, Job. 42. 2. so much shall suffice to have spoken of the reproof in general.  
Now we come to the particulars. And the first is in these words, thou hast a Name that thou livest, and the other is, and art dead.  
That thou hast a name that thou livest; This is the first particular whereby the Lord Jesus, proves that which he had employed before, viz. that the works of Sardis were all stark naught, because they had only a name to live, they rested in a mere outward name to be Religious and good Christians, and people of God, and believers and a Church of Jesus Christ; they had the name, and that was all; they had a name to live; well, says he, for this very thing, I know all thy works, ay I know them to be all stark naught. Some think this is an allusion to the Minister of Sardis his name, who (they say) was called Zosing, that is Living. Thou hast a name that thou livest, but the truth is, thou art dead; whether that be so or no, I know not; but this is the meaning of the words, that both the Minister and the Church seemed to be alive towards God; he to be a very good and godly Minister, and they very good and godly hearers, they were all professors, they were all very devout and forward in all their duties of Religion to see to; Thou hast a name that thou livest.  
By name is meant a mere name, as we see by the clause following, and art dead; for when a man is dead, the name to live must needs be a mere Name.  
First, a Name in regard of themselves, they took 
1  themselves to be alive; as Paul had a name to live before his conversion, while yet he was a Pharisee, he had then a name to live, I was alive without the Law once, Rom. 7. 9 That is, I had a name to live then, I taking myself to be alive; I thought verily in those days that I had true Grace, true Faith, and true Hope, and true Love, and the true fear of God before my eyes. So this Church had a name to live, they thought themselves to be alive.  
Secondly, a name in regard of other godly Churches; 
2  others in the judgement of Charity conceived they were alive; as the Scribes, the Pharisees, our Saviour Christ told them they had a name to live, Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, Hypocrites; for ye are like unto whited Sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, Matthew 23. 27. that is, ye seem to be alive, ye have a name to live, but indeed ye are dead; They had such a great name to live that our Saviour Christ had much a do to keep his own Disciples from overweening of them; beware of them says he, q. d. what ever ye may think, they have a mere Name to live.  
Thirdly, a name among poor ignorant and simple 
3.  people; ye know there be abundant of poor simple people that are led away with shows, that know not what true Religion is, nay may be hate it, but yet they are led away with the show of it; now they that seem to be religious, they are the only Men and Women with such; they are held for the only good people in a Country, they are admired, poor silly people take them for their Ghostly Fathers, if they can have but their Prayers, they think their Prayers can do much; when they are sick, they love a life to have such by their bedsides, they give them a great deal of comfort, like Absulom that comforted the people that came to him, O your matters are good; so the Apostle shows that they that had a form of godliness, had a name to live among a company of poor silly people, 2 Tim. 3. 5. 6.  
Fourthly, a name among the persecutors of Religion, 
4  and so they are persecuted too among them that live indeed; for mockers take them to be of the same number. So Alexander the Coppersmith, had a name a great while, and the enemies of goodness persecuted him even as Paul; so Demas for a time had a name, and was persecuted as well as the Apostle, till afterwards he was weary and forsook him. This is one of your Precisians, this is one of you purer people, this is one of them that call themselves the people of God, These are the people of the Lord, Ezek. 36. 20. as a Bat hath a name to be a Mouse, and so the Birds persecute it, and cannot abide it.  
Now the point of Doctrine is this, that it is a horrible 
Doct. 1.  thing to rest in a mere name of being Religious; it is the argument that Christ uses, to prove that Sardis works were all stark naught, because they had a mere name to live; so when the Lord would declare how the Jews were grown to be stark naught, he lays this to their charge, that they had only a name to be his people; They call themselves of the holy City, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel, the Lord of Hosts is his name, Isaiah 48. 2. that is, they got themselves a name to be his people, and there was all; they had not the thing itself, but they took the name; thus he proved them to be stark naught.  
The reasons are; first, because this is to be farthest 
Reas. 1.  off from Religion; religion is a real thing, and therefore he that rests in having the name of it, is farthest off from it; as Christ says of Nathaniel, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile, joh. 1. 47. so when a man is religious indeed, humble indeed, fears God indeed, this is religion; when a man is freed indeed from his sins, and from the power of them, this is religion: if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed, Joh. 8. 36. Now when a man hath only the name, he is farthest off from this; Religion is a real, solid, and a substantial thing; as john says, my little children let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, 1 Joh. 3. 18. what though a man have the name to love God and goodness? how far is this off from doing of it indeed? a man may go for one that is converted; but he is converted that is converted indeed; so he is godly that is godly indeed; the name is nothing where the thing is wanting; all religion is in deed, to believe indeed, to deny a man's self every day indeed, to be sensible of God indeed in all one's ways; not to say one's prayers, but to pray indeed; to give God thanks indeed; to worship him indeed; as Paul says, when a man can say God is in us indeed, 1 Corinthians 14. 25. when a man hath only the name, this is a mere fancy and conceit.  
Secondly, it is a very blasphemy to get the name 
2  for good people, when we are not good people; indeed the reason is this, Religion hath an inward dependence upon God, it unites a man to God, it hath an internal relation unto God, it puts a man in a propriety with God, that God is his God, that he is borne of God, it puts the very Name of God upon a man; now if a man take the name with out the thing, it must need be a very blasphemy as he says, I know the blasphemy of them that say they are jews, and are not, but are the Synagogue 
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.  of Satan, Revelations, 2. 9 as if a man should say he were of the blood royal; ye know the blood royal hath such a dependence on the Crown, that that man that should say he were of the blood royal, and is not, he must needs blaspheme the King. So beloved, Religion hath a near dependence on God, and therefore he is a blasphemer of God, that gets the name of it, and lets the thing alone; and therefore how should we take heed, how we have the name for Religious people, except we be Religious indeed, and holy indeed, and Heavenly indeed, as Ambrose says; nam ●it nomen inane, & crimen immane, a bare name is a horrible blame unto any man, whosoever he be.  
Thirdly, it is a flat lie; when a man hath the 
3  name for a good Christian, and hath not the thing signified by the Name, this is a flat lie; as God says, Note it in a Book that it may be for time to come, for ever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the Law of the Lord, Isaiah. 30. 8. 9 that is, they had the name of his children, but they had not the thing signified by that name; they would not do as children should do, they would not be ruled by their father's Laws, therefore they are lying children, they lie in bearing such a name; the Lord notes it in a Book, that it might stand for ever and ever against them at the day of judgement; this was nothing else but to lie before God; you go for my children, what? and will not do as I bid you? you lie in having the name of my children; when a man shall have the name of a child of God, or the name of a Minister of the Lord Jesus, or the name of a Christian baptised into Christ, he had need to take heed what he does; for if he do not answer this name, he does but play the Ananias to lie to the Holy Ghost: Look into thy general calling; look into thy particular, look into thy carriage; look into thy manner of good duties, whether thou do behave thyself answerably to this holy name whereby thou art called, knowing thou dost but lie to God, if thou dost not.  
Fourthly, it is an unreasonable thing; when a 
4.  man hath not the thing, there is no reason that he should have the name; when God gave Abram the name of Abraham, he told him there was a reason why he should be called by that name; thy name shall be called Abraham, for a Father of many Nations have I made thee, Genesis 17. 5. so it is an unreasonable thing why we should have the name of God's servants or Christians, unless there be some reason why we should have the imposition of this name; now when we make it a bare title, and do not obey Christ, nor make conscience of all his holy ways, this is very unreasonable; as Abigail reasoned about her Husband's name; as his name is so is he, Nabal is his name, and folly is with him, 1 Samuel 25. 25. So my brethren, as our name is so should we be; if Christian be our name, true Christianity should be with us; humility, love, meekness, patience, faith, holiness, and all other parts of Christianity should be with us; now if we have the name without these things intimated by the name, this is a very unreasonable thing; nay, it is not only unreasonable, but also ridiculous; who will not count the names that the Papists give to their blockish Friars ridiculous? subtilissimus Doctor, Doctor Angelicus, Seraphicus, these are ridiculous, as a drunkard a Christian, a whoremonger a Christian, a worldling a Christian, a vain man a Christian? what a ridiculous thing it is to call such the Saints of God? stranger's here on earth, such as have their conversation in Heaven, such as are buried together with Christ in his death; such as are men of another World; mortified, justified, sanctified, crucified to themselves, loving the things above, and not the things that are here beneath; If these things do not agree with us, what a ridiculous thing is it that we should be termed good Christians; here be Christians indeed? this is a mere mockery.  
Fifthly, it is an impudent thing; when we have a 
5  name to live and to be wrought upon by the word, what an impudent thing is it if we do not look to it that we be so indeed; one would think we should blush to think what a name we have, and how little we make good our name, between God and our own souls. When the men of Bethlehem said, is not this Naomi, O how she was ashamed of herself; call me not Naomi, call me Marah, for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me, Ruth. 1. 20. so when we are named Christians, we should even blush, call me not a Christian, call me a wretch, call me a vile creature, a hellhound, a limb of the Devil, a cursed sinner; for the Almighty never yet turned my heart; he never yet purified my Soul and life, I never yet have resembled Christ to this very day; I say the most of us should even be confounded to think what a name we have. I a Christian, and do no more good, and live no better life? I a Christian, and not humbled, not abased yet before God, so dull to all goodness, so carnal, so dead to all God's Ordinances, so void of all grace, so senseless of my sins? how can this be? we are impudent, if we have our name for naught, our name may upbraid us; the good opinions that others have of us, may fill our faces with shame to think how short we come of it.  
Sixthly, it is an inexcusable thing; if we have a 
6.  name to be alive, we are without excuse if we be not.  
First, because now out of our own mouths God 
1  will judge us; we said we were his people, we took the name of his servants; why then he will say why had I not your service? why would you do no more for me? why were you covetous, why were you proud, why were you hard-hearted, why were you so careless of me? you wore my livery, you shrouded yourselves under my name. So the Lord did with the Jews that had the name of his children and servants; see how he judges them out of their own mouth; a Son honours his Father, and a servant his Master; if then I be a Father, where is my honour? and if I be a Master, where is my fear? Malachi. 1. 6. q. d. you say I am your Father, and I am your Master, and I am your God; well, out of your own mouths I will judge you; why then did you honour me no more? why did ye regard me no more? ye cared not for me, ye did not look after me, you had little or no heart after me; your own mouths have even cast you.  
Secondly, ye can have no other excuse; can you 
2  say you could not believe in my name? ye could not forgo such and such lusts at my command? why then would you go for my servants? you should have said so plainly, and not daily have come into my Courts, as if you would obey me; nor taken up the profession of my Worship as if you would go through stitch with it; why would you come to my Table, as though my promises belonged unto you? if ye could not do as I bade you, you should not have borne me in hand as though you would; now ye have played the Hypocrites and drawn near to me with your lips, and taken my name into your mouths, whereas ye would not be reform by me; What had you to do with my Covenant, that you must needs he meddling with it? Psalm. 50. 16. if ye would not obey it, ye should have let it alone; so that ye see, that to have a naked name to live, is an inexcusable thing.  
Seventhly, it is an unprofitable thing; a naked 
7  name will do us no good; when the Jews trusted in the name that they had, O they were the children of Abraham, they were Gods only people, they had his Covenant, and his Oracles, and his Temple; O the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord; they hoped well, having thus much to say for themselves; but mark what God tells them, behold you trust in lying words that cannot profit, Jeremy. 7. 8. this would not profit them one jot, because they did not verify the name they had. So the Galathians they presumed mightily on this, that they were Christians; as for making good this holy name, that they gave no heed to at all; they would have the Ceremonies; when Paul told them of their faults, they would not listen unto him may they counted him their Enemy; they would have the Ceremonies of the Law; well, the Apostle told them plainly, that if they would not be ruled, their name would do them no good. Behold I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Galathians. 5. 2, q. d. you bear yourselves upon Christ, and yet will not do as he would have you do, ye will do what ye list; but let me tell you, if ye will not reform, Jesus Christ shall profit you nothing; you say you believe in Jesus Christ, I but it shall profit you nothing: So when the people there in Isay rested in this, they came to God's house, they gave him Sacrifice every morning and evening, they did thus and thus, and so they had a name for his peculiar people; the Prophet assures them, this should not profit them one whit. I will declare thy righteousness and thy works, for they shall not profit thee, Isaiah. 57 12. Thou prayest and dost many good duties, and so thou getttest thyself a name; yea but if thou dost not sound and throughly answer that name, God will declare all thy righteousness and all thy profession, and all thy good duties, and none of them all shall profit thee; in that day he will declare what rotten things they have been, how heartless, how liveless, how dead-hearted all thy duties have been, and they shall do thee no good; and indeed what good can a name do a man? true faith alone does justify, not the name of it; true peace of conscience does comfort, not the name of it; true interest in God gives a man a cheerful access to God, not the name of it.  
Eighthly, it is not only unprofitable, but also 
8.  it is hurtful. It is hurtful unto others; a bare name I say without substance and truth is hurtful unto others. It is hurtful unto them that are without; for when they see how lazy such as go for professors, be, how they have little else in them but talking and professing, and prating and hearing, otherwise they are as vain and as covetous and as having as other men, no strictness no pureness, no holiness, no humbleness of mind, no love, no forgiving one another, no forbearing one another, no brotherly Kindness, no Union nor Communion, no power in their Prayers, no gravity non authority in their speeches, no heavenliness in their conversation, no brokenness of heart, this hardens the hearts of them that are without, and makes them all think that Religion is a matter of nothing; thus they do a great deal of hurt unto others; the professing Wife to the profane Husband, the professing servant to his profane Master, the professing Neighbour to his profane Neighbour; whereas if they were godly indeed, and humble indeed, and as their name does import, indeed they would do a great deal of good, but now they do a great deal of hurt.  
Again, they do a great deal of hurt unto comers on; many a man that is smitten at the Word, that begins Reformation and amendment and gives good hopes that he will come to something in the end; when he lights upon such Sardian Saints, that are so in name, but there is no life at all in them, these put him back again, and make him set up his staff before he sees half way, like the dead body of Amasa that made the people stand still.  
Again, they do a great deal of hurt unto the Saints of God, sometimes by deceiving of their hearts and cooling of their zeal and fervour, or if they cannot do that; then they hate them, and prove very shy of them, and gird them behind their backs, and do them much mischief, as Paul complains, he was in perils among false Brethren, 2 Corinthians 11. 26. that is, those that had a name to be Brethren in Christ, but were not so indeed, he was in perils many times and often by them; again they increase the disgraces and sufferings of Gods true Saints and Children; for while they seem to be Saints good enough themselves, the other that are Saints indeed, are rejected of all, and thought to be besides their wits.  
Again, they do a great deal of hurt to themselves, for it had been better for them they had never had a name, then having a name not to be as the name does require.  
The use of this is, First, let me tell what use ye must not make of it; namely, to beat down the having of a name, for all the Lords people should be careful of having of a name. I will give them a name of Sons and Daughters, nay a better name than so, Isaiah 56. 5. yea, and the people of God should make conscience of a name before men; A good name is betier than precious Ointment, Eccles 7. 1. and the servants of God have had a name; Demetrius had a good report of all men, yea of the truth itself too; and therefore they are black mouths of Hell that object against good people, that they are Hypocrites, they do thus and thus to have a name. This is no news, for the World hath always dealt thus with the Saints in all Ages; Paul was counted the great imposter of the World; O sayee he, we are deceivers and yet true, 2 Corinthians 6. 8. that is, the World gives us a name for deceivers, and yet we are true; Ye know what was said of Christ Jesus himself, some said of him he was a good man, others said nay, He was a deceiver of the people; it was said of David, that He was a subtle man, a crafty Fox, and that He was a mere Politician, it was Saul's judgement of him. Thus the Saints have a nick name put on them; the World thinks they are Hypocrites, and that they have sinister ends in what they do, and whereas they make such a show, it is but in Hypocrisy, that they may deceive, and that they may have a Name for Religious people; so that the World would feign put down the having of a Name. But that is a Devilish use; we must not make such a use of this point, No; the Lord does not find fault with Sardis for having of a Name that they lived, but that they had this Name when as they were dead; if they had been alive, the Name to be alive had been well; well than what use must we make of this point?  
The First Use then is this, to show the misery 
Use 1.  of the Church of Rome, which hath a Name to live, and in their own judgement and a great part of Christendom, is the only true Church, but in the judgement of God it is dead, and therefore stark naught; some say its a body full of diseases, and whose throat is cut, but yet the heart pants, and life is therein; But the truth is, it's stark dead, and hath no manner of spiritual life, What though they have the Sacrament of Baptism? so had Edom circumcision, and yet they were never counted a Church of God; And what's a Seal to a blank? what though they have the Scriptures among them and the Articles of our Creed? that does not make a Church; for Ptolemy and all Egypt had the Bible, and yet that did not make them a Church; if the Scriptures might have their own sense, it were another matter; but they oterturne it with their exposition, and make it in their sense to be a farthel of Doctrine of Devils; and what though Antichrist be said to sit in the Temple of God? yet his Body is a Synagogue of Satan. There is no life in that Church. But to come nearer to ourselves.  
This may be said of them, of our Churches too, and of our Congregations; they have only a Name to live, though we might live well enough; for we have the Doctrine of Life, in many places, yet in regard of our conversations for the most part, we may say it is but only a Name. For how does sin reign among us everywhere, covetousness, Profaneness, fullness of Bread, Lust, Security, as it were in Noah's time, deadness of heart, Formality; now where such sins do abound, there the power of godliness must needs be away; generally our Assemblies content themselves with an outward profession, if they go so far, they have but a Name to live. True, we are a Church, so was Sardis though she had hardly any thing but a Name, yet she was a Church, as Saint John shows, washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, Revelations, 1. 4, 5. for they had a few Names that were so, but the body had only a bare name; so it is with us, we are not nullifyed from being a Church, for God hath his chosen among us though they be very few, here one and there one that live indeed and in truth; yet the Bodies and Bulks of our Congregations, have only a Name, if that; no Discipline, no good Order, no thorough Reformation nay Cages of unclean Birds; nay such as profess better than the multitude, little better than titular and moral Christians.  
Nay, are not all things almost grown to be a sole Name? What is the Preaching almost but the bare Name of Preaching? For conversion of Souls where is it? the pulling people out of the Kingdom of Satan where it it? a thousand Sermons may be, and hardly one wrought upon? we may be said to be fishermen; but it is turned only into a name, for when do we catch any?  
So for hearing of the Word. True, it is very common, and yet not so common as it ought to be, for many care little whether they hear or no. But that that is, there's hardly aught left but the Name; for who hears with trembling, who mingles his hearing with faith, who drinks the Word, as the Earth doth the Rain, who does what he hears, without which all hearing is no better than an empty Name?  
So for coming to the Sacrament, is not that made a name too? setting a side the Name of a Sacrament now and then, what have we else? who feeds upon Jesus Christ? who comes to the increasing of his Faith? who hath Faith at all, that it may be increased? Who comes to it with preparedness? who sits at the Lords Table with a Wedding Garment? who goes away nourished up any more unto eternal Life? without the which all our Sacraments are but natural things.  
So for holy Conference, unless it be the Name of it, what is there of the thing itself left? may be a few cursory words of goodness, before we part, but no quickening of one another up, no exhorting of one another, no comforting of one another, or admonishing one another; nay we are grown to be ashamed of these duties; and for Prayer, but that we take Cushions and fall down on our Knees, and say a company of Confessions, and Petitions, there is little else done.  
Come we to the Graces of God's Holy Spirit, without the which a man is Dead in trespasses and in sins, etc. as Faith, Repentance, peace of Conscience, and Love, etc.  
Secondly, another use is of terror against us; 
Use 2.  do we think that the Lord will endure this at our hands? He hath endured it too too long, but He will not suffer it always. He hath a Spiritual thunder-clappe that He lets sly against this sin; The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the Churl be said to be bountiful, Isaiah, 32. 5. That is, the Lord will unmask all such persons, He will pluck of all their Names, and they shall have a Name fit for their natures, and He will do this.  
First, in their own Consciences, if we will 
1.  not be awakened to be as we have a Name to be, the LORD will make our own Consciences to call us Reprobates as we are, and then what will our Name do us good, when our own Consciences shall tell us we are naught, and condemn us in our Bosoms? what shall we be the better for our Neighbours judging well of us? Our Neighbours may be think we Pray well; what a poor thing is this, when Conscience shall say no? our Neighbours may hope we stand upon good ground, when Conscience shall say no; Men call us godly, and Conscience shall say nay but ye are not. What a shame was it to the jews when they were convicted by their own Consciences? Joh. 8. 9 It is not the Name of joy and holiness that will give their Consciences true Peace, no, no; Conscience knows another name is sit for us. Unbelief, and Ungodliness, and Hardness of Heart.  
Secondly, again He will do it in the judgement 
2.  of others; if we rest in a Name, the Lord will detect us at last before others; and than what a shame will this be? as David says of Doeg, the Lord would discover him; He would make all the good people round about say of Him, Lo this is the Man, that took not GOD for his strength, Psalm 52. 7. So he will do with us. Lo, this is the Man, that had such a Name to Live. Lo, this is the Man; now we see here's a wretch, now we see how he deceived his own soul; he never truly sought GOD in all his life; he was not the Man that we took him for; he built upon the Sand, he did not lay a good foundation, and therefore now he is tumbled down, and what is become of his name? Now he shows himself in his Colours, now we see he is an Enemy of GOD, he can side with the Times, he can embrace this present World, he hath no eternal life abiding in him.  
Nay, the Lord will not only do thus with us, if we rest in a Name, but also he will pour his Wrath upon us otherwise too; ye may read how that this was the reason why the Lord drowned all the old World; not only the wickedness of them that were without; for if they that professed Religion, had been sound, they might have prevented the Deluge, and prayed it away. But they that professed Religion, had only a Name. The Sons of GOD saw the Daughters of men that they were fair, Genesis 6. 2. That is, the Sons of God, they were only so in Name, their works plainly showed that they were only so in Name, therefore the Lord swept them all away; So the Lord will pour bitter things on us, if we be Christians only in Name, and the servants of CHRIST only in Name, if we be not so indeed; nay, this is not all, but we shall have a deeper Portion in Hell too then Pagans or Papists, or any in our own Land; the more we have borne of his Name, the surer shall our damnation be, if we do not really answer the Holy Name wherewith we are called. We may see this in the Man in the Gospel; Friend, how camest thou in hither? Bind him hand and soot, cast him into utter darkness where is weeping, etc. Matthew 22. 12. 13. Come Friend, how came you in hither? mark, he had the Name of a friend of Jesus Christ; therefore the Text says he was speechless, he had nothing to say for himself, his damnation had nothing to lessen it; other people shall have something to say for themselves to lessen their damnation; but those that have a Name to live shall not have the least syllable.  
Thirdly, then let another use be to humble 
Use 3.  our hearts, let us go to God in humiliation of heart, as the poor prodigal Son did, and down on the knees of our souls and bodies, and say, Lord, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy, to be called thy Son, Luke 15. 21. So as many of us as are guilty of this sin, (as who almost is not and that in a horrible manner?) let us say, Lord, I have been called a Christian, I have been called a child of thine, I have had the Name a good while; but O what a Wretch have I been! I am not worthy of this Name, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, I have not answered the Name I have had, and therefore it were just with thee to cut me asunder with Hypocrites, and so fling me down to Hell.   
REVEL. 3. 1. And art Dead. 
THese words are a part of the Epistle, that Christ sent to the Ministers and Church of Sardis. Ye have heard the inscription, to the Angel of the Church in Sardis write. Ye have heard too of the subscription, These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven Stars. We are come to the Subject matter, and therein first to the reproof in general, I know thy works: and secondly to the partculars of the reproof. The first particular was this, Thou hast a name that thou livest: all these have been delivered already, now follows the second particular reproof, And art dead. Here the question is, what Christ means by dead. By dead, he does not mean dead in errors and heresies, though these be called deadly poisons, and may make a Church dead. For the truth is called the word of life, Phil. 2. 16. and wholesome Doctrine, as the Apostle calls it, and ergo errors and heresies, these poison & dead any people that drink them in. But this cannot be the meaning here, for we see no such thing here laid to their charge, it should seem this Church was an orthodox Church; neither by dead does he mean profane wicked manners, though they make a people dead too, as we see the prodigal Son that had been given to profane and dissolute courses, his Father says, he was dead in those days, Luke 15. 24. Yet this cannot be the meaning neither; for this Church had a name to live, and it had this name among the Churches of Jesus Christ, which had more wit, then to Judge them to be alive, if they had been so palpably wicked; no, it seems they were an excellent Church to see to, a good Ministry to see to, but both dead; so than this is the meaning. For all their seeming to be alive, they were indeed dead; as the Apostle says of himself, before he was quickened by Christ Jesus, He was dead▪ sin revived, and I died Rom. 7. 9 yet he was as jolly a good man as any other, and yet he confesses he was dead; so they were dead for the most part; and those that were not all out dead, yet they were dead-hearted, and without life in God's ways. For as it was with the Moraller Heathen they did the things contained in the Law, yet they were dead; so a people may do the things contained in the Gospel too, and yet be dead; people may believe; yet as james says, their saith be dead saith, Jam. 2. 26. namely when their faith is without works, so people may have goodly works, for the moral part of them, and yet do them with a dead heart; to be sober and temperate, and loving, and chaste and civilly humble, and meek and diligent in their calling▪ and known to frequent all the ordinances of God, in public & in private, these are outwardly good works▪ and yet may be in the number of those works that the Apostle calls dead works, Heb. 6. ●. namely when there is no life of God in them. Thousands deceive themselves in this, when they have a kind of faith, and a kind of particular faith, and such works as these flowing from their faith, they think this to be a lively faith▪ no, no, a man may be dead for all that. This truth will not sink into men's minds; fancies, fancies say they▪ these are nothing but the whimses of a company of giddy ●raines; what would they have? if this be not true religion we wonder what is; thus they jeer these things but beloved 'tis certain; for it is not enough to believe, except we do it with life, he that liveth, and believeth in me Joh. 11. 26. faith without life is but equivocally termed faith; so it is not enough to hope in God, except we do it with life; he hath begetten us again to a lively hope says Peter. So it is not enough to be a member in God's Church, a Stone in God's building, except we be lively Stones, Ye also as lively Stones says he, 1 Pet. 2. 5. The like I may say of all the duties of Religion, it is not enough to do them, but we must do them with life, as to pray, to pray with a dead heart is nothing; no says David, Lord quicken us and we will call upon thy name, Psal. 80. 18. In a word not to heap particulars; we cannot walk in any of God's ways aright as long as we walk in them with a dead heart, as the psalmist says; Lord quicken thou me in thy way, Psal. 119. 37. it is a poor thing to walk in God's ways only for the matter of them; That indeed a dead heart may do, there's no duty that God bids a man do, unless it be them that consignify life, but flesh and blood may do it, for the matter of it, if there be matter and form in it. True, some duties are simple that flesh and blood cannot do, as to love God, to delight in God, to have communion with God himself; to take God for ones Portion and Lot, and inheritance, & to be all in all to him, these are simple acts, they are not compounded of matter and form. But when a duty is compounded of matter and form, flesh and blood may do the matter of it, whatsoever it be; now then as the essential form is the life of the matter, so the matter without it is a dead matter; and the doing of it dead.  
Well then now we see what is meant by dead; the next is, what is the meaning of Thou? Thou art dead, the word hath a double relation, the one to the Minister of the Church in Sardis; thou art dead, thy Ministry is dead; the other to the Church in Sardis itself: thou art dead, thou art a dead people. First it hath relation to the Ministry, thou art dead, thy Ministry is dead, there's no life in it at all; hence the Doctrine is this, that a dead Ministry is as good as no Ministry at all, for this our Saviour 
Decked.  means, in regard of the Angel of the Church in Sardis q. d. thy Ministry is little better than no Ministry; it is stark dead well near, it is not lively at all, there is little or no warmth to be had by it. Like the Ministry of the Scribes that had no authority nor power at all in it Mat. 7. 29. As Luther said when he heard a cold Sermon, cold, cold, cold, says he, this is cold Preaching, here is no heat at all to be gotten; as God says of the Ministry of Laodicia; Thou art lukewarm, Rom. 3. 16. that is, as there was no heat in his people, so there was no heat in his Ministry; this is little better than no Preaching at all, it is even as good as nothing. First, because true preaching is lively preaching when the Minister is a stirring Minister, as Peter speaks, I think it meet to stir you up, a Pet. 1. 13. when the Minister is earnest to save the people's souls; as the Lord says, I earnestly protested to your Fathers, Jer. 11. 7. He speaks of the Ministry of Moses and the prophets down along until the Prophet Jeremy's time; they did not only witness the word of God unto the people, but they did it in a lively and earnest manner; as Paul did, I have striven to Preach the Gospel, Rom. 15. 20. mark he belaboured him in the Pulpit, he lay about him sound, that his Ministry might have life in it. Saint Luke shows, that he had sweaty Handkerchiefs, Act. 19 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Hugo says upon the place, it seems he sweat much in preaching, and so Christ compares Ministers to Harvest men, that labour in God's Harvest; ye know Harvest men are hot at their work, so Ministers should be Harvest men, they should be hot at their work. Thus ye see dry and dull Preaching is little better than no preaching at all, it is contrary to the manner of preaching, contrary to the practice of all true and right preachers.  
Secondly, a dead Ministry is called no Ministry; the 
2  Scripture calls it no Ministry in effect. The Scripture is the best Judge what is a true Ministry, and what is not? now the Scripture makes a dead Ministry, and no Ministry all one: the Scribes and the Pharisees, ye know were partly moral men most of them, as we may see by Paul's Testimony of himself, and they were orthodox Ministers, as our Saviour witnesses of them in the main, for our Saviour bids people hear them, yet their Ministry was little better than no Ministry; as the Text shows, the people that sat under their Ministry, are said to be as sheep having no Shepherd, Mat. 9 36. they preached as if they did not preach; people might come to their Sermons and be near a jot moved; nay, such as came with a desire to be quickened, could get no quickening at all under them, Matthew says they sat under darkness yet for all them. These are Idol Shepherds; woe to the Idol Shepherds, Zach. 11. 17.  
Thirdly, a dead Ministry does do little or no good; 
3.  though it be never so true, yet it is very unfruitful; it does not awaken any of the auditory, it does not startle any of the hearers, it does not rouse up men's hearts, it does not grapple with the obstinate, it does not pull down the proud, neither does it carry life at all with it, neither is it sitted to work upon the conscience; you may see an example of this in the Angel of the Church of Sardic. a dead Minister, a dead people, as he was dead himself, so his people were dead too; a lively Ministry does a great deal of good, it even is the saveur of life unto life unto those that be of God, or else the savour of death unto death, unto those that be not of God, 2 Cor. 2. 16. it ever works one way, either it makes people rage, or it fat's people up, or else it drives people home unto God; which way so ever it works, it is a sweet savour unto God, it glorifies God; but a dead Ministry does neither, it is a flat weapon and cuts not, it is a blunt Sword and wounds not; may be it hath the true words of God, but they are not in a wise work man's hands to make them as Goads and sharp Nails; partly good points, but not pointed to prick any body's heart; it is said when Paul Preached, some went away converted, others went away blaspheming, Act. 13. 45. 48.  
Fourthly, a dead Ministry, God seldom goes along 
4.  with it, nay, that's the life of a Ministry, when the Minister seeks God to go along with him; now a dead Ministry God goes not along with it, a lively Ministry Christ goes along with it, So I am with you to the end of the world, Matth. 28. 20. if there be any of Christ's sheep in the parish, a lively Ministry does assuredly one time or other find them out; those that are not Christ his sheep, a lively Ministry hews them all down, slays all their Souls, ripens them apace for hell and for the pit. But a dead Ministry, the Lord does not go along with that, the Lord does not Crown it.  
Fifthly, a dead Ministry profanes the word of God, it makes it seem nothing worth; it does not hold forth 
5.  the glory of the Lord, nay, it hides it, & keeps it from being seen, either by dwelling upon Generals, and what's that but hiding? for people will confess the word in general, they see it the general, all their blindness is in particulars, there they slip away, like Fish out of a broad Net; or else by delivering it so coldly, that people think it no great matter; a lively Ministry holds forth it lets out God into the conscience, it gives people to understand they come upon life and death, it makes people look about them, it makes people consider all that ever they have done, it slashes the word of God into their hearts, as a light to discover all their ways; it gives them a view of their Christian estate, either one way or other; as it is said of Paul's Ministry, The word of the Lord was glorified by it, Act. 13. 48. But a dead Ministry profanes it, it veils the glory of it, it lets people sit quiet under it; it diseases no sinner, where as if it glorified God's word, it would either trouble them, or turn them.  
