he is presently able to communicate life unto another: "When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren,” Luke xxii. 32. No sooner was Paul made alive by another, but he presently goes and communicates this life unto his brethren.

And let me tell you or one thing more: though your sins have been very great while you were in the state of death, before you were made partakers of this spiritual life: yet when ye once come to partake of this spiritual life, the Lord will look upon all your former sin under another consideration, a mollifying consideration. "This my son was dead, (says the father of the prodigal,) and is now alive," Luke xv. 24: that is all. He does not say, This was a whoremonger, or this was a rioter, or this was a spendthrift; and now he is returned and come home to me for meat: no, but in mollifying terms, only thus, "This my son was dead, and is now alive." And ye know what is said of David, David committed a great sin in the murder of Uriah: and yet says the Lord concerning David," He turned not aside to the right hand or to the left, save only in the matter of Uriah," 1 Kings xv. 5. He does not say, Save only in the murder of Uriah; but in a mollifying term, he says only so, save only in the matter of Uriah: a mollifying term: why? because that David had repented of the sin, and now the Lord does not look upon it, but under this mollifying term; save only in the matter; not in the murder of Uriah, but in the matter of Uriah. And so, if thou do repent, and turn unto the Lord thy God, though. thy sins have been very great in the state of thy death, yet if once ye come to be made partaker of this spiritual life, the Lord will look upon all thy former sins under other terms, and mollifying considerations: He will not say, Here is this poor wretch, that now I do look upon as a drunkard, or a swearer; but he will say thus; This my son was dead, but is now alive: this my daughter was dead, and is now alive. Thus the Lord will look upon your former evils, if once ye come to be made partakers of this spiritual life. Oh, therefore, what a blessed condition are the saints and people of God in, that are made partakers of this same spiritual life. I remember it is written of a certain martyr in the primitive times, a woman; when she was brought before the enemies of the gospel, they put divers questions to her, and she ans

wered all their questions with one answer, which was this: Christiana sum, I AM A CHRISTIAN. When they said unto her, Woman, art thou married or no? I am a christian, says she. What parents hast thou, woman? I am a christian, says she. Woman, where dost thou live? I am a christian, says she. She answered all their questions with this, I am a christian. And so, methinks a man may answer all objections that are made unto him with this: I am alive in Christ. But, thou hast a dead estate, much of it is lost at sea, or land. Well, but I am alive in Christ. But hast thou not a dead husband, or a dead wife, or a dead child? I am alive in Christ. But, is not thy name under reproaches? I am alive in Christ. A poor soul may answer all with this; I am alive in Christ. Oh, what a blessed thing is it, for a man to be made partaker of this spiritual life! This is the condition of all the saints. Art thou therefore alive, and made partaker of this spiritual life? blessed art thou from the Lord, and thou shalt be blessed to all eternity.

dead, and buried

I am afraid that I have not this spiritual life; for my heart is dead, and cold and stiff: and dead men, they are cold and stiff, very stiff: and truly so it is with me; my heart is cold, and dead, and stiff, and therefore I fear I am free among the dead, and not free among the living.

I answer, Have ye not heard, that there is a deadness which is opposite to liveliness, as well as a death that is opposite to life? And were thine heart dead, with a death opposite to life, thou couldst not feel it. And I appeal to thee; if that thy soul be alive in opposition to death; hast thou not more cause to be thankful, that thy soul is alive in opposition to death, than to be discouraged, that thy soul is dead in opposition to liveliness?

But there is a difference, ye know, between the coldness of a living man, and the coldness of a dead man. Take a dead man, and if he be cold, it is not all your fires will put warmth into him, or your Aqua-vitæ, or your chafing or rubbing of him, or your warm beds that will make him warm. But now take a man that is cold, and living; and if ye chafe him, or bring him to the fire, or lay him in a good warm bed; he recovers his warmth again. And so it is with a godly heart though cold, yet bring it unto the ordinance,

either publicly, or privately, and it recovers its warmth again and hath it not been even so with some of you?

