came together. And (ver. 7.) they were all amazed, and marvelled: : very great amusement was upon the minds of men. Though it is true there was somewhat miraculous in the case, that is, the power of speaking variety of languages all of a sudden; and we suspend any judgment for the present, about what we are to expect hereafter in the church of God of the same thing, or of any thing of like kind. But to have so much, as is of ordinary and common concernment to souls, wrought and done, as hath been mentioned, somewhat generally; this cannot but infer much observation, much wonder and amusement of mind with others, much discourse and talk upon the subject, and thereupon inquiry both into the truth and tendency of the matter of fact.

5. Upon such inquiry, we may suppose there will ensue approbation; that is, at least a judicious approbation, that shall go as far as the judgment and conscience, though it may not suddenly descend upon the heart and affections: we may promise ourselves that, such being the nature of religious concernments, and their high reasonableness so very apparent. What is it that these men drive at ? whither do these new impressions on their minds carry them? Why, only to mind the great Lord and Original and Author of all things! to give over living, as the most of men have heretofore done, in a total oblivion and neglect of their own original! How strange is it for men lately come into being, to live in this world and never think: How came we into being? how came there to be such a thing as man on earth? such a world as this? so various orders of creatures in it? All that religion tends to, when it comes to revive in the spirits of men, is but to engage them to look back to their own original, to consider whence they sprang; and what duty they owe there, what reverence and fear and love; and what expectations they may have from that great and eternal and all-comprehending Being, from whom they and all things did proceed, and whereas they find themselves in a lapse and apostacy with the rest of mankind, and have the discovery of a Redeemer; and of God restoring and recovering souls by him; to consider, what trust, what love, what subjection, what entire devotedness is justly claimed as most due and fit to be paid to him. When religion aims at no other things than these; we may promise ourselves, that the inquiry will end in approbation: all this is equal, and righteous, and good; men can have nothing to say against it. The concernments of religion are of that sort and kind, that they will admit of search and bear an inquiry: and men are only therefore not approvers of religion at least, because they inquire not, and so can understand no reason imaginable why men should pretend to any religion at all. But the same reasons will urge a thousand times more for the greatest and deepest seriousness in religion: for the mere formality of religion, without the substance and soul, is the most absurd and ridiculous thing in all the world, and for which least is to be said. The profession of downright atheism were a great deal more rational, than to pretend to the belief of such a deity that can be pleased with trifles and shadows; than to worship such a thing for a God, that cannot tell whether I love him or no, and fear him or no, and have a heart really propense and devoted to him or no. The inquiry and discussion of the case must be supposed to infer great approbation.

6. That is likely to infer an apprehension of somewhat divine in it. When it shall be seen, that men are strangely wrought upon, and very great changes made upon them; and when being discoursed with, and the things unto which their spirits tend being examined and searched into, they are found to speak words of truth and soberness, and not like mad and distracted men, that are beside themselves; (as the apostles were fain to apologize once and again, when so strange things began to be wrought by their ministry at the first, in Acts ii. 15, 16. and chap. xxvi. 25.) This must be supposed also very apt and likely to succeed, that there will be an apprehension in the case, that there is something divine in all this; some misgiving or suspicion of it; "Sure it is of God, that there is this change and turn upon the spirits of so many men! Sure there is some divine hand in it!" We find, that there were such apprehensions of somewhat divine in the matter, when so great things were wrought at first by the ministry of the

apostles. The most malicious eneinies were full of doubt, whereunto this would grow, Acts v. 24. And one of their wisest men saith, in ver. 39. "If it (this thing) be of God;"-that if imports a suspicion, some doubt and apprehension of the thing as not improbable: "Perhaps this is of God, that there are begun such alterations in many men; that those who lived before as if they were altogether made of earth, now are come to mind nothing but heaven and eternity, and the concernment of another world. It is very likely, that there is a divine hand in this matter; for the more we inquire and search, the less we have to say against what these men do; we cannot see but it is highly reasonable, that men should live, as they say we should, in more serious observance of, and devotedness and love to, the great Lord of heaven and earth, and the Redeemer of sinners." And,