The use of this is, first here we see the reason why a 
Use 1.  dead Ministry is not houted at but applauded in the world; why, it is as good as no Ministry at all; it does not make the devil roar, it lets people sleep in their sins; whereas a lively Ministry can hardly come into a pulpit but presently he is half a martyr, Briers and Thorns were with Ezechiel, Ezek. 2. 6. lively Ministers cannot give the world any good content; they fought against Jeremy, they played the wolves against the Apostles of Jesus. john the Baptist was counted too stern and austere, and Luther says it is impossible for a man to be a true lively preacher of God's word and not be persecuted; there's an utter antipathy between the world and such a one, the world and such a Minister can no better agree together then light and darkness; such a Ministry stands in the world's light, it makes the world see their works are evil, it detects, it shames, it opposes their sins that the world tumbles in, as Christ says, I have given them thy word, and the world hates them because they are not of the world, Joh. 17. 14 & therefore there cannot be a lively Ministry any where, but the world hath a sling at it; but now let a man have a dead Ministry, that's let alone, that may stand long enough; that never comes home to men to show them their ill estates, the devil's dawbers, the devil's upholsters, that do not pluck men's pillows away from under their armholes, that deal gently with men, and they may do what they list for all them, these are the world's minions, and applauded at all hands; what a thing is this? whereas a dead Ministry is the undoing of men's souls; it lets men perish and never draws them back.  
Secondly, this may serve to reprove us, that are 
Use 2.  the Ministers of Jesus Christ, I desire to speak to myself, especially that we are no more lively in our Ministry; that our Ministry hath no more edge upon it to enter into this horny thick skin age: we complain of much deadness now a days; alack how if we be found guilty of it, that we preach no more quickningly! I confess, blessed be God we have so much lively preaching left yet among us, that woe be to them that are dead and have to grace of life. But O that our Ministry had more livelihood in it; that it were more exciting, and provoking. Is the Apostles of Christ complained of dull hearers, Heb. 5. 11. how many dull hearers have we! why then shall we make our souls guilty of their dulness? the deader people be we had need to be the quicker in our Ministry, or else we cannot say we are pure from their blood don't we see how many people are very near the Children of wrath; how they cannot be saved except they be justified and sanctified in Jesus Christ; how few are so; how hard a thing it is to awaken men's hearts; nay, the world and the cares of this life, carry their minds quite and clean away; how scarce any almost seriously consider their latter end? done't we see how the devil tempts, how the flesh and the world reign in most, and how little religion we have up and down? the Saints scarce, the wicked many; times very bad, the shortness of life, the irrecoverable estate after death? the immortality of the soul, the pains of hell, and the joys of heaven, and how that without holiness no man shall see God, how should we bestir ourselves to beat these truths into men's minds, that they may be bethink themselves and flee from the wrath to come? The cold preaching of such weighty things clean cousin's the world, so that they hardly conceive any great matter in the business; live and die, & perish for ever in their sins, and we give them such faint warnings, that no wonder so few do take any warning; we found the trumpet too too low, that scarce any almost prepare themselves; we come into the pulpit, but we do little or no thing there, may be we preach good doctrine, but we do not press it to the quick, that the conscience may feel; we do not bleed for our people's security, and though they do not hear, how little does our soul weep in secret or melt in public? Bucolcerus that admirable lively preacher, was wont to say, that a Minister should preach flebiliter, obsecratorie, anxie, humiliter, expectore, cum gemitu; that is, a Minister should preach mournfully over people's souls, beseechingly, anxiously, humbly, heartily, groningly; as it is said of our Saviour Christ, he groaned for the people's unbelief; now when our Ministry is deadish, as though we cared not much whether people do our doctrine or no, whether they be damned or no; this is a lamentable thing. The poor souls of our hearers may say to us, as the disciples of Christ said to Christ, and more justly, they said it unjustly to him, Master carest thou not that we perish? Mark 4. 38. he was asleep, and they awakened him, Master carest thou not that we perish? more justly may our people say so to us, O sirs, do not ye care that we perish? they may even come and awaken us, Sirs, Care ye not that we perish? do not you see how dead we are, how heardned, how Ignorant of God, how empty of grace, how backward to that which is good; how prone to lose our souls; and do not you care that we perish? why do not you labour more to quicken us, and move us, and to drive us out of our by ways, that we may come into the right way and live? when Archippus was somewhat dead in his Ministry, Saint Paul bids the people of Colosse to go and awaken him; say to Archippus, Take heed to the Ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it, Col. 4. 17. well then.  
Thirdly, another use is an use of exhortation, that we 
Use 3.  labour for a quickening Ministry, that our Ministry be a reviving ordinance of God; that we may as Esay say, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious, Isa. 49. 5. so though our people be not quick end yet shall we be glorious, we have done what in us lies for to quicken them.  
Consider first, this is the end of all true Ministers 
1.  preaching, that they may bring life into the hearer's hearts; as the Prophet says, Hear, and your souls shall live, Isa. 55. 3. wherefore else do we preach, but that the dead may hear the voice of the Son of God and live? people are alive to that which they should be dead unto, and they are dead to that which they should be alive unto, they are alive to the world, and the things of the world, and dead to God and all goodness, dead to the humbling of their souls, dead to the seeking of God, dead to Prayer, dead to the holy communion of the Saints, dead to holy comfort and meditation, and what ever else may do their souls good? now wherefore do we preach, if not to quicken up your hearts, that your souls may live for ever; they have knowledge already, more knowledge than they are quickened up to; our main intention than should be to quicken them up to do what they know; are we not sowers of seed? why than we should most labour so to plow and harrow and till the ground, that our seed may quicken; this is the very end of preaching, that our hearers may hear and live.  
Secondly, as it is the end of all true Ministers preaching 
2.  so it is the nature of all true and right preaching; either to quicken, or to be a fitted instrument of quickening; when David heard the word, it quickened his heart, thy word hath quicken me, Psal. 119. 50. and indeed it is never heard nor preached aright, unless it be in a quickening way; & therefore let us not think it is only the taking of a Text, and the speaking of good and wholesome truths, but let us ever remember what right preaching is, that our Ministry be quickening, that God may affect our souls, and accompany our words, and teach us how to go beyond the policy of men's hearts, and direct us how to drive the truth home to the quick, to answer the evasions of flesh and blood, and so put his live coal into our speeches, that our Sermons may be warming.  
Thirdly, let us consider this is only profitable preaching; 
3.  we may preach all the days of our life, and our people stirred no more than a mill-post, unless our Ministry be quickening; they may hear what we say, but unless we could quicken their hearts, they will forget all again; it may be they may remember the doctrine, but I mean they will forget to do what they hear; it is the quickening that makes any remember to practise; as David says, I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou haste quichened me, Psal. 119. 93. we can never forget that friend whom our hearts do most dear affect; so when our Ministry doth quicken and affect people's hearts, they will never forget what they have heard; The quickening of the come in the earth, makes it the faster in the earth, it twists about the earth, it gets a rooting if it quicken; so it is with our Sermons, if they be quickening, they get about people's souls, and will not out again; otherwise they are never the nearer.  
Fourthly, let us consider this kind of preaching only 
4.  will yield us true comfort; when our Ministry is lively in our parish, as Paul was at Ephesus; when we can say to our people, You hath God quickened by us, as he says, you hath he quickened, who were dead, Eph. 2. 1. I dare say it was a great comfort to his soul, to see that his Ministry was quickening; nay, if our Ministry be quickening, though none be quickened by it, but two or three, nay, though none at all, yet we shall have comfort; whereas when we have preached 1000 times in a dead hearted manner never labouring to creep into men's consciences, nor to be Ministers of life, we shall have no comfort on our deathbeds; nay our own hearts will tell us, we have preached often indeed, but we never preached Christ Jesus, we never flung our hearts among our people, as one said of the good Bishop E●lt●n, he flung his heart among his people. But when our consciences can say, we are not hearty for God, we are not earnest to save our people's souls, we did not go the way to do them good; this will lie as lead upon our bosoms when we die.  
Fifthly, a dead Ministry, is but the bare name of a 
5  Ministry, it is little better than mere voice; as the Lacedaemonian in Plutarch said, when he heard how sweetly the Nightingale sang, O thought he, surely that Bird is good meat if I had it; and so when he took it, and eat it, and found but little meat in it, he said, voxes & praeterea nihil; now I see thou art mere voice and nothing else; so a dead Ministry it may have a great name of a good Ministry, and a man may desire to live under it, O let me live under such a Ministry, but when he comes to it, and thinks to receive much benefit by it, he finds it to be little better than a name.  
Sixthly, a dead Ministry is not a sign to our people; 
6  Ministers should be signs to the people, thus Ezechiel is unto you a sign, according as he hath done, so shall ye do. A voice, Ezek 24. 24. true, john the Baptist was a voice, Isa. 40. 3. I but he was more than a voice, he was a burning and a shining light, there was life and heat in his Ministry, he was not a mere voice. But when ones Ministry is but a mere voice, little good comes of such a Ministry.  
Fourthly, another use is for direction; to show what 
Use 4.  a lively Ministry is, and how we may have a true lively Ministry, that is in one word to preach with affection; as Quintilian says of Elocution, affections are the soul and life of Eloqution; so I may say of preaching, affections are the life of preaching; now by affections, I do not mean feigned and forced affections, they are no affections indeed, but when a man preaches so for the matter and manner indeed, affectionate matter, and with a true affected heart, that he may move the hearts of men; as one says the world is now full of knowledge, as a drunkard is full of wine, that his stomach is not able to digest; so I say, people have more knowledge, than they can well digest, the stomach wants heat to concoct it for their good; as Rodolphus Agricola speaks, any man that hath learning may teach; but to move the heart and affections, it requires more a great deal. This is lively preaching, when a Minister sets himself to be in men's bosoms; what alively preacher was the Apostle Paul, you may see by his dealing with Agrippa, he made the King's heart even yearn again with his speaking; the King confessed how his speaking worked within his bosom, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian, Act. 26. 28. so you may see by the Galatians, his preaching did not only convert many of them, but those whom he did not convert, he did wonderfully work upon their hearts, that they could have be contented to have plucked out their eyes, & have given them to him, Gal. 4. 15. such a lively preacher was he in the second of Judges, that when he preached, he set all the people a melting, a weeping, like little children that had been beaten Judg. 2. 4. 5. I grant it may be the best and liveliest Ministers under heaven cannot do so now, people's hearts are more hardened. But yet though we cannot undertake to move any one man's heart, that's the work of God, yet our Ministry may be lively.  
First, by labouring to make the things that we preach 
1.  as it were lively before people's eyes; as the Apostle preached Christ crucified, even as if he were crucified before his people's eyes, Gal. 3. 1. so Moses had a very lively Ministry; the Text says, he set before them life and death; he laboured to preach with that evidence, as if he had set before their eyes life & death, heaven and hell, good and evil; when a Minister preaches in the evidence, and the demonstration of the Spirit, 1 Cor. 2. 4. when he labours to bring the Gospel plainly to men's hearts; a man may teach the Gospel, but it is not preaching, except he set it lively forth, and labour to make people see it, this is the truth, and this is your sin against that truth, this is the doctrine, and thus you fail in the doctrine, this is the threatening of God, and thus you lie under the threatening; otherwise they hear a Sermon, as if it did not concern them.  
Secondly, coming to particulars; generals are but 
2.  dead; we see they leave people dead, people have a hundred tricks to put them off; but when a preacher comes to particulars, he either quickens or slays, he convinces either to life or to death; when a Minister lays the truth at every man's door, he presses it upon every man's heart, he meets with many a put off, he makes every conscience, say I am the man, except they be asleep or their minds are a woolgathering, he darts into his hearers faces, a view of their particular estates; he toucheth their copyhold, he confutes their false pleas, and knocks off the fingers that would be applying of a promise when it does not concern them, & puts it only upon the soul to whom it does belong. This is lively preaching, that gives to every soul his due, terror to whom terror, comfort to whom comfort belongs; milk to the Babe, strong meat to the grown, oil to the bruised, and a sword into the hard heart, a whip for the Horse, and a Bridle for the Ass, and a rod for the fools back, Prov. 26. 3. application is the life of preaching; this serves to condemn such a one, this serves to confute such a one, this serves to comfort such a one, when a Minister does as Paul says, divide the word aright, 2 Tim. 2. 15.  
Thirdly, by worrying of people out of their sins, 
3.  when a Minister will not let people be quiet in any of their sinful courses, when he labours daily to vex their guilty consciences, and to turn them from day to day, as the two witnesses did, Rev. 11. 10. that they may say, we cannot be quiet for this man, he makes me sit upon thorns; when a Minister labours to make hell to have every vile wretch, and heaven and the promises to have every honest heart, etc.  
Fourthly, by being piteous and affectionate towards the 
4  poor people, to let them see how we pity their condition, as we should do what we can to make them feel their damned estate, as also with bowels, and compassion, labour that they may see we do pity them, & therefore preaching sometimes is called lamentation in Scripture, Ezek. 19 1. it may be people then may say, what a beast am I; how does our Minister pity us! he mourns over us, and bewails us; what a wretch am I, that I do not bewail mine own case? O beloved, what a woeful thing is it, that any of us should perish, to be damned for ever in hell! to lie in eternal pains! what a pity is this? is it not much better ye should embrace the good word of God and believe and take Jesus Christ, and be willing to do any thing he would have you to do, then to lie by it for ever in the pains of hell, for the pleasures of sin for a season? alas it is for want of bowels, that we do no more good.  
Fifthly, by being deeply affected with the word of 
5  God, laying nothing on people's backs, but what we lift up upon our own shoulders; speaking the truth from the bottom of our hearts, uttering the word of God with feeling and with a contrite spirit. O if we could drop our Sermons as due down from heaven on our people; this would be lively preaching indeed as the Prophet Ezekiel did, he dropped the word of God upon jerusalem, Ezek. 21. 2. so if our Sermons did come drooping down from us, as if they dropped down from heaven. O how coldly do our Sermons come from our mouths, we do not preach as if the word came down from heaven, as if our hearts were no higher than our pulpits.  
Lastly, by getting the Lord to go along with our Ministry; for it is not our preaching itself that hath any life; no, it is but a dead letter, as Micha says, I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, Mich. 3. 8.   
REVEL. 3. 2. And art Dead. 
THese words as ye heard, have a twofold relation; one to the Angel of the Church in Sardis; thou art dead, thy Ministry is dead; there's no life, nor heat at all in thy Ministry, it is no stirring Ministry; thou art dead; another to the Church itself; thou art a dead people, a dead congregation. For the first thence we had this point of Doctrine; that a dead Ministry is little better than no Ministry at all. By a dead Ministry I mean though the matter preached be never so sound & orthodox, yet when the preaching of it is dead, this is a dead Ministry; as a Prayer may be dead, though the things prayed for, be never so honest and godly; now such a Ministry is little better than no Ministry; there's no warmth hardly to be had by it at all; like the Ministry of the Scribes, that had no power nor authority in it at all, Matth. 7. 29. as Luther said, when he heard one preach very cold; cold, cold, says he; this is cold preaching; here's no heat at all to be gotten.  
First, this is nothing like a true Ministry indeed; a true Ministry indeed is lively; it is a Ministry that warms and heats; it is a very earnest Ministry; as when the 
1.  Lord let the Jews have a true Ministry, he says they had a lively Ministry, I earnestly protested to your Fathers, Jer 11. 7. he speaks of the Ministry of Moses and the Prophets; it was a very lively Ministry; they preached in good earnest to the people; so Paul was earnest in his Ministry, I have striven to preach the Gospel, Rom. 15. 20. he belaboured him hard in the pulpit, he laid about him sound; so that a dead Ministry, is nothing like a true Ministry.  
Secondly, the Lord counts a dead Ministry, even as if it were no Ministry at all. The Scribes and the Pharisees, were very moral men most of them, as ye may see 
2.  by Paul's Testimony of himself, and they were orthodox Ministers for the main, as our Saviour says of them, for he bids people hear them, yet he counted their Ministry even as no Ministry at all; he calls the people that sat under their Ministry, people having no Shepherd, Matt. 9 36. true they had Shepherds, but as the Prophet says of the Shepherds of Judah, they were jdol Shepherds, Zach. 11. 17. they were very Idols; ye know Idols are dead Images.  
Thirdly, a dead Ministry does little or no good; it is very unfruitful; it does not awaken any of the auditory; it does not stir any of the hearers; it does not rouse up 
3.  men's hearts; it does not grapple with the obstinate, nor pull down the proud, neither does it carry life at all with it; as jeremy says of many of the Priests and the Prophets of Israel, they did not convert any; God tells them, if they had stood in his counsel, they should have turned many, Jer. 23. 22. But as the matter went, they turned none, they converted none; a lively Ministry doth a great deal of good; but a dead Ministry is a flat thing.  
Fourthly, a dead Ministry God seldom goes along 
4.  with it; nay, that's the life of ones Ministry, when the Minister seeks God to go along with him; now a dead Ministry, God goes not along with it; a lively Ministry God goes along with that; as Christ says, Lo I am with you to the end of the world, Matth. 28. 20. such a Ministry God blesses, it gathers up God's Jewels, it builds up God's Church it helps to perfect the Saints. But a dead Ministry, the Lord does not go with it, he does not work with it.  
Fifthly, a dead Ministry profanes the word, it makes 
5.  it seem nothing worth; it makes people think there is no great matter in it; a lively Ministry glorisies the word, it lets out God into the conscience, it givs people to understand they come upon life and death, it makes people look about them, it makes people hear over all that ever they have done, it flashes the word of God into their hearts, as a light to discover all their ways; it gives them a view of their eternal estate either one way or other; it is the savour either of life unto life, or of death unto death; as it is said of Paul's▪ Ministry, the word of the Lord was glorified by it, Act. 13. 48. But a dead Ministry profanes, hides the glory of it; it lets people set quietly under it; it diseases no sinner.  
The use of this was first, here we saw a reason why a 
Use 1.  dead Ministry is not houted at, but applauded in the world; Why? it is as good as no Ministry at all, it does not make the devil roar; it lets people sleep in their sins; such Ministers are dawbers, they are the devil's upholsters they do not pluck away men's pillows from under their▪ armholes; people may do what they list for all them. The world will let such alone, they may sleep long enough; whereas a lively Minister can heardly come into the pulpit, but presently he is half a Martyr; as the Lord said to Ezekiel Briers and thorns are with thee Ezek. 2. 6. The world fought against jeremy; they played the wolves against the Apostles of Jesus Christ. Lively Ministers cannot give the world any good content; there's an antpathy between the world and such; they cannot more agree then light and darkness; such a Minister stands in the world's light; he makes the world see their works are evil, he detects & shams, and opposes the sins that the world wallows in; such a Ministry is a dissering Ministry, it makes a division among men. There cannot be a lively Ministry any where, but the world hath a sting at it. But a dead Ministry may go Scot-free, it does not torment them that dwell upon the earth.  
Secondly, this may serve to reprove ourselves that 
Use 2.  are no more lively in our Ministry. That our Ministry hath no more edge upon it to enter into this horny thick-skin age; we complain of much deadness now a days, alas how if we be found guilty of it, in that we preach no more quickeningly? if the Apostles of Christ complained of dull hearers, Heb. 5. 11. O how many dull hearers have we! The Lord awaken our hearts! The deader people be, we had need to be the quicker in our Ministry, or else we cannot say we are pure from their blood. Don't we see the damned estate that our people are in by nature? the carelessness of getting to be delivered out? the necessity of faith, of repetance, of holiness, the danger of sin, the multitudes of them that perish, and the fewness of them, that strive to enter in at the strait gate? the deceitfulness of the heart, how the world and the cares of this life, carry almost all clean away? the badness of the times, the shortness of this life, the irrecoverable estate after death, the immortality of the soul, the pains of hell, the joys of heaven? O how should we bestir ourselves, to beat these truths into men's hearts, that they may bethink them, and fly from the wrath come? The cold preaching of such weighty things quite cousin's the world; we give them such faint warnings, that it's no wonder that so few do take any warning; we sound the Trumpet too too low, that scarce any almost prepare themselves; we preach as though we did not care much, whether our people be damned or no; this is a lamentable thing, people may say to us, as the disciples said to Christ; they said it unjustly to Christ, but our people may say it justly to us. Master carest thou not that we perish? Mark. 4. 38. he was asleep, and they awakened him; Master carest thou not, etc. O Sirs, don't you care that we perish? awaken, awaken, don't you see how dead we are, how hearned, how Ignorant of God, how empty of grace, how backward to that which is good! how prone to lose our souls! and done't you care that we perish? why don't you labour more to quicken us, and move us; why don't you rub us, and pull us, and prick us, and drive us out of our security?  
Thirdly, another use is, that we labour for a quickening 
Use 3.  Ministry. This is the end of all true Ministers preaching; that they may bring life into their hearers hearts; as the Prophet says, hear and your souls shall live, Isa. 55. 3. wherefore else do we preach, but that the dead may hear the voice of the Son of God and live? people are alive to that which they should be dead unto; and dead to that which they should be alive unto; dead to God and all goodness, dead to reformation and amendment, dead to Prayer, and the communion of the Saints; dead to holy conference and meditation and what ever else may do your souls good: now wherefore do we preach, if not to quicken up your hearts, that your hearts may live for ever? are we not sowers of seed? why than we should most labour so to plow and harrow and till the ground that our seed may quicken.  
Fourthly, now another use is how to get a Ministry 
Use 4.  to be quickening. First let us consider the worth of a soul, our Saviour Christ says, it's of more worth than the whole world, Matth 16. 26. if one soul be of such worth, O then what is the worth of so many souls as God hath given us the charge of▪ wherefore do we stir up ourselves no more in our Ministry? its a plain sign, we don't consider the worth of souls, that we have the care of; the blood of the Son of God was shed for them. O if we would but consider this, this might whet us up if by any means we might gain some souls to Gods heavenly Kingdom.  
Secondly, as we must consider the worth of the souls 
2.  of our people, so we must get bowels to tender their souls. The Apostle Paul says, he had the bowels of a Father towards the souls of the Thessalonians, you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father thes his Children, 1 Thess. 2. 11. nay, as a Mother to the Babe of her womb; nay, says he, we were ready not only to impart the Gospel of God to you, but also even our own souls, because ye are dear to us; as it is there in verse 8. Is a Father dead-hearted toward his dear child? or a kind Mother toward her dear babe? no; if we were set to do our people good, if our bowels did yearn after their everlasting good, it would appear in every Sermon we make, yea, it would appear in our delivery, in our faces, in our carriages, in our earnest endeavour for their comfort; the earnestness of a true Ministers preaching, Saint jude compares to the snatching of a child, that is fallen into the fire; other some with fear, plucking them out of the fire, jude. 23. if we did see our poor children fallen into the fire, how would we bestir ourselves quickly to pluck them out again? would we go about it coldly? nay, would we not run, and snatch and pull, and cry out, and alas my poor child, nay, we would schriek out, O woe is me my child will be burnt; O how our bowels would yearn, so we should do to our people, this would quicken our Ministry, and so I full upon a third.  
Thirdly, then as we should dear love our people's 
3.  souls, so we should be piteous and affectionate towards them; we should let them see how we pity their condition; we don't only tell them their sins, and threaten against them the Judgements, but with pity and compassion; lamenting their condition, as jeremy said, O my bowels, my homels, I am pained even at the very heart, Jer. 4. 19 we should not mouth hell and damnation and roar out against their sins in a stirdy manner, as if we had Iron sides, but in a relenting piteous wise, bewailing their case. Preaching sometimes is called lamentation in Scripture; take up alamentation for the Princes of Israel, Ezek. 19 1. that is, go and preach to them; this is to quicken in our Ministry; may be people now will say; what a beast am I! how does our Minister pity us? he mourns over us, and bewails us; what a wretch am I, that I do not bewail mine own miserable condition! O beloved, what a woeful thing is it that any of us should perish! to be damned for ever in hell? to lie in everlasting burnings; what a pity is this? Is it not much better, we should embrace the good word of God, repent and believe, and take up Christ's Yoke, and to be willing to do any thing, to part with any thing, then to lie by it for ever in the pains of hell for the pleasures of sin for a season? alas brethren it is for want of bowels; that we do no more good; O we should fling our hearts among you, as was said of that good Bishop, the People said of him, he flung his very heart among them; so should we do, we should even melt over you, the Lord give us tender bowels for you; this is a quickening Ministry.  
Fourthly, We should worry our people out of their 
4  sins; we should not let our people be quiet in any of their sinful courses; we should daily labour to disease them, to make them set upon thorns, as is said of the two witnesses, they tormented the earth, Rev. 11. 10. so we should torment and vex guilty consciences, gall them, and pierce them, and make our Sermons haunt them; we should be eager and earnest with them to let go their sins; we should be like the importunate widow, that would have justice, she would never let the Judge be quiet for her; as God says there, return return, O Shulamite, return return; compel them to come in, Luke. 14. 23. repent repent, O wretch, repent repent; O do not go on, thou'lt perish, turn back, turn back, thou'lt be in hell in a moment else; it is not enough to deliver a good doctrine, and then to say thus and thus ye are guilty of sinning against this good doctrine; but we should labour to lay it home, and to impose it firmly on their conscience, to haunt▪ them with the danger; O how dull, and blockish and secure in their heart how apt are people to forget any thing that is good, to put off any thing that should pull them down before God? and therefore we should labour to help our poor people, that if▪ it be possible, we may stop them from going down into the pit.  
Fifthly, we should labour to make the things that we 
5  preach as if it were lively before people's eyes; as the Apostle preached Christ crucified to the Galatians, even as if he were crucified before their very eyes, Gal. 3. 1. so Moses had a very lively Ministry; the text says he set his points before their very eyes. I call heaven and earth to record against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and crusing, Deut. 30. 19 mark he set before their eyes, life and death, heaven and hell; he preached so evidently, that the people might see, as it were with their eyes, the things that he preached; this is lively teaching; as the Orator says Hypotyposis is an excellent means to persuade; when the speaker does as it were point before the hearer's eyes, when he represents the things he speaks of, this is preaching in the evidence, and the demonstration of the spirit, 1 Cor. 2. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when a Minister demonstrates his points, and this it is, this is the sin, and this is the case, and this is the misery, and thus it stands with you, when he labours to make people see it, and they must needs see it, unless they be wilful and shut their eyes; otherwise people hear a Sermon as if it did not concern them; there's a man in the pulpit, and they hear what he says, but they never consider how deeply it concerns them.  
Sixthly, we should be truly affected with the word of 
6  God ourselves; laying nothing on our people's shoulders, but what we lift upon our own; we should speak the truth from the bottom of our hearts, uttering the word of God with feeling and with a contrite heart; we should be heavenly as the word is; that lip and heart, and word may be all a like. O if we did drop down our Sermons as due down from heaven on our people, this would be a lively preaching indeed; as the Prophet Ezekiel did, He dropped the word of God on jerusalem, Ezek. 21. 2. if our Sermons did come dropping down from us, as if they dropped down from heaven. O how homely do our Sermons come from our mouths, as though they never were higher than the pulpit; we do not preach, as if the word came dropping down from heaven; and therefore people do not look up to heaven, while they hear, their minds are no higher than our pulpits: whereas if we had heavenlier hearts and lips, it would more quicken a thousand times, or at least be a sitter instrument to quicken.  
Seventhly, and lastly, we should get the Lord to go 
7.  along with our Ministry; for it is not our preaching itself, that hath any life; nay, it is but a dead letter as it issues from us; if we were such men, that had the Lord going along with us throughout all our Ministry, what a deal of profit would there be in our Ministry? as Micha says, I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, Micha. 3. 8. But I let this point pass; thus ye have heard the words as they have relation to the Ministry of the Church in Sardis. Thou art dead; that is, thy Ministry is dead.  
Now I come to the words, as they have relation to the Church itself. Thou art dead. Thou art a dead people; though thou hast a name to live, yet, thou art dead; that is, thou art outwardly reform, thou hast goodly ordered congregations, good sober, civil and fair carriaged people, all professing the true religion, and frequenting the good Ordinances of God, yet, thou art dead; that is, thou art even as good as nothing; the doctrine hence is, a dead Christian is as no Christian at all. Ye know we are all dead by nature, in trespasses, and in sins; that is, we are alive to the works of the flesh, and to the world, but dead towards God. And a true Christian is he that is made dead unto sin and the world, but alive unto God; as the Apostle Paul says. Likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God through jesus Christ our Lord, Rom. 6. 11. this is a true Christian, that so leaves his sins, and so takes up the worship and service of God, that he is dead to his sins, and alive towards God; now when a man it may be leaves his sins after a manner, and takes up the profession of God's Service, and yet he is alive still unto the flesh, and dead towards God, this is just nothing.  
By dead I mean things; first, deadness of guilt; when a 
1.  man is guilty of any offence, that is death by the Law, he is said to be a dead man; therefore every man hath sinned against God, which is death by God's Law, so that every man is dead by nature; when a man is pardoned of God, than he is alive again; and therefore it is called justification of life, Ro. 5. 18. now when a man is not pardoned of God, he is dead, though he have never so many hopes and conceits of forgiveness, thought to apprehend himself to be pardoned, yet as long as God hath not pardoned him indeed, he is a dead man.  
Secondly, deadness of mind, when the mind is 
2.  Ignorant of God, in regard of saving knowledge, when a man's mind is without saving understanding, than his mind is said to be dead; true saving understanding is the life of so many minds; as David says, give me understanding and I shall live, Psal. 119. 144. then my mind shall be alive says he, than I shall know thee aright; now let a man have never so much knowledge and learning, yet, in divine things is otherwise, and have nothing; his mind is still dead; he is a dead man to all the things of God; he cannot see God in all his ways no more than a dead man; he cannot mind God; he may mind earthly things; but he cannot mind God; nay, though he can mind learning & divinity, learning & learning about God, yet he cannot mind God; his mind is dead to such savoury knowledge; even as dead as a dead man; he knows not how to pray to God, as a child to his Father; he knows not how to do any duty, in a godly gracious manner; his mind is as dead to these things, as a simple Countryman's is to Latin, or Greek or Hebrew.  
Thirdly, deadness of heart when the heart is not 
3.  inclined towards God, than we say it is dead towards God and all goodness; though he go to good duties every day, yet as long as the heart is not inclined to them, it goes about them in a dead manner; when a man's heart is once inclined towards God, now it begins to be alive towards him; as David says, the heart shall be alive that seeks God, Psal. 69 32. that is, you whose hearts are inclined to serve God, your hearts are alive; now when a man hath no divine inclinations to all heavenly duties and courses, though he do never so much profess the following of them, he follows them with a dead heart.  
Fourthly, deadness of conscience, when the conscience 
4  hath no force; it may be it finds fault with such and such ways, but it hath no power over the man, to make him to leave them; perhaps it approves such and such holy performances, yea, but it hath no power over him, to cause him to buckle to them indeed; this is a dead conscience; it hath no life at all in it; when the conscience hath life in it once, than it hath power; it hath a mighty force over a man; as the Church, my soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab, Cant. 6. 12. that is, my conscience was very forceable and powerful in me, it made me not only to go after God, but it carried me as it were in a Chariot very willingly. But when the conscience can whisper only and find fault, and hath no power at all with it to make one obey from day to day, this is a dead conscience.  
Fifthly, deadness of affection; when the affections 
5.  are clumbzie, and will not stir towards God, and all heavenly things; when a man is like a block in good duties, he hath no affections to them nor in them; when the affections are all alive to earthly things, when they are still out of order; as the Apostle Paul says, mortify your inordinate affections, Col. 3. 5. that is, your affections must not be out of order, if they be alive to other things ye must kill them, that way, that they may be alive towards all the things that are above; now when the affections will not move that way at all, than they are dead. But I will speak no more of this; well then let us come to the doctrine; a dead Christian is even as good as no Christian at all; go through all Christianity, and we shall see this to be true in every passage; should a man have all Christianity in him, and yet be dead and dull and without life, it is even all one, as if he had just nothing.  
