of u11ly hAving 4 Nttme tBlive~ not have been if David had been devoid of fpir!tnal life i You fee a dead man can take no delight in eating or drinking, no-joy in the company ofthofe that were his dearcll: friends; and thus men fpiritnally dead in finne, though they pray,they hear,they have family -duties,yct ~hey have no true delight in thefe th ings, they have no fpiritual communion with God in ,the ufe of them. Oh confider this particular, for nothing will foonc r difconr whether thou art alive or dead,thcn this par– ticuladrn all Ordinances&holy duties dofl thou by faith have communion with God? Is-thy heart and atfctl:ions afcending. to him ? An; hisg~cious influences defcenping upon thee}. then here is life in thee, for all thefe religious duties they are an heavenly commerce with God, though \"VC do not as Mo· fes fpuk,face to face to God, as one friend to another, yet by faith in a fpiritual mannerthe foul 5lorh there enjoy God, and rcceivcth of his favours, fo tha~ all thofe duties are dead duties, and thofe Ordinances are dead Ordinances, when God and the foul have not this fpiritual intercon'rfe. But: where is the Auditor to whom this is nota riddle? Is not this· · amyfiery unto moft men? They draw not nigh te God,they are not believing in,or enjoying of God in theirduties;its not God that they immediately clofe with ; Its not Cbrifi appre-: bended by faith, that their fouls do irobrace in thefe times. Fifthly, Where there is onely a N 11me of life in dutieg~ 'I,hereunofpiritu~rl ejfetl obtained by the dail] exercife of thtm. ~ut they are flill the fame perfons, their lives are ll:ill the fame. Now this could not.be, if our religious duties were performed-with lively principles, for confider. the glorious ends why Cbrift bath appoinrc.d praying, hearing, arid all his other Ordinances in the Church, they are to beget and incrcafe-the life ef grace inus, they arc to make us grow and bring forth more fruit . But this dead formalifi is alwaies at: the fame fiand, his graces do not flourifh more, he is not nrried on to funhe.r perfeelion, but as he was ten or twenty years ago, be is .fiill the fame. Oh - ~elovcd, this argueth we want red life in-cur profeffion, for Chri'ft would draw nigh in thefe difpenfations, he woulcl blcffe our Llore, and rmake our five tdents to increafe to ten. We ihould finde verP. o 3 toe: 5'•· Thereis no fpiricual efre<!l of duties to fuch men•.
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