7. Hereupon succeeds naturally a favourable inclination towards religion, in those who have hitherto been strangers, at least, to the power and life of it. When they see it sparkle in the conversations of others; when they see persons that were become like other men, (for that is the present state of the world, and it is too much to be feared that it will grow more and more so, that those who have been very forward professors of religion fall to decay, and their profession like an old garment grows threadbare, and is worn off from them by piece-meal, and they cease to be what they were; family orders are thrown off, no worship, no calling upon God; they let themselves be ingulfed of the world, as if they were here in the world for nothing else than to drive designs for a few days; eternity and everlasting concernments being quite forgot,) when it shall be said, that men, whatever they were before, are awakening out of this drowsy, dead sleep, and returning from that dreadful apostacy; and a spirit of seriousness and life and vigour begins to show itself; and religion and holiness (as I was saying) shall sparkle in the lives of them, in whose conversation there was hardly the least glimmering of it appearing before: then so amiable and lovely a thing, as well as highly reasonable, religion is, that it will draw favourable inclination; especially when that apprehension goes along, that there is certainly some divine impression upon men's minds, that makes them to bestir themselves and to alter their course from what it was, and that induces so many to do thus as it were at once. For there is a natural reverence of what is apprehended to be divine; this naturally draws a kind of veneration. It was indeed strange, how the world could be imposed upon to believe such figments and fables as they did; but being made to believe them, we see what was the natural operation of that veneration, which resides in the spirits of men, of things apprehended divine. For the image that dropped down from Jupiter, mentioned in Acts xix. 35. it is strange, how the people could be made to believe, that such an image fell down out of heaven: but being made to believe it, nature followed its own course; that is, most highly to reverence what they apprehended to be of a divine descent, and what came from above. All the city, all that city of Ephesus, was a worshipper of the image that they were told came down from Jupiter. A favourable propension there will be towards religion, when once men come generally to take notice of it as a divine thing; of divine descent, as it is of a divine tendency. And so it was in that first great work of this kind, which we read of in Acts ii. That numerous multitude of converts, three thousand at one sermon, continued in breaking of bread from house to house, and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, (ver. 46.) praising God, and having favour with all the people, ver. 47. Religion, when it comes to be itself and to look like itself, will very much attract favour from all that behold the genuine, natural workings and tendencies of it.

8. Hereupon doth unavoidably ensue a general reputation to serious religion, which will signify a great deal to this. When serious religion shall by these means be brough into credit, then the work will drive on apace, and the chariot-wheels move easily. Let us but bethink ourselves, what the reputation even of so despicable a thing as wickedness itself doth in the world; how it spreads, when common practice hath once given it a reputation. Things, that at other times persons would have been ashamed of,

or even that they should be suspected concerning them, I afterwards they come to glory in: and when once the restraint of shame is gone off from the spirits of men, it is a strange liberty they find to do wickedly; now they can easily go from one wickedness to another, from bad to worse, and still to worse; for the restraint is gone, that bound up their spirits before. When the shame then of being seriously religious shall cease, and it shall become a reputation in the world; think, what that will signify in the case of so highly reasonable and beautiful a thing, as religion in itself is. Common reputation gives a patronage to so horrid, so ignominious a thing as wickedness: what will not so lovely and praise-worthy a thing, as religion is in the very heart and conscience of men that allow them selves to consider it, gain of reputation and by it in such a case; when every man shall be the more esteemed of, by how much the more he appears a sincerely religious man; when no man shall be afraid to avow himself a fearer of the great Lord of heaven and earth, but this shall be reckoned in every one's account a high glory; when every one shall be ready to give suffrage to it, and to say, it is reasonable we should all be so? Then may we suppose religion to be riding on prosperously, conquering and to conquer; then may we expect the arrows of the great Author of it to be sharp in the hearts of men, the way of access will be easy into the inwards of men's souls, the great truths and doctrines of religion will come under no prejudice, men will not be shy and ashamed to entertain them, or afraid what the tendency of entertaining them will be, or what course they shall be thereby engaged in, that may possibly prove injurious to them in point of reputation or worldly interest one way or another.