First, for conversion; should a man seem to be converted. 
1.  O what a changed man is this, he was a drunkard, and now he is sober; he was a whorer, and now he is chaste, he was a Profane beast, and now he is clean another man; this is well; I, but if thou be'st dead to the ways of God; if thou be'st not quickened up to them, this is magnum nihil; conversion is a quickening; when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together which Christ, Eph. 2. 5. conversion is not only a turning of a man from wicked ways to good, but to be quickened up in them; conversion puts another life into a man; a man may be converted from profaneness to civility; from not praying constantly to praying constantly, from not hearing to hearing, from not preaching to preaching, from not professing to professing. True, this man shall have the less hell, yea, but this is nothing towards heaven; except a new life be put into this man; to be alive in all these good ways; except he be quickened together with Christ.  
Secondly faith; should a man lean himself upon 
2.  God, and upon Christ, should a man apply all the promises of the Gospel to his soul, and believe all that's contained in the covenant of grace; alas what of all this? if this man be dead still, without such a faith as produces life; it is little better than nothing; as Christ says, He that lives and believes in me, Joh. 11. 26. true faith carries life with it, wheresoever it is; and therefore if a man's faith be without life, it is but equivocal faith. faith it may well be, But true faith it cannot be; for if thou wouldst be able to say thou believest in Jesus Christ, thou must be able to say that thou livest too in him; it's impossible a man should rightly believe in Christ and be dead; ●o, he lives that believes in me, says Christ.  
Thirdly, as ye heard heretofore, to be a member of 
3.  the visible Church of God, to be a stone in God's building; were a man the finest and the most carved stone of all, put in by Baptism, kept in by profession of the Christian faith; this is a poor thing, if this man now be not a lively stone; ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy Priesthood, etc. 1 Pet. 2. 5. The right stone; in Gods spiritual house are all lively stones; if thou be'st but a log, a heartless, dull, dead member, thou art none of God's spiritual house, house, no part of his holy Priesthood, thou art no more a Christian then a dead man is a man. Thou art but a sit room, thou hast nothing but a name of a true Christian; The body of Christ, is all full of life, derived from him the head; all the branches that are in him, have the life of the root in them; if thou be'st but a dead branch, thou hast no communion with Christ at all, though thou be'st in the body.  
Fourthly, for hope; it may be thou hast hope that 
4.  thou art a good Christian, that thou hast a part in the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, thou hast a hope of the heavenly inheritance, that thou shalt be saved in that day; now if thy hope be a dead hope, if it do not quicken thee up to trample on the world, to beat down thy worldly lusts, to screw thee up to a gracious life more and more, to carry thee on through thick and thin, this is not a gracious hope; no, no; the grace of hope is a lively hope, as the Apostle speaks. Blessed be God, & father of our Lord jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again, to a lively hope, 1 Pet. 1. 3. this grace of hope it quickens up all them that have it, it is not a dead hope, that lies sluggishly and blockishly in the soul, and does not stir it up every day; no, it revives him towards God, it makes him eager after the best things; if thy hope be a dead hope, that lies like a carcase in thy heart, to little or no purpose, it is no good hope through grace, but a hope in a dream.  
Fifthly, for repentance; what ever thou hast to say 
5.  for repentance, canst thou plead a 1000 changes and reformations, yet if thou hast not gotten out of a dead temper, thou art yet under an impenitent heart. That repentance that is the gate of heaven, the Evangelist calls it repentance unto life, Act. 11. 18. true repentance it rends the heart, it shows sin to be the greatest evil, and it rouses a man up daily to take heed of it; it makes us see what a God we have dishonoured, and therefore it awakens the soul to be earnest to please him in all things for the time to come; the soul was dead and careless, and drowsy, and neglectful of obedience, goodness, holiness, humility, pureness, strictness, preciseness of walking, it cared not for these things afore, but when true repentance comes in, it wheels about the life of the soul towards God, now the cares shall be to him, now the endeavours make after him; pains, labours, cautious, watchfulness, considerativenesse, studious striveings, and all's active that way now; so that if a man be still dead, his repentance is false.  
Again to go over all the duties of religion; they all must be done with life; to do them with a dead heart, 
1  is as good as not to do them at all. First prayer, suppose we pray at Church, and pray in our families, and pray in our closerts, is this all? to pray with a dead heart, as if we cared not whether we sped or no, no pullings of our heart down before God; no wrestlings with God for what we ask, no liftings of our souls up, no fastenings of our minds upon his presence, no cries, no mournings, no importunity, but the heart as lumpish and unwieldy as a stone; is this praying? no, says David; quicken us O Lord that we may call upon thy name, Psal. 80. 18.  
Secondly, for hearing of the word: It is not thy hearing of it so many times a week, though thou must hear it as often as ever thou canst, and those that will not no hearing as frequently as they may, are high despisers of God & his Ordinances; but yet if thou hearest the word with a dead heart, thy hearing is made as no hearing; it is said of those primitive converts that they were pricked in their hearts as they were hearing, Act. 2. 37. they only got good by their hearing, they heard the word with life; so it is said of many of Christ's hearers, they did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they lay upon him, they pressed upon him, Luk. 5. 1. in another place, it is said that they hung upon him, they were attentive and eager to him; our Saviour Christ says, it is a very great judgement to be dull of hearing, Matth. 13. 15. when people set as if the word did not concern them, when they hear without any motion or affection, the word hardly joggeth their hearts, it hardly shaketh their conscience at all, the word does neither delight them, nor wound them, nor pierce them, it heals none of their sins, it cannot get between them and their lusts; when they have heard a Sermon, they go away just as they came, they finde nothing now to do, it does not drag them one jot more out of the world, nor an inch nearer heaven; their carriage is much at one as it was; when they come home, it cannot be perceived that ever they were at the word; as earthly as ever; as carnal as ever; as backward to all goodness as ever; this is no hearing at all.  
Thirdly, for sanctifying of the Lords day; it is said of 
3  the Sabbath, that we should call it our delight, Isa, 58. 13. that is, we should keep it with life it should even quicken up our hearts to think it is coming, we should be revived to consider God's goodness, that he would give us such a day, seeing we have so much need of it; when we have been six days about our own business in the world, that we should have a seventh given us of God, lest we should be over head and ears in the world to take off our hearts; now when this is no delight to us, our hearts are dead to it, we do not sanctify it indeed but profane it, as though it were not honourable and the house of the Lord.  
Fourthly, for taking hold of an opportunity to do 
4.  good; this is a duty too to be done with all life; how glad should we be; if there be any opportunity for us to show our love to God, or our hatred to sin; we should be willing to ride or go, or be at charges, nay we should deny ourselves, and lay down our gains and credits, and goods, and friends, and all that we have at Christ's Foot, and bless God that gives us such a price in our hands; but now we have a dead heart to this; what a horrible thing is this? though we do take the opportunity, yet to go about it as though we were sorry that God hath given it unto us; this is mere folly; as Solomon says; Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a Fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it? Proverbs 17. 16.  
Fifthly, In one word for all the ways of God, there's 
5.  near a one of them all, that can be walked in aright, without a live heart as the Prophet says. Lord turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken me in thy way, Psal. 119. 37. now when we go dreamingly on, as though we could not do withal, though the way be God's, yet our going in it is stark naught, and little better than not going in it at all; and therefore the Lord accepts not of it, when we humble ourselves before God, to hang down our ●eads ●ike a bulrush, it's naught, it's naugh, the Lord cannot away with it; when we confer about the word, or any gracious and Godly theme, to speak as if we had no saveur of it, no pleasure in it, when our hearts would rather be on another subject, and never lin till they have wound all good talk out; if we speak one word to edification, there shall be twenty to that one, that shall serve to no other end, but to the hardening of one another; when Christ and the two disciples were communing together, their hearts burned in them; did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way? Luk. 24. 32. that was talking with life. But when our hearts are as cold as a flint, this we may call talking, but holy conference it cannot be termed  
Thus ye see a dead Christian, is as good as no Christian at all, no grace is without life, no duty can be done without life; the reasons of this are.  
First, because this is all one as to have no grace at all; 
1.  though a man be a member of the congregation of the Lord, though he have the seals of the covenant, and profess the faith of Jesus, and be as moral in his life as ever any of the heathen, and as full of good duties as ever any hypocrite was, and more too, yet if he have not life yet, he is but a tinkling cymbal; he hath no grace at all. I mean no saving grace at all; saving grace the Apostle calls it the grace of life, 1 Pet. 3. 7. It is the grace of life, it breeds life in him that hath it, it makes him alive towards God, it lets out the life of his heart in every good word and work; it makes him pray with life, hear with life, use the ordinances in public and private with life; the natural life that is in the soul it turns it to God, it turns the man about, as a ship is turned on the Sea; that sailed before towards North, now it sails towards South. So when grace comes into the soul; ye know the man had life afore, but it sailed towards the world, and the things of the world, but when grace does come in, it makes it row and sail and steer towards God; so that when a Christian is dead, he is as no Christian at all.  
Secondly, a dead Christian hath not Christ dwelling in his 
2.  heart by faith; he is no Christian indeed, that hath not Jesus Christ dwelling in him by a truly and a lively faith. It is the indwelling of Christ that makes one a true Christian; now when Christ does dwell in any man, Christ is a quickening spirit; as the Apostle speaks, the second Adam was made a quickening spirit, 1 Cor. 15. 45. that is Christ; he is the second Adam; he is a quickening spirit where ever he dwells; he quickens all the soul. He makes it dead to that, which by nature it was alive to; and alive to that which by nature it was dead to; he inclines the soul unto God▪ he infuses a principle into it to shine with life towards God, he does more and more hale the strength of the soul towards him; though he do not do it at all once, yet he does it more and more; now when a man is still dead to God and all goodness, he hath not Christ dwelling in him by a lively faith; for if he were in once, though the soul may complain still of deadness, as commonly those that are alive complain most of deadness, yet it hath a supernatural quickening, and it shall have more and more.  
Thirdly, a dead Christian was never yet sound 
3.  wrought upon by the word; the word of Christ is a word of life, and it quickens where it do effectually work; and therefore though such a one have heard a 1000 thousand Sermons, he never fed upon them in all his life; as Christ says, If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, Joh. 6. 51. it is better than ordinary bread; ordinary bread indeed, if a man have a natural life, it will feed it and preserve it. But if a man be dead, it will not revive him. But the word of God is such a bread, that as it feeds a spiritual life in them that have it, so it is able through the eternal spirit, to quicken the dead; it is able through God, to put life into men, that never had any; and it does so to all that are of God, sooner or latter; now when a man is dead, it's a plain sign that the word hath not yet wrought upon that man; it may be it hath shaken him many a time; yea, but if he be yet dead, it never wrought upon him sound; the oracles of God, are lively oracles, as Steven calls them, Acts. 7. 38. they make their hearts lively that they come to work sound on; though they were never so dead to God and good things afore, yet now they wax lively, they make their hearts to receive a divine strength, that now they wax able in some measure to live towards God, to hunger and thirst after God, to delight in the seeking of him; be their lusts never so mighty, now they can compose themselves to oppose them, and to swim against the stream; now they can pray, and they cannot abide to have blockish hearts in that nor in any other duty, they have a life that resists that same deadness that dwelleth in them. So then this is another reason, that a dead Christian is as good as no Christian at all, the word hath never wrought sound on that Man.  
The use of this is; first, if the dead Christians in Sardis 
Use 1.  be as good as nothing, what are the riff-raffe in the Town, that are not so much as Christians in name? if a dead Christian be rejected of God, what's a dead drunkard? a dead whormonger, a dead prophanling▪ if one that walks in good courses be refused▪ because he is dead in them, than what shall become of them that will not follow good courses at all? if such that are Saints to them, cannot be saved, where shall they appear? it is said that Christ loved the goodly fine carriaged young man, Mark. 10. 17. Christ is never said to love a drunkard; a profane wretch; no, he regards one that carries himself in a fair civil honest way, more than all the world besides, except only his own children; and therefore if he counts mere civil men stark naught, how much more does he thee, that art a very beast compared with them? thou art so vile, that we that are men do know thou art in a fearful estate; nay, the Lord pronouns a woe upon them that dare speak well of thee; these sins are to be punished by the judges; if thou hast lived in Israel, thou shouldst have been put to death; a drunken Son should have been stoned; an adulterer, a fornicator should be burnt; a blasphemer should be brained to death. Thy sins are so palpable, that pillaries, and stocks, and prisons, and gallows, should be thy fare, if thou wert well served. Thou art not only dead, for the manner of thy life, but for the matter too; not only the Saints do abhor thee, but all that have any civility in them, do loath thy filthy doings; and would not do as thou dost; no, no, for a world; as Solomon says such as thou art, are not only dead but in the depth of hell, Pro. 9 18. There be many though they be not right, yet they are so much reform that the Saints of God cannot say but that they may be good Christians; But thou art so foul, that he that hath but one eye may see the devil leads thee; there be some that a man may be to blame for judging them wicked, but he that judges thee other wise, hates his own soul; poor creature, does thy foolish heart promise thee hopes to find mercy? alas the devil does but lead thee in a string, he knows well enough, though he will not let thee see it, there is no mercy for them that go on still in their wickedness. Thou hast not so much as a name that thou livest, how dead then art thou? Thou art dead and rotten, and stinkest not only in the nostrils of God, but of all that have any common grace in them. Others may be in a damned condition for all their profession, but to be sure thou art in a damned condition, there's nothing between thee and hell, but only the poor thread of thy life; How canst thou keep out of hell, that canst hardly keep out of the Alehouse. O hear this ye that have not so much as any face of Religion. See the word of the Lord, and think upon it for your good, if ye have any ear to hear before it be too late.  
Consider first, thou art far from the Kingdom of 
1.  God; such as are sober and moral and frequenters of the ordinances of God, & profess godliness, though they be not alive, yet they are not far from the Kingdom of God; as Christ said of the discreet Scribe, Mark. 12. 34. But thou art a hundred hundred degrees farther off; thou art so far off, that thou hast need to hasten quickly, thou hast a 1000 degrees of reformation to pass over, before thou canst get so near as some of them that are short.  
Secondly, thou art altogether become unprofitable, as the 
2.  Apostle speaks, Rom. 3. 12. thou art good for nothing, but to do mischief in a parish, to infect, to spoil youth, to trouble thy wife, and thy poor Children; to corrupt thy servants and thy neighbours, to spill the good creatures of God, to be a very slave to thy fleshly-lusts; others that are well governed in their lives, though they be dead, yet they do a great deal of good, they help the Saints, they are I say gotten to stand for good order; but thou art a very burden to all well disposed people, the very shame of the Town, the disgrace of the family where thou art; what will people say yonder's a drunkard, yonder goes a fornicator a dissolute fellow, though he be a gentleman, yet he is fit for none but rogues, and raseals, and tinkerly companions, a man that hath but a spark of honesty would be ashamed of him; a Christian? no, he is a very beast, he cannot govern himself. But what do I stand spending of time to speak against such ways which the Apostle says should scarcely be named in Christians mouths? The very heathens shall judge thee; the Lord open thine eyes, to see what a cursed creature thou art, that thou mayst come out of the snare of the devil.  
I have hindered myself from going on; I should show you, first, a reproof of those that are Christians and yet dead.  
Secondly, I should show you the danger of being a dead Christian.  
Thirdly, what it is to be a lively Christian.  
Fourthly, how we may know whether we be dead Christians or no.  
Fifthly, how far forth a child of God may be dead.  
Sixthly, what is the reason that so many are dead.  
Seventhly, how we should all come to be lively.  
Eighthly, what motives there be to induce us to labour for life in our Christian course. But of these at another time.   
REVEL. 3. 1. And art Dead. 
THe last doctrine that we gathered out of these words was this, that a dead Christian is as good as no Christian at all; though a man be orthodoxly converted, baptised, reform, though a man profess the true faith towards God, repentance and amendment of life, and follow all manner of good and honest courses for the matter of them, yet if he be dead to them, he is even as good as nothing.  
I told you what I meant by a dead Christian. I showed you this in five things.  
First, deadness of guilt; when a man is guilty of any 
1.  offence, that is death by the Law, he is said to be a dead man; so every man hath sinned against God which is death by God's Law, and therefore every man is dead by nature; when a man is pardoned of God, than he is alive again; and therefore it is called justification of life, Rom. 5. 18. now when a man is not pardoned of God he is dead; though he have never so many hopes and conceits of forgiveness, yet as long as he is not forgiven indeed he is but a dead man. Let a man have never so much Christianity about him, if he be not forgiven indeed▪ he is a dead Christian.  
Secondly▪ deadness of mind; when the understanding 
2  of man is dead; my beloved ye must know it is not bare knowledge that quickens the mind; a man may have the knowledge of all Christian divinity, and yet have a dead understanding; it is said of Christ, & every true Christian, that he is of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, Isa. 11. 3. then is the understanding quick, when it is quick in the fear of God; when it feels the weight of all divine truth; we may see this in worldly minded men, their understandings are quick in the things of the world, if there be any booty to be had, presently they feel it, you may lead them any way, so you do but let them see profit and gain, there is weight in such reasons. But now show them divine reasons, why they should believe the sacred writings of the holy Prophets and Apostles, and yield obedience unto the form of wholesome words delivered in the Gospel, though they understand well enough what we say, yet they feel no weight in these reasons; whole Sermons do not stir them; their understanding is here dead; so that this is a dead Christian, who though he have never so much knowledge, yet his understanding is dead, he feels not the weight of divine things; he hath divine things in his speculative understanding, and carnal in his practical; gracious truths in his fore dictates, and carnal in his last; when he knows heavenly things, but minds earthly; my meaning is this. O says his understanding, I should live thus and thus, this is the rule, this is the will of God. But then his own corrupt will suggests unto him for to do otherwise, and His understanding does not hinder.  
Thirdly, deadness of heart, when the heart is not 
3.  inclined towards God. The life of the heart, consists in the inclinations and bents of the heart; as David says, Incline mine heart to thy Testimonies, Psal. 119. 36. what follows? quicken thou me in thy way, This is the quicking of my heart to thy Testimonies, when it is inclined unto them; now though a man go to good duties everyday, yet as long as the heart is not inclined unto them, it is dead to them all; it goes about them in a dead manner; as a Boy that is not inclined to his Book, though he do go to School, it is with a dead heart. This then is another expression of a dead Christian; he is a man though he be a professor of Holiness, yet his heart is not inclined towards God, and all goodness; and therefore he goes on in good duties with a dead heart.  
Fourthly, deadness of conscience; when the conscience hath no force; it may be it finds fault with such and such ways, but it hath no power over a man, to make him to leave them; it approves such and such holy courses, yea, but it hath no power over him to make him to buckle to them indeed. O says the conscience, I should not do thus; I should be more mindful of God, I should not be so vain, I should not spend my time as I do, I should make another use of God's warning than I do; I should be better. But it hath no force over the man whose conscience it is; this is a dead conscience; there's no life in it at all; when the conscience hath life in it once, than it hath power over a man; as the Church says, my soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab, Cant. 6, 12. that is, my conscience was very forcible and powerful in me; it made me go after Jesus Christ, nay, it carried me freely like the Chariots of Aminadab. But when the conscience can whisper and only find fault, and hath no power at all with it to make one obey from day to day, this is a dead conscience.  
Fifthly, deadness of affection, when the affections are 
5.  clumbzie, and will not move towards God, and all supernatural things; when a man's affections are lively enough in other things, and too lively; But he's like a block in good duties, he hath no affections to them nor in them. These are affections out of order; mortify your inordinate affections says the Apostle, Colos 3. 5. that is, your affections must not be out of order; if they be alive to the things here below, ye must turn the life of them another way; ye must kill them that way, and let the life of them run out towards God, and his service and worship; now when the affections will not move this way at all, than they are dead. Thus ye see what I mean by a dead Christian. Now that such a one is as good as no Christian at all, is very plain; go through all Christianity, and you shall find this to be true in every passage.  
First, for conversion; conversion is not only the 
1.  turning of a man from wicked ways unto good, but so as to be quickened up in them. Conversion puts another life into a man; when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ, Eph. 2▪ 5. that is, conversion is the quickening of a man, not only the turning of a man from not praying to praying, from not hearing of the word to hearing of the word; from not sober to be sober, from not chaste to be chaste, from not professing Christian religion to be a professor of it, but also it is the quickening of a man up in it; it is the putting of a new life into a man; and therefore to be converted merely from the one to the other is just nothing; as long as a man is dead-hearted to the same.  
Secondly, for believing; should a man lean himself 
2.  upon God, should a man apply all the promises of the Gospel to his soul, and credit all that's contained in the Covenant of grace, alas what of all this? if this man be dead still. True faith produces life; as Christ says, he that liveth and believeth in me▪ Joh. 11. 26. True faith carries life with it, wheresoever it is; and therefore if a man have such a faith as lets him be dead still, it is as good as nothing; faith it may be, Put true faith it cannot be; if thou wouldst be able to say thou believest in Jesus Christ, thou must be able to say that thou livest in him too▪ it is impossible that a man should rightly believe in Christ, and be dead.  
Thirdly, for hoping in God; it may be thou hast hope 
3.  that thou art a good Christian, that thou hast a part in the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, thou hast a hope of the heavenly inheritance that thou shalt be saved in that day; now if thy hope be a dead hope, if it do not quicken thee up, to beat down thy worldly lusts, to serve thee up towards God more and more, to carry thee on through thick and thin, thy hope is not worth a rush. True hope is lively; he hath begotten us again to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. it is not a dead hope, that lies sluggishly and blockishly in him that hath it, not stirring him up every day, but it lies like a carcase in the heart to little or no purpose; no, no, this is as good as no hope at all. True hope is a lively hope; it revives a man up to the Kingdom of God, it bears a man aloft in good duties, it fortisies a man against daily temptations.  
Fourthly, for repenting; what ever thou hast to say 
4  for repenting, canst thou plead never so many tears for thy sins, a thousand changes and reformings, yet if thou hast not gotten out of a dead temper, thou art yet under an impenitent heart, true repentance is to life, Act. 11. 18. True repentance rends the heart, it shows sin to be the greatest evil, and so it rouses a man daily up to take heed of it; it makes us see what a God we have dishonoured and therefore it awakes the soul to be earnest, to please him in all things for the time to come. The soul heretofore was dead to all holiness and pureness, and precisnesse, and humbleness, and mortifiednesse of walking, it was dead to such things heretofore, but when true repentance comes in, it turns about the life of the soul towards God, now the cares shall be to him, now the endeavours make after him; pains, labours, cau●elo●snesse, watchfulness, circumspection, consideration, all are active now towards him; so that if a man be still dead, his repentance is false.  
Fifthly, for praying; suppose we pray at Church and 
5.  pray in our Families, and pray in our Closets, is this all? alas if we pray with a dead heart, no pullings of our heart down before God, no wrestlings with God for what we ask, no heaving of our souls up, no fastenings of our minds on his presence, no favouring of Jesus Christ, no yearnings to the throne of grace; this is as good as no praying at all; no; says David quicken us O Lord, and we will call upon thy name, Psal▪ 80. 18.  
Sixthly, for hearing of the word. Though thou hear 
6  it never so often and duly, yet that is not it; if thou hearest it with a dead heart, thy hearing is little better than no hearing; our Saviour Christ says, it's a great judgement to be dull of hearing, Matth. 13. 15. when the people sit as if the word did not concern them, when they hear without any motion or affection, the word hardly joggeth their hearts, the word does neither delight them, nor warm them, nor pierce them, nor touch them, it heals none of their sins, it cannot get between them and their lusts; when they have heard a Sermon, they go away just as they came, it does not drag them one jot more out of the world, nor an inch nearer heaven; the carriage is much at one as it was, when they come home, it can hardly be perceived, that ever they were at the word; as earthly as ever; as carnal as ever; as backward to all goodness as ever. This is as good as no hearing at all.  
Seventhly, for taking hold of opportunities to do 
7  good. This is a duty too to be done with all life. How glad should we be if there be any opportunity for us, to show our love unto God, or our hatred to sin, we should be willing to ride or go, or be at charges, nay, we should be willing to deny ourselves, to lay down our names and goods, and friends, and respects, and all that we have at Christ's foot, and bless God that gives us such a price in our hands. But now to have a dead heart to this, what a horrible thing is it? though we do take the opportunity, yet to go about it, as though we were sorry that God hath given it unto us; This is mere folly; as Solomon says; wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it? Prov. 17. 16.  
But I will not repeat any more; you see now that a dead Christian is as good as no Christian at all; I showed you the reasons of this point: but I will let them pass. I come now to the uses.  
And first this is for the reproof of the deadness that 
Use 1.  is now among us; the Lord may say to us, as he did unto Sardis, I know thy works, thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead; for notwithstanding the great means of life, that the Lord hath placed among us, O how does deadness of heart reign; we are like them the Prophets speaks of, that drew nigh to God with their mouth, and honoured him with their lips, but their heart was far from him; Matth. 15. 8. they had no heart to his holy worship. So it is with most of us; we draw nigh to God with our outward man, but our heart is far from him; no heart to prayer, no heart to the word; we hear it peradventure, but no heart to it at all; how ordinarily do we come to God's house, but heartlesnes hath dominion over the most of us; the doctrine of the Gospel does not quicken up our hearts, we deal with it as Phinehas his wife did with her Son, when the women about her told her she had a Son, the text says she did not regard it. So what little regard have we of the Gospel of God I stretched out my hands and no man would regard, Prov. 1. tell us of our damned estate by nature, how cursed we are from the womb, what infinite need we have to be sensible of it, we know it, but how dead is our knowledge of it? it does not stir up our hearts to consider of it; neither does it prick us so much as the pricking of a pin; tell us of the the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, his precious blood, his passion and merits, whose heart is enlivened and quickened up by them? nay, our souls are hardly moved at all at the hearing of them. Tell us of the Kingdom of heaven, the marriage Supper of the lamb, his Oxen, and his fatlings; O they are all ready, come Sirs, come to the marriage; we are even as they in the parable, they made light of it, Matth. 22. 5. these things are made as if they were of no moment, as if they were light matters, they find poor entertainment at our hands; what little irk someness do we feel in sin, what little dejectedness of heart, what little remorse of conscience nay, few know by experience, what humiliation means; we can confess in our prayers, how vile we are, and how unworthy and how wretched and sinful but as though these were words of course, our hearts are so dead, that there is little or no relenting at it; we can say we are undone if God do not hear us, our prayers are all nothing except they be with faith and life, and yet who strives to awaken and rouse up himself? we can say, O how are we beholding to God, for life, for health, for his daily good providence, for his patience, his bounty? and we can say it is not the bare naming of his Blessings before him that is counted thanksgiving without being affected with his infinite goodness; and yet who does unseignedly labour to be affected with them from day to day? no body of us dares deny but that we should set the Lord always before us, tthat he may be at our right hand, and yet who hath the heart to provoke this hereunto? The devil may be of their right hand & not God for all the pains that they take to have him there. So that dead-heartednes is a common evil, now a days; as Christ says of the last times. Because iniquity shall abound, The love of many shall wax Cold, Matth, 24. 12. so it is now; because iniquity abounds the most are profane, and dissolute, and licentious and loose, therefore many that profession love to Jesus Christ, their love does grow cold; and dead no life heardly at all, no sign that they are alive from the dead; if they do believe after a manner, there's all, they do not live in Jesus Christ; if they have any hope of mercy or heaven, that's all they have, it is not a lively hope, that may quicken them up in Gods holy ways, if they do see their sins, there's the utmost, it is a dead sight, that does not excite them up unto strictness and preciseness of living, if they do follow good and godly duties, alas there be few that do so, but if they do go so far it is clean without heart and life; as though any thing would serve Gods turn well enough; what a horrible thing is't when a dead Christian is as good as no Christian all. No matter how many Christians we have, alas none of us are true, but such as are alive from the dead.  
Secondly, is it so that a dead Christian is even as good 
2.  as no Christian at all; then learn hence my Brethren, what a dangerous thing it is to be a dead hearted Christian.  
First, all that we do with a dead heart, 'tis as good as 
1.  nothing; as Paul says of love; had we all faith, and all knowledge; yet if we have not love▪ we are nothing, 1 Cor. 13. 2. Whatsoever we do, if we do not do it out of love, all's nothing; so I may say of life, whatsoever good duty we do, if we do not do it with life; it is but a dead work; and therefore it is no more than nothing; when the prophet David would do good duties, so as to do them to good purpose indeed, you shall see how he labours against a dead heart, Quicken me after thy loving kindness, so shall I keep the Testimony of thy mouth, Psal. 119. 88 so we may say too, Lord quicken me after thy loving kindness, so shall I preach, so shall I hear, so shall I do thy holy will, so shall I go up and down doing good; now as long as a man does it with a dead heart, it is even all one as if a man had not done it at all; a dead man is no man, as the Apostle says; God quickens the dead, and calls things that are not; mark, dead things are no things; so dead works are no works, as Solomon says. There is no work, and no devise, and no wisdom, and no purpose in the grave whether thou goest; that is, when men are dead, than they can do nothing, so it is here; as long as we are dead, we can do nothing. True, because we have the life of sense and of nature, and of a natural conscience in us; we may counterfeit good works as a painter may make a man. True he cannot make a living man; so as long as we are dead-hearted, we do but paint out good duties before God; all our Prayers are but painted prayers, all the good works we do, are but paint; there's none of them to the life; as God says of the Jews; you will say they did very many good works; they fasted and prayed, and sacrificed, and many other things they did. But what says God? they are vanity, their works are nothing, Isa. 41. 29. as a dead Corpse; there be eyes, and nostrils and ears and mouth; But when the life is out, they are as good as nothing; so it is with a dead heart; we may think we preach much, and study much, and hear much, and profess much, and do much; the truth is, we do nothing.  
Secondly, all that we do with a dead heart, it does 
2  not please God; God says, my Son give me thy heart, Prov. 23. 26. ye know the heart, that is primum vivens thats the first living thing in us; now if we give God never so many performances, yet if all our heart be not with them, what cares he for them all, when they are a company of heartless things? when the Apostle had said, that to be fleshly minded is death, by and by he concludes; so than says he, they that are in the flesh, cannot please God. Rom. 8. 8. would that please any of us, that one should come and rake up a dead stinking carcase, and lay it before us? no more can it please God, to lay a dead duty before his heavenly Majesty; ye know a dead carrion it is loathsome, as long as life remains in it, that's a sweet thing, and it preserves it from stinking; and therefore the heathens called the soul the salt of every living thing; because the life is a preserving thing it preserves a thing sweet; but when the life is gone out, presently it becomes odious; so is all that we do, when we do it with a dead heart, it is odious with God, it cannot be accepted of him; as the Apostle Peter speaks; Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house a holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual Sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, 1 Pet. 2. 5. that is; the Apostle had compared true Christians unto stones, now he correcteth himself, did I call true Christians stones? I pray do not mistake me, I do not mean for deadness, but for firmness; a stone is a dead liveless thing. O says he, ye must be stones I, but ye must take heed of deadness, ye must be lively, otherwise ye cannot offer acceptable sacrifices unto God; this is even as if a Jew should have taken a dead sheep out of a dich, and laid it on God's Altar. This is abomination to God; even so are dead doings to Almighty God; as Vinagar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes. so is a sluggard to him that sends him, Prov. 10. 26. that is, when a Master sends a servant on his errand, if he go dully about it, even as if he had no life nor heart in him at all, to do his Master's business; this will not please him, nay, it will offend him, as smoke does the eyes; or as Vinegar does the teeth. it will make him look with a sour look upon such a servant, so beloved when God bids us serve him, in all our ways may be we are not so gross, as not to go about it at all. But we go about it with a dull and a dead heart, this does not please God one whit, nay, he takes it ill that we should think he will accept it at our hands; as when the Jews had no heart to God's holy and pure worship, it was too chargeable to them, it put them to too much charges; what a whole sheep, and a whole lamb every morning, besides many whole ones at other times, whole Bullocks, whole Oxen, and whole Goats, this was even as death to them, they went up to God's Temple with a dead heart, nay, they thought much to give him of the best, they gave him the torn & the maimed, now mark what he says; should I accept this at your hand, saith the Lord, Malac. 1. 13. He took it ill, they should think he would accept it, so when we think much to be so precise and so strict, to pray so much, to hear so much, to mind him so much, and to deny ourselves so much, to watch so much over our hearts, to humble ourselves so much, what? may we not keep one lust? may we have no more liberty than so? may be we do some thing this way, but God knows how with a dead heart it is, the Lord takes it ill, that we should hope he will accept this at our hands.  
