to dro'vfie SAINTS. have a care to be quickned. For if we be not quickned,Bre- thren, our guiltinefíe is very great, we fhall involve many others in our fin : It willgoe hardwith every private per - (on that is dead to all goodnes:He cannot be faved,he cannot efcape the fecond death. How then can a dead Minifter e- fcape, that bath not onely his ewne deadnefíe to anfwer for, but alío the deadnefíe of all his people ? What fayes the Lord to the Minihers of the dead Churches of Sardis, Repent,repent, fayes he, left I come againfi thee as a thiefe, in an honre before thou art asvare.Rev.3.3. And therefore let us be awakened, that we maybe quickned. Beloved, the times now are very dead, and wee that are the Minihers of the Church have let this deadnefíe in,our not being watch - full, our not being lively and flirting in our places , our not being quickned. O what wrath hangs upon us, if we do not labour for life,that we may communicate it unto our people t The commondeadnefleup and downe fhould bee an argu- ment unto us to excite us. WhenElijha taw the badneffe of the Church in his dayes , he was very earneh to have the fpirit of Elias doubled upon him, z Kings 2.9.We have need of a double fpirit of the good Minifters of God that were before us, the day es doe require it, never ' was there more deadnefíe than now is. There are not many that pro- fefíe holinefíe at all, but of them that doe ; O how many are dead, and without life ! now who fhould be a meanes to quicken people but wee i? Thirdly, This should teach good people to pray for their Minihers : the more quickned the Minihers be, it is the bet- ter for them.But if they be dead, the infe:tion will defcend downe into you. When Pant and Silas went out to preach, the Text fayes,T'hey were commended by the brethren to °the grace of God,Aets 15.4o. Fourthly, This fhould be an exhortation to us of the Mi- nihery, that wee would take heed unto our felves and to all the Church of God that is committed unto our charge : that we would route up our felves,and fpecially now, when there was never more need. When the children of Ifrael K were fife 3, îl fe q.:
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