These things being all taken together, it seems we have a pretty apt method, and a representation of fair and easy steps, in which we may suppose such a work to be carried on; when once there is that great effort of the almighty power of the Spirit, to cause somewhat general rousings and awakenings in the spirits of men, to make them a little bestir themselves and look about them, with respect to the concernments of the Maker of this world, and their relation and tendency to another world. And when we see how such a thing may be carried on from step to step, the apprehension of it should not be thrown aside as very remote and alien, and as if it were altogether unlikely that any such thing should ever be done in the world. You know that great inundations, as they gradually spread in circuit, so they increase and grow more copious by a continual accession of new rivulets and springs to them, wherever they spread: so it is in such a work as this of the Spirit of God. That Almighty Spirit, the further it goes, the more it engages and takes in the concurrence of the spirits of men, as so many rivulets into the great and common inundation. For the expression of pouring forth the Spirit seems to favour that metaphor, and to look to wards it; as the communications of the Spirit are frequently in Scripture spoken of under the same metaphor of streams of water, rivers of water. So it is also in a common conflagration; (the workings of the Spirit are represented by both these elements;) the further the fire spreads, still the more matter it meets with, the more combustible matter; and that way still more and more increases itself, even intensively, according as it spreads more extensively: because it still meets with more fuel to feed upon. We might thus render this business very easy and familiar to our own thoughts, by considering how such a communication of the Spirit once begun and set on foot doth spread and propagate itself, even in an ordinary and easy way and method further and further.

I shall only close at present with one hint, which may point out to us one thing more, as a way to make this apprehension most familiar to us. It would certainly be most clearly apprehensible, how such a work may be wrought,by getting as much of it as is possible exemplified in ourselves, upon our own souls. If once we come to find and feel the Spirit of the living God seizing our spirits, coming with an almighty and irresistible power upon us; if we can but feel the fire burn within, and find it refining us, consuming our dross, melting and mollifying us, new moulding us, quickening and enlarging us; it will be very easy to ap

* Preached June 19th, 1678.

prehend then, how such a work may be carried on in the world. For if I have but the notion of a unit in my mind, I can soon apprehend a bigger number; it is but adding one unit to that, and another to that, and so on, till I come to a greater number. If I can but find and experience such a mighty operation of that blessed Spirit upon my own soul, it is easy then to conceive thus; if it be so with another, and another, and another, religion will in this way become a very lively prosperous thing in the world. It is but the multiplying of instances, and the thing is done: and he that can do so by me, can do the same by another, and another, and so onwards. And methinks we should not rest ourselves satisfied, till we find somewhat, till we find more of this within ourselves. Oh what a miserable thing is a Christian, when he is dead! We look with a great deal of compassion upon the death of any thing; but the case claims so much the more, by how much the life is more noble that is extinct or seems extinct; or when the life once supposed to have been, now appears as if it were quite extinct. Is the expiration of this natural life a thing to be beheld with pity? what is it to lose, orto appear at least deprived of the life of a child of God? to be destitute of such a life, which I have at least pretended to, and carried some appearance and semblance of? The death of a peasant is a considerable thing, and it were barbarous not to take notice of it with a resentment; but when it comes to be talked, A great man is dead, a nobleman, a prince; this makes a great noise and ring in the world; and such a person having been of any use and account in his age, his exit is not without a great lamentation. If I had but a finger dead, it would be an affiction; but if I look into myself, lo, there I behold the death of a soul, a reasonable, intelligent pirit; that ought to live the life of God, devoted to God, in commerce with God; I look into it, and it is dead. Oh! how intolerable a thing should this be to me! till I find some revivings, some stirrings, some indications of life; that is, till I find religion live; that I have somewhat more than an empty, naked, spiritless form of religion; that I can now go and pray, and have life in my prayer; go and hear the word, and find life in my hearing. Of all deaths there is none so dreadful and so to be lamented, as that of religion, and certainly most of all in ourselves; that my religion is a dead thing. How impatient should I be to find it revived! And if I will but be restless in this, and make it my daily business importunately to supplicate the Father of spirits, "Take pity of thine own offspring, let me not lie languishing still in death;" and I at last obtain a merciful audience, (as it is plainly said, that the heart shall live that seeks God,) then have such an exemplification in my own soul of the matter we have been discoursing of, as that I can easily represent to myself; "When such a work is done in others as is done in my own soul, and comes to be made common amongst others; then will religion be a very lively, prosperous, flourishing thing in the world." And that certainly is the best way of all others to make this thing apprehensible to ourselves, to get the thoughts of it familiarized to us, in how easy a way religion should grow and spread among men.