Thirdly, all that we do with a dead heart, it cannot 
3.  yield us any comfort true if we were quickened up towards God, if we served God with all our heart and soul and life, this would comfort us indeed; to seek him daily in a lively manner, to go into his presence with all our mind; if we went eagerly a days to the throne of grace, if we were earnest in prayer, earnest against sin, earnest for all goodness, this were a sign of his favour, and a Testimony of the true grace of life this would comfort our hearts exceedingly; this would breed peace in our conscience as the Apostle speaks. To be spiritually minded is life and Peace, Rom. 8. 6. there's life, and therefore there is peace. The reason is thus; because lively works alone can truly pacify conscience; when a man hath been a professor all his days, and done never so many things; yet if the conscience can say, yea, but all these are dead works, all this while I have gone on with a dead-heart, this fowls the conscience; it can never have true peace. How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God, Heb. 9 14. it shall purge the conscience from dead works; dead works foul the conscience; whether they be dead for matter or manner; sin is a dead work for matter, and good duties heartlessely done are dead works for manner; now both fowl the conscience; the conscience remains under guilt; continues without peace; it is an ill conscience; why? because the conscience knows it hath the living God to serve that will not like of such works; when a man pays in his rents only by halves, or by dribblets or with light money, the King's receiver will not give him an acquittance; my brethren, conscience is God's receiver, no wonder it does not give you an acquittance, when ye pay in only wash duties, clipped obedience; if ye served God with life, conscience would give you an acquittance; when ye have prayed, it would give you an acquittance; when ye have done a day's work in his harvest, it would acknowledge the receipt of it, well done good and faithful servant; it is well done in some measure. This made Paul full of life every day. Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offence towards God, and towards men, Act. 24. 16. that is, I do not only go on in good duties both towards God and towards men, but this I do always, I do even exercise myself, that I may have an acquittance from mine own conscience when I have done; that my conscience may give me a true discharge; well done, I have done well in some measure; now as long as we are dead-hearted and hollow in God's ways, our conscience can never give us a discharge, no marvel, that so few of us have Peace of conscience, when we are so dead-hearted as we are; if we would stir up ourselves to serve God with all heart and life, we should have Peace; but till this will be once, we can never look to have Peace and comfort.  
Fourthly, Though we have comfort in time of prosperity, 
4  yet we cannot have comfort in affliction, if we be of a dead heart; how many are there that seem to have comfort while they are well, but when they come to be sick, and at death's door, than they are all to pieces? then they see they have no grace, no faith, no good cards to show; then they are stripped stark naked, than their conscience sees what they are; O, I am a wretch; how have I deceived myself; so beloved, though we have comfort in time of prosperity, yet if we be dead-hearted, we can have no comfort in affliction. As David says, this is my comfort in affliction, thy word hath quickened me, Psal. 119. 50. when the word of God hath quickened our hearts, and made us lively in all manner of goodness, this will yield us comfort in affliction. But if we be dead to all spiritual ways, though we scramble up hopes now, they will not hold when affliction comes; now what a fearful thing is't we shall all come to affliction ere long; for man is borne to trouble as the sparks that fly upward, as Job speaks; nay we know not how soon; man knoweth not his time as Solomon speaks; but as the Fishes are caught in an evil Net, so are the Sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly on them. And God only knows what sore afflictions we may have; the Cup of affliction is in God's hand, and he tempers it and powers it out as his pleasure is. I say what a fearful thing is it not to have comfort then; then we have most need of comfort, and if we have not comfort then, we are utterly undone; now my brethren it is not a dead dull profession will yield us comfort then? Let us think of this; as God says, What will ye do in your day of visitation? to Whom will ye fly for help then? Isa. 10. 3. so may I say, though ye can be quiet and comfortable enough now, in the days of health and peace, your deadness does not trouble you now; but what will ye do in the days of visitation? do but consider what a sorry comfort ye shall have then; assuredly a dead heart will assord not a syllable of true comfort then.  
Fifthly, we can never bless God with a dead heart; a 
3.  dead heart is not able to affirm upon any good ground that God is his, or that the promise is his; or that Christ is his; the soul knows Christ is a quickening spirit, and they that have him, are quickened up by him, the promise is a promise of life, and they cannot be dead that are the possessors of it, we cannot bless God either for love or mercy or grace, or any thing else, when we would bless God for any of these things, the deadness of heart, it will be objected to us, O I am so dead, that how can I hope that these things belong unto me? Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee, Psal. 119. 175. when the soul is alive towards God, than it can praise God; than it knows all the good it hath, it hath it in mercy; doubting and deadness do ever go together, or it's a great marvel. And indeed what is deadness of heart towards Christ, and all his holy Gospel, but a secret doubting whether it have any part in it or no; as when a poor man sees a rich treasure, it does but dead him the more, because he sees no interest he hath in it; if he could see he had an interest in it, this would quicken up his heart, and put it out of its dumps. And is not this now a miserable condition when a man cannot praise God? if he pray, it is but in a sorry manner, no life, no heart at all. But for blessing and praising of God, that he cannot do at all, except he be in a fool's paradise; and dream of a false gift. This is a dreadful condition, when we are hindered from that which God most delighteth in; what is there that more delighteth God, then to bless him and praise him? The Lord says we never honour him otherwise, who so offereth me praise, he glorifieth me, Psal. 50. 23. now we can never offer God praise, except our heart live  
Sixthly, Religion is a very irksome thing unto us, as 
6  long as we are dead-hearted; what is it that takes away the grievousness of it, but a lively heart? when the heart is dead, it must needs be very tedious; very tedious to be thinking of God, to be meditating of death or the world to come; to be employed in prayer, to be constant in the humbling of the soul, or the abstaining from our natural inclinations, to be discoursing of repentance, or studying of God's heavenly Kingdom; to be employed in the word, or to go through dirty and frozen ways to it, to go and repeat it in our Families or to urge it upon our hearts, O what weary tedious duties are these, when the heart is a dead heart! This is the reason why the world lets them all generally alone, and never troubles their hearts with them at all, because they have no life in them; and many that are better minded, fend them very tedious, because they are dead-hearted; as Solomon says, correction is grievous to him that forsaketh the way, Prov. 15. 10. now as long as we are out of the way of life, while we are dead-hearted, we forsake the right way, and therefore correction is grievous unto us, nay, all the commandments of God are grievous unto us; does a dead heart rejoice to go to Prayer? nay, generally he is loath to go to it; is he glad that the Sermon Bell rings; is he glad at an opportunity to do good? nay, does he not shrink, and winch, and draw back? we see thus in the Jews, how irksome the Sabbath was to them, when they were held from buying and selling; O that the Sabbath were over, Am. 8. 5. it may be men do not find the Sabbath so tedious now, because they help themselves by talking of the world, by taking liberty that way; but if they were held to it, as they ought to be, would they not wish it to be over, The like we may see in the young man, what an irksome thing was it to him, to hear that he must fallen away all? the Text says, he was sad at that saying, Mark. 10. 22. now is not this too a very hideous thing to be dead-hearted, when it makes all the ways of God tedious? nothing should be more delightful unto us than they; they are perfect freedom; there is great reward in them, they are the best ways in the world; all his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace; and if we were quickened in our hearts, we would say so too; as the Apostle speaks; when he had said, that none of God's Commandments are grievous; 1 Joh. 5. 3. in the next words he gives a reason of it; O says he, He that is borne of God overcometh the world; that is, he that hath the life in him that cometh from above, he hath gotten above the world, he hath passed all the irksomeness of them. The irksomeness of any commandment, does not lie in the commandment, that is sweet and pleasant, but it lies in the deadness of the heart; a dead heart will ever count them grievous.  
Seventhly, as religion is an irksome thing to a dead 
7  heart, so a dead heart, if it should take it up, it will in the end be weary of it; as we see in the example of Israel when they grew to be dead-hearted towards God, at last they were weary of his worship, they went and devised othergets worships, an easier kind of religion, they were weary of his. Thou hast been weary of me, O Israel, Isa. 43. 22. we see this in Judah too. Behold what a weariness is it? Mal. 1. 13. this is too plain and palpable; how are we grown weary of God, and of his pure service? we have had the Gospel so long, till we are even weary of it; weary of sanctity, weary of spiritual truth; whence are all innovations but because people are weary of the old way? many that have been very forward in preaching, and in hearing, and very zealous of good courses, they begin to abate, to side with the times, to remit of their former strictness; whence is all this? whence is it that we see so many apostates, that once loved good people, now do not; once were very zealous against disorders, now are not; once were against humane devises, now are not; now they can brook any thing well enough; they are weary of their first pitch, they were wound up too high, now they let themselves down again; all this is because men have no life in them; they are dead to what they did profess; you shall see many a man smitten at the word, and there he is knocked down, and sees what wretched courses he hath taken that will lead him to hell; well, he goes and reforms and grows very precise, and now there shall not be a Sermon but he'll hear it. There shall not be any good Christian duty, but he will take it up, he'll leave his old acquaintance, he'll join himself to good people, he'll have very good orders in his Family; all this is well; if't would hold; I but if this man do not go on to get the grace of life, in the end he'll be weary; a dead heart be it never so forward, it will end in weariness. It is merely for want of quickening, that any man grows weary of well-doing; as the Apostle says; Be not weary of well-doing, for in due time, ye shall reap, if ye faint not, Gal. 6. 9 take heed ye do not let quickening go; if ye let your quickening go, directly you'll grow weary; if ye suffer yourselves to faint, if ye do not get aquavitae, to cure your fainting sits; you'll be weary of well-doing; now beloved what a pitiful thing is this, that we should be weary of well-doing? if any of us have begun to do well, O how should we labour, that we may never grow weary; how ever things go, though persecution arise, what ever dealings we meet with at the hands of the wicked world, yet never to give in; what ever flesh and blood say, what ever discouragements we meet with, from without or from within, we should earnestly labour, that we may never be weary of welldoing; never weary of preaching to their conscience, never weary of attending on the word, or of preaching of our hearts, or of resisting of sin, or of redeeming our time, or of keeping our garments, never weary of washing our hands in innocency, and keeping of ourselves, that the wicked one touch us not; and therefore what a dangerous thing is it to be dead-hearted? for that's the high way, to be weary of well-doing at the last. This then is the second use, that we are to make of this point; to see what a dangerous thing it is to be a dead Christian.   
REVEL. 3. 1. And art Dead. 
I Come now to the fourth thing, and that is this; what it is to be aliving Christian. First, I will describe it by the efficient cause. Secondly, by the Instrumental cause. Thirdly, by the parts of it.  
For the first, the efficient cause that makes one a living 
1.  Christian, is God; as the Psalmist says, he is the fountain of life, Psal. 36. 9 He is the fountain of all life; it is he that makes one a living man. He giveth life and breath to all, Act. 17. 25. if he should take away our natural life, we die and turn again unto our earth; as long as he breatheth on us we live; as Elihu speaks, the breath of the Almighty gives me life, Job. 33. 4. yea all the world would be a dead Chaos, if he did not quicken it; there's a kind of life in every thing that hath being. But it would be a dead Mass, if he did not concur with it; what is money, and meat, and clothes, and friends, and life, and health itself? men think they are well to live when they have them all. True, if he bless them and quicken them unto us; but if he be wanting to them, they are dead things, and can do us no good; nay, the word of life itself, it is but a dead letter without him, all the ordinances of God, we see they Minister life to some, because God puts life into them, but if he do not put life into them, they are sapless and cadaverous things; so that God is the author, even of our natural life; as John says, in him is life, and his life is the life of men, Joh. 1. 4. in him we live, and move and have our being; and therefore it is a great sin not to be thankful to him for our natural life; David blesses God for his natural life very often; life is a very great blessing, a poor thing that hath life, a living dog, is better than a dead Lyon. A man will give skin for skin, and all that he hath for his life: I am sure many of us may be very glad of life, for if it were gone now, we should be in hell; and therefore we had need to make much of our natural life, yea, every hour of it, lest we die before we be converted, and brought home to God.  
But this is not the life that we do speak of; we speak of spiritual life, and God is the author of that more especially; when a man is alive towards God, he is the only cause of it. He spiritually moveth our hearts by the holy Ghost, and begets us again after a strange, and an inessable manner; by joining his spirit to our spirits, his mind to our minds, and his will to our wills, he revives all the powers of the soul with his presence; and therefore this life is called the life of God; which the world are strangers to and aliens from; being alienated from the life of God; Eph. 4. 18. so likewise it is called the life of jesus. 2 Cor. 4. 11. He only is the author of it. Thus ye see the efficient cause of it.  
Secondly, the Instrumental cause of this life, is true 
2.  faith; this is the ligament that couples this life and a man together; that now he is said to be a living man; ye know God is the only living God; they that are not united unto him, remain in the congregation of the dead; now faith unites a man unto him; faith is the having of him; He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life, 1 Joh 5. 12. when a man cleaves unto God, by a true and lively faith, this man hath life; as Moses says, That thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayst obey his voice, and that thou mayst cleave unto him, for he is thy life, Deut. 30. 20. Though a man hath not that strong faith that some have, whereby he hath a clear evidence of God's love and favour in Jesus Christ, though a man have not this faith, yet if he have a faith of adherence, and cleaving unto God, this man is a living Christian; this man is joined unto the true life; This is the true God, and even life, and therefore whosoever cleaves to him, hath life; if he will not away from him, he will still seek him, still pray unto him, still make him his refuge, though he have no feelings, that is not it; if a man will never give over seeking of God; He believes God is the fountain of all life and peace, and grace and comfort, and God's way, is the only way; he believes himself is a cursed wretch in himself, and that all hope is in Christ, now if this man have such a faith whereby he adheres, though with never so much weakness, this man is a live. This is the faith whereby a Christian lives; as Paul says, the life that I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. 2. 20. Thus ye see the Instrumental cause of it.  
Thirdly, now for the parts of it. The parts of it are 
3.  three.  
The first part is the life of Justification; ye know every 
1.  man by nature is a dead man; as a malefactor that hath committed an offence that is death by man's Law, we say he is a dead man; so we have all offended God from the womb which is death by God's Law; and therefore we are dead men; now when God hath justified a man freely by his grace, when God hath given him a pardon in Christ Jesus; now he is a live man; and therefore Justification as ye heard, is called justification of life, Rom. 5. 18. now beloved this life is not in the man that does live, but in Christ that he lives by; this life supposeth no life in this party; no, it looks upon him as a dead man in himself. But God counts him alive in Jesus Christ; as the Apostles says, Christ is our life; Col. 3. 4. q d this life is not in us, but in Christ; so that this life denominats' aman alive; as Christ denominated the demosel alive, that was yet dead. The damosel is not dead, says he Matth. 9 24. ye know the damosel was dead at that time, when Christ said so; and yet he said she was not dead, because he had life for her; she had life in him; now when he raised her up, than she had life in her too.  
And so I come to the second part of this life; and that 
2.  is the life of Sanctification, and this life is in him that doth live; for though he were dead before to all goodness and holiness, and alive unto sin, yet now he is made dead unto sin, and alive unto God; as the Apostle speaks, likewise also reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Rom. 6. 11. this life is called the life of grace, and new obedience, when a man is quickened up to all the ways of God; you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, Eph. 2. 1. and this is the quickening that I would fain open to you.  
The third part of this life, is the life of joy and comfort; 
3.  ye know when a man's eyes are opened to see his sins, and his damned estate, by reason of them, the Law comes and that kills him, his very heart dyeth in him; now when God propounds to him a Saviour, and causes him to believe in him, this revives his heart again; this yields him some joy and comfort so that true joy is a life too; we may see this in the Children of God, let their joys and comforts be all gone, this makes them all amort, this makes them very heavy and sad, as if they had no life at all in them; as the Church says; Wilt thou not revive us again? that thy people may rejoice in thee, Psal. 85. 6.  
Now my brethren, all this is only by way of preface; to come then to the question, what is it to be a quickened Christian? a Christian that hath not only a name to live, but is dead? dead towards God? dead to all good duties? no: But is quickened up to them. I answer, that as death is taken in a metaphorical sense, when we say such a one is dead to God, dead to the holy ordinances of God, we do not mean properly dead, as if he were naturally dead, and had no soul in his body; but we take it in metaphorical sense; so is life here to be taken too; namely for the activeness of a thing; when a thing is not active, we use to say it is dead; as Sarahs' womb is said to be dead; he considered not the deadness of Sarahs' womb, Rom. 4. 19 that is, her womb had no activity to conceive; now when a womb is active this way, than we say it is quick; so a coal that hath sire in it, is said to be a live coal: There flew one of the Seraphins, having a live coal in his hand, Isa. 6. 6. we call it alive coal, because it is active; it is able to burn; whereas if that fire were out, than it were not able to burn, and therefore then we call it a dead coal; so when a man is active towards God, Take him in prayer, there he can act now; take him in self denial, in reconciling of himself, in humbling of the heart, in mourning for sin, in hungering after righteousness, even as a man does after his appointed food, take him in any of the things of God, though he were like a dead coal afore, yet here he can act now; now he can move this way; when one is like a block in good duties, that man is dead; we call moving things living things; Every moving thing that liveth, Gen. 9 3. when a thing cannot stir, that we call dead; when a man is not stirring in heavenly things, he is stirring enough in earthly, but he cannot stir in heavenly things; that man is a dead Christian, though he profess never so much, yet if he be not stirring towards God from day to day, he is dead; I think it meet to stir you up, says Saint Peter, 2 Pet. 1. 13. that is, I think it meet to quicken you up. Now beloved, this being so, if ye would know what it is to be alive towards God, let us but find out a little, what is the life of a man.  
First, what is the life of a man's understanding; people 
1.  think that bare knowledge is, and approving of God's ways, and thinking of them now and then; they think this is the life of their understandings. But you shall see these are not it; therefore we will search out what is the life of the understanding.  
Secondly, what is the life of the will or of the heart; 
2.  people are apt to think that wish and woulding, and velleities, if they have some volitions towards God and all holy courses, they think their wills are alive; no; these are not it; therefore we will search too, wherein the life of the will does consist.  
Thirdly, what is the life of the conscience; people 
3.  generally do conceive that if their consciences do check them for their sins, and smite them for evil, and excuse them in other things that are good, than their conscience is alive; now we desire to inquire, what is the life of the conscience indeed.  
Fourthly, what is the life of the affections; I gave 
4.  you a touch of these when I showed you what it is to be dead; now let me speak of them more fully, to show you what it is to be alive.  
For the first, what is the life of the understanding; ye know there be many things in the understanding; knowing, approving, studying; determining; now the world thinks that when the understanding is so far wrought upon, as to know Christian religion, to approve it to study it to determine aright upon things; evil things to be evil, good things to be good; duties to be duties, sins to be sins: now they suppose their understandings are alive. But the truth is, none of all these are the life of your understandings. The understanding hath another life besides these. The understanding may have all these, and be dead.  
As first, for knowledge, I need not stand to prove that; the dead Heathens, the Apostle says they knew God; when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, Rome 1. 21. knowledge is not enough; as cur Saviour Christ speaks; is ye knew these things, blessed are ye if ye do them, Joh. 13. 17. nay, literal knowledge does not so much as give them understanding, true light, much less life; a great learned divine that is wicked, his understanding is still in darkness; nay, it may leave him more dead, than those that are groslely Ignorant; as the Prophet says of them that had knowledge; I will get me to the great men, for they have known the way of the Lord, but these have altogether broken the Yoke, Jer. 5. 5. they were more dead, their hearts were more averse from all goodness. Bare knowledge is a poor thing, and yet people are apt to glory in it, the Apostle makes a pish at it; we know we have all knowledge, 1 Cor. 8. 1. q. d. is that such a piece of matter? never tell me of your knowledge; I know ye all have knowledge; but that's a poor thing; nay, the greater is thy woe, if thou hast not a quickened mind; as Solomon says, he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow, Eccl. 1. 18. thou increasest thine own self condemning, the more thou hast, the greater knowledge in thy Bosom, thou knowest, the more thou seest to condemn thee; thy knowledge is like a sword in thy bowels, that daily galls thee, and wounds thee; and therefore little reason to think that knowledge is the life of the mind, it is not so much as the light of the mind; take heed says our Saviour, that the light that is in thee be not darkness, Luk. 11. 35. that is, thou mayst have a great deal of light, and yet be in darkness; nay, in worse darkness, then Ignorant blind people that have no light at all; if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness, Matth. 6. 23. such people are more senseless at the word, harder to be wrought on, they have the more distinctions to deceive their own souls, they think to well of themselves; they are too wise to be fools, that they may be wise, they are farther of from confession; if they had less knowledge, it may be there might be more hope to do them good. But having so much knowledge in a carnal mind, it is made a strong hold against grace; it is with such people as it was with Babylon; thy wisdom, and thy knowledge hath perverted thee, Isa. 47. 10. true knowledge is a good thing; but when a man is fleshed with it, that he takes himself to be some body, this mars all; but I will speak no more of this.  
Secondly, for approving of the truth; that cannot 
2  be the life of the mind neither; when a man approves goodness, and good people, this indeed is an excellent mercy of God to make a man approve goodness, and good men, O how are such bound to be thankful! few go so far. But alas if thou goest no farther, thy mind is not yet quickened up to God; as the Apostle shows, that a man dead in his sins still, may yet approve the best things. Thou knowest his will, and approvest the things that are most excellent, Rom. 2. 18. Herod approved john the Baptist, and his preaching. Achish King of Gath approved David and all his ways; nay, the devil approved Christ. I know thee who thou art, the Holy one of God; Mark. 1. 24. Suppose thou approvest all the ways of Christ, O what good ways they be, thou likest his promises, thou countest his Ordinances admirable good and lovely, O consider what the Apostle says, happy is the man that condemneth not himself in that he alloweth, Rom. 14. 22. so may I say to thee, dost thou allow of all strictness and pureness and precise people? O sayest thou the preciser the better! this is well; now thou art a happy man, if thou dost not condemn thyself in that which thou allowest; thou allowest of the strictest Servants of God, but if thou condemnest thy self now; and thy conscience can tell thee, I but I do not set myself to be as they are. I can lose myself; poor creature, thy allowing and approving will rise up in Judgement against thee; so that this is a poor thing too; approving of goodness may be in a persecutor; Saint Paul tells us that the Jews did allow of his Religion; and yet they would not leave persecuting of him, Act. 24. 15. nay, Christ's persecutors they allowed of all goodness, they professed so much at least; for a good work we stone thee not; therefore approbation cannot be the life of the mind neither.  
Thirdly, thinking of God and of the word, that is not 
3.  the life of the mind; and yet many men hang upon this too; that they think of God, and of his ways, and of their latter end. True some are so graceless, that they come not thus far; God is hardly in all their thoughts, Psal. 10. 4. But though a man do think of God, and of heaven, and of God's Laws, indeed it's a great mercy of God; thus far it might do a man a world of good, and it did David; this made him return into the way wheresoever he went. I thought upon my ways, and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies, Psal. 119. 59 yet if this be all, this is no argument of life. The wicked Jews, Christ confesses they thought upon God and upon the Scriptures, nay, more they thought to have eternal life in them; Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, Joh. 5. 39 This is so far from being an Act of life, as that if a man live in sin for all that, it aggravates a man's sins. The drunkard when he goes to the Alehouse, it may be he thinks of the word of God, that says a drunkard shall not inherit God's Kingdom, and yet he will go though; a liar when he lies, it may be he thinks at the same time, of the word of God, that says the devil is a liar, and liars shall lie in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.  
Fourthly, studying is no● the life of the mind; this is 
4  that which bewitches many Ministers; they study all the day of God and his Kingdom and of eternal life; they are all the day studying of Jesus Christ, and of faith and repentance, perhaps they think this is heavenly mindedness. O they love a life to study Divinity; as the Jews said, we delight to know thy ways, Isa. 58. 2. I grant studying is an intense act of the mind, but that it is a lively act of the mind, that I deny; that is not always so; nay, studying may be in the highest degree in a mind that is dead to what it studies, though never so eager to it, as it is scibile of divine things: for what is studying? studying is nothing else but the bolting out of the logic in the Scripture; now if a man rest there, he is never the nearer, if it do not recoil on his own mind, when he studies of grace, if he do not seek how to get it; when he studies the fall of Adam, and original sin, if he do not get it mortified in himself, all this is nothing; we see the poor simple Ignorant people ran after Jesus Christ; who were the great students of Divinity, were so far from doing so, that they sat and derided them for their labour, yea, and called them silly simplicians, as though it had been a giddy humour in them; therefore studying cannot be it neither.  
Well then it remains to show you what is the life of the mind that if the mind do give that unto God, it is alive towards God, I answer. All these are the dull acts of the mind, they may be in the mind concerning God and all his ways, yea, in a very high degree, and yet the mind dead towards the same. The Apostle tells the Jews in his second Epistle and the first Chapter, that they knew all these things before; I says he in the third Chapter and the first verse, I would stir up your minds, that is, I would quicken up your minds; as we use to say, when a man looks about him; when a man gives his mind to a thing, this is the stir of the mind, now the mind is quickened up.  
Now there be six stirring acts in the minds of men; now look which way they stand, it's most plain the mind is alive, whether to God, or to the things of the world.  
The first, is the application of the mind. 
1.   
The second, is the meditating of the mind. 
2.   
The third, is the considering of the mind 
3.   
The fourth, is the remembering of the mind. 
4   
The fifth, is the devising of the mind. 
5.   
The sixth, is the Judging of the mind. These are all 
6.  the stirring and lively acts of the mind, and the mind does not let out these acts any way, but that way, that a man is alive to, whether it be to the world or the creature.  
First, I say the application of the mind; the mind 
1.  hath this nature in it, though it know a thing never so much, or approve it, or think of it, or study it, yet except it do incorporate with the thing, it doth not come to apply it; if it incorporate with the mind, than it will apply it; as we see in a worldling, whatsoever good husbandry he knows, if he know any way of getting of gain, he applies it, and takes it to himself; why his mind is alive to the Profits of the world, he can relish savour in them; so when the mind begins to be applying of divine things, now it is alive unto God; as Eliphaz said to job. Hear it and know it for thy good; Job. 5. 27. that is, do not only know it, but be quickened up to apply it to thyself for thine own good; as the Prophet says; harken diligently, and eat ye that which is good, Isa. 55. 2. that is, I would have your minds not only to attend, but let them be quickened up to apply, and feed upon what ye know; let it be your food; a quickened mind is like the Disciples of Jesus Christ; when Christ said, one of you shall betray me; they were all very sorry, and they began every one of them to say, Lord is it I? Matth. 26. 21. they all did apply it, you see how his speech stirred their minds, they fell presently to apply; so when a man cannot hear any sin ripped up; but presently he cries out, Lord it is I: Is it I that am guilty of this sin? O if it be I, let me see it that I may leave it; if he hear of any threatening; he says Lord is it I? O teach me, that I may be humbled; when he hears of any grace; Lord is it I, that have this grace? O if it be not I, O let it be I; a quickened mind, is an applying mind; now if the mind be yet dead, it cares not for applying, though it know never so much, yet it lets the word still be a stranger unto it, it does not take it home to itself; like the hearers there in Hosea; as God says, I writ to them the great things of my Law, but they were counted as a strange thing, Hos. 8. 12. they would not take them home, now a quickened mind takes them home; this reproof is to me, this Commandment is to me; this reproof is to me; nay, when a reproof to ones thinking of all other should seem least to concern him; as when our Saviour Christ spoke against rich men; O how hardly shall a rich man enter into the Kingdom of God yet the Apostles took it to themselves; they were amazed says the Text, Matth. 19 25. one would have thought the doctrine should little concern them; alas, they were not so rich, but they applied it though, fearing lest that little that they had should draw their hearts away from God; this than is the first.  
Secondly, the meditating of the mind; this is another 
2  stirring act of the mind; a natural man may think of his eternal good now and then, but this is nothing, his mind is dead for all that. But when a man's mind runs on such things, now it is alive; look what your minds do run on, that your minds are alive to; Because it is most certain, that that is it which you respect most; as David says; I will meditate on thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways, Psal. 119. 15. A dead mind may light on good thoughts, but when a man meditates of them, when his mind runneth upon such themes; this man's mind is alive to them, he gives his mind to them; as Paul says to Timothy; meditate on these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear, 1 Tim. 4. 15. you may see this in ungodly men, they do not only think of the world, for so a godly man may do and must do, but their minds run on the world; they give their minds to it; it is the Apostles saying; they mind earthly things, Phil. 4. 19 it may be they know gracious things, I but they mind earthly; they cannot find in their heart to give their minds to God's word and will, so that would you prove yourselves and your minds to be alive towards God? labour that your minds may bend their meditations that way; let your minds run on him, and how ye may have his favour, and how ye may keep it, how ye take heed of offending of him; a man is yet dead, that does not give his mind to these things; whose mind does not run on them daily. And therefore beloved as ever ye do desire to have a proof of your life towards God, let your minds run on these things, give diligent, heed that they may not slip out of your minds; as the Apostle says, ye ought to give so much the more diligent heed to the things which ye have heard, least at any time ye let them slip. Heb. 2. 1. if they do slip away ye know not how, as the flesh will let them go, if ye do not take heed, call for them again as God. says Bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors, Isa. 46. 8.  
Thirdly, the considering of the mind; when the 
3.  mind looks cursorily on things, what is this but the remissness and looseness of the mind? now when the mind comes to consider seriously of them, now it quickens up itself▪ now it looks wishly and intentively on them indeed; alas all our knowledge of the truth, all our approving of good courses, all is nothing without consideration; our knowledge and approbation are dead things without this; even as good, as if we had no knowledge at all, for all the good it will do us, if we do not consider; as God says; Israel doth not know, my people do not consider, Isa. 1. 3. look what our minds do consider from day to day, that our minds are lively on; consideration is the eagerness of the mind, when the mind cares not for an object, it will not trouble itself to consider of, a less act will serve such a thing well enough; but look what the mind is inclined unto, there it will not go slightly and lightly to work, there 'twill take pains, nay, it counts it no pains to perpend and to weigh things as in a Balance; as it is said of Mary, look what she heard from Christ, she kept it and pondered it in her heart, Luk. 2. 19 she pondered it, and weighed it in a balance, O it was matter of great weight with her mind; where the mind is alive, there it will consider and ponder and weigh, nay, there is not a circumstance, but the mind will take it to consideration. Take a man that is alive to the things here below, how considerative is that man, in all matters of that nature: As for example now, for his gain; he takes every thing into consideration that may make for his gain; He will have his wits about him, when he buys or sells, when he sows or reaps; he considers with himself; that he will not sow too soon, or too late in the year, or a grain that the ground will not bear, he considers how long it was since it was fallow, how long it will bear, till it be laid fallow again; he considers when he may sell dearest, when he may buy cheapest; when is the best time to put off a commodity. This is the liveliness of his mind in these things. Take this man now for his soul, his mind is stark heavy, any loose thoughts shall serve turn for that, he does not consider here. But when a man is a live unto God, now his considerations run out this way, now he is considerative this way, for his soul, for his spiritual and eternal good. Beloved consideration is a lively act of the mind; as you may see there in Moses. Know therefore this day and consider it in thy heart; that the Lord he is God in heaven above▪ and upon the earth beneath, Deut. 4. 39 that is, do not only know it, but quicken up thy mind to consider it; this will do thee good indeed; this is a very perfect Act of the mind; as we see in David; when I consider the Heavens the work of thy hands, the Moon, and the Stars which thou hast ordained; then I say, Lord what is man? Psal. 83, 4. you see how stirring his mind was, when he considered the heavens and the earth, it wrought mightily on him; it made him the more humble. Others see the Heavens every day, and it does not move them one whit to Humiliation before God. But when the mind comes once to consider▪ then it shakes off its dulness and remissness, than it grows busy, such a man will not go to Prayer, but he considers what he goes about, what a great God he is to speak to, what a vile creature himself is that is to pray to him; he will consider how he may pray with faith and hope and feeling of his wants; how he may rise up from his knees not without profit. Now he will not go to the word, but he will consider what it is he repairs to, now all his mind is how he may get good, now he is busy in every duty; when he is tempted to do as others do, he considers what the issue will be, and this makes him forbear. Beloved, this is the life of our minds, when they consider things; when we consider our latter end; when we consider Gods promises; when we consider his threaten, when we take his commandments into our deep consideration, when we consider the danger of sin, we do not only know all these things but we consider them. Though we know near so much, yet except we consider what we know, our minds are lumpish and dead; consideration is the activity of the mind; and therefore if we would prove ourselves to be alive towards God, let us put on consideration a days.  
