off the Son of God and everlasting life Still when the Prophets would speak unto the people this was their preface The Lord sent mee so sayes Isaiah the Lord sent mee Esa 48. 16. so sayes Jeremiah the Lord sent mee When they refused to hear what he said O sayes hee Truely the Lord sent mee of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words unto you Jer. 26. 15. One would think it wore enough to strike terrour into the hearts of men to put off any Sermon any rebuke any exhortation of Christs Ministers when they know the Lord sends them Of a truth the Lord hath sent mee to speak all these words unto you May bee the Minister is as poore a creature in himself as one of you O but remember who sends him as Christ sayes hee that heareth you heareth mee and hee that despiseth you despiseth mee and hee that despiseth mee despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10. 16. So much shall suffice to have been spoken of the first way whereby Christ is said to have the seven Starres that is the Ministers of the Church namely he hath the sending of them Secondly Hee hath them that is hee hath the giving of them their Commission as they have their Mission from him so they have their Commission from him too They are not onely messengers but Embassadors This Commission hath two things first the heads of their Embassage that Christ sends them to treat of Secondly the authority of their Embassage that Christ invests them with For the first the heads of their commission Christ hath the appointing of them what they shall treat of and they are five First they shall preach the Word Goe and preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16. 15. Secondly to remit the sin of all them that doe embrace the Gospel Joh. 20. 23. that is to pronounce all the promises of the Covenant of Grace and in particular forgivenesse of sins to all true penitent and beleeving Soules Thirdly to administer the Sacraments of the New Testament to all the said persons to whom the promises of eternall life doe belong for the assuring of their hearts concerning all the things of the Kingdome of God to them in particular Matth. 28. 19. Fourthly To build up the Church of God for the perfecting of the Saints and the edifying of the body of Christ untill they all come c. Ephes 4. 12. Fifthly to shut the Kingdome of Heaven upon all that have an evill heart of unbelief to goe on in their sins and not to stoop to the Scepter of Jesus Christ Mark 16. 16. and in divers other places These are the heads of their commission that Christ will have them treat of in their Embassage unto men Secondly now for the Authority that hee invests them with it is not any carnall or earthly authority to jet and to vaunt or to domineere as though they were Lords and Gods heritage 1 Pet. 5. 3. no sayes Christ it shall not be so with you But hee that is greatest among you hee shall bee as the least Luk. 22. 26. and therefore I doe not here speak of any earthly authority No the Authority that Christs Ministers have and they have it from him is a spirituall Authority uamely not onely to preach and to declare forgivenesse of sin and to administer the seales of the covenant and to build up the Saints and to denounce wrath and damnation to all that continue in their unregenerate estate through impenitence unbelief but to do all these things with a heavenly Power and Authority to have an Office under Christ for the doing of them so as to be the very mouth of Christ and that which they doe according to their commission from him to stand firme and good for ever and ever I will give power to my two witnesses Rev. 11. 3. The Lord hath given me power and authority sayes the Apostle 2 Cor. 10. 8. You will say this is great power indeed all the Kings Potentates of the earth have not so great power as this this is a power of life and death not naturall nor temporary but Spirituall and eternall this is a power not oven mens Bodies but over their soules not in small matters but either for salvation ordamnation This is a great Commission how come they by such a great one as this is O sayes Christ I am able to invest them with as much as this comes to For all power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth Matth. 28. 18. q. d. I am able to furnish you with all authority and power goe you in my name and preach you in my name in my name bid people repent and beleeve in my name open heaven to all that doe obey and shut it upon all that doe disobey and I will make it good The use of this is First have the Ministers of Christ such a Commission from Christ then they are the greatest Embassadors that ever were or can be Embassadors of earthly Kings have a great Commission they represent the Kings person from whom they come Alas what are they to these they come about petty things about civill peace or warre and yet they are Lord Embassadors they are Lords by their places they are much respected among men O then what great Embassadors are the Ministers of Jesus Christ that represent the King of Kings person that represent the person of the Lord of Lords that came to Treat of peace betweene God and Man or of open Hostility between the Creator and the Creature as Paul sayes now then wee are Embassadours for Christ As though God did beseech you by us wee pray you in Christs stead be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 15. 20. that is we have a very great commission we represent the person of our Lord Jesus Christ we come to treat with you about eternity according as you heare us or heare us not so it will be with you unto all eternity O consider what we have to do you are enemies unto God from the womb as long as your sins doe remain ye are enemies still we come to set you at one again Yee know the condition yee know what the heads of our commission bee if yee will not hearken unto them and submit yee are damned for ever if ye doe blessed and happy are yee for evermore was there ever such a great Embassage as this as the Apostle sayes To make known the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an Embassadour in bonds Ephes 6. 19 20. q. d. though the wicked and blinde world look upon me as a Schismatique and a malefactour and cast me into the prison and here I am in bonds they see no such thing in me as an Embassadour of the great God yet the truth is though I bee in bonds they shall know it one day to their cost who I was and what a commission I had and what it is to slight it and put it off I