SERMON VII.*

It was thought requisite to lay before you some considerations, that might facilitate the apprehension and belie of the revival and prosperous state of religion in the work Three were mentioned to that purpose.

I. The consideration of what hath been done in this kind heretofore, when the Spirit was so eminently poured forth at first.

II. The consideration, by how easy steps and in bow apt a method it is supposable, that such a work may be done. These have been spoken of.

If once it please God to say, he will do such and such things, we need not to be told how. "Is any thing to hard for me?" saith the Lord. That should be enough

his wisdom, to carry things on from obscurer and less con- | siderable beginnings unto perfect and more glorious issues, so that in the evening it shall be light: all the foregoing day did look more like night than day. That we reckon a great work of wisdom, to be able to find out a way of doing the most unexpected things, that no one would have thought of, further than as it may please him to give any previous intimations of his purpose, what he will do.

2. It is most suitable to that supreme interest which he hath in this lower world, that propriety and dominion which he claims in it to himself by a most rightful claim; to procure himself a more universal actual acknowledgment and subjection, than hitherto: whether we speak of his natural interest, as he is the God and the Creator of the world; (this lower part, this inferior region is a part of his creation too;) or of his acquired interest by the Redeemer; and I more especially intend the latter. When I consider the magnificent things, that the Scripture speaks concerning the interest of the Redeemer in this world, this lapsed apostate world; (such as this, Matt. xxviii. 18, 19. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations; make men know, that they belong to me and are all my right; lay my claim to them, proclaim my right, challenge my interest for me, proselyte them to me; baptize them into my name, with the Father's and the Holy Ghost's;) this doth import, as if some time or other he meant to have a more actual acknowledgment and subjection in this world, than hitherto. If we look upon such a text as that, He died, and revived, and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the living and the dead, Rom. xiv. 9. The living and the dead comprehend all that we can think of; and it signifies as much as, that he might be the universal Lord of all. Having paid so dear a price, do we not think, that he will make more of the purchase, than hitherto he hath? as you have it pursued in that 14th to the Romans in several expressions, ver. 7, 9. None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.-For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. That invitation to all the ends of the earth is of as strong import this way, Isa. xlv. 22. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Observe the solemnity and majesty of the following words, ver. 23. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Which saying is expressly applied to the Lord Christ by the apostle in Phil. ii. 11. Consider to the same purpose the solemnity of his inauguration, and the largeness of the grant made to him thereupon, Ps. ii. 6, 7. I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion: I will declare the decree;-Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. This day, that is, the resurrection-day; that is the eminently intended sense, as the apostle's quoting of it in Acts xiii. 33. plainly signifies. This day have I begotten thee; thou art now to me the first-born of the dead, the firstbegotten of them that slept: and being my first-born, art a great heir; and this is thy inheritance:-I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession, ver. 8. Sure that signifies | more than mere right and title. And think how pursuantly to that it is foretold, Rev. xi. 15. that, upon the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the voice should be, the proclamation should go forth, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." They are become so; that must needs be in some other way than they could be understood to be so before; they were always in right and title. It is very suitable to that supreme and sovereign interest that he hath, at one time or another, to assert his right; especially considering it as a disputed right: for how long hath this interest been contested about by the usurping god of this world, the prince of the darkness of this world! he who hath tyrannized in the dark, and made it so much his business to keep all men from knowing any other lord!

3. It is most suitable unto the immense almighty power, by which he is able to subdue all things to himself. It will be upon that account a God-like work, worthy of such an agent. To make all mountains vanish before Zerubbabel, Zech. iv. 7. to bring about what seemed so very