Fourthly, the remembering of the mind; when the 
4.  mind forgets itself every day, this is nothing but the deadness of the mind; for if it be alive to a thing, it will be sure to remember itself of that, if it oan; Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a Bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number, Jer. 2. 32. that is, my people are dead-minded to me; if they regarded me, they would remember themselves every day, to serve me; look what a man is alive to, the mind will be sure to remember us of that; we can have no journey to take, but our minds remember us of it; no business to do, to feed our cattle, to milk our kine every morning, and evening, to shear our sheep every Lammas, if we forget any thing in this kind, presently it's a 100 to one, but we remember ourselves; now when a man is alive to the best things▪ in some measure, he will remember himself of them every day; so David did, I remembered thy name O Lord, yea, in the night too, and so I kept thy Law, Psal. 119. 55. I remembered myself, and I would be sure to do what God bid me do; it may be his heart began to arise, but presently he remembered himself, and beat it down again; it may be some other lust began to be up, but by and by he remembered him, and checked his own soul; when the mind is alive towards God, the knowledge of the word does not lie dead in that man; but still he remembers it at every need; when the Sabbath is coming; then thinks he I remember what God bade me do. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; when the Sacrament comes, than he remembers himself, O thinks he, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup; now the mind thinks, I will labour to remember God continually; what ever I forget, I will not forget him; when I rise up, when I lie down, still I will set myself to remember him; when I go out, when I come home; what ever the Devil say, what ever the flesh whisper, I will labour still to remember God; if I be tempted to wrath; then I desire to remember what God says; give not place to the Devil; when I feel spiritual laziness, than I will unfeignedly endeavour to remember what God speaks unto me, cursed is he that does the work of the Lord negligently, etc.  
Fifthly, the inventing or the devisings of the heart; 
5.  where the mind is naturally bend and alive, there it is witty, if riches, if preferment, if pleasure, if learning be a man's lust that he lives, in there he is witty; so when a man is a live unto God, his wit will have that way its vent; as Christ says, I find out witty inventions Prov. 8. 12. he speaks not only of himself, But of his grace in every one, that is this; when the mind is alive & set towards Christ, it will find out witty inventions; nay, it's a strange thing though men have no parts, yet if they be worldly, how witty they are for such matters; and so for good people, whose minds are turned towards God, though they be of very weak parts, yet how witty they will be in good things; what pretty ways they will have to do good, to shun offences; to break occasions of sin; as a Minister in his preaching; as Paul says, I caught you with guile, 2 Cor. 12. 16. so let man have a liberal mind, the Prophet says he will devise liberal things, Isa. 32. 8. mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good; Prov. 14. 22. whence comes the blockishness of our minds; but from this, that our minds are so dead; if our minds were more alive towards God, it would make us more graciously witty, we should devise good things, find out admirable inventions, it would teach us plots against Satan, plots against the flesh, as the wicked, their minds are full of sinful devises, fetches, stratagems, policies, a man would wonder to see how witty the devil is in them, to carry them headlong to hell, etc.  
Sixthly, and lastly, the judging of the mind. But I 
6.  spoke of this not long ago; and therefore I will let it alone now; thus I have showed you, what a lively Christian is in regard of his mind.  
Now the next is, that we show you what a live Christian is in regard of the heart, etc.  
And then in regard of the conscience, etc. and then in regard of the affections, etc.   
REVEL. 3. 1. And art Dead. 
THe point we are in, is this; That a dead Christian is as good as no Christian at all. First, we have opened the meaning of this point; and showed you what is meant by a dead Christian. Secondly, we have showed you that this is so, by going over all the graces of God's spirit; a man hath near a one of them all that is dead; again by going over all the duties of Christian Religion; ye heard, a man does near a one of them all, as long as he does them only in a dead hearted manner. Thirdly, I showed you the reasons of this point, why a dead Christian is even as no Christian at all; there be many reasons of it, it stands with good reason that it should be so. Fourthly, we began to show you the uses of this point.  
First, how wide then are they that are profanely wicked 
Use 1.  if they that are Christians, and do the things contained in the Gospel are rejected, because they do them with a dead heart, where shall they appear that will not do them at all?  
Secondly, another use was to condemn these times 
Use 2.  of ours, wherein for the most part people are dead. There be not many that do live like Christians at all in outward appearance, and yet how many of that little number are even dead and without life? they draw near unto God with their outward man, but their hearts are far from him, Matth. 15. 8.  
Thirdly, another use was to show you the danger of 
Use 3.  being a dead Christian, I showed it in seven things. But I will not name them again.  
In the fourth place we are come to show you, what it 
Use 4.  is to be alive Christian; a Christian quickened up towards God; and here I showed you, First, who is the principal and prime cause of this life and quickening, and that is God, who quickeneth the dead; God the Father quickens whom he will; God the Son he quickens whom he will, and God the Holy Ghost, he is the spirit of life.  
Secondly, I showed you what is the Instrument of this life, and that is faith; this faith when it is a true and a lively faith, it makes a man adhere to the fountain of life. That thou mayst cleave unto him, for he is thy life, Deut. 30. 20. Faith is the having of God for our God, as the Apostle says, He that hath the Son hath life. Thirdly, I showed you the parts of this life; and the parts of it I showed you were three. The first is, the life of justification, Rom. 5. 18. The second is, the life of sanctification. Eph. 2. 5. The third is, the life of consolation or comfort, Psal. 85. 6.  
Now because the life of sanctification is here principally intended, when a man is quickened up towards God, and all his holy ways; therefore I descended down to the branches of this life, and quickening in all the powers of the soul. The last day we began to search about the understanding, what is the life and quickening of that towards God.  
And first, we showed you that bore knowing is not it; 
1.  a man may know God & all his ways contemplatively, & yet not be quickened up to them; as Israel said, my God we knowledge thee, Hos. 8. 2. and yet as it follows, they were not quickened up for all that; the Gentiles knew God, Rom. 1. 21. I but they did not glorify him as God; it was dead knowledge; nay, we showed you that bare knowledge is not so much as the light of the understanding, much less the life of it; as our Saviour Christ says, if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness, Matth. 6. 23. that is, a man may have that light, and yet be in darkness, and therefore much more in deadness.  
Secondly, I showed you that approving of God and his 
2  ways is not the quickening of the understanding neither. Saint Paul shows that a man may approve the best things and yet be dead, Rom. 2. 18. The Devil approved admirably of Jesus Christ, I know thee who thou art, even the holy one of God, Mark. 1. 24. suppose thou provest and allowest of all goodness; O says the Apostle, Happy is the man that condemneth not himself in that which he alloweth, Rom. 14. 22. so may I say, thou mayest allow of strictness, and of all the strictest orders of God, and yet have a dead mind, and condemn thyself. I but, I am not strict though.  
Thirdly, I showed you that thinking of God and of heavenly 
3  things; this is not the life of the mind neither; a man may think of them all now and then, and yet be dead to them all notwithstanding; nay, this may increase thy condemnation; therefore when a sinner sins, it may be he thinks of God's word at some time, God's word forbids this, and yet he does it, though this increases his condemnation.  
Fourthly, I showed you that studying of God, and of 
4  faith, and all the Doctrine of life; this is not the life of the mind neither; and this is that which deceives indeed; when a man's studying is practical; this is an argument of life; the heart of the righteous studieth to answer, Prov. 15. 28. Scholars because their minds are not of the world, may be all the day long, but from morning till night, their minds are about God, and all Divinity. And they think it may be they are heavenly minded; alas, no, their minds may be as dead towards God for all this, as the worldlings, that is musing on his pelf as long a time.  
Then I came to show you affirmatively what the life of the mind is; the life of the mind is, when it is stirred up towards God and all his gracious ways; as Peter says; I will stir up your pure minds, 2 Pet. 3. 1. that is, I would quicken up your minds; when the mind is stirring towards God, it was stirring towards other things before, but now it is stirring towards heaven, towards repentance and amendment of life, and Christ, and how to please God and the like, now it is quickened up towards him. I showed you there be six stirring acts of the mind.  
The first is, the applying of the mind; when the mind 
1.  does not only know a thing, but it applies it to one's self; this is a stirring Act of the mind; look where the mind of man is alive, if it be alive towards the world; if it▪ know any way unto profit, or preferment, or the having of what it likes, presently it will apply it; so when a man is alive towards God, now his mind hath a applying disposition, look what he knows about God, he applies it to himself, for his own edification, instruction, humiliation, direction and guide; as Eliphaz says; so this it is, hear it and know it for thy good, Job. 5. 27. that is, do not only know it, but be quickened up to apply it to thyself; hath thy mind an applying disposition, dost thou apply the word of God to thyself to make it thine own. Thou knowest what God is, I but hast thou a disposition in thy mind, to apply him to thyself? this is a quickened mind, a man will not let his knowledge lie swimming in his mind, but he turns it upon himself, and makes it his own.  
2. The meditating of the mind; the minding of the mind 
2  a natural man may think of God and his commandments as ye heard. I but dost thou mind them? if thou dost mind them from day to day, now thy mind is quickened indeed; carnal men think it may be of heavenly things, alas, that is nothing but frigus & socordia as Calvin speaks, I says as Saint Paul; but they mind earthly things; look what a man is alive unto, his mind runs on that, whether it be God or the creature; if thy mind be quickened up towards God, than thy mind runs on him from day to day; how thou mayest approve thyself unto him, how thou mayest partake of his favour, how thou mayest eschew the temptations of Satan, how thou mayest follow after Christ, be sensible of thy sins be affected towards holy duties, does thy mind run on such things? this is it.  
Thirdly, The considering of the mind; when the 
3.  mind looks cursorily on things, what's this but the looks and remissness of the mind, now when the mind comes to consider seriously of them, now it quickens up itself, as Moses says; Know and consider that God he is God, Deut. 4. 39 that is, do not only know, that's but a dead thing, but stir up thyself and consider wishly of it; hath the Lord turned about thy mind that now thou hast begun to have a considering frame in thy mind, to ponder thy ways; to weigh the Sermons that thou hearest, as it is said of Mary, she pondered Christ's words in her heart; now thou considerest how to pray, how to come to God's ordinances, how to carry thyself in thy calling; now thou dost not go haire-brainely on his before, but thou takest things into consideration.  
Fourthly, the remembering of the mind, when the mind 
4.  knows how to do well, but the man does it not, he forgets himself every day, what's this but the deadness of the mind; if the mind be alive to a thing, it will be sure to remember itself of that. Can a maid forget her Ornaments? but my people have forgotten me, Jer. 2. 32. therefore they are dead-hearted towards me; can a man forget to put on his clothes in the Morning? Can the worlding forget to plough his fields in time; to reap his Corn, when it's ripe; to milk his kine at night; nay, certainly he'll be sure to remember such things, why? his mind is alive to them; if he should chance to forget himself for a fit, by and by he remembers himself, so if the mind be alive towards God, it hath a remembering disposition towards him. O says David, I will not forget thy word, Psal. 119. 16.  
Fifthly the inventing and devising, and plotting and 
5  ploding, and contriving of the mind; if the mind be alive towards God, these Acts go towards God too, as the Prophet says, A liberal man will be devising liberal things, Isa. 32. 8. Let a man be of weak parts, that's all one, yet when it is alive to the world, it's a strange thing to see how witty some are for the world to gather pelf, they have great reaches in these things; so when a man is alive toward God, though he be of weak parts, yet how witty he will be for good things; what pretty devises to do good, to understand evil, to shun offences, to balk occasions of sin; as Paul says, I caught you with guile, 2 Cor. 12. 16. whence comes the blockishness of our minds towards the best things, but merely of deadness, if our minds were more alive, they would help us to preach, help us to pray, help us with matters for edifying, discourse, they would help us from a 1000 snares, they would be the more active, they would sooner smell a lust, spy Satan, observe the dealings of God.  
Sixthly, The judgement of the mind; when the minds lust dictate is for God; when a man is judicious, this is it that leads men a days, their judgements not all their knowledge nay, learning; you shall have many a learned man will use to play the fool, and does every day very foolishly, because his Judgement is foolish; the reason is a mannever takes any course, nor speaks any word, nor thinks any thought, but first his judgement tells him, it is best to do so at that time; never does the drunkard turn in at the Alehouse, but his judgement says to his will, choose to turn in; you will say, it may be he knows he ought not to do so, I but it is not men's knowledge that leads men, but men's judgements; when men's judgement says, this is not for me, this is most pleasant, this is most profitable, this is most honourable, this is most delightful; now when the judgement of the mind is in some measure set towards God, now the mind is quickened; as David says, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way, Psal. 119. 128. that is, by the mercy of God, I have good judgement, be the way what it will be, though never so pleasing to the flesh, still my judgement says choose God's way, that's ever more best.  
Thus far we proceeded the last day namely to learn or see what is the quickening of the mind; that ye may know whether our understanding be dead or alive; now what remains but this that we all labour for such an understanding; many of us understand much, so much that if it were quickened up to us, it would do us a world of good; if we did use to apply it and make it our own, if we would give our minds to it, if we would ponder it and seriously weigh it, and remember it for our use in all our ways, if we had a devising mind for good a mind plotting for heaven, and continuing how we may best glorify God, and secure our own souls. A judicious mind, a practical mind. This is a good understanding indeed; as the Prophet says, a good understanding have they that do thereafter, Psal. 111. 10. when what we understand does not lie dead in our heads, but our minds are quickened up to it, this is a good understanding my brethren, this understanding is not to be had in Books, God only can help us with it, as David says, O Lord give me understanding and I shall live, Psal. 119. 144 you will say what need he keep such a stir for understanding? had not he the Law before his eyes? could not he read there, and get understanding: O but it will be all dead, Lord unless thou give me understanding from above, if thou wilt give me understanding, than I shall live.  
Now I come to the heart, to search what the life of the heart is, every Act of the heart, is not an argument of life.  
First, there be outside Acts of the heart; people think 
1.  if they do not dissemble before men; then they are no Hypocrites. O they are hearty they say; as there is an outside of the outward man, so there is an outside of the heart. Thou mayest be hearty in some sort in good duties, and yet be stark dead; namely if it be only the outside of thy heart; my Son keep my saying in the midst of thy heart, Prov. 4. 21. not in the outside of thy heart, no, no. I would have the inside of thy heart too; a man that is alive to the world, the world hath not only the heart, but the very inside of the heart, the word is deep in the heart; so if thou be'st alive towards God, God is in the deep of thy heart, the word is deep in thy heart, nor like the salt water in the Sea only, on the Top. Ye know what became of the Seed, that wanted depth of the earth, Matth. 13. 5. so it is with the heart, when the word does not get into the depth of it, it never quickens in it. The heart may be so far towards goodness, as to bring a man to good duties a days, it may bring one to Sermon or to Prayer, to others of the Ordinances of God, and other good courses, but what's all this, as long as it is dead; the life lies in the bottom of the heart, look what the bottom of the heart stands unto, that's a man alive unto, than thou art alive towards God, when the bottom of thy heart is unto him; when thou labourest to obey him from the bottom of thy heart, when thou callest upon him from the bottom of thy heart, like Sugar at the bottom of the Cup, stir up the bottom, the best is at bottom, so thou must stir up the bottom of thy heart, the heart is a deep thing, Psal. 64. 6. though religion be on the top, yet if the world be in the deep, thy heart is dead towards God; as it is with a puddle, it may be clear at the top, fair water at the top, but there's nothing but mud at the bottom.  
Secondly, there be flitting Acts of the heart, be they 
2  never so deep in the heart, yet if they do not stay there, the heart is dead still. Solomon says of his Father; he said unto me, let thy heart retain my words, keep my Commandments and live, Prov. 4. 4. though the word does stir near so much for the present, this is not life, except thou retain it, and hold it fast, a man may have many flashes of life in him, but as long as the heart does not keep them, it remains dead, they that seek the Lord, the heart shall live, Psal. 22. 26. that is, when it is not a flash, but it is an Act that abides by a man, the heart is steadfastly set towards God, now his heart lives; now when people are moved only by fits, they are humbled by fits, and startled by fits, their righteousness is like a morning dew, ye know there the dew is every morning, but all the day it is gone, may be when morning comes, there it is again, but all the day it is gone. It is true there may be horrible offs and on's in the Children of God, to the confounding of their faces before God. But I do not speak to discourage them. But let us take heed we may have admirable flashes of life, fits of humblings, fits of enlargements, fits of self-denial, sits of great eagerness after God, the heart may be towards God for a sit, a false heart; as the Land of Israel; their heart was firmly towards him for a sit, they remembered that God was their rock and that the high God was their redeemer, but their heart was not right with him, they were not steadfast in his Covenant, Psal. 78. 37. mark. it was but a fit; like Esays crying for a fit. This is a poor argument of life then; no, no; the flitting acts of the heart, may be no acts of life.  
Thirdly, there be wouldings and wish in the heart; 
3.  and these cozen the world more than any other; these they think verily are effects of true life.  
First, because these are not in the outside of the heart, 
1.  but lie, or at least seem to lie very deep in the heart; it is very certain, that many natural men would give the whole world if they had it, as they do verily conceive, that they had true grace, that they were Saints, that they could leave their sins, that they were in a child of God's case, they deeply wish it, it is a profound would in their hearts; and therefore now when they see such yearnings in their hearts, they do verily apprehend, this is life certainly. Hence it is that they will say they would from the bottom of their hearts serve God, they have ne'er a lust but they would full feign have God deliver them from that; indeed they confess in their consciences, if they might have a 1000 worlds, they cannot give it over, I but they would feign they could, and thus they deceive themselves; because this act seems to be from the depth of their heart; this fancy you may see to be in men's hearts out of Mich. 6. 6. 7. where ye see, though they could not find in their hearts to walk humbly before God, to live justly and righteously, yet they would give thousands they could. O say they what would not we give for the sin of our souls? no question but they thought they were alive, but God told them they were not.  
Secondly, another reason why they think this is a token of life is, because this is no flitting act neither; But they have these wouldings every day; nay, you can never come to them, but still they have these, they would do well; nay, they would do as well as the best; thus they hope they have a fountain of living water in them that springeth up daily; thus it was with them in the Prophets, they seek me daily says God, Isa. 58. 2. they thought it was their every days work to serve God, and where they did fail, they thought they could say, they would do better, they sought the Lord daily.  
Thirdly, because they find that this is attributed to the 
3  Saints; as the Apostle says, ye cannot do the things that ye would, Gal. 5. 17. nay, the Apostle Paul himself, speaks it of himself, the good that I would do, that do I not, and the evil which I would not do, that do I, Rom. 7. 19 So that thus they argue now, when they find this same woulding in their hearts, and cannot do as they would, O say they, I may say with the Apostle, the good which I would do that do I not; I cannot do as I would. Thus they hoodwink their own souls. It is very true these be the Saints groans, and a part of their sighing towards God, that they cannot do as they would, this makes them a burden to themselves; and so again when they find themselves disturbed and limited and straightened by their flesh, this is a comfort to their souls, and an argument of God's infinite goodness unto them, that they can unfeignedly say, they would do better; they do please him in some measure through his grace, and they would please him better; they do some good by his heavenly spirit, and they would do more; they do resist every sin, and they would resist it more. This is very true. But yet how many a thousands lul themselves asleep in security, by the fancy of this thing. The heart may put forth daily wouldings, and be as dead as a carcase to all the works of grace; as our Saviour Christ says, Strive to enter in at the strait Gate, for many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able, Luke 13. 24. q. d. O stir up yourselves, quicken up your hearts, do not only seek to enter in; many seek to enter in, O they would enter in, and they would feign enter in, alas, alas, they are dead, they cannot therefore quicken up your hearts, and do ye more than so; I acknowledge that woulding is an argument of life in the heart.  
First, when a man does believe God in some measure, 
1.  and then would believe more, does oppose every known sin, and would oppose it more; does follow all manner of goodness, and would follow it more, when a man's would is above the simple will, as when a man will reach as high as he can, and then strains himself to reach higher, he takes all the Stools and Ladders that he can, and stands on tiptoes and would reach higher; this is an act of the will with some life; and therefore the Apostle when he says that Christians would more than they do, Gal. 5. 17. in the verse going before, he tells them they must walk in the spirit though. q. d. if ye should say, ye walk in the spirit and do not, ye deceive your own selves; so that the woulding itself, is not a living act.  
Secondly, a woulding is an act of a living heart, when 
2  it is a laborous woulding; so that there is another thing in the will, that is the living act and not woulding; namely, when the heart labours, and therefore the woulding is not it; I labour says the Apostle, yea, I laboured more abundantly than they all, 1 Cor. 15. 10. mark though he said in another place that he would; the good which I would do; yet that was not all, that had been a dead act, if that had been all; therefore he laboured together with it. Well then; let us come to show you, what the life of the will is. In a word, the life of the heart is, when the heart will do a thing, it may be it is hindered a thousand times, but in some measure it will do it, cost it never so much, though flesh and blood, and world, and devil, and all be against it, yet it will do it; now the heart is alive it will believe, it will repent, it will strive against sin, it will set God before its eyes, it will love him above all, fear him above all, regard him above all. I say though it meet with never so many hindrances without and within, pull-backes, rebellions, yet it will do it, now it's alive; when the spirit indeed is willing, Matth. 26. 41. as Paul says, To will is present with me, Rom. 7. 18. when a man can say it from the bottom of his heart, that a will is present with him. I will be ruled by God, I will deny myself; though the flesh be never so violent, and it may be many times, and often bears down all before it, yet there is a will present, that will stand it out, and that can never be borne down, the act may be borne down, now affections may be borne down. I but this still is present, I will be for God, he is my best, his will is my rule, his Law is my line, and I will be at his dispose; when it is thus in general, through all the ways of God, this is a living heart; when to will is present with it, as the author to the Hebrews says, his will was to live honestly, Heb. 13. 18. As soon as ever the prodigal Son was come to this pass, that he could unfeignedly speak, I will arise, I will go to my Father, Luk. 15. 18. you see his father presently says he was alive; this my Son was dead, but he is alive again; you will say, what if one had bound him hand and foot? that is all one; he will go, he will wrestle, he will bite the cord a sunder, if he cannot do that, O how he will cry out. O how they bind me here. I will arise; he will strive, he will not be quiet, he must go, and he will go; his will is absolutely to go, stopped or not stopped, his will is simply to go, if he can but get away, and leave an arm behind, nay, a foot behind, nay both; he will crawl, but he will to his Father; so when a man will leave his sinful courses, and he will have God for his God, he will have Christ, and there he will hang; come death, come fears, come temptations, there he will hang. This is that which God accepts, when the hearts will is to God, if there be first a willing mind it is accepted, 2 Cor. 8. 12.  
Now that this is the life of the heart I prove it thus.  
First, because this is the prefectest operation of the heart, 
1  when it absolutely willeth a thing. There be many operations of the heart, but none of them is perfect but this as David said to his Son; my Son know thou the God of thy Father; and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a wiling mind, 1 Chron. 28. 9 q. d. this is a perfect heart; when thy will is to serve him; how ever things go, thou wilt serve him; then thy heart is absolutely set towards God, this is the whole heart; I eryed with my whole heart, hear me O Lord, I will keep thy Statutes, Psal. 119. 145. what's all the deadness of men, but because either they have no heart to God's ways or but half hearts, as it is said of Ephraim, their heart is divided, and God hath but a piece; but when a man hath an absolute will hereunto, now he is alive, now his heart is perfect towards the Lord his God; as it is in sin, when a man does nos only go on in sin, but he will do it, his will is absolute that way, this man hath a perfect heart towards Satan, so it is here.  
Secondly, because this is the might and strength of the 
2  heart; while a man's heart puts forth inferior acts towards God, he is dead to every good word and work. If he have any heart at all, it is but so so, as God said of judah, how weak is they heart? Ezek. 16. 30. such a man the devil can easily take him off at any time for a need; such a one can never stand it out to the end. But he is off and on, because the might of his heart is not towards God; now when the will is absolutely towards God, this man must needs be alive; for the might of his heart is towards God; as the Lord himself says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, Deut. 6. 5.  
Thirdly, because this makes every thing possible; naturally 
3  a man cannot believe, he cannot resist his own flesh, he cannot overcome the world, he cannot live godly in all his ways, he cannot forgo his beloved lusts. But now when the heart comes once to be willing towards God, now every thing is possible. I may say of him, as Christ saith of faith. All things are possible to him that believes, Mark. 9 23. so all things are possible to him that willeth; as we use to say, there is nothing hard to a willing mind. And therefore godly men in Christ Jesus the Apostle calls them, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. 2 Tim. 3. 12.  
Fourthly, because this takes in the manner of good duties 
4  too. as well as the matter; it is more a thousand times, than the bare doing of them; a dead heart will serve to do them. Put when the heart is made willing, this is more than the bare naked deed; as Paul says to the Corinthians about Alms, ye have begun not only to do, but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to be willing a year ago, 2 Cor. 8. 10. as he says of his preaching; if I do it willingly I have a reward; but if against my will, etc. 1 Cor. 9 17. that is q. d. I may preach indeed, I may have so much heart to it, as to do the deed alas that is nothing; because if I do it willingly this is it; this is it brethren, this is the right manner too.  
Fifthly, this is an argument that the heart hath an inward 
5.  principle; what is the life of the heart but an inward principle of acting? look where the heart is alive, there it works from within; there needs no compulsion to a covetous heart, to have regard of his profit; no; he regards it most willingly; he hath an inward principle to regard it; and therefore he is alive to it; now when the heart puts forth its will towards God, now it hath an inward principle of agency; it needs no constraint, as Peter says to Ministers; feed the flock of God, not by constraint but willingly, 1 Pet. 5. 2. that is, do it very lively; do it with an inward principle▪ not because ye see others feed, not because ye see the disgrace, what will people think, if I should not preach constantly; not because ye dare not do otherwise, conscience will fly in your face; alas, ye may do it, that's with a dead heart. But do it willingly; where note this is the heart's life, this is an inward principle of the heart; now the heart will do it, though no body else do it, though he be hated for his labour, though he have no thank for his pains among men. Thus ye see this is the life of the heart.  
Now for your better understanding, we will open this more particularly this willingness of the heart you see in the life of the heart, and it containeth seven things. First, the inclinations of the heart. Secondly, the intentions of the heart. Thirdly, the Elections of the heart. Fourthly, the aversations of the heart. Fifthly, the appropiating of the heart. Sixthly, the savouring of the heart. Seventhly, the caring of the heart. Beloved, these are the living acts of the heart, if these be converted to God in you, now your hearts are alive towards him. These make up the whole willingness of the heart.  
First then, the inclinations of the heart; it may do a 
1.  thousand thousand good things; with a dead heart. But mark if your hearts be inclined towards God; than ye serve God with a live heart, if the Lord hath inclined your heart to him; I have inclined my heart to perform thy Statutes always, even to the end Psal. 119. 112. Hath God made you do thus, hath he inclined your heart to his name? once ye were without heart, but now he hath inclined your heart to do good, now ye find sweet inclinations to every good duty, ye do not go to them as a Bear to the Stake, but now ye have an inward disposition to them, he hath given you a feeling of your sins and your wants, and that caries you to Prayer; a feeling of your Ignorance, and forget fullness; and that carries you to Sermons, that ye may learn more of God, that ye may see more into your own unworthiness, that ye may be stirred up in all his ways; ye do not only shun your own iniquities, in some measure, but your heart is inclined unto it, inclined to think of God, inclined to holy talk, inclined towards them that are Godly-minded; ye had no disposition to the works of God, heretofore, but now the Lord hath not only put you upon them, but inclined your heart towards them; ye ●●ele inward impressions, that bows you; others may be have good talk, but you feel an unfeigned desire to be edified, and that bows you unto it. Others may be do good things, but the Lord hath bend your heart to them; when you went to good duties heretofore, ye went against the hare, as a Stone does upwards; but now in some measure, the Lord hath put in a new nature, and ye feel an internal mover. This is life now.  
Secondly, the intentions of the heart; we have a saying 
2  in Divinity voluntas sua natura vult finem; the heart naturally wils the end; now if God were our end, if communion with him, and sanctifying of God in our hearts and lives, were our end, our heart could not be dead towards his ways, nay, we should be very eager after them all; all our deadness comes from this, that God is only a matter by the by, with us: But if he were our end, than we would be mainly for him, and how to approve ourselves to him. Would we talk as we do, if edification were our end? would we keep such company as we do, if mutual help towards eternal life were our end? Look what the heart does intend from day to day, the heart is very earnest after it; therefore those that intent to rise if they can in the world, they are very earnest in the pursuit after the same, flatter fawn, please, humour, they will do any thing to the attaining of it; if it be to rid a 100 miles, it's nothing with them; if it cost them never so much, O how greedy are they! if a man intent to gather an estate if he can, or to live in pleasure if he can, all the world are eager in their intentions; the heart runs naturally on after its ends. Now when the heart is alive towards God, these intentions are towards him, now the heart standeth thus, so I may obey God, so I may take heed of dishonouring God, so I may keep my heart close to him, this is that I do desire; now I go to work, so I may keep the world from carrying away my heart, I shall be glad; now I am going to Prayer, so I may draw down a blessing, and get some farther help to walk before God, this is the thing I aim at; now I go to be in such a company, so I may discharge a good conscience, carry myself well, and not bring dishonour to God, and the like; you may see this in Paul, what was the matter, he was so eager to deny himself, I count all dross and dung? the intentions of his heart, were after Christ; O says he, that I might know him, Phil. 3. 10.  
Thirdly, the elections and choosing of the heart; this 
3.  is another part of the heart's life; no man is dead to that which he chooses rather than any thing else; now if we did still choose the ways of God, we could not be dead to them; when we are dead to them at any time, it is because we could even find in our heart, to make another choice; and therefore if we would know whether our heart is alive unto goodness, whether do we choose the way of goodness every day before any other way? as David says, I have chosen the way of truth, Psal. 119. 30. as the Lord says of the good eunuchs; they choose the things that please me, Isa. 56. 4. Beloved what ever we do or think, or speak, still there be two ways propounded to us one that is God's way, another that is our own way, now which do we choose every day; what thoughts do we choose rather of the two to think, what words do we choose, what actions, what courses, when we are together, what conference do we choose, when alone, what do we choose, there be two kinds of eating, and drinking; which choose we? when we are provoked, there be two ways to take, either to be impatient, and suffer our passions to arise, or to quell them, and beat them down, which do we choose; do we say as that good man said; Lord let thy han help me, for I have choosen thy precepts, Psal. 119. 173.  
Fourthly, the aversions of the heart, ye know the 
4  heart it chooses what it likes, so there is some thing that it shuns; now if thou wouldst know whether thy heart be alive towards God, do but think with thyself, what it uses to shun when thou art angry, is it disgrace or sin; it ever shuns some thing or other; either what God dislikes, or what thou, every day and hour, something it puts off; does it put off things that are offensive to thy flesh, or things that are offensive to God; Here lies thy heart's life; if thy heart be alive towards God, it is of this temper, to put off those things that are displeasing to God; I hate vain thoughts says David, Psal. 119. 113. mark his heart was of this temper, to put of all those things that were contrary to God; it may be many of those thoughts, his own heart would have rather kept. ay but when his heart was alive towards God, he put them off though; I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep thy word, Psal. 119. 101. now when good things shall be put to a man every day by the word, and by conscience, and a man hath a refusing heart to them, this is a dead heart; as God put to judah to return, but they refused to return, Jer. 5. 3. God put shame before them for their sins, but they refused to be ashamed, Jer. 3. 3. now my brethren, examine your bosonies, how stand the refusals of your hearts, do you refuse good or evil every day? if thou canst refuse temporal evil and not spiritual, thou hase a dead heart.  
