'I • ... ofa de11d J{e/igion_ wardly it may fetm as ifall their graces were withered, they have not the fenfc, tb\equickncffe, the joy, the delight, the communion with God, t ha.t once they had. As Sar4hs womb was calleda iitadWomb, fo their hearcs- are dead hearts, they bring forth no fruit: As life is either taken pro aflu prima. the fountain or root of life, or pro aElu feeundo, the motions and expreffions of life; now as fome difeafes, the lethargy and the like,makc men d(!ad in the {econd fenfe,but not in the firft: Thus it is with the godly, if you take life for the aCluall mo~ tions and u:preffions of it,' they are exceeding de1d, you can hardly perceive tny bre1thing in them, only this is a root un– der ground, ,and•God in due time, he will quicken them, but when this deadndfe and fenfelefn,effe is complainedof, then there is an expreffion of life.As_D.evid. Pfal.J 1) .'prayeth God would quick.§n himoften. So tbat there is a partiall and gra– dual deadneffe, whiCh the people of God do ofcen labour s.u1der, but this is. not the deadneffe in the text. Vft of Admonition, Let us look all tO this-trutb, whether ' our Religion and duties come not from a dead heart, whether . thou art not dc1d at root,for all the leaves that arc upon thee: lf there be any truth that we would wiih you to think of evening and morning, to meditate on eating and drinkin.g, it fltould be this~Am not I dead in the .;oot all this while?Blame not the Miniftry, or thy earthly imployments, but thy own heart.Si rivus deficit ,culpa elf non alveifedfontu; If che fircam .dry up,the fault is not in the channell but in roe fpring. If thy duties,chy performances be barren, dry and empty,its ·becaufe there is not afpring in thy heart: Why art thou fo afraid of corporall death,and fesrcfl not this,which only deferveth the name ofdeath? Oh the number of dead men that are eve'ry where. Thofe that lye buried in their graves are not more devoid ofnaturalllife, then moll men areoffpiriru all life. As therefore they were fo follicitous eo have ChriO: come and raife their dead1riends, fo be thoufor thy felf, in all that be· longs to thee: Oh thst this dead childe, dead husb'and 'Or friend might be raifed eo a fpiricuallife. . S21UI. o
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