difficult, and even unexpected to all men; this is a thing becoming God, to do what no one else could do. It is the acknowledgment therefore that is given him as God, a glorifying him as God, which we find done by Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xx. 12. We know not what to do; but our eyes are upon thee. That is as much as to confess, that when all created power is at a nonplus and can do no more, (we can do no more,) yet thou hast still somewhat to do, when there is nothing remaining to be done by any hand else. And it is very subsidiary in this case, and helpful to our apprehension and faith, to consider the immensity and omniscience of that Spirit, whereby this great work is to be done; to think that that Spirit is already every where; as in Psalm cxxxix. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit! and whither shall I flee from thy presence? Whether I think of heaven or earth, or of any the remotest parts beyond the seas, there thy Spirit is. He doth not need to go far in order to the doing of these great things; but only to exert a present influence, where he is already, having all things subsisting in him, living, moving, and having their being in him. And when we consider, how great the efficacy is of that great apostate, impure spirit, that in Scripture uses to go under the name of Satan or the devil, to keep the world in darkness and ignorance, to hold them off from God; (the course of the world is said to be after the power of the prince of the air, the spirit that worketh in the hearts of the children of disobedience, Eph. ii. 2.) when we think, that his influence should be so diffused and extensive, as that it is thought fit to be said, that the whole world lies iv rovnow, which is capable of being read, in the evil one, in the wicked one, (1 John v. 19.) how should faith triumph in the apprehension of the absolute immersity and omnipresence of the blessed Spirit, by which this great work is to be wrought and done in the world! when, as we know, Satan cannot be every where, he makes use of many hands, many instruments: but this Spirit, that works all in all immediately itself, how agreeable is it to be the author of such a work as this, the reviving of religion out of that dismal death that is so generally upon it in the world!

4. We cannot but apprehend it most suitable to the Divine goodness, that boundless, flowing goodness; that, after the prince of darkness, the Apollyon, the destroyer of souls, hath been leading still his multitudes down to perdition from age to age, with so little check or restraint, a time should come, when in so visible a way the spoil should be rescued out of the hand of the terrible and the strong; and the Son of God come in for his portion and share, that it was said should be divided to him, Isa. liii. 12. How like will such a dispensation as this be unto that first joyful sound of the Gospel by the ministry of angels, "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good-will toward men!" How agreeable to this will that be which we find in Rev. xxi. 3. When that voice shall be heard, concerning a thing then actually done and taking place, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and God himself shail be with them, and be their God: and all tears shall be wiped away;" as it follows, ver. 4. Certainly it is very Godlike upon this account, that such a thing should be. To reflect upon such passages of Scripture; "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son," &c. "After that the kindness and love of God to man appeared," that arooria, and the large goodness which such expressions signify, methinks should prevent its being thought strange, that more large correspondent effects of such goodness are expected, before the end of all things shall come.

I must add here by way of caution, that it is true, it is not safe to conclude from what we conceive suitable to God to do, that such a thing shall certainly be done; a stress were not to be laid upon that kind of arguing, if we would suppose that argument to be the original and principle. But having other grounds to rely upon, which you have heard, it is very aptly subsidiary; and signifies very considerably as an addition to have the apprehension of such a work as every way most suitable to God and wer thy of him. And when we find upon other grounds, that is, from what God hath expressly said and foretold, that we have cause to receive and entertain such a truth; we have reason to entertain it with a great deal more complacency, and to solace and satisfy ourselves in it the more,

by how much the more we apprehend of suitableness and congruity, and the fitness in it, and how every way it becomes that great God that is to be the Author of this blessed work. We may venture after him to speak of what is suitable; that is, when he hath told us what he will do, or when we have seen what he doth, then it is fit for us to say this was very worthy of God, fit for him to do; or it will be so whenever he shall please to do it, if it be what we are yet expecting him from his word to do.

But if it be objected here; If in these several respects it be a thing suitable to God to do such a work as this, why was it not done long ago? inasmuch as this was as good a reason at any other time, as it can be in any time yet to come; since God's wisdom, his sovereign dominion, his power and might, his grace and goodness, were always the same? To that I shall shortly say,

1. That if it be a thing very suitable to God to do, as we have represented, certainly it seems a great deal more likely, and a far more probable way of reasoning, from its not being done, to expect that at some time or other it shall, than that it never shall. But we have told you we rely upon other grounds, and take in that consideration only as subsidiary and adjumental, to facilitate our apprehension and belief of what God hath foretold in his word. But I add,

2. That there are but these two things, that we can have to consider in this matter, and to give an account of; the delaying of such a word so long, and the doing it at last; and I doubt not but a very unexceptionable account may be given of both.