Fifthly, the savouring of the heart; this is another 
5  piece of the hearts will; something there is that every heart savours most, and that it is which it is alive unto: now than if thy heart be alive unto God, it will savour the things of God most; it will not only do good duties but savour them too; not only hear the word of God, but it will have an admirable savour with the heart, as the Apostle says it will have the savour of life unto life, 2 Cor. 2. 16. as the Church says to Christ, because of the savour of thy good ointments, therefore the Virgins love thee, Cant. 1. 3. Oh how it will savour a reproof, how it will relish; but if holy things have no sweet savour in thy heart; it may be thou canst not for shame of the world not seem to stand for them, thy conscience will not let thee, but thou wilt give them a good word, and seem to approve them, but there's no more savour in them, then in the white of an egg, nay, they are irksome, and untoothsome, they do not go merrily down with thee, like sweet conserveses; assure thyself, thy heart is a dead heart.  
Sixthly, the cares of the heart, this is another show of 
6.  the hearts will; what the heart is alive to, it carketh and careth for it, and therefore if thy heart be alive towards God, how careful will it be that it may not offend him? yea what care, 2 Cor. 7. 11. As the Apostle says to Titus; I will have thee affirm constantly, that they which believe in God, must be careful to maintain good works, Tit. 8. 8. therefore if a Minister be alive towards God, he will be full of care for his people, how he may pull them from their sins, how he may draw them to God, how he may most do them good; as Paul says of Timothy; he will naturally care for your Estute, Phil. 2. 20. True, a man hath many things to do in the world, many cares how to live, how to pay rend at quarter day, what may become of his poor Children, etc. ay but if the heart be alive towards God, it will labour to cast these cares upon God; cast all your care upon him, 1 Pet. 5. 7. But for heavenly things, for the having and keeping of a good conscience, it will be full of cares about these things▪ yea it how may get to be more afraid of sin, how may I get a weaned heart from the earth? it will be caring how he may be provided for evil times, how he may stand in the woeful day.  
Seventhly, the appropriating of the heart; the esteeming 
7  of the heart; what's the heart's jewel, that's the heart most alive to; now think, what does thy heart prise most of all; if it be alive towards God, he is dearest to thee; his will dearer than thine, his glory then thy credit, his word then thy life; as Paul says, I do not count my life dear, so that I may finish my course with joy, Act. 20. 24. this was the Jewel of his heart, how he might do the work that God set him to do, that he might finish his course; so likewise if thy heart be alive, love will be like a precious ointment, Psal. 133. 2. heavenly wisdom more precious than Rubies, Prov. 3. 15. a promise will be precious to the heart, 2 Pet. 1. 4. So also faith will be a precious thing; 1 Pet. 1. 7. But above all Christ will be precious to the heart, to you that believe he is precious, 1 Pet. 2. 7. these are heart Jewels; these it endears most; it will rather ●art with any thing then these; nay, it will mortgage any thing to redeem these again. These things are little esteemed among men, in their consciences; indeed they say they are better than the whole world, I but their heart does not greatly esteem them, nay, it slights them and seeks them accordingly; this is a dead heart.  
Eighthly, thus ye see what is the life of the heart; it is the 
8.  absolute will of the heart, when the heart is inclined towards, God when it intends God, when it makes choice of his ways, and puts off whatsoever is contrary to them, when it prizes and endears every one of them all, when it savours them, and is full of care for them. I might add another, the cleaving of the heart, when the heart cleaves to the Lord, as it is said of Hezekiah, that he clavae to the Lord, 2 King. 18. 6. when the heart closes in with God, and will not let him go, no nor let his ways go, it sticks to a Godly course, all the world cannot pull him away, not firenor faggot; though it be never so much hindered, and interrupted by the flesh, yet now it hath a sticking quality in it, as David says, I have stuck to thy Testimonies, Psal. 119. 31.  
Now because when the heart is made willing on this fashion towards God, there is left still an adverse unwillingness, by reason of the flesh; so that the heart can never put forth these acts, without horrible clogs; therefore now in a live heart towards God, there be other acts, that are not in a heart that is alive to the world. And the reason is this. Because when the heart is alive to the world, the hearts of it own nature is willing unto that, and there is no unwillingness mixed together with it; never was it heard, that the heart should be willing, and unwilling to the same thing, till saving grace came to divide asunder the will in two; ye know the regenerate are two men apeice, and they have two wills, one towards God, and another towards sin and the world; nay, it's the same will; that hath both these branches in it, and this does much puzzle the hearts, when they find such a deal of unwillingness in them towards God.  
Therefore I say there be other acts of life in the heart towards God, and they are five.  
The first, is the preparing of the heart, whereby the heart prepareth itself towards God, 2 Chron. 30. 18. 19 1 Sam. 7. 3.  
The second, is the Combating of the heart, Gal. 5. 17. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I beat down my body, 1 Cor. 9 27.  
The third, is the endeavouring of the heart, it reaches forth itself Phil. 3. 13. it stirs up itself; it awakens itself; why art thou so sad, O my soul? Psal. 42. 5.  
The fourth is the binding of itself by determinations, and purposes; so Paul bound his own heart, with a determination before he came unto Corinth, 1 Cor. 2. 2. Daniel knowing how unwilling his heart would be to abstain from the King's meat, though by grace he was willing; therefore his heart, bound itself with a purpose; he purposed not to defile himself with the King's meat, Dan. 1. 8. So Act. 11. 23.  
The fifth, is the groaning and sighing of the heart, as 
5.  David though he were willing, yet feeling the unwillingness of the flesh therewithal fetch a groan; O that my ways were so direct, that I might keep thy Statutes, Psal. 119. 5. So Paul groaned earnestly to be dissolved, 2 Cor. 5. 2. This is the putting of the heart more forward. These I have named you may; name more it may be. But thus if the heart be alive towards God, it will do: because it feels a great deal of unwillingness, it gets what advantage it can of itself, to make itself willing; as the Church, ere ever was aware, my soul made me like the Chariots of Aminadab. Cant. 6. 12. it sets itself right; as the soul when it's dead, it neglecteth this act quite and clean from day to day, as the Psalmist says of dull Israel, he calls them a generation, that set not their heart aright, Psal. 78. 8.   
REVEL. 3. 2. And art Dead. 
WE are come to declare what it is to be a live Christian, quickened up towards God, and all his holy ways, and after sundry passages we came to inquire what is the life of the soul; & here I propounded five things. First, what is the life of the mind. Secondly, what is the life of the heart. Thirdly, what is the life of the conscience. Fourthly, what is the life of the memory. And Fifthly, what is the life of the affections.  
We have spoken of the first, what is the life of the mind; ye know by nature, the mind is alive to the things of the world, and dead towards God; and therefore we enquired what the life of the mind is; it cannot be the bare knowing of things; it may be dead to what it knows; it cannot be the bare thinking of things, nor the bare approving of things, nor the bare studying of things; the mind may perform all these acts to a thing that it is dead to; no, no; the life of the mind is, First, the applying of the mind. Secondly, the meditating, and minding of the mind. Thirdly, the considering and weighing of the mind. Fourthly, the remembering of the mind. Fifthly, the devising and plotting, and projecting, and contriving of the mind. Sixthly, the Judgement of the mind. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the mind; look where the mind is alive, there it puts forth these dispositions; and therefore when the mind is alive towards God, it lets out these towards him.  
Then in the second place, we came to inquire what is the life of the heart; and this we spoke of the last day; we showed you the heart, may be somewhat towards a thing and yet be dead towards it for all that?  
First, there be shallow acts of the heart, the outside acts 
1.  of the heart; there may be so much heart, as to bring a man to good duties, to constant preaching, and hearing, and praying, and the like; and civil carriage, and the like; and yet the heart dead to them all. This is not the life of the heart, The life of the heart lies at the bottom of the heart; not in the outside; no, it lies deep within; as Solomon says, my Son keep my sayings in the midst of thy heart; Prov. 4. 21.  
Secondly, there be flitting acts of the heart. Though 
2  they be never so deep in the heart, yet if they be such as do not stay there; the heart is dead still; for if it were alive it would keep them. Let thy heart retain my words; keep my Commandments and live; Prov. 4. 4. Though the word do stir one never so much for the present; This is no life except thou retain it and hold it fast; a man may have many flashes of life in him, but as long as the heart does not keep them it remains dead; when people are moved only by sits, humbled by fits, startled by sits, their righteousness is only as a morning dew, a man may have sits of quickening, sits of awakening, sits of enlargements, and sits of humiliation, & remain in a dead state; what a fine fit had Israel? they remembered that God was their Rock, and that the holy God was their redeemer; Yet their heart was not right with him; they were not steadfast in his Covenant, Psal. 78. 37. mark it was but a sit; like Esau's crying for a fit. Therefore, this is not it.  
Thirdly, there be wouldings and wish in the heart; 
3  and these cozen the world more than any other; these they think verily are effects of true life; I told you reasons why people think verily these are arguments of life; and then I showed you reasons, why they are not; and then I showed you the difference between the wouldings of a live heart, and the wouldings of a dead heart. But I let all these pass.  
Then I proceeded to show you what the life of the heart is; namely, when it puts forth an absolute will to a thing; so that when the heart puts forth an absolute will towards God and all his holy ways, than it is alive towards God, when a man is at this pass, that he will believe, come what can come of it, he will believe, and he will repent and he will hate every sin, love God above all, fear God above all, and he will set God before his eyes, though it meet with never so many hindrances without and within; pull backs, rebellions, yet it will do it for all them; now it's alive; as Paul says, to will is present with me, Rom. 7. 18. when a man can say from the bottom of his heart, that to will is present with him; I will be ruled by God. I will deny myself, though the flesh be never so violent, and may be many times and often, bears down all before it, yet he hath a will present within that will stand it out, and that can never be borne down, the act may be borne down, and affections may be borne down. I but this will is still present; I will be for God; he is my chief good, his Law is my rule, his will is my will, and I will be at his dispose; as the Author to the Hebrews; says, His will was to live honestly, Heb. 13. 18. As soon as ever the prodigal Son was come to this pass, that he could unfeignedly speak it; I will arise, and I will go to my Father, Luk. 15. 18. you see the next new; ye hear of him was, he was alive; his Father said he was alive. This my Son was dead, but now he is a live; you will say, what if one had bound him hand and foot, that is all one now, he will go; he will bite the cord aforesaid if he can, if one should hold, he'ele wrestle, he eel by't, he will scratch, he'll spit in his face, if he cannot get loose, he'll cry out, O how they bind me here; O my father, my father, I will go to my Father, he cannot be quiet without his Father, he will go to his Father; if they should cut off his Legs, he will crawl to his Father; I say▪ when the will is absolute once towards God, than it is alive towards God.  
I gave you reasons of this, why this must needs be the life of the heart.  
First, Because this is the perfectest operation of the heart; when it absolutely willeth a thing. There be many operations of the heart, but none of them is perfect but this; as David said to his Son, my Son, know thou the God of thy Fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind, 1 Chron. 28. 9 q d. this is a perfect heart; when thy will is to serve him how ever things go, thou wilt serve him; now thy heart is perfectly set towards him.  
Secondly, because this is the might and the strength of 
2  the heart; ye know the heart is a very hard lusty thing, where it is absolutely set; and therefore when a man will go on in sin, what ever come of it, reprove him, threaten say what you will, he will still go on; we say he hath a hard heart; nay, the Scripture calls his heart a Rock, or a Stone; I say the resolute will is the strength of the heart; now therefore, when that is towards God, his strength and might is to God; as God says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, Deut. 6. 5. a dead heart gives only a few sick and weak acts towards God; How weak is thy heart, Ezek. 16. ●0. therefore that is not it; an absolute will that only is it; for that's the might of the heart.  
Thirdly, because this makes every thing possible; naturally 
3  a man cannot believe he cannot habitually resist his own flesh, he cannot overcome the world, he cannot live godly in all his ways, but now when the heart comes once to be willing towards God, now every thing is possible, I may say of this as Christ says of faith; all things are possible to him that believeth, Mark. 9 23. So all things are possible to him that willeth. And therefore those that are godly in Christ Jesus; are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3. 12.  
Fourthly, this takes in the manner of good duties too; 
4  as well as the matter, it's more a thousand times, than the bare doing of them, a dead heart will serve for to do them. But when the heart is made absolutely willing, this is more than the naked deed; as Paul says to the Corinthians about Alms, ye have begun not only to do, but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be willing a year ago, 2 Cor. 8. 10. as he says of his preaching, if I did it willingly, I have a reward, but if against my will etc. 1 Cor. 9 17. q. d. I may preach, I may have so much heart, and so much will as to preach, alas, that is nothing. But if I do it willingly; that is, if my will be absolutely thereunto, this is it. Brethren: This is the right manner too.  
Fifthly, this is an argument that the heart hath an inward 
5  principle; what's the life of the heart, but an inward principle of acting? look where the heart is alive, there it works from within; There needs no compulsion to a covetous heart to have regard of his profit: no; he regards it most willingly; he hath an inward principle to regard it; as a Stone hath an inward principle to tend downwards; & therefore he's alive to it; now when the heart puts forth its absolute will towards God, now it hath an inward principle of agility; it needs no complaint, as Peter says to Ministers, feed the flock of God not by constraint but willingly, 1 Pet. 5. 2. that is, do it very truly, do it with an inward principle; not because ye see others feed, not because ye see it's a disgrace not to feed, or because your conscience will not let you do otherwise, alas ye may do it thus with a dead heart; but do it willingly, do it out of an inward principle; no obedience is good without it be done with an inward principle; if ye be willing and obedient, Isa. 1. 19 that is, if ye obedient with an inward principle of obedience; I this is it indeed. Thus you see an absolute will is the life of the heart.  
Now lest any should be deceived, I showed you what this absolute will of the heart is.  
I showed you, first it is the inclination of the heart; ye 
1  know the heart that is alive to the world, all its inclinations are that way, and therefore the will runs mainly out that way; but its averse from God, backward to all heavenly things; now when the will is absolutely set towards God, God inclines it towards him, and makes it incline itself; as David says; I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes always, even to the end, Psal. 119. 112. it may be the world may wonder that any man should be so strict as some are, to forgo the pleasures of the flesh as some do, be so precise and so taken up with God as some are; the reason is this, their wills are absolutely set that way, the Lord hath inclined them.  
Secondly, the intention of the heart; we have a saying 
2  in Divinity voluntas ut natura vult finem; the heart naturally wills it own ends; look what men aim at, look what they would have, what they beat at, what they drive at, that they will naturally, that they will eagerly; now when the hearts intentions are towards God, than the will is absolutely towards him. Beloved what is it ye would have, what do ye drive at a days, what is the souls scop? if that be God, if that be to commune with him, if that be to please him, doubtless ye are alive towards God; for then the wills are absolutely to him. This is a rare work, and therefore true grace of life is a rare thing; for how few do attain this? you come to Church, if God were your aim, certainly ye would hear otherwise then ye do many: would ye set in your pews so as ye do, if your aim were to please God, or that the word should direct you? if this were your aim, ye would hear in another gats manner; so when ye discourse, if your meaning and aim were, O now I will discourse to be edified, would ye talk so loosely as ye do? nay ye would speak more to the purpose a great deal? you may see this in Paul what made him so eager to deny himself? I count all things dross and dung says he; O says he, the intention of my heart is to Christ; that I may know him, etc. Phil. 3. 10. But I must hasten.  
Thirdly, the election of the heart; ye know all our life 
3  is in Bivio. There be two ways in everything; there be two ways of thinking; two ways of speaking; two ways of doing; the one godly, the other not. There be two ways in eating and drinking, in sleeping and waking; in studying, in praying, and in all our carriages, one gracious, and the other not; now which do your hearts choose? if your hearts have such a disposition to choose the gracious way, than your wills are set absolutely that way; there ye are alive, as David says, I have chosen the way of truth, Psal. 119. 30. mark he had this disposition in him to choose the true way.  
Fourthly, the conversation of the heart; the heart ever 
4  shuns something, or other; every day and hour, the heart puts off something or other; now what does thy heart shun every day? does it shun things offensive to thee or things offensive to God? if thy will be set absolutely towards God, than thy hearts shunning will run there, in things displeasing to him; as the Prophet says; I have refrained my feet from every evillway, that I may keep thy word, Psal. 119. 101.  
Fifthly the appreciatings of the heart▪ or the estimations 
5.  of the heart; what's the heart's Jewel, that the hearts will is absolutely to; now do but think, what does thy heart prise most of all; what's dearest to thee? O says Paul, I do not count my life dear; so that I may finish my course, Act. 20. 24. this was his heart's Jewel, how he might do the work that God set him to do; how he might finish his course; God's commandments were dearest to him, not his own credit but God's glory.  
Sixthly, the savouring of the heart; this is another 
6.  piece of the hearts will; something there is that the heart savours most. Now doth thy heart savour the things of God most; thou savourest a business, where there is profit; I but dost thou savour God's word most, canst thou find the best relish of all in holy duties, canst thou savour life in them; as Paul says, there's the savour of life in these things, 2 Cor. 2. 16.  
Seventhly, the cares of the heart. This is another sign 
7  of the hearts absolute will; worldly minded men are full of cares above the things of the world, but art thou full of cares about heaven; does heaven fill thy head full of cares about it, how thou mayst get it, etc. Thus ye heard what an absolute will is.  
Now because when the will is made absolutely to be for God, yet there is an unwillingnesle in the same will in regard of the unregenerate part; therefore I showed you there be other acts of life in the heart towards God, opposing that unwillingness in the flesh. But I must of necessity break off; so much for the heart.  
The next thing to be inquired about is the conscience; what is the life of the conscience; and here the world is deceived too; for the conscience may be awakened very much, and yet never quickened indeed. First, à conscience awakened, may like all good things. Secondly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may oblige a man to all manner of good things. Thirdly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may be troubled about his sins. Fourthly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may urge one exceedingly to good things. Fifthly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may be very eager in this urging. Sixthly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may prevail very far with its eagerness. Seventhly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may make one look at God, so far as it prevails; all this may be in conscience, and yet the conscience never quickened indeed, so that you see what need there is to inquire what the life of conscience is.  
First, I say the conscience somewhat awakened, may 
1.  like of God, and all his ways; it may like of God's judgements, be they never so terrible; as we see there in Pharaoh, when God plagued Egypt; his conscience liked of God's dealings he thought in his conscience the Lord dealt very righteously with him. The Lord is righteous, says he, and I and my people are wicked, Exod. 9 27. So when Rehoboam was horribly beset with Enemies, his conscience justified God, O he deals very rightly with me. The Lord is righteous, 2 Chron. 1●. 6. so Adonibezek, when the Lord brought that lamentable judgement on his head, his conscience like of God's doings; as I have done, so God hath done to me; so again the conscience awakened may like of God's commandments; as Moses tells Israel, that God gave them no other Commandments but such as were right, and wise and good in the sight of the Heathen, Deut 4. 6, 7, 8. that is, they were such commandments that the Heathens thought in their conscience were good. Again the conscience somewhat awakened, may like of God's people that walk according to those Laws and Commandments; you may see this in Balaane, O that I might die the death of the righteous! Numb. 23. 10. his conscience liked of their courses; so Saul's conscience did approve David's courses. Thou art more righteous than I, 1 Sam. 24. 17. A conscience somewhat awakened, may like of the best preaching; and the strictest preachers; never man spoke like this man; O how mightily they liked him! Herod liked john admirably, he was glad for to hear him; profane Israel did wonderfully like the Sacrament of God's presence; when the Ark of God came into the Camp; they shouted with a great shout, that the earth rang again, 1 Sam. 4. 5. now when a carnal man perceives this work to be in him, he is apt to conceive, this is true grace of life. Beloved, you see this is very false, Thou mayst like of God's dealings with thee, yea, thou mayst think in thy conscience, he deals very rightly with thee, though it be never so bitter, thou mayst think in thy conscience, his commandments are good, though they be never so strict, thy conscience may like his Ministers, and like his precepts, and like his Ordinances, and his Sacraments, and yet be a dead conscience.  
Secondly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may oblige 
2.  a man to all manner of good things; it may lay the commandments of God to his charge, conscience may make him say not only that the commandments are good, but that it is his duty to do them; we see this by experience in many carnal people; tell them of any commandment, what is their answer? Oh you say well, I confess it is my duty; every drunkard will say thus, I it is my duty never to be drunken, the swearer will say thus, you say right, it is very true, I confess I should not take God's name in vain; and therefore they are said to be under the Law, Rom. 3. 19 that is, they are bound in conscience to the Law; their conscience tells them they ought to do it; their conscience lays it on them as a bond; as the mad Prophet said; must I not take heed to speak what God bids me speak? Num. 23. 12. conscience laid a must upon his soul. And this is the reason, why a naughty heart will put off a commandment of God, if he can, when he sees it goes against his profit, or his ease, or his credit, for he knows if he yield it to be a commandment of God, his conscience will come over him and say, why then ye must do it; as we read of the Priests and the Elders▪ they would not yield that john's Baptism was from heaven; O if we should yield that, why then, Christ will say, why do ye not believe? Mat. 21. 25. mark the conscience comes over a man in all that he knows God hath commanded, and it lays it to his charge; and you must do this, and you must do that, this is your duty; now when men see this, they are apt to conclude that their conscience is alive; they think this is the life of their conscience to lay God's commandments to their charge. Alas brethren, the conscience may be dead for all this, you see this in people that are dead in trespasses and sins. All that the Lord speaks, that must I do, Num. 23. 26. it was the speech of a very wretch; thou mayst have this principle in thy conscience, all that the Lord bids me, that must I do; and yet be a dead man. O how does this beguile people: because they feel such a principle in their conscience a days! O thinks one, all that the Lord bids me, that must I do; when people feel such a principle as this, they think they are well; now if they do offend at any time, they hold it to be but their infirmity; and there's an end. But this is very false; the conscience may have this principle in it and be dead.  
Thirdly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may be 
3  troubled about his sins; he may be troubled before he commits, he may be very loath to commit them; as we see there in Herod, when he was betrayed with his rash Oath. and he was now tempted to behead John the Baptist, his conscience made him very loath to do it; the Text says, ●● was exceeding sorrowful, Mark. 6. 26. and the contempt shows it was merely, because he thought in his conscience, he should do very ill to behead so good a man, and therefore he was very loath; he was troubled in conscience about it; so was▪ Darius, when the Princes had wound him to cast Daniel into the Lion's Den, he was moved & troubled in conscience about it, he was very loath to do it, he sought a good while how to put off the temptation by getting away▪ how to avoid this great sin, Dan. 6. 14. so was Pilot troubled in conscience about the condemning of Christ, he went to it with a heavy heart; and as a conscience somewhat awakened, may be troubled before the committing of sin▪ so he may be troubled in the committing of it. An example of this we have in Saul, when he committed that sin, in sacrificing before Samuel came, he was troubled in conscience in the very act. I forced myself and offered a burnt offering, 1 Sam. 13 12. Mark, he did not commit the sin handsmooth, as some do, but he felt a reluctancy, againstit. Again, a conscience somewhat awakened, may be troubled exceedingly after the committing of sin; when judas had betrayed our Saviour, you see how his conscience was troubled after he had done. O says he, I have sinned, in betraying innocent blood, Matth. 27. 4. especially at the hearing of a searching Sermon, or at a Fast also, than the conscience if it be only awakened a little, will be troubled exceedingly for his sins; when Samuel kept a Fast there at Mizpah, the Text shows how they were smitten in conscience for their sins, in so much that they cried out in the open congregation, we have sinned against the Lord, 1 Sam. 7. 6. and yet many of these very men, by and by showed the rottenness of their hearts, so that this is another gall; when men feel a loathness in them to commit sin, trouble of conscience before, and at, and after, they think this is true grace doubtless; doubtless their conscience hath life.  
Fourthly, conscience somewhat awakened, may urge 
4  one to good things, and no question but many of you that are yet in your sins have found this to be true, how often have your consciences urged you to give over your sins? to look after the getting of Christ, to lead a godly life? how many heaves have your consciences given at you? to hoist you up out of the state ye wallow in, to make you more earnest for heaven, more strict in your walking, to provide for your latter end, when ye are at Prayer? how often does it urge you to dwell longer at it? As it is said of Doeg, he was detained before the Lord, 1 Sam. 21. 7. he was held there, he would have gone away afore, but he was held, now what should that be but his conscience? his conscience urged him to stay long; so your consciences urge you to be more attentive in hearing▪ more mindful of preaching, more humble in your minds, less worldly, more heavenly; you may think this is a lively conscience; no, no; it is not, the truth is, the more your consciences do urge you a days, the greater is your sin▪ if ye yield not. But this is so far from life, that it argues you to be the more dead, if ye do not obey; and urging conscience is a great blessing, I, if men have eyes to see what the Lord does for them▪ to deliver their souls from the pit. This is the taking of men by the shoulders; now if thou pull away thy shoulder. They refused to hearken, and pulled away their shoulder, Zach. 7. 11. that is, the Lord set conscience upon them, and urged them to obey, as if a man should take another by the shoulder, so drag him and hale him, and yet they would not. So when Paul spoke to Agrippa, he felt an urging in his conscience, O let me be a Christian, and he confessed as much two, Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian; it was almost done; he had a great heave; he was urged. But it would not do, so that this is no argument of life neither.  
Fifthly, conscience somewhat awakened may be very 
5  eager in urging, it may be very importunate, every day digging in his sides, every day whispering in his bosom; O think of God, O consider thy soul▪ O remember death; conscience may be earnest and wonderful eager with a man, O do not live as thou dost, O be not so careless of God; what wilt thou die and be damned? wilt thou to hell? wilt thou never have done? away with thy sinful courses; away with thy dream; O be stir thyself; or thou wilt perish; such a conscience had Pilate about Christ, it was eager with him not to condemn him. This conscience is an admirable blessing; & woe be to those that stand out against it; it is like jacob with the Angel, He would not let the Angel go till he blessed him, Gen. 32. 26. like the man that was importunate with his friend, and knocked, and knocked, and would have no nay, Luk. 11. 8. I am in bed; never tell me of your being in bed; I pray let me have three loaves; my children are in bed, I pray trouble me not; that is all one, still he knocks, he will have him up; so when conscience is thus awakened▪ and is importunate and will not be answered etc. many a wretch hath such an impudent conscience as this. But this is so far from an argument of life; as that it is a sign of a greater death.  
Sixthly, conscience somewhat awakened, may prevail 
6.  very far by its eagerness, it made the King of jury do many things; it made the Heathens do the things contained in the Law, Rom. 2. 14, 15. when the Pharisees came to tempt Christ, with the woman taken in adultery, conscience made them cease and go out one by one, Joh. 8. 9 it made Paul live so unblamably as he did; ye know concerning the righteousness that is in the Law, he was blameless, Phil. 3. 6. now if ye look into the 23. of the Acts and the first, you shall see it was his conscience, that made him do so; men and Brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God to this day; as since his conversion, his sanctified conscience made him live godlily in Christ, so before his conversion his natural conscience holpen by good education made him live unblamably; so that, what with one, and with the other▪ he could say he had lived in a good conscience to that day; that is either morally good, or spiritually good. And therefore it was conscience, that made him do all that he did; people think, I indeed, if they did good duties for outward by respects, than they should think they were unsound, but conscience sets them a work, and therefore they gather, they are sound and alive towards God; no beloved, conscience may make a carnal man go against all outward by-respects, and do very good duty; this we see in Balaam, he went against all outward self respects, and followed conscience; for a house full of Silver and Gold, he would not go beyond the word of the Lord to do▪ less or more, Num. 22. 18. so judas went against his credit, and his profit, and all; ye know, when his conscience told him the money was unjustly taken, he went and threw it down: so did Michah, the man was an▪ Idolater, and had stolen 1100 Pieces of Silver from his Master, yet when he heard his mother curse, he restored all again, O thought he, what shall I hear my mother curse, his conscience rose up against that and made him make restitution; why do carnal men pray in secret, no question but it is conscience that makes them; may be when they are tempted to a sin in secret, they will not do it, and it is the conscience that with holds them; in this sense they do good duties out of conscience; now is this Conscience alive? no, it does not follow, ye see this may be in natural men and women.  
Seventhly, conscience somewhat awakened, may make 
7  one look at God so far as it prevails; you may see this in Laban. the man was a wicked man; yet he looked at God in not hurting of Jacob; though it were in the choice of his hand, yet he would not hurt Jacob; and he looked at God in the thing. O says his conscience, the God of your Father spoke to me yesternight, Gen. 31. 29. he abstained from hurting of jacob, and he looked at God in the abstaining from it. Because God had forbidden him, therefore he will not hurt him; so it was with King Cyrus, he was a natural man too; yet when he took order for the building of the Temple at jerusalem his conscience made him look at God in the thing. O says he, the Lord God of Heaven and earth, hath charged me to build him a house, Ezek. 1. 2. so when Jehu destroyed ahab's house, and Baal's Priests, he himself says, how he looked at God in the thing; come see how zealous I am for the Lord of Hosts; so when the Philistines sent home the Ark of the Lord, they would send it home honourably, with a very rich present, and the Text says, how they looked at God's glory in the thing. O say they, let us give glory to the Lord God of Israel, 1 Sam. 6. 5. Thus you see how the world are deceived about the life of the conscience; when people have these operations of conscience within them, they think their conscience is alive and good towards God.  
Now that these cannot be the life of conscience, I prove it.  
First, because all may be in natural men, as ye have 
1  heard in Laban, in Pharaoh, in Balaam, in Micah, in Saul, in Darius, in judas, which were dead in trespasses and sins; what life can be in a dead man? it is very true, the conscience is least dead of all the powers of the soul; the Pelagians say▪ the will is a pure virgin; that's as false, a● the devil is false; if any faculty be a pure virgin it's the conscience; all the religion that is left in a natural man, God hath planted there; there's the effect of the Law there, Rom. 2. 15. The whole nature of man is like a Country taken by the Enemy, except one little Fort; may be that's battered too▪ but it is not quite taken; so is the conscience, after the whole man is quite vanquished by sin, except only that and that's battered too in a woeful manner. But it is not quite taken, the Lord will ever keep a part in that, to have the man at control when he pleases, and as far as he pleases. But yet it is so far taken too, that there is no spiritual life left at all in it; man is dead in trespasses and sins, and so is the conscience too.  
Secondly, the conscience notwithstanding all these may 
2  be deader than ever it was. I confess these are flashes of life, that God sparkles into men's consciences, but they use to go out again, and leave the conscience as dead, and deader than ever before they came; we see it in Pharaoh, that hardened his heart worse afterwards, Exod. 9 34. so did Balaam, though his conscience were so quick for a spurt, yet within a while, he could go and lay a stumbling block before the Children of Israel to make them sin, Rev. 2. 14. and we see it to this very day, many smitten in conscience for a time, afterwards their smitings cease, and they grow more stiff than ever they were; like water that hath been heated, it freezes afterwards the more.  
Thirdly, the conscience notwithstanding all these is soon 
3.  pleased; though it seem to be eager, and earnest, and zealous for God, yet any little thing will content it; if it were alive nothing would content it, but merely indeed, the favour of God, the Image of God, sincere conforming to God. But this conscience is soon pleased again; it is but angry a while, if but half the Lords due be brought in, this conscience is satisfied. Like the unjust Steward, that set down 50 for a 100 Luk. 16. 6. When the man goes on praying, and doing good duties, may be, the conscience is whist, though it be but a form; when he hath reform a little, conscience thinks it hath enough; we may see this in Balaam; when he had found that work of conscience, that he could deny Balac's house full of Silver and Gold, to stand for God, presently he concluded that God was his God; if Balac would give me his house full of Silver and Gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God▪ Num. 22. 18. Like the wretched Jews, they brought God the blind and the lame, and the torn and the sick, and then they thought much that they should be called despisers of God, Mal. 1. 6, 7, 8. Saul was commanded to destroy all the Amalekites, now though he spared some, his conscience was content. I have done the will of the Lord says he; such a conscience as this is soon pleased, like little Children, it cries, it takes on▪ it sets up its Pipes, but a little thing stills it; may be a Rattle, or an Apple, or a Brass Counter; so my brethren though a man's conscience be thus as ye have heard, yet it is a very child, it will be soon stilled; let him but bestir himself a little towards God, and go on in a pretty handsome way, this conscience will quickly say it's well.  