am an Embassadour of the mystery of the Gospel though I be in bonds Secondly Have some Ministers such a commission from Christ then let them learn how to behave themselves in their function My Brethren Christ hath committed unto us the custody of his own power and authority and therefore we are to exercise it in his name our commission is to charge the great men of the world Charge them that are rich in this world that they bee not high-minded 1 Tim. 6. 17. True we are your servants for Jesus his sake and wee are to be humbled and to wait upon men of lowest degree and to condefcend unto men of meanest capacity and there is a time when wee should for loves-sake intreat but the truth is too wee have power to charge and command These things command and teach 1 Tim. 4. 11. These things speak and exhort and rebuke withall authority Tit. 2. 15. We must not betray the power and majesticall simplicity of the Gospell of Jesus Christ We have Christs owne power and authority in our ministery and therefore wee are to command you in his stead as ever you will answer Christ before his Tribunall at last day neglect not those things which we preach to you from him Now we command you Brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that yee withdraw your selves from every brother that walkes disorderly and not after the Tradition which hee received of us 2. Thes 3. 6. True we are inferiors to Kings and Princes and Magistrates and the Nobility and Gentry of the land There be thousands and thousands that are our Betters in all civill respects but our Embassage is above all The Lords own Power and Authority goes through the ministery as a Trunk As the King may send a Command to the greatest Nobleman of the Kingdome by the hand of a meane man and he is to hearken to it though the messenger in himselfe be his underling yet his message is above him and he looses his head if he despise it So beloved we are over you in the Lord that is in regard of our message Though we be your inferiors and some of you be our betters and wee are to stand with Cap in hand to you yet ye loose your soules if ye will not heare us and obey our Embassage We must not bow to your humors nor make the Spirit of Christ in the Gospell to bend and comply with human lusts If Princes and Potentates were by we must not spare their sins Nathan deales roundly with King David Thou art the man Jehu with King Jehosaphat wrath is upon thee from the Lord because thou hast helpt the ungodly We must let all the world know that Christ whom wee preach is above them all wee must not prostitute Christs Scepter no not at a Monarchs foot If we be men-pleasers we are not the servants of Christ We must not suffer Christs word to be bound whosoeuer is our hearer whether high or low We defie popish Divinity that exalt their Antichristan Clergy above the civill Magistrate Belarmines Martin is but a foysted story But yet in this sense we are above all the Kingdomes of men as God sayes Behold I have put my words in thy mouth and loe I have set thee this day over Nations and Kingdomes to plant and to root up to build and to throw downe Jer. 1. 9. 10. Let no man thinke we are saucy though we reprove the greatest of you all as long as we doe it in Christ and from Christ we are the mouth of the Judge of quick and dead and he will make our words good The meanest Sergeant in the Kings name dares arrest the greatest Duke So my Brethren we come in the Kings name in Christ his name and therefore we must not be afraid of your faces As Paul told Philemon I have great authority in Christ to command thee that which is convenient Philem. 8. We have great authority to command every one of you to doe your Duties towards God and man We have Christ for our Author and therefore he will be a wall of Brasse to us We are his Embassadors and therefore our Message is with great power Thirdly Have we this Commission from Jesus Christ then this may serve to condemne all such as doe not obey our Ministery Though wee have all this authority the very power of Christ himself in our mouthes that equally binds King and Begger Yet who obeys our commands who stirres who repents who submits himself unto our commission we have called for humiliation but no man will humble himself We have cryed for reformation and amendment of life but no man relents wee have read our commission every week unto people we shew them our Letters Patents from the Lord Jesus Christ and they are counted as idle tales by the most O what an indignity is this unto our Lord Jesus Christ we are his Embassadors and your standing out against us is not against us but against him and he will repay it O sayes the Apostle if any man obey not our word By this Epistle note that man 2 Thess 3. 14. q. d. note him with a brand of infamy note him as a Rebell against Jesus Christ look upon him as a wretched miserable creature take heed of him avoid him withdraw your self from him point at him yonder goes a wretch that will not obey the voyce of his teacher excommunicate him from your company have as little to doe with him as you can Be ye shie of such a man certainly there is great wrath hangeth over him So Beloved if any obey not our word note such persons note such parishes note all such families the wrath of heaven hangeth over them their stubbornnesse and hardnesse of heart is not against us but against the Lord. These are notorious Townes notorious people that have Christs Embassadors among them and yet will not be obedient and yet how is our Embassage made nothing of if Kings onely and Princes and Lords and great men should make nothing of it we should not so much wonder because they are greater men then those that God sends his Embassage by and yet if they were wise and knew what they did they durst not doe as they do but every base fellow stops his eare and hardens his heart against the God of Heaven and earth and will not obey our word nay men can hear their sins ripped up and the Anathema's of Christ spread before their faces and not blush They can heare that those very sinnes they live in doe separate from God do adjudge them to hell and shew them to be under the blacknes of darknesse and the sentence of damnation they can see it showne them out of the word which they cannot deny for their hearts though they would never so faine and yet they will not repent nor returne that they may have mercy Not one drunkard will leave nor one Mocker leave nor one Covetous person nor one gracelesse