1st, For the delaying of it so long. Truly we have reason enough to resolve that into that justice, against which no one that ever considers can open his mouth in this case. Is it to be thought strange, that God should so long withhold his light and influence from a world in so wilful an apostacy and degeneracy and rebellion through so many ages; that had always taken care to propagate the enmity, and to keep on foot the rebellion, so as that always, when he comes to look down upon the world, this is the prospect that he hath of it, this the account of things; looking down from heaven upon the children of men, he seeth, that there is none that doeth good, none that understand and seek God, Psal. liii. 1, 2. Men affect distance from him, they please themselves to be without him in the world. Is it to be thought strange? is it not highly just, that he should make that their long continued doom, which had been their horrid choice? You affect to be without God! Be so, in your own loved darkness and death! Men might see, that things are not well with them, that they are in an unhappy state; it is visible. Ira Dei est vita mortalis, is an ancient saying, this mortal life is the very wrath of God. Men might apprehend, that God is angry, that they are not such creatures as man was made at first; heathens have apprehended and spoken of the apostacy. But when they are miserable, and feel themselves so, yet they don't return to him and seek after him: they cannot help themselves, to mend the temper of their own spirits, which they might easily discern is far out of course; yet they don't cry for help. It is highly glorious triumphant justice, to withhold so despised and neglected a presence and influence from so vile and wicked a generation. But then,

of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" It is to be referred unto his wisdom and sovereignty, to time things as seems good to him. The times and seasons are hid in his own power, Acts i. 7. Hidden from us, but in his power to state and settle and determine when and as he pleases. What is more agreeable unto so absolute a sovereign, and so wise a one, than such an arbitrary timing of the dispensation of grace, whenever it shall have its course? And for our own part; as we have that reason to adore sovereign wisdom and goodness, whenever they shall have their exercise in this kind; so in the mean time we have reason to be silent, and our mouths to be stopped, while God doth as yet defer and delay the time of that pouring forth of his Spirit. We have reason to be silent, if it be our lot in our age to be under the restraints of that blessed Spirit. When was there ever any age in the world, that might more fitly be pitched upon for the object, upon which justice should have its exercise in this kind? Was there ever an age, wherein the Spirit was more grieved, more striven against? wherein God should have more cause and reason to say, My Spirit shall not strive with you? with whomsoever of all mortals it strives, it shall not strive with you! To cast our eyes abroad, and consider the state of the world; and to look on the state of things at home: -for the nations about us, we have heard how they have been for years together; what reformations do we hear of? what dispositions to return to God? Men cry because of the oppressions of the mighty; but none say, "Where is God our Maker?" Every where there is that disposition to groan and languish and die under their pressure; but no inquiries after God; and whereas they cannot turn to him without him, (and we acknowledge that for a principle,) help in order thereto is not implored. We can feel what is externally afflictive; the Divine absence we feel not: when his soul is departed from us, we are not concerned to be without the Spirit; as Jer. vi. 8. Lest my soul depart from thee. He speaks of that presence of his as a soul to that people; as it truly and really is to a people professing the name of God: his special presence is the soul of such a people, as they are such a people; holds things together, keeps up and maintains life and order. Be instructed, lest my soul be gone. When his presence and Spirit retire and are withdrawn, it is as discernible in the state of things among a people, as a man can distinguish a carcass from a living man. God is gone, his soul is departed, the soul which he had put into such a people, which was active and at work amongst them. Well! but we are men still for all that, we are reasonable creatures, and have an apprehensive understanding of the word, and faculties remaining to us; so that we might know, that such a presence is gone, and we are miserable nereby; and there might, one would think, be some lamentings after the Lord: but where almost are they to be found? If we could have the world at will, enjoy what would gratify sensual inclination, God might be gone and keep away from us, and few would concern themselves with the matter. Have we any thing then to say, that the season is deferred of pouring forth this Spirit? No. If we consider the resistance and grievance and vexation, that it hath met withal in our age and amongst us; it is not strange, if God should determine, "My Spirit shall not strive with you; whatever good thoughts I may have towards those that shall succeed and come up hereafter." But yet notwithstanding, it is most suitable and congruous, that at one

ligion from under so dismal a darkness and so great a death, should be done. And all these things together serve to evince, that this means hath an efficacy, which we have reason to believe both can and will do this work, so as to make religion to prosper and flourish in the world sooner or later.

Preached June 26th, 1678.

SERMON VIII.*

We have shown at large the efficacy of the means assigned in the text, a plentiful effusion of the Spirit,