Fenner - Houston-Packer Collection BX5037 .F46 1651

222. I CHR.IS.T'S darns that is counted thankelgiving without being affeetd with his infinite goodneffc ; and yet who does unfeignedly labour to bee affeóìed with them from day to day ? No body of us dares deny but that wee fhorild fee the Lord alwayes before us, that lee may be at our right hand and yet who bath the heart to provoke himfelf hereunto ? The Devil may be at their right hand and not God, for all the paines that they take to have him there. So that dead- heartedneffe is a common evil now a -ml yes ; as Chrifff (ayes of the Iafc times. Becaufe ini- quity (hall abound, The love of many flsall wane cold, Math. z_l,r z. So it is now ; becanfe Iniquity abounds the moft are prophane, and diflolate, and licentious, and loofe; therefore many that profefle love to Jefiu Chriff, their love does_grow cold and dead; no life hardly at all, no (ione that they arc a- live from the dead ; if they doe beleeve ater a manncr,there's all, they doe not live in Jelùs í hrifk ; 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 wayes , if they doe fee their times, there's the utmuff, it is a dead fight, that does not e,xcite them up unto ffri&neffe and precifeneffe of Eying, if they doe follow good and godly duties, alas there bee few that doe fo, but if they doe goe fó farce it is cleane without heart and life; as though any thing would ferve Gods turne I well enough ; what a horrible thing i'f} when a dead Chrif t- an is as good as no Chriflian at all. No matter how many Chrrflians we have, alas none of us are true, but fúeh as are alive from the dead. Secondly, is it fo that a dead Chriflian is even as good- as no Chriffian at a11; then learne hence my Brethren , what a dangerous thing it is to bee á dead- hearted Chriffian. Firfl, all that we doe with a dead heart, 'ris as rood as no- thing ; as Paul layes of Love Had wee all fairsr. wnd a!1 !, knewlea'ge ; yet if wee havesot love, wee are sstbsng, i Cot. z 3. a. Whatloever we doe, if we doe not dee it out of love, all's nothing ; So J may lay of life, whatfoever good duty we doe, if we doe not dee it with life, it is bait a dead worke and

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