ri 290 SEVENTH SERMON saints might be perfected, that the body of Chri: t might be edified, that men might grow up into Christ in all things, Eph. iv. 11. 15. that their eyes might be opened, and they turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, Acts xxvi. 16 -18. The prophet concludeth that he hath laboured in vain ; if Israel be not gathered, Isa. xlix. 4, 5. Without this the law is vain, the pen of the scribe in vain, Jer. viii. 8. better not know the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment which was delivered unto us, 2 Pet. ii. 21. We should esteem it a great misery to be without preaching, without ordinances, and so indeed it is ; of all famine, that of the word of the Lord is the most dreadful ; better. be with God's presence in a wilderness, than in. Canaan without him., Exod. xxxiii. 15. better bread . of afflic- tion, and water of affliction, than a famine of hearing the word ; to have our teachers removed, Amos viii, 11. Isa. xxx. 20. this is mischief upon mischief, when the law perisheth from the priest, and there is no vision, Ezek. vii. 26. and yet it is much better to be in this case, without a teaching priest, and without the law, than to enjoy them, and not to walk answerably unto them ; where the word is not a savour of life, it is a savour of death unto death, exceedingly mul- tiplying the damnation of those that do despise it, 2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. Matt. xi. 22. 24. 1. It doth ripen those sins that it finds, making them much more sinful than in other men, because committed against greater light and more mercy. One and the same sin in a heathen is not so heinous and hateful as in a christian. Those trees on which the sun constantly shines, have their fruit grow riper and greater than those which grow in a shady and cold place. The
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