But have you found yourway; and are you so stiff

It is true, a dead man is stiff. selves in a way of sin, an evil therein, as ye will not be put out of your way, no, not by admonition? then ye are stiff indeed. There are two men that are out of the way, suppose, the traveller, and the thief: the traveller is out of his way: and if you come to him and say, Sir, you are much out of your way: he hearkens to ye, and he thanks ye, and he returns into his way again. But if ye come to a thief and say, Sir, you are out of your way; he laughs, and scorns, and comes not into the way. So, there are some indeed, that are out of their way; and if you do come to them and tell them, that they are out of their way; they will bless and praise the Lord for your admonition, and labour to return into their way again. But some there are, that if you tell them, that they are out of their way, they will rather scorn and jeer at it; What have you to do to meddle with me? what have you to do to meddle with my ways? meddle with your own matters. These men are stiff, they are stiff indeed; why? because they are dead: they are stiff in the way of their sin, and they will not be stirred out, no, not by admonition, why? because they are dead. But I appeal to ye, whether is it thus with ye or no? Do not ye say rather, I praise the Lord, though sometimes, yea many times, I am out of the way, and in the way of sin; yet I can rejoice in an admonition, and bless the Lord for an admonition: yea, this I can speak, though my heart be sometimes very cold, yet I have found heat, and warmth recovered again, either under a public, or under a private ordinance: well then, be of good comfort, thou art not dead; though thou mayest be asleep, yet thou mayest be among the living.

I am afraid that I am not alive spiritually, that I am not made partaker of this spiritual life, because I do not grow in grace; and this is the difference between a living child and a dead child: the dead painted child grows not, but the living child grows; and the Lord knows I do not grow in grace, and therefore I fear that I am but the painted child of God, and I am not the living child.

I answer, If this were true, it were ill: for growth, indeed,

is a sign of life. But whoever you are that make this objection, and lie under this fear: give me leave to propound to ye two or three questions.

Do ye not grow more out of love with your own righteousness, and with your own duties, as to the resting on them? The stronger a man grows in grace, the more he grows into Christ; and so, the more he grows off from himself and his own righteousness.

Do ye not find, that ye are less subject to be offended now than heretofore ye were? When a man is in the state of nature, and in spiritual death, then he is apt to be offended against all actions, and against the good way of God, and the people of God; this is your godliness, these are your professors, and they are all so: very apt to be offended. When a man is converted, and turned to God; while he is weak in grace, he is apt to stumble, and to be offended; but the stronger he grows in grace, the less he will be offended.

Whether do ye not grow more off from the youthful things that godly men look unto? I say, the things that the youthfulness of godliness is taken much with? Ye know that youth is taken with many things that the state of man is not. A child, a little child is taken with babies, and with rattles, and with toys; and when it grows bigger to eight, nine, or ten years old, it is taken with other things; and as the child grows into a man, so he grows off from those childish and youthful things. There are some things that the youth of godliness is taken withal; as, taken much with expressions in prayer, and duty, and hearing the word; and taken much with the sense and feeling of God's love; this is good, and they cannot live without it. But when a man grows into more strength of grace, then he grows off from these things. that the youth of godliness is taken withal, and he is more able to live without them; heretofore he could not live without such an expression in duty, and he could not live by faith alone: but now, when once he grows to a man in grace, he is more grown off from that which the youth of godliness is taken withal. Now upon all these things, I appeal to ye. Whoever ye are that makes this objection, and say, Ye cannot grow in grace, and therefore afraid that ye are but the painted child of God, and not the living child of God: whe

ther do ye not find, that ye are more grown off from those things that the youth of godliness is taken with? Whether do ye not find, that ye are less subject to be offended now, than you were heretofore? And are you not more grown off from your own righteousness? Yes, I must needs say this, through the Lord's goodness and mercy to me, though I am not grown in grace as I desire, yet I am more grown off from my own righteousness than I was heretofore: and I am not so subject to be offended at the good ways of God and the people of God, as heretofore: and, I praise God I can live off from those things that the youth of godliness is taken withal: well, be of good comfort, thou art grown, and thou art not the painted child, but, for aught I know, thou mayest be the living child, dear and precious with the Lord thy Father.

But there is one thing yet sticks with me, and makes me afraid that I am yet dead in my sins and trespasses, and that I am not made partaker of this spiritual life, and that is this; I am alive to the world: can a man live unto God and to the world too? when I go into the world and upon my worldly occasions, then I am very lively; but when I come to duty, then I am dead, and my heart dead, and therefore I am afraid that I am not alive to God, and made partaker of this spiritual life.

I answer, This, if true, is very ill: for I find in that xiiith of Matthew, the parable of the seed, that there are three false grounds, unto one true ground; three unsound hearts to one sound, that live under the gospel and the preaching of the word; and that ground that goes the furthest and yet falls short of the truth, is the ground that received the word; the thorny ground, and the thorns choked it: it is the worldly professor. Three to one false; and the worldly professor goes the furthest, such a one as is choked in duty with the world.

But yet notwithstanding, let me tell ye this: Every man is not alive to the world, or a worldly man, that does use the things of the world, or that is active, and cheerful in the way of his calling for the things of the world, they are the ma

terials of our grace, that our grace works upon while we are

here below.

Yea, let me tell you further, and I pray observe it warily,