is thus they jear these things but beloved t is certain for it is not enough to beleive except we do it with life he that liveth and beleeveth in me Joh. 11. 26. faith without life is but equivocally termed faith so it is not enough to hope in God except we doe it with life he hath begetten us againe to a lively hope says Peter So it is not enough to be a member in Gods Church a Stone in Gods building except we be lively Stones Ye also as lively Stones sayes he 1 Pet. 2. 5. The like I may say of all the duties of Religion it is not enough to doe them but we must doe them with life as to pray to pray with a dead heart is nothing no sayes David Lord quicken us and we will call upon thy name Psal 80. 18. In a word not to heape particulars we cannot walk in any of Gods wayes aright as long as we walke in them with a dead heart as the psalmist sayes Lord quicken thou me in thy way Psal 119. 37. it is a poore thing to walk in Gods wayes onely for the matter of them That indeed a dead heart may doe there 's no duty that God bids a man doe unlesse it be them that consignifie life but flesh and blood may doe it for the matter of it if there be matter and forme in it True some duties are simple that flesh and blood cannot doe as to love God to delight in God to have communion with God himself to take God for ones Portion and Lot and inheritance to be all in all to him these are simple acts they are not compounded of matter and forme But when a duty is compounded of matter and forme flesh and blood may doe the matter of it whatsoever it be now then as the essentiall forme is the life of the matter so the matter without it is a dead matter and the doing of it dead Well then now we see what is meant by dead the next is what is the meaning of Thou Thou art dead the word hath a double relation the one to the Minister of the Church in Sardis thou art dead thy Ministry is dead the other to the Church in Sardis it selfe thou art dead thou art a dead people First it hath relation to the Ministry thou art dead thy Ministry is dead there 's no life in it at all hence the Doctrine is this that a dead Ministry is as good as no Ministry at all for this our Saviour meanes in regard of the Angell of the Church in Sardis q. d. thy Ministry is little better then no Ministry it is stark dead well neare it is not lively at all there is little or no warmth to be had by it Like the Ministry of the Scribes that had no authority nor power at all in it Mat. 7. 29. As Luther said when he heard a cold Sermon cold cold cold sayes he this is cold Preaching here is no heat at all to be gotten as God sayes of the Ministry of Laodicia Thou art luke-warme Rom. 3. 16. that is as there was no heat in his people so there was no heat in his Ministry this is little better then no Preaching at all it is even as good as nothing First because true preaching is lively preaching when the Minister is a stirring Minister as Peter speakes I think it meet to stirre you up a Pet. 1. 13. when the Minister is earnest to save the peoples soules as the Lord sayes I earnestly protested to your Fathers Jer. 11. 7. He speakes of the Ministry of Moses and the prophets down along untill the Prophet Jeremies time they did not onely witnesse the word of God unto the people but they did it in a lively and earnest manner as Paul did I have striven to Preach the Gospell Rom. 15. 20. marke he belaboured him in the Pulpit he lay about him soundly that his Ministry might have life in it Saint Luke shewes that he had sweaty Handker-chiefes Act. 19. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hugo sayes upon the place it seemes he swet much in preaching and so Christ compares Ministers to Harvest men that labour in Gods Harvest ye know Harvest men are hot at their worke so Ministers should be Harvest men they should be hot at their worke Thus ye see dry and dull Preaching is little better then no preaching at all it is contrary to the manner of preaching contrary to the practice of all true and right preachers Secondly a dead Ministry is called no Ministry the Scripture calls it no Ministry in effect The Scripture is the best Judge what is a true Ministry and what is not now the Scripture makes a dead Ministry and no Ministry all one the Scribes and the Pharisees ye know were partly morall men most of them as we may see by Pauls Testimony of himself and they were orthodox Ministers as our Saviour witnesses of them in the maine for our Saviour bids people heare them yet their Ministry was little better then no Ministry as the Text shewes the people that sate under their Ministry are said to be as sheep having no Shepheard Mat. 9. 36. they preacht as if they did not preach people might come to their Sermons and be neere a jot moved nay such as came with a desire to be quickned could get no quickning at all under them Matthew sayes they sate under darknesse yet for all them These are Idoll Sheepheards wo to the Idoll Shepheards Zach. 11. 17. Thirdly a dead Ministry does doe little or no good though it be never so true yet it is very unfruitfull it does not awaken any of the auditory it does not startle any of the hearers it does not rowze up mens hearts it does not grapple with the obstinate it does not pull down the proud neither does it carry life at all with it neither is it sitted to work upon the conscience you may see an example of this in the Angell of the Church of Sardic a dead Minister a dead people as he was dead himselfe so his people were dead too a lively Ministry does a great deale of good it even is the saveur of life unto life unto those that be of God or else the savour of death unto death unto those that be not of God 2 Cor. 2. 16. it ever workes one way either it makes people rage or it fats people up or else it drives people home unto God which way so ever it works it is a sweet savour unto God it glorifies God but a dead Ministry does neither it is a flat weapon and cuts not it is a blunt Sword and wounds not may be it hath the true words of God but they are not in a wise work mans hands to make them as Goads and sharp Nayles partly good points but not pointed to prick any bodies heart it is said when Paul Preacht some went away converted others went away blaspheming Act. 13. 45. 48. Fourthly a