Fourthly, the conscience that hath but these stir, is 
4  so far from being alive, that many times it will be a help unto ones lusts; which if it were a live it could not be▪ But thus it is though, when these works are real, it will serve to help a man's lusts; when a man's lusts would feign have some thing or other done, then steps in thy conscience, and will help the lame dog over the stile; as we say Herod had a lust to make away john the Baptist. O but he's a good man says his conscience, and thou must not cut off his head, Mark. 6. 20. O but he was urged now to do it, by Herodius her daughter; and he had sworn to grant her heart's request; now see how his conscience helped him to do it. Thou hast sworn an Oath, and thou must make conscience of that; therefore cut off his head. So it was with the jews, when they have a lust to crucify Christ, their conscience found out a trick for it; we have a Law say they, and by our Law▪ he should die, because he mado himself the Son of God, john 19 7. mark, they made it a matter of conscience; what they murder Christ? they put him to death unjustly? no, God forbid; we have a Law, and are bound in conscience to keep it; so when a man hath a lust, as to wear long hair; by and by he makes it a matter of conscience to wear it; forsooth his head will ache; and he is bound in conscience to have a care of that; so if a man have a lust of covetousness, and not to give where is need; forsooth his conscience finds a place in the Apostle to help it. He is worse than an Infidel, that provides not for his own; and so he will make conscience of that; so when a man hath wronged him, he hath a lust of revenge, anon he finds out a trick, O it may tend to the dishonour of the Gospel, if he put it up, the matter is not so. But he is willing to think so; and he will make conscience of that; is he revengeful now? no God forbid. It was a disgrace to religion, and he did it out of conscience of that. Thus men will have what lust they please, they can find some Text or other, which they wrest to make conscience of that, O how common is this.  
Fifthly, this conscience is not all, it calls out only some 
5  particular sins to be violent against, and lets alone others may be as bad; like Ahabs for the Vineyard; and let his Baalisme alone; or if the conscience be against all manner of sins, it is but in a fume, cito redibit in gratiam. they are but like new Wine, in old Bottles; at last the Bottles break and the Wine is all spilt; so all these works in an awakened conscience, are only then while the conscience cannot sleep. But when it can fall asleep again, than the man can be quiet again; the conscience is an old conscience and not renewed, and therefore it is not able to hold them; well than ye see these are not consciences life.  
What then is the consciences life? for this ye must know. First, the conscience hath a Testimonial life; a life whereof it lives▪ as the soul lives; for it is the reflection of the soul, the soul's privity to itself, between God and itself. And therefore if the soul be alive towards God, than the conscience is alive too; as the Apostle says; How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself, without spo● to God, purge your conscience from dead works, is to serves the living God, Heb. 9 14. mark, when a man's dead works are purged away, the conscience is alive; when a man's self is alive, and his works are alive, the conscience is alive; as we say of the goodness of conscience, though the conscience be never so good in itself, yet as long as the man is not good, his conscience can never be good; conscience is said to be good, as a Messenger is said to be good; namely when he bringeth good tidings; though he be never so good a man, yet if he do not bring good tidings, we say he is an ill Messenger; he sent evil Angels among them, Psal. 78. 49. Calvin thinks it may be meant of good Angels; yet said to be ill Angels, because they brought evil Plagues upon Egypt; so stands a good conscience, that can bring good tidings of a man, that he is a good man; true, a wicked man's conscience may report well of him, as Absalon did of the people, O your matters are good says he, when they were stark naught; so thy conscience may flatter thee, and say thy matters are good. But when conscience can say truly, thy matters are good. The conscience is like a Register or a Bill; now than it is a Bill of good Items, when all thy sins are blotted out; ye know we call it a fowl bill, that hath fowl crimes written in it. Item this man stole a horse. Item he broke into such a man's house. Item he murdered such a man; when such a Bill as this comes in at the Assizes against a poor Prisoner, this is a black Bill; this is a fowl Bill; so as long as thy conscience is a fowl Bill; Item I was born in sin; Item I have lived very loosely; Item I have heard so many Sermons, and gotten little good; Item I was at such a Sacrament and was ne'er the better, thy conscience is a fowl Bill, this is a fowl conscience; as the Apostle says, a defiled conscience, Tit. 1. 15. This is a bad conscience; now when the conscience is clean, than it is a good conscience; so I may say of a lively conscience, the conscience is alive, when the man is alive towards God, than it bears witness, but that is not all, the conscience hath other acts. Secondly, the conscience hath another life of its own, namely the conscience is said to be quickened up to its duty, when it quickens up the whole man to do his. As the conscience of the good people that offered to the Tabernacle, was a quick conscience; their conscience was quick to do its duty, because it quickened them up to do theirs; their heart made them willing, Exod. 35. 29. that is, their conscience made them willing; though the conscience be never so eager, that is not it; it never does its duty with life, till it make thee do thy duty with life. The conscience of the godly, may be is not so eager, neither does it keep such a do, as many a wicked man's conscience. The eagerer conscience is fain to be, it's a sign the man is the more dead; when a man is alive, the conscience stirs him up with more ease; like a man that is willing to pay his debts, the creditor need no more than ask; whereas when the debtor is a sly fellow, there needs the more Bawling; so that if thou wouldst know whether thy conscience be quick, the question is not whether it be eager or no; But whether does it quicken thee up to do thy duty or no.  
This then is the life of conscience, when it makes a man do his duty towards God and man; when it makes a man believe with all his heart, when it makes him love God with all his soul, and mind, to serve him in truth, to do his holy will, to humble himself sound before God for all his sins, to make his peace with God▪ daily to please him, and to walk before him in newness of life. This is a living conscience, this conscience hath the grace of life in it, whether it do it by eagerness or not, that is not it; whether with much a do, or little, that is all one.  
First, When the conscience does not only check, but it 
1.  checks to some purpose, as when David had numbered the people, his heart smote him, 2 Sam. 24. 10. such checks there may be in a wicked heart▪ when a man is made to do the Lords will for conscience sake.  
Secondly, When it does not only accuse for sin, so a 
2  natural conscience may do, but it pulls a man down before God; and citys himself effectually before God. The just man first accuseth himself; as the Greek, and the Latin read it Prov. 18. 17.  
Thirdly, when it does not only condemn one for sin, 
3  for so the wicked have condemning consciences; as the Apostle says, if our heart condemneth, 1 Joh. 3. 20. that is, if we be wicked; as Paul says; knowing that he that is such, is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself, Tit. 3. 11. that is, he is a wicked wretch, so that a wicked man's conscience may and will, and shall condemn himself. But I mean, when the conscience does not only condemn one for sin; but it tramples upon one's self as a damned wretch in himself; to save God a labour; as the Apostle speaks, if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, 1 Cor. 11. 31.  
Fourthly, when it does not only pull a man a days; 
4  so it may do the wicked and the ungodly; they feel many pulls every day, and may be their conscience makes them leave many particular sins. But when the conscience pulls a man out of every known sin, withal the detestation and loathing; out of unbelief, out of inpenitency and hardness of heart, out of formality and all; this is a lively conscience; as job says, my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live, Job. 27. 6. These are the lively acts of conscience about sin.  
The lively effects whereof are three.  
The first, is penitent shame that ever he hath done it; 
1  conscience makes him fly from it as a horrible shame and confusion of face before God; as the Apostle says, what fruit have ye of those things, whereof ye are now ashamed? Rom. 6. 21.  
Secondly, another is penitent grief, and compunction 
2.  of heart; so ye may see this effect in the new converts. They were pricked in their hearts, Act. 2. 37.  
Thirdly, another effect is penitential fear, whereby 
3.  he is afraid to sin against God again, 2 Cor. 7. 11.  
Fourthly, another is humbling despair in himself, that 
4  he sees nothing in him, but death and damnation and so he lies at God's Gate, as a man utterly undone in himself; having no hope but only in Christ; for as God dealt with Paul in regard of his recovery out of his sickness, he brought him to despair of life in himself, 2 Cor. 1. 8. so does a lively conscience in regard of misery.  
Thus ye see for sin.  
Secondly, now for the lively acts of conscience, in regard 
2  of good; when the conscience hath life, it does not only excuse in part, for so it may do in a wicked heart, nay a wicked man hath such an excusing conscience when he does good for the matter of it; as we read in the Heathens; Rom. 2. 15. But it does sweetly excuse him, and tells him he hath done it unfeignedly in the truth of his heart, that he does believe, that he does truly repent, that he does in some measure, walk in new obedience from day to day; and that he stands guiltless before God through Jesus Christ.  
When the conscience does not urge a man only to that which is good. As it urged Agrippa, almost thou persuadest me etc. 26. 28.  
Thirdly, approbation, when the conscience either may 
3  or does pronounce a man to please God.  
The lively effects of these acts are 1 joy.. 2 Cor. 1. 12.  
The second, is boldness, & freedom from slavish fear. The righteous is bold as a Lion, Prov. 28. 1.  
Again, a lively conscience is a sudden conscience. Secondly a tender conscience.   
REVEL. 3. 1. And art Dead. 
THe point we are in, is, when is the conscience alive, when is that quickened up in a man ye have heard? First, what is the quickening of the mind? Secondly, what is the quickening of the heart? now I say it follows what is the quickening of the conscience? I showed you how thousands are deceived here; for the conscience may be awakened very much, and yet never quickened indeed. First, the conscience somewhat awakened may like of good things. Secondly, the conscience somewhat awakened, may oblige a man to all manner of good things. Thirdly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may be much troubled about sins. Fourthly, a conscience somewhat awakened, may urge one to good things. Fifthly, it may be very eager in this urging. Sixthly, it may prevail very far with its eagerness. Seventhly, it may make one look at God in some sense, so far as it prevails. All this may be in conscience, and yet the conscience never quickened indeed; and we have showed you all these, and cleared them unto you; so that you see what need there is to inquire what the life of conscience is.  
After the handling of these seven particulars; we gave you five reasons to prove that these are not arguments, that the conscience is truly alive; that the conscience may do all this, and yet not have the grace of life in it. First, because all these works of conscience may be in a natural man. 2. Because the conscience notwithstanding all these may be deader than ever it was. Thirdly, because such a conscience as this may be foolish, and childish and soon pleased; if the conscience were alive indeed, nothing would content it but the favour of God, and the Image of God, and true faith ', and true peace, etc. But this conscience may be soon pleased; if it have but any colour of grace and goodness, that's able to still it & quiet it. Fourthly, because the conscience though it be thus stirring as ye heard, it is so far from being alive, that it uses to be a help & furtherance unto ones lusts. Fifthly, because this conscience is not universal, it culls out only some particular sins to be violent against, and lets alone others; it picks out some particular duties and good courses to be very eager for, and is careless of others.  
You will say then, what is consciences life? when is the conscience said truly to be quickened? For the opening of this, ye must know there be two lives of conscience in a godly man.  
The first is a relative life; whereby it's alive, when the man is alive.  
The second is a simple life. The first I say, is a relative life, whereby it is said to be alive, when the man whose it is, is alive; for conscience is the reflection of the soul, the soul's privity to itself, between God and itself. And therefore if the soul be alive towards God, than the conscience is alive too; as the Apostle says; How much more shall the blood of Jesus Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God, Heb. 9 14. Mark when a man's dead works are purged away, the conscience is alive, when a man's self is alive, and his works are alive, the conscience is alive also; as we say of the goodness of conscience, so it is the life of conscience; though the conscience be never so good in itself, yet as long as the man is not good, his conscience can never be good; conscience is said to be good as a Messenger is said to be good; namely, when he bringeth good tidings; as David said of Ahimaaz, he is a good man, and he bringeth good tidings, 1 Sam. 18. 27. Though a Messenger be ne'er so good a man, yet if he do not bring good tidings, we say he's an ill Messenger. He sent evil Angels among them, Psal. 78. 49. Calvin thinks it may be meant of good Angels, yet said to be evil Angels, because they brought evil upon Egypt; so that's a good conscience that bringeth good tidings to a man; that he does believe; that he is in Christ, that he is a good man. True, a wicked man's conscience may report well of him, as Absalon did of the people, O your matters are good says he, when they were stark naught; so thy conscience may flatter thee, and say thy matters are good; but when conscience can say truly, thy matters are good. The conscience is like a Register or a Bill; now when it is a Bill of good Items; when all thy sins are blotted out, and good things are written in; now it's a good conscience; ye know we call it a fowl Bill, that hath fowl crimes written in it; though the Bill be never so fair written, yet if it have fowl crimes written in it, it's a fowl Bill. Item, this man stole a Horse. Item, he broke into such a man's house. Item he murdered such a man; when such a Bill as this comes in at the Assizes against a poor prisoner, this is a black Bill; this is a fowl Bill; so as long as thy conscience is a fowl Bill, Item I was borne in sin. Item I have lived very loosely. Item I have heard so many Sermons, and yet I have been near the better. Item I have been at so many Sacraments, and yet I have gone on in my vile courses, thy conscience is a fowl Bill; this is a fowl conscience; as the Apostle says, a defiled conscience, Tit. 1. 15. now when the conscience is clean, then it's a good conscience; so I may say of a lively conscience; the conscience is alive, when the man is alive; when his mind is quickened up towards God, & his heart which before was dead in trespasses and sins, now it's alive towards God; this man's conscience is alive. The reason is because now his conscience may say, I am alive; for conscience is the reflection of the soul on itself, and therefore if thou be'st alive thyself, thy conscience is alive too. This is the first life; the relative life of conscience.  
Now that this is one life of conscience, is plain, because if a man's self be dead, conscience will say, I am dead; as Paul says, speaking of himself and the Ephesians before their conversion. O says he, ye were dead in sins, Eph. 2. 5. look what a man is, if the conscience be enlightened, it takes it on itself, when David had sinned. I have sinned says his conscience; so let a man be holy the conscience presently takes it upon itself; as we see there in David, when he was holy; I am holy says his conscience, Lord preserve my soul, for I am holy, Psal. 86. 2. So that if thou be'st dead, thy conscience is dead; if thou be'st alive, thy conscience is alive. But I let this pass.  
I come now to the second life of conscience, and that is, it's simple life, conscience hath another life of its own; for as when the man is alive, the conscience is alive so the conscience is quickened up to do its duty, when it quickens up the whole man to do his, as the conscience of the good people that offered to the Tabernacle was a quick conscience; their conscience was quick to do its duty, because it quickened them up to do theirs; their heart made them willing, Exod. 35. 29. that is, their conscience made them willing. Though the conscience be never so eager, that is not it; it never does its duty with life, till it make thee to do thy duty with life. The conscience of the godly may be is not so eager, neither does it keep such a do, as many a wicked man's conscience. The eager conscience is feign to be, it's a sign the man is the more dead, when the man is alive, his conscience stirs him with more ease; like a man that is willing to pay his debts, the creditor need no more than ask; whereas if the debtor be a very sly fellow, there needs the more bawling; so that if thou wouldst know whether thy conscience be quick, the question is not whether it be eager or no, but whether does it quicken thee up to thy duty or no?  
This then is the life of conscience, when it makes a man do his duty sincerely both towards God and man; when it makes a man believe with all his heart, when it makes him love God with all his soul; and mind to serve him in truth, to do his holy will, to humble himself sound before God for all his sins, to make his peace with God, daily to please him and to walk before him in newness of life. This is a living conscience. This conscience hath the grace of life in it; whether it do it by eagerness or not; whether with a horrible stir or a great pother or no; that is not it if it make a man do his duty aright, then conscience does its duty; this is Consciences life.  
First, when the Conscience does not only check, but it 
1.  checks to some purpose, when it smites so that all the soul feels it, and lies down under it, when the Conscience does not only do duty in this thing, but it makes a man to do his, it makes him smite himself as the Publican did, he smote upon his breast, Luke 18. 13. as Ephraim did, I smote upon my thigh, Jer. 31. 10. when a man is made to Check himself, what have I done? Jer. 8. 6. when David numbered the people, the Text shows how his conscience was quick, his heart smote him, 2 Sam. 24. 10. Dull checks there may be in a wicked heart, yea, mighty checks, and mighty smitings, yea, greater for quantity then in any Child of God, but all to little or no purpose, David's Conscience smote him to purpose you see there, it made him do his duty indeed, it was a Divine Check, it was a Check that put him into a right way again, so except thy Conscience thus Check thee a days, may be thou forgetest thyself now and then, and then thy Conscience gives thee a Check, O what a beast am I, and so sets thee to rights again, sometimes thou art over taken in passion, but then comes Conscience, and tells thee what God says, O why do I give place to the Devil; and then thy passions go down again. This is God's Bit, that he guides his people by, as the Rider does his beast with a Bridle. The wicked are like your sturdy horses, that get their Bridle in their Teeth▪ God may pull hard at them, give them fiercer twitches, than he does his own Children, but they get the Bridle in their Teeth, and so they are unrulier: But when it is God's Bridle to lead a man by, now his Conscience is alive, when it Checks to purpose.  
Secondly, when it does not only accuse for sin, so a 
2  natural Conscience may do, but it pulls a man down before God; and Cites himself effectually before his Tribunal. I make this a different work, for the accusation of Conscience differs from its Checking; the Check is a spiritual lash the Conscience gives the soul, now the accusation gives the reason of its lashing. O thou hast sinned against God; ye know this is a duty of Conscience too in regard of sin, to accuse. And then Conscience is alive, when it does this duty to purpose, to make a man to do his; namely to go and Confess his sin in a penitent manner. True a wicked man's Conscience does accuse, but that drives a man from God; as it's said of the Scribes and the Pharisees, when their Consciences accused them, they went cut, Joh. 8. 9 But when Conscience is alive, it accuses before God, it Cites a man sound before God; and what a vile wretch am I! it so does its duty in accusing, that it makes a man to do his; freely to accuse himself. The just man first accuseth himself, Prov. 18. 17. So it is in the Greek and the Latin▪ Hast thou such a Conscience as this? this is a lively Conscience; when thy Conscience does not only do its duty to accuse thee for every sin that thou dost, but it makes thee to do thine, freely to accuse thyself before God; a wicked Conscience may accuse, I but it does not make the man to do his duty; he does not freely accuse himself; it is only forced in him; it is with Coaction and Compulsion. But it's free in God's Children; when Daniel went to confess his sins before God, the Text says, he set himself to do it; I set my face unto the Lord God, Dan. 9 3. that is, his Conscience did not only do its duty, in this thing, but it made him to do his.  
Thirdly, when it does not only Condemn one for 
3.  sin; for so the wicked have condemning Consciences, as the Apostles says; if our heart condemn us, 1 John 3 20. that is, if we be wicked; as Paul says; Knowing that he that is such, is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself, Tit. 3. 11. that is, he is a very wicked Creature; so that a wicked man's Conscience does Condemn. But I mean when the Conscience does not only condemn one for sin, it does not only do its own duty in this thing, but it makes the man to do his; it makes him trample upon himself; as a damned wretch in himself, to save God a labour, as the Apostles speaks; if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, 1 Cor. 11. 31. when Conscience makes a man freely to accept of damnation; thou shalt accept of thy punishment, than I will remember my Covenant, Levit. 26. 41. 42. when it makes thee lay thy Neck on the block; Lord the worst place in hell is too good for me. I have often told you a story in the acts and monuments of the Church; when Edward the first, one of the Kings of England was a hunting, and one of the standers by had displeased him, the King rid after him with a drawn sword for to stab him, the man run away for his life; the King rid over hedge and ditch to overtake him, and when the man saw he had no way to escape, he fell down, and held up his throat to the King, if it please your Majesty here is my throat. The King melting towards him, showed him mercy. So when Conscience makes thee say Lord here is my throat, here is my soul, if it please thee thou mayst send Satan to take it, and carry it to hell with him. Thou hast no way to escape, therefore offer thyself unto God; may be thy Conscience does Condemn thee; alas that is not it, thy Conscience does not its duty with any life, till it make thee do thine; dost thou freely Condemn thyself; accept of thy punishment, lay thy head on the block, does thy soul lie grovelling before God? this is a live Conscience.  
Fourthly, when it does not only pull a man a days 
4  from sin and Iniquity; so it may do with the wicked and the ungodly; they feel many pulls every day, and may be their Conscience makes them leave many particular sins, though that's very rare as the times now be, but when the Conscience pulls a man forth of every known sin, when it so does its duty in this kind, that it makes thee to do thine; when thou pullest thyself withal detestation and loathing out of pride, out of security, out of unbelief, out of hardness of heart, out of formality and all; this is a lively Conscience; as job says, my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live, Job. 27. 6. that is; as my heart does its duty towards me, so it shall make me do mine, I will yield to mine own Conscience in every thing; whatsoever sin it tells me off, I will be sure to set myself against it; it shall not lie heaving at me, and I never stir; than it would reproach me, but it shall never reproach me so long as I live. These are the lively acts of Conscience about sin.  
The lively effects whereof are four.  
The first, is a penitent shame, that ever a man should sin 
1  against God; when Conscience does thus as ye have heard, than it produces this effect, that the man is ashamed before God; as the Apostle says, what fruit have you of those things whereof ye are now ashamed? Rom. 6. 21. people are apt to be ashamed before men, Diodorus Cronus, when Stilpo asked him a ridiculous question, and he could not answer him; he was so ashamed, that he fell down stark dead; he thought it was such a disgrace to be nonplussed But if Conscience were alive, and did do its duty indeed, it would make us ashamed for our sins before God; Ezra was ashamed before God for the sins of the people, I blush says he to lift up mine eyes unto thee; when a man is Ignorant of God in Jesus Christ, this should be a shame. I speak this to your shame, 1 Cor. 15. 34. that is, if there be any grace in your hearts, certainly ye will be ashamed that ye should have no more knowledge of God. I say when the Conscience is alive against sin, it makes a man ashamed before God; It shows him his nakedness before heaven, it propounds God before his eyes, seeing all his uncleanness, and so it makes him ashamed before him; dost thou Count it a disgrace to do evil, a disgrace to offend God, a confusion of face to do iniquity, though it be never so secret? Canst thou not look upon thy unworthy dealings with God, but it makes thee ashamed in his sight? this is the effect of a living Conscience. 
2   
Secondly, another effect is penitent grief and compunction of heart; ye may see this effect in the new converts; they were pricked in their hearts, Act. 2. 37. when their, Conscience began to be alive to smite them for their sins, to accuse them and Condemn them, it grieved them exceedingly; it went to the quick; it was like a Dagger in their heart; it pricked them; it made them mourn for all that they had done. True, a natural Conscience produces grief; there's ne'er a wretch but if his Conscience be awakened to Check him, and accuse him, and condemn him, it will make him to grieve for his sins. But this is only legal and surly. Now when the Conscience is alive to do its duty, as to make the man to do his, now it makes him grieve out of love to God, out of love to grace and goodness; now he grieves because he hath broken those Commandments that he loves; he loves to obey God O it is the unfeigned desire of his soul to obey him and, therefore he grieves, that he hath done the Contrary. 
3   
Thirdly, another effect is, penitent fear. It makes a man afraid to sin against God again; as the Apostle says; Yea, what sear? 2 Cor 71. 1. a natural conscience may cause a kind of fear too, nay, a horrible fear. The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness saith surprised the Hypocrites, etc. Isa. 33. 14. for a guilty Conscience cannot but work fears when it's awakened, but this fear is merely out of self love, and of Bondage. But when the Conscience hath done so its own duty upon a man, that it hath made him to do his, now it makes him filially afraid to sin against God; as a true Child fears to offend his Father, when a man hath this fear in him, this is a sign of a living Conscience.  
Fourthly, another effect is trembling despair in ones 
4  self, it makes him see nothing but hell and damnation in himself; and it flings him down at God's Gate, as a man utterly undone in himself, having no hope in himself, for as God dealt with Paul. in regard of his recovery out of sickness he brought him to despair of life in himself, 2 Cor. 1. 8. so does a living Conscience in regard of mercy; a natural Conscience the effect of that, is to despair too. But that is to despair in God. because when there is nothing but nature in the Conscience, how can it be otherwise? But when there is grace in the Conscience, grace in the heart, now though Conscience represent to him his damned estate, it represents withal the free grace of God in Jesus Christ, to all such as are heavy laden, and so it is only despair in himself; now hast thou such an effect in thee, to despair in thyself; to fling of all thine own hopes, and thy own dependences, hangings, holdings; ye know the soul hath a thousand thousand such, wishes, wouldings, purposes duties, performances, these the soul hangs on. But now hast thou this effect in thee, that thou dost absolutely despair in thyself? I mean selfe confidence with whatsoever good is in thee, be it grace, or what ever; dost thou despair in thyself? this is a sign of a living Conscience; now thou hangest upon nothing, but the mere mercy and good will of God. And this is the best hold in the world, though the world cannot abide it. Thus ye see for sin. The livingnesse of Conscience in regard of sin.  
Secondly, now for the livingnesse of Conscience in regard 
2.  of good. Then is the Conscience alive to that which is good.  
First, when it goes and it does not only urge a man to 
1  that which is good; so it did Agrippa. Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian, Act. 28. 28. when Paul spoke unto him, it seems his Conscience took hold of Paul's words, and it did mightily urge; it had almost done the deed; alas this is not it; a dead Conscience may do this yea, with admirable importunity; as it is in many. But when the Conscience doth not only urge, when that does not only do its duty in this point, but it makes a man do his duty too; the man freely urges himself; and freely sets himself to it and about it; as it was with David; when thou sayest, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face Lord will I seek, Psal. 27. 8. that is, when thou sayest thus in my Conscience, seek my face, my heart echoed back, I will do so indeed; mark his Conscience did not only do its duty, but it made him to do his; as his Conscience did urge him, so he took these urge, and urged himself.  
Secondly, when the Conscience hath life towards good, 
2  it excuses, and it does not only excuse in part, for so it may do in a wicked heart; many a wicked man hath such an excusing Conscience, when he does good for the matter of it, as we read in the Heathen, Rom. 2. 15. their Consciences accusing or else excusing; their Conscience did excuse in part. But it excuses full out; it tells him, he hath done it unfeignedly in the truth of his heart, that he does believe in God, that he does truly repent from dead works, that he does in some poor measure, walk in new obedience from day to day; and that he stands guiltless before God, by faith in Christ Jesus; or if it do not excuse thus, it is merely out of Ignorance of the things given him of God; a living Conscience is an excusing conscience; it does not only say the thing that he does is good but that he does it unfeignedly withal his heart; true a natural Conscience not awakened may do thus, but that's a misprision; for when it comes to see its own condition indeed, than it will be in another tale; ah I am rotten; I have beguiled mine own soul to this very day; but a living Conscience can never be confuted, as it excuses, so its excuses shall stand before God, because it is quickened by the grace that is in Jesus Christ, his blood is sprinkled on it.  
Thirdly, when the Conscience hath life towards good, 
3.  it approves a man and his ways; it either may or does pronounce a man to please God. As it was with Enech, he had a conscience that told him he was approved of God; before his translation, he had this Testimony that he pleased God, Heb, 11. 5. this is the nature of conscience, if it be alive, to do its duty, and so as to make a man to do his, to tell a man that he is allowed of God; which is an admirable mercy, that a child of God should have such an intelligencer in his own bosom, that can tell him he is approved of God, no creature is able to express what comfort this is; none but good people can have this, others may be approved of men, others may hear that such and such do approve them, but they can never hear that God does approve them. These are the consciences only towards good, which it can never do except it be alive.  
Now the effects of these be. First Joy, when the conscience 
4  does its duty towards God, and makes a man do his duty too, this worketh Joy in his heart; as Paul says. This is our rejoyeing even the Testimony of our conscience, that with sincerity and godly pureness we have had our conversation in the world, 2 Cor. 1. 12. There is no joy like this joy; wicked men may laugh, and seem as merry as crickets, but in the of their laughter, their conscience gives them but cold comfort; now when a man hath such a conscience as this, that sets him about that which is good, this makes him have truer joy than all the world besides; for howbeit the world are besotted, that they do not look after God: Yet the conscience knows it is goodness only that will please God; and therefore when the conscience is privy to this, no tongue can speak what a joy this is unto one.  
Secondly▪ another effect is boldness and freedom from 
2  slavish fear: There's a deal of fear in a man's heart, as long as he does not serve God, and do the things that are pleasing in his eyes though it may be people do not feel this same fear as long as they are well and lusty; but let but conscience be awakened, or let death seize upon them▪ then a fear will appear, O how afraid are they to go before God. But let a man have such a living conscience as this, this gives a man boldness. The righteous are as bold as a Lion Prov. 18. 1. thy conscience is an admirable thing; without this all a man's boldness is nothing. Thou mayst hold up thy head very high, and out face all the world for a time, as bold as can be; tush thou art well thought of among all thy neighbours, but what says thy conscience? if that cannot say thou art a gracious man, I tell thee thou canst have no boldness. But now if thou hast this same living conscience, now thou mayst be as bold as a Lion; though the world do accuse thee, yet what says thy conscience? if that excuse thee, thou mayst show thy face, where thousands shall be confounded; when Austin was accused by Secundinus to have come from the Maniehees for fear of loss, and for hope of preferment, he comforted himself with his conscience, I esteem not says he what Secundinus thinks of me, so long as my conscience approves me before God; so also Paul, when the false Apostles accused him, O says he, it is a very small thing with me, that I should be judged of you, 1 Cor. 4. 3. Thus ye see for good; what is the livingnesse of conscience towards good. This is the second thing.  
Thirdly, now about Poth; both sin and goodness, 
3.  when is the conscience alive about both? namely when it does instruct a man, and not only so, but it guides a man to shun the one, and to embrace the other. This is a living conscience indeed, when it is a man's privy counsel from day to day. This is a Divine Counsel; it's like a little privy Counsellor in a Child of God's bosom, that the Lord in mercy hath placed there to direct him; as David says, I will bless the Lord for giving me Counsel, my reins instruct me in the night seasons, Psal. 16. 7. By his reins he meaneth his conscience, now that did instruct him not only in the day time, but also in the night; if he were tempted to sin, his conscience instructed him, nay, I must not yield to that▪ if he found himself backward to any good duty, nay, still his conscience advised him, nay, I must be forward to that. I confess a dead conscience may give admirable counsel▪ and Instruction to the wicked; I▪ their conscience proves it unto them. But it does not do its duty, for it does not make them to do theirs. Thus ye see what a living conscience is, when it so does its duty, that it makes us to do ours.  
But it may be humbled conscience is paedagogus animae, it is the soul's School▪ Master, as Origen calls it; now a Schoolmaster may do his duty, though he do not make his Scholar do his; for if he be diligent in teaching and doing of his office, the Scholar may be a dunce for all him; the best Schoolmaster, may have a block head and a dunce in his School. I answer, the reason is not alike.  
First, a Schoolmaster teacheth another. But conscience is a Schoolmaster not to another but to a man's self; and therefore if the conscience do its duty indeed, it must needs make the man to do his, because his conscience is a Schoolmaster to himself.  
Secondly, again a Schoolmaster is not always by his 
2  Scholar, sometimes his back is turned; but conscience is ever by a man, and therefore if it did always do its duty it might make the man to do his.  
Again, Thirdly a Schoolmaster▪ it may be his Scholar 
3  is duller than himself; and than though himself be never so learned, yet he cannot put his learning into his Scholar. But it is not so here, here the Scholar and the Schoolmaster is all one; one is no more dull than another, for look how dull the one, so dull the other; look how active the one is, so active is the other, because conscience and the man is all one; it is very true, the conscience by accusation is eagerer than the man; for God may take a dead conscience, and sur it exceedingly, and he does so ordinarily in men; but these stir of conscience, are none of consciences stirring but Gods, my spirit shall not always strive with man, Gen. 6. 3. they are his strive with men. But the consciences own quick ening, and the man's are all one; you will say how shall I know whether the quickening that is in my conscience, be my consciences, or only the Lords stirring in my conscience. I answer.  
First, when thou art glad that thy conscience is so busy 
1.  with thee, it is very welcome unto thee, than the Lord hath made thy conscience alive; then God does not only strive in thy conscience, but thy conscience itself is alive; as we see there in David. I will bless the Lord for giving me counsel, my reins do instruct me, Psal. 16. 7. when his conscience did instruct him, he was glad of it, he blessed the Lord for it; his conscience was alive. But now in a wicked heart, the more his conscience accuses, and condemns, and checks, the more busy it is with him, the more unwelcome it is, and therefore he labours to still it; may be he will stop it with some thing; may be some little reformation for the time, may be with Prayer, or some yielding thereunto; nay, there be some labour to drown it out right, they will go to the Alehouse, or to Cards, or among their boon companions, and so shake of those dumps; therefore my Brethren, if ye would have a sign, that your conscience is alive, be glad at its dictates, give them all their dear entertainment ye can. Bless the Lord for them, and make very much of such, they are the sweet motions of God's holy spirit, quench them not; do not stop the mouth of them by half payments, let them have their full sway.  
Secondly, when thou callest upon thy conscience to be 
2  busy; when thou usest to stir up conscience every day, wind it up as a man does his Clock, that it may be in continual motion. So the Prophet did; Why art thou so heavy O my soul? why art thou so disquieted within me, hope thou in God, Psal. 42. 11. mark he took his conscience and stirred up himself with it, a wicked man does not thus; his conscience comes before it is sent for, it is like an unbidden guest. And therefore if thou wouldst know whether thy conscience be alive, do but consider whether this be thy course, if thou dost daily awaken thy conscience, if thou dost set it a work, this is a sign of life in it; as Paul did, here in do I exercise myself, that I may have a good conscience, void of offence, Act. 24. 16. He laboured for his conscience, he called it up every day, he was active about it, so that the stir that are in wicked men, they are none of theirs; but Gods merely to pull them out of the bottomless pit, if it might be; in the mean time, his conscience is as dead as himself. Thus ye see what the life of the conscience is. First, there is a relative life of conscience; the conscience is alive, when the man is alive. Secondly, the conscience is alive, when it makes duty so, that it makes the man do his duty too; when it does not only check for evil, and accuse for evil, and condemn for evil, and prompt a man that he should take heed of evil, but it make a man do his duty in all these; so also when it does not only urge a man to that which is good, and excuse him and approve him, but in all these, it makes him do his duty too; so likewise when it counsels, it does not only counsel and dictate what is to be done, and what not; but it so does all these particulars, that it makes the man to do his duty, in sincerity from day to day. This is alive conscience.  
Now that this is the live conscience, I prove it unto you by five Arguments.  
1. Because conscience was made not only to do all these 
1  acts, but to make a man to do his; so that when conscience does its own acts never so much, that's nothing to the life of conscience▪ does thy conscience check thee, and smite thee, does it whisper never so much in thee? this is no Argument it's alive, except it make thee to be obedient unto God Conscience was given man for this purpose; and therefore then only is it alive, when it is for this purpose in thy Bosom: when David would get up out of his temptations, you may see how he got up by conscience; I communed with my own heart, and my spirit says he made diligent search, Psal. 77. 6. that is, he communed with his conscience, what he knew about God, and so got himself up; this is thy consciences office to tell thee what thou hast heard out of the word, and that is not all, but to lead thee, guide thee as the helm does the Ship. It is given thee to be thy keeper, as he says, I was upright before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Psal. 18. 23. that is, this is my iniquity, this is the sin that I am most inclined to, I must keep myself from that. Thus his conscience was his keeper under God.  
Secondly, another argument is, because this is the way 
2  whereby godly people do their duties, their conscience makes them do their duty, it makes them believe, it makes them fear God, it makes them eschew evil and do good from day to day. Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, Psal. 103. 2. when the Prophet would do this duty, he made his conscience press it sound upon him to do it; so when he would wait upon God, he set his own soul and conscience upon him, to make him to do it; wait on the Lord, be of good courage, he will strengthen thy heart, wait I say upon the Lord, Psal. 27. 14.  
Thirdly, another argument is, this is the description of 
3  those that have a live conscience, they are such as make themselves do their duties continually; as the Apostle says. He that hath this hope in him, purisieth himself, even as he is pure, 1 Joh. 3. 3. that is, he is a man that makes himself do his duty, his own soul and conscience says thus unto him, Christ is a pure Christ, and I must be like him, as ever I hope that he will bring me into his kingdom; and this makes him do his duty; he purisieth himself, even as he is pure; I could quote abundance of places to prove this.  
Fourthly, another argument is; when God speaks to 
4  any that are alive from the dead, to do their duties towards him, he bids them make themselves to do their duties on this manner; so Saint Paul says, Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the sight of God, 2 Cor. 7. 1. that is, go and ask your own soul, and conscience, what have I not these and these promises? why than I must labour to be cleansed from all manner of sin, I must perfect holiness in the fear of God; now says he, let us make ourselves do our duties thus.  
Nay fifthly, when God speaks to them which are yet 
5  dead, and would turn them home unto him, he bids them do thus in regard of the means; turn yourselves and live you, Ezek. 18. 32. that is, Let your own souls and consciences consider this is the way to live, ye cannot be saved without turning; as ever I would live for ever, I must be turned from all my sinful courses; make yourselves do your duties in this manner; that is, use all the means, that the Lord hath given you to use, make yourselves go about it, not as though any man hath free will to turn himself; But he speaks of the use of all means, that he puts into your hands; make yourselves to use them; nay no soul can ever look to be saved, except he do not only let his conscience check him, and tell him thus and thus his duty is, but also let his conscience make him do his duty too; so that this must needs be the life of the conscience; when it does not only do its own duty, to check and to whisper but also it makes a man to do his.  
The use of this is; first, than we see here how few have 
Use 1.  live consciences, for people have consciences that do only tell them they should be more careful; they should give over such and such sins, they should believe, and they should be zealous, and they should be more settled, but O how few have consciences that make them do their duties? Numb. 15. 40. that ye may remember and do all my commandments and be holy unto your God.   
REVEL. 3. 1. And art Dead. 
WE are come to speak of this necessary point when is a man quickened up towards God and all his holy ways? We have showed you three things concerning this already. First, what the life of the mind is, Secondly, what the life of the heart is. Thirdly, what the life of the conscience is. Now there remains two more, the one is the life of the memory; the other is the life of the affections.  
Fourthly then, what is the life of the memory? for the 
4  memory too may be dead, and the memory may be alive.  
First, the memory may be dead; when a man may be 
1.  remembers, if ye ask him a thing, he can tell it; ask him of a Sermon, he can tell the Text and the points, and the particulars that were delivered in the Sermon, but here's all, it's a dead memory, he never remembers it to any purpose; this is to remember, even as if a man did not remember; as Moses says, remember and forget not that thou provokedst the Lord to anger in the wilderness, Deut. 9 7. that is, remember it, and do not remember it with a dead memory. As Balaam remembered that God was angry with him in the way, no question but if a man had asked him about it a week or two after, he would have showed that he did remember it, he could tell the place, the time, and the manner, and how it was in his journey, and how the Lord stood before him with a drawn sword. But alas this was a dead memory; for this practice showed plainly that he had forgotten it in effect. I say there is a dead memory, a man may have an excellent memory to go from point to point, nay, a better memory in this sense then many of God's dearest Children, and yet this memory be a dead memory.  
Secondly, there is a living memory; a memory that 
2  hath life in it; as God says of penitent Ephraim; I do earnestly remember him still, Jer. 31. 20. mark, God did not only remember him, so he does remember all men, he remembers reprobates and all, but he did very earnestly remember him; so when a man does earnestly remember God; the remembrance he hath of him is earnest, he remembers his word earnestly, he is earnest in the remembering of his will, though there be never so many things, to put God out of his thoughts, he is daily tempted to forget himself in some thing or other about God, but he is earnest to remember, when a man's memory is eager after a thing, now it is a live memory.  
Now the question is, when the memory is alive, for the handling of this. First, I will show you what the memory is. Secondly; what a great blessing of God it is that we have a memory. Thirdly, when the memory may be said to be alive. Fourthly, we will prove it, and then we will make some uses of the point.  
First, what memory is. It is the conservation of what we apprehend, as a man hath many things in common with a beast, so memory is in his fancy and imagination, for look what a man hath seen, or heard, or tasted, or smelled, or felt, memory is the conservation of the same; some can remember the shape of men, of town; and creatures, we can remember what colour things are of, what a taste such and such meats have, such a memory beasts have, as we see in the milch Kine, they remembered their Calves, 1 Sam. 6. 12. they went lowing as they went; thus the children of Israel remembered the flesh that they had in Egypt, we remembered the flesh, which we did eat in Egypt, Numb. 11. 5. and this we call a sensitive memory.  
Secondly, memory, most properly, is a faculty of the 
2  mind, whereby it preserves the species of what it once knew and therefore when a man is said to remember he is said to be mindful, as David says, be ye mindful always of his Covenant, 1 Chro. 16. 15. that is look you always remember his Covenant, for when the mind once knows a thing, memory is a certain Paper of the mind, to retain it and to keep it, and therefore it is called the soul's store-house; it is the soul's treasury, as our Saviour Christ speaks; a good man out of the good treasury of the heart, bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of the heart, bringeth forth evil things, Matth. 12. 35. memory is the soul's chest, where it keeps all its Jewels; that look what a man knows, specially if he like it, presently he lays it up to keep by him, as it is said of Mary, still when she knew any thing of our Saviour, when she knew of any saying of his, she kept it in her heart; Mary kept all these sayings, Luk. 2. 19 properly I say memory is a faculty of the mind, whereby when it knows a thing once, it is able to keep it. This we call intellectual memory.  
Thirdly, by consequent, memory is in the conscience; 
3.  for the soul of man being privy to itself▪ what it knows, what its told of God, what notions it hath, what it does, what it hath done, or what it hath not done, it hath a Paper to record this; and therefore in this sense, we call memory the soul's Register; for thus it is in the conscience; so when the Son, of jacob were privy to themselves, that they had sold their brother joseph ye know how their conscience remembered what they had done, above twenty years after. O we are verily guilty concerning our Brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear. Gen. 42. 21. their conscience had registered their fact up, and did remember it against them, so many years after. So Adonibezek being privy to himself, when he cut off the thumbs & the great toes of threescore and ten Kings, and made them to gather scraps under his Table, you see how his conscience had registered this, and could remember it against him another day, Judg. 1. 7. so that memory is by consequent in the conscience too. And this memory we call the Book of a man's conscience. These three are all the proper memories that we have, because memory can properly be nowhere but where apprehension is; either sensitive apprehension as in fancy; or intellectual apprehension, as in the mind; or reflective apprehension as in the conscience; they understood not thy wonders, neither did they remember them, Psal. 106. 7.  
Fourthly, memory in an improper sense, is in the will 
4.  and heart of a man, because there is some retention too of what is past and gone; as let a man love or hate his brother, though that act be past and gone, yet there is some retention of that act against another time, for when a man hath hated one heretofore, he is the more ready to hate him afterwards; which is a sign that the heart does retain what it did before; nay, says Aristotle, there is memoria in pedibus; there is memory in the feet; there is memory in the hand; as the Psalmist speaks; if I forget thee O jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning, Psal. 137. 5. this is called remembering too in the Scripture; but this is improperly so called; this we call a habit or faculty, or a dexterity in acting, by reason of precedent actings. Thus ye see what memory is. Now this memory is of things that are past; for if things be present, we are said to see them, or behold them, or so. But when they are passed, now if we can see them still, this is by way of remembering; indeed we may be said to remember things both present and to come, in regard that our knowledge of them is passed; as the Apostle says, Remember them that are in Bonds; as being bound with them; Heb. 13. 3. that is, though the thing be now present, yet I would have you remember it; because your warning is past; this is a duty, ye have been told in times past, therefore look ye remember it. So Solomon says, Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth, Psal. 12. 1. That is, though thy creator be not past, yet thy creation is past, and thou art not so young but thou hast been told of thy duty in this thing in times past; O therefore remember that; nay, thus a man may remember that which is yet to come, as for example the day of his death, that he must die and come to Judgement; for though the thing be yet to come, yet he hath had warnings of it in times past; as jeremy says of jerusalem, her filthiness is in her skirts, she remembered not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully, Lam. 1. 2. the Lord finds fault with her that she did not remember her time to come. The reason is, because she was told of it aforehand in times past.  
Now for the second thing; that this is a great blessing, 
2  beloved it is a great blessing of God, that we have such a faculty in us as to remember; it was a naughty speech of Charoone that an excellent memory is needful for three sorts of men. First, for great Tradesmen, for they having many businesses to do many reckonings, many Irons in the fire, had need of a good memory. Secondly, great talkers; for they being full of words, had need to have a good Storehouse in their heads to feed their tongues. Thirdly, for Liars; oportet mendaeem esse memorem, for they telling many untruths, had need of a good memory, to be able to remember what untruths they have told, lest afterward they be taken in their lying, contradicting themselves. I say this a profane speech, as though a good memory were of no other use, then for engrossers of affairs, and talkative fellows, and forging companions; whereas memory is a great blessing of God, and the more we have of it, the more advantage we have unto our own eternal good, if we have a heart.  
First, it is a great blessing that what we once knew, we 
1  may always know; now this may be by memory; were it not for this, we should be Ignorant again as fast as we learn; whence is it that ye still know how to read but because ye remember your letters and spelling; whence is it that ye still know your Trades and your callings, which ye were taught so long ago, but ye remember how ye were taught. Ye once knew the grounds of religion, may be ye were taught heretofore; if ye know them still, it is because ye remember them; were it not for memory, we should be as much to seek, as if we had never learned aught; as jude says, I will put them in remembrance, though ye once knew this, Judas. 5. that is, as ye once knew it, so I desire that ye may know it still; that it may stick by you, that you may make it your own; what a mercy is this? we cannot undertake to have always the means of knowledge, we may want preaching; God knows how soon; now if we have memory to lay up some knowledge, we may have the benefit of it, how ever things go; may be God gave us a warning, to take heed of such and such sins, now if we have a good memory, this warning may be still present with us; we have had such motions, such convictions, such sights of sin, such stir, such manifestations of God to us, what a mercy is it that God hath given us such a thing as memory is? as we had them once, so we may have them still if we remember them.  
Secondly, memory is a great blessing, to bring our knowledge 
2  to act upon all occasions. How many thousand truths do we know, that we do not, neither can we actually think of; now when we have use of those truths, it is a great mercy, that the Lord hath framed a memory in us, where we may have them upon all such occasions; e. g. we know we should be patient, may be we do not think of this duty for a day together, but now when we have use of it, than we may remember it; So for meekness we know it, and for forgiving of wrongs, to resist temptations, to deny ourselves, to shun the occasions of evil, we know all these things, but our knowledge cannot always be in act; now when we have use of these truths, what a mercy is it that we have such a thing as memory is to remember them afresh? did David actually think of God's gracious judgements always? no, but when he had use of them, when he was at a dead lift, than memory brought him to mind. I remembered thy judgements O Lord and comforted myself, Psal. 119. 52. may be Peter had no occasion actually to think of those words of Christ, that john indeed Baptised with water, but ye shall be Baptised with the holy Ghost: but having a memory, that gave him the use of those words in due time; then I remembered the word of the Lord says he, Act. 11. 16. may be this truth is not thought of a 12. month together, that one's enemies may be they of our own household; now perhaps all on a sudden; we have use of this truth, than we remember it: now is not this a great mercy, that God hath given us such a thing; that we may put up his truths, as a man does his memory in his purse, to take it out when occasion is.  
Thirdly, it is a great blessing to have God always with 
3  one; this memory is such a faculty, that if a man have a heart, he may have God always with him, and heaven with him; ye know that most men are without God in the world, what is the reason of it? but because they will not remember him? how many do know God very much? as the Heathens did, they knew him to be eternal, to be Almighty, to be every where, to be holy and just, they knew him, but they did not like to retain him in their knowledge, Rom. 1. 28. that is, they let him go away from them, they would not keep him in remembrance, as Nebuchadezer says of his dream, when he had forgotten his dream, it is gone away from me, says he, Dan. 2. 5. so people forget God, they let God go away from them; now beloved this makes us without excuse, when God hath given us a memory, we might have God always with us, if we had a heart; we need not let him go away. The memory is a deep vault in the soul, where it may hide what it hath a mind too, that, nor men nor devils can take it away from us; as the Israelites hid their corn from the Midianites, so we may hide what ever our heart hath a liking unto in our memories, that we may have it always with us, if we will; as it is said of the good Merchant, when he had found the rich Treasure he hid it, Matth. 13. 44. that is, he laid it up in his soul's storehouse; as Solomon says, my Son if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my Commandments with thee, Prov. 2. 1. I say the memory is a deep vault in the soul, where a man hides what he hath a mind to, that it may never be taken away from him; so that memory is an excellent thing; a man may have God always with him, and heaven and all heavenly things, if so he have a mind to them.  
Fourthly, it is a great blessing, that if a man chance to 
4  go out of his way, he may put himself in again, seeing he hath a memory; I speak of a Christian, that hath once heard the ways of God he cannot go out, but by memory he may put himself in again; memory is the soul's Map; as David says, all the ends of the earth shall remember themselves and turn unto the Lord, Psal. 22. 27. he speaks of all Gods Elect; mark how they get into the way again, they shall remember themselves so when are a man steps aside by pride, thus he may come in again by remembering himself; O, God resisteth the proud, the Lord says he will give grace to none but the humble; thus he may come in again; so if he step aside by too much yielding to the world, thus he may set himself to rights, O woe is me, what have I done? now I remember the love of the world is enmity with God; if he chance to have by-thoughts at the hearing of the word, let him remember himself, O what a beast am I▪ I forgot I was in God's presence with him, I remember myself, that I am before him; and thus he may correct himself; so the prodigal Son did, when he had fetched his wild vagary, at last he remembered himself; O how many hired Servants of my Fathers have bread enough? Luke 15. 17. he remembered what a good Father he had run away from, this fetched him home again.  
Fifthly, it's a great blessing to help a man to believe; 
5  though a man do not believe for the present; he hears the word of God, he hears that which might do him good, but for the present he does not believe; yet who knows but this very word may do him good another day, memory may bring it to mind, through the goodness of God, and then he may believe it; as the Disciples of Christ, ye may read how that Christ spoke some words, that did them little good for the present. But the Text says, that when he was risen again, than they remembered the words that he had said unto them, and believed, joh. 2. 22. many times we are untoward for the present, and then the word does us little good, I but it's a blessing that we can remember; the same word may be represented by our memories to us, and may do the deed; as we see in the second son in the Gospel; his Father said to him, go work to day in my Vineyard; ye know how distempered he was for the present, he answered and said, I will not, Matth. 21. 29. I but afterwards he repented himself and went, that is, he remembered afresh what his Father said to him, and that made him do it.  
Sixthly, it's a great help to better knowledge; it may be at the first, when we are taught, the word does not sink into our hearts, we do not understand it. But yet remembering what it was we were told, afterwards through the mercy of God some thing or other comes in, that now we can say, blessed be God, now I understand such a truth, such a promise, such a commandment; and yet no new teaching, but remembering only what we read or heard; as sometime one of the jewish Doctors not understanding that place in the Prophet, where it is said, that God would sweep them away with the besom of destruction, isa. 14. 23. afterwards seeing a maid come with her bosom to sweep the house, now he saw the meaning of the place; so when Christ said to Peter, that before the Cock crowed twice he would deny him thrice; that Peter had a poor weak heart, and that he had a horrible deal of faintheartedness in him, and that he would deny his own Master, Peter understood not his words, he saw no such thing in his heart, as to think those words to be true. But when he had been in the High Priests Hall and there had abjured his Master, and had heard too the Cock crow twice, and his Master look at him, now he remembered his words, and went out and wept hitterly, Matth. 26. 75. that is, now he saw the truth of Christ's words, now he saw what a wretched heart he had, and lamented it. I say memory is a great help unto knowledge; as God says; O my people, remember now what Balak King of Moab consulted; and what Baalam the Son of Beor answered him from Shictim to Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord, Mieh. 6. 5. How many things have we heard and seen, when we were children, that then we never knew the meaning of? yet afterwards when we come to have more wit, then remembering what they were, we understand them; as Christ said to Peter, when he went to wash his feet; what I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter, John. 13. 7. that is, when thou remember'st it hereafter, than thou shalt know my meaning in it.  
Seventhly, memory is as excellent help for a man to 
7  preach to himself; Beloved we can but preach to you an hour or so, but seeing God hath given you memories, ye may preach to yourselves all the day long; memory may help you to repeat the word every day in your hearts; as the Apostle says, speaking unto your selus, Ep. 5. 19 so by reason of this blessing of God, ye may speak to yourselves from day to day.  
Nay eighthly, it's an excellent thing, for it may let you 
8  have the benefit of things before they be; your death is not yet, your last sickness is not yet, your salvation is not yet; the day of judgement, the Kingdom of glory, these are things that are not yet. I but, you having a memory, ye may have much Benefit by them in the mean time; ye may represent them to yourselves as things present, and have a world of good by them; and so all the things that are past, no act of the soul can make them still present but memory; your childhood is past, all the Sermons that ye heard heretofore are all past. O how many sins have ye committed in times past! and how many dealings have ye had of God in the days that are past? now having a memory, except ye have graceless hearts, ye may do yourselves good by all these, even as if they were now before you; if a child of God be at a loss for the present, he may help himself by memory; as David says, I remembered the days of old; I call to remembrance my Song that I have had, Psal. 77. 5. 6. so if any of you besecure, ye may remember some thing or other that is past, which may awaken you again; hath God never showed you your damned estate heretofore? were ye never sick heretofore, and did you not see that if ye had died in that case, ye had perished; ye may remember that now, and awaken yourselves; and how if God should take you away in such a case as that? It cannot be related what a blessing it is that we have a memory.  
But let us come to the third thing; and that is this, when may the memory be said to be alive? I answer, there be two parts of the memories deadness towards God. The first is an aptness to forget God and all his commands. Secondly, an aptness to remember those things that are not so good for us; now when those two faults are rectified in some measure then the memory is alive towards God.  
First, There's aptness in your memories to forget God 
1.  and all his commands; ye know God commands us to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, Exod. 20. 8. how apt are we to forget it? how commonly is it out of our minds? so in the 78. Psalm, and the 7. verse, God says there, he would not have us sorget his works, but that we should keep his commandments; now O how apt are we to let them leak out of our hearts? we have a hellish art of forgetfulness; how often do we forget ourselves herein, and suffer the remembrance of God to be taken away from us? ye have forgotten the exhortation that speaks to you as to Children, Heb. 12. 5. how often do we forget to keep ourselves unspotted? though we be told of the will of God, yet any little thing is enough to put it out of our minds, stay them not lest my people forget it; though we be told of our misery, and the infinite danger we are in, may be at the first it moves us a little, but how soon do we forget it, and other things take us up? now when this aptness is rectified in some measure; when God hath a sound impress on our minds that we must needs remember him, and all the things that concern our peace; when there's a Law in our minds, that we will not forget God; as ye may see there in David, Bless thou the Lord O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, Psal. 103. 2. when our memory is sanctified, and is made the good Treasury of our heart; when the Lord hath lifted up our memory unto him, than it is alive.  
Secondly, as by nature there's an aptness in our memory 
2  to forget God, so there's an aptness to remember other things that either are not good for us, or not so good; we are apt to remember injuries; nay, one injury will be thought one more than many good turns; so likewise idle tales, we are apt to remember them; whereas good things go out in our hearts like sparks in wet tinder. We may see this in the hearing of the word; the Apostle terms us forget full hearers, James 1. 25. if a tale be told us in a Sermon, that we can remember; how many are apt to carry that way; whereas that which is wholesome, and might do us more good, how apt we are we to forget that? as a Divine says, our memories are like strainers, all the pure milk runneth through, but if there be any dross, that stays behind; or like a grate that lets the pure water run away, and if there be any straws and sticks and filth and mud, and dregs, that it holds, so it is with our memories by nature trifles, and toys, and worldly things, them we are apt to remember, like the Shepherd in Yorkshire, that could remember all his flock, he kept a thousand sheep, and if one should but change one Sheep and put in another, he could tell which it was. But for gracious things our memories does soon forget them; like Israel, they soon forgot all the works of God, Psal. 106. 13. now what is this but the corruption & deadness of our memories towards God? may be we are apt to excuse it, alas we have weak memories true, if we were as weak memoryed in other things, it were something; but when we can remember our pleasures, and profits and tales, and any thing; when▪ we go to buy, we'll be sure to remember ourselves there, when to sell, we'll be sure to remember ourselves there, that we will have to the worth if we can. But in matters of God there we forget ourselves; this cannot be excused. Now when this is rectified in some measure, than our memory is alive; when we will rather forget any thing else then God; rather forget ourselves in all the world, then forget our duty towards God, when this study is once set up sound in the soul in some measure, now the memory is alive. Thus ye see the third thing.  
Now for the fourth, that this must needs be the life of the memory, I prove it by arguments.  
First, because the memory hath hardly any other 
1  quickening, than the quickening of the man whose memory it is, so that when the man's mind is quickened together with his conscience and heart, the memory is quickened too; as the Prophet says, I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me, Psal. 119. 93. that is, my memory is quickened up to thy precepts, because with them thou hast quickened me; for we see commonly, that the faculty of memory is much at one after conversion that it was before conversion; if it were a weak memory before; so it is after; only this; as the strength of it was let out towards the world and sin, and self before, so now the strength of it is in some measure let out towards the best things. And therefore what can the life of the memory be, but the aptness of a man to remember God?  
Secondly, because this is the only practical memory; 
2  ye know a man may have an admirable memory, to remember Sermons, whole Chapters in the Bible, and yet have a dead memory to God; a Sanctified memory, is a practical memory; as the Lord says, remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; q. d. ye may remember still when the Sabbath is come, I this is the Sabbath day; that is not it; that's only a contemplative memory. But I would have you have a practical memory; not only to remember the duty, but remember for to do it; for as the contemplative understanding hath a faculty of conserving its species; so the practical understanding, hath a faculty of conserving its species too; as long as a man hath not this practical memory, it is nothing. Because he remembered not to show mercy, Psal. 109. 16. mark, the Lord does not sinde fault with a man for not remembering of that duty, for may be he did remember that, I but he did not remember to do his duty; this is a live memory, when a man's practical memory is towards God and his ways. Now when a man is made again to remember God and all his holy ways, now his memory must needs be made practical.  
Thirdly, because this is the only memory that 
3.  represents things lively to the soul. I say when a man is made in some measure apt and inclined to remember God, then and only then does his memory represent God and his ways lively to him; ye know reason says the life of the memory must needs be in this, that it represents things lively and powerfully unto us; when it does not only show us what we do remember, but it shows it to the life; when it shows it dully and bluntly and obscurely, that's with a kind of forgetfulness; then a man remembers it to the full, when a man remembers to the utmost of what he once knew; so that if a man's memory be alive, it must remember to the full in a perfect manner; as David says, I have remembered thy name O Lord in the night, and have kept thy Law; Psal. 119. 55. that is, I remembered it, and remembered it to the full, I represented it powerfully to myself, so that I made myself to keep thy Law by it. I affected my own heart by what I did remember; as the Church says, my jeule hath them s●●ll in remembrance, & is humbled within me, Lam. 3. 20. well then ye see, that a lively memory is it that represents things lively to a man; now when a man is made again to remember God and his ways, then and never till then does he represent God lively to himself. Those that have not this aptness wrought in them, may be they remember God now and then, and the duties now and then, but they never remember them in a lively perfect manner.  
The use of this is, first, if this be the only lively memory 
Use 1.  to be apt to remember God, then let us labour to get this same aptness into our minds to remember God in all our ways. Let us consider. First because without this memory, all men's other cries are nothing. Israel had a memory to remember God; they remembered that God was their Rock, and at the high God was their redeemer, Psal. 78. 35. but that remembrance was nothing. So that if we be not thus mindful of God, we are yet in our sins; as God tells judah. Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore be are thou thy lewdness, Ezek. 23. 35. if a man were once pulled out of his sins, if he once had that true conviction, and godly sorrow, and reformation, and faith and amendment of life that is in being converted, the soul would have the lively remembrance of it still, to make him go on as he hath begun, and therefore if we have not this blessed remembrance yet in us, it is most plain we are yet in our sins.  
Thirdly, thy heart can never retain God's commandments 
2  without this same memory; as Solomon says; My Son forget not my Law, but let thy heart keep my Commandments, Prov. 3. 1.  
Fourthy, The want of this remembering of God is the 
3  cause of all sin; Moses speaking of all the sins of Israel, says he, they have forgotten the God that form them, Deut. 32. 18. so again in another place; they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord, Jer. 3. 21. so again it is said in the Book of the Judges, the Children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot him, Judg. 3. 7.  
Fourthly, the want of this memory, is the high way to 
4  destruction, the Lord will destroy them, that forget him; that do not remember to fear him, that do not press it upon their minds still to regard him; the Lord will in the end, destroy all such people; as he says, Israel hath forgotten his maker, therefore I will kindle afire, that shall devour them, Hos. 8. 14. Beloved how do we look that God should remembers us, if we will forget him. I will utterly forget you. Jer. 23. 39  
Secondly, another use is to show you, how ye may get 
2  alive memory. There be seven causes of it.  
The first, is a true knowledge of God. I told you remembrance 
1.  is most properly in the understanding; now look how a man understands God, so he does remember; if a man know God only literally, he remembers him no otherwise; but if a man know God aright, than he remembers him aright. The understanding can keep no other species than it hath; if it have a saving knowledge of God, than it hath saving species of God; no man can have other money in his purse, than he puts into his purse. If he would have Gold in his purse, he must put Gold into his purse; so if we would remember God aright, let us labour to get a right knowledge of him. I will establish my Covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, that thou mayst remember, etc. Ezek. 16. 62. 63.  
Secondly, a new and a true heart; men's memories ever 
2  follow the nature of their hearts; they ever will remember that their memory is set to; let a man be proud, he will ever remember his respect; let him do any thing that seems to deserve praise, he will ever remember to jet himself; let him be at any time disparaged, he will ever remember to be very much stirred; so let a man be covetous, he will ever remember his profit, he will remember never to go against his profit, if he can otherwise choose; what ever he forgets, he will not forget that; so let a man be Bookish, let a man's lusts be to have learning, he will be sure to remember that; now if a man's heart be set truly towards God, this will draw his mind towards God, now he will remember to please God, to have his heart in a sweet frame; if he finde any distemper in his heart, he will remember to remove that if he can possibly; when the heart is upright, it runs thus; we will remember thy love more than wine, the upright love thee, Cant. 1. 4. so that if we would remember God with this alive memory, we must get an upright heart.  
Thirdly, a clear and a distinct estate before God; as long as a man is confused in his conscience, he knows not 
3.  what to make of himself; this breaks the neck of true memory; methodus est mater memoriae, distinctness is the mother of memory as we say. Let a man be confused in his notions, this spoileth all memory; so it is here, as long as we are confused in our consciences, we know not where we are; we cannot remember God; we know not what to call to mind; his justice or his mercy, his promises or his threatenings; as David when he was to seek at one time, he could not remember God to any purpose, I remembered God and was troubled says he, Psal. 77. 3. He was troubled horribly in remembering of him; like a man in his wooing, he is troubled to remember aught; now when a man hath cleared up his Estate, it's strange to see how clear he is in his Prayers, how clear in his conscience, clear in his apprehensions, where as another man knows not where he is; so that if we would remember God in all our ways, let us labour to clear up our estates; this will help us to remember him a thousand times better than ever we did before; then we shall see his promises distinctly, and every thing distinctly.  
Fourthly, a delight in good ways; this is a very admirable help of memory; what's the reason, we are apt to 
4.  forget any thing, but because we do not regard it; the more the mind regards any thing, the more it remembers it; as the Prophet says, I will delight myself in thy Statutes, I will not forget thy word, Psal. 119. 16. And so for hope too. Ps. 78. 7.  
Fifthly, meditation is another cause of this remembering 
5  of God; meditationes salvant memoriam says Aristotle. the more a man thinks of a thing, it is the deeper in his mind; when the good man had said, he would remember God's works, Psal. 77. 11. O says he, I will meditate of them, verse 12.  
Sixthly, the rubbing up of our memories. The memory 
6.  is a very lazy faculty, if it be not every foot rubbed up, it will be forgetful; therefore we should rub up our minds, if we see them ready to let his word slip, we must call it back again; as the Lord says, remember this and show yourselves men, bring it to mind O ye transgressors, I sa. 46. 8. our memories are naturally exceeding slippery, they are apt to leak out that which is good; and therefore we should take pains with our minds, as the Apostle speaks; therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, least at any time we let them slip, Heb. 2. 1.  
Seventhly, and lastly, which is the main of all, and that 
7  is the holy Ghost. But the comforter which is the holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you, John. 14. 26.   
FINIS.