left it upon us, to search it, with what diligence, wherewith men dig into mines for silver or gold, John v. 39. But, ah! how is this sacred treasure profaned by many! They ridicule that holy word, by which they must be judged at the last day; and will rather lose their souls than their jest, dressing up the conceits of their wanton wits in scripture phrases: in which they act as mad a part, as one who would dig into a mine to procure metal, to melt and pour down his own and his neighbour's throat. Many exhaust their spirits in reading romances, and their minds pursue them, as the flame doth the dry stubble; while they have no heart for, nor relish to, the holy word, and therefore seldom take a Bible in their hands. What is agreeable to the vanity of their minds is pleasant and taking: but what recommends holiness to their unholy hearts, makes their spirits dull and flat. What pleasure will they find in reading of a profane ballad or story-book, to whom the Bible is tasteless, as the white of an egg? Many lay by their Bibles with their sabbath-day clothes; and whatever use they have for their clothes, they have none for their Bibles, till the return of the sabbath. Alas! the dust or finery about your Bibles is a. witness now, and will, at the last day, be a witness of the enmity of your hearts against Christ, as a prophet. Besides all this, among these who ordinarily read the scriptures, how few are there that read it as the word of the Lord to their souls, and keep up communion with him in it? They do not make his statutes their counsellors, nor doth their particular case send them to their Bibles. They are strangers to the solid comfort of the scriptures. And if at any time they be dejected, it is something else than the word that revives them; as Achab was cured of his sullen fit, by the securing of Naboth's vineyard for him.

2. Christ's word preached is despised. The entertainment most of the world, to whom it has come, have always given, is that which is mentioned, Matt. xxii. 5. "They made light of it." And, for its sake, they are despised whom he has employed to, preach it; whatever other face men put upon their contempt of

"The servant is not

the ministry, John xv. 20, 21. greater than the lord: if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake." That Levi was the son of the hated, seems not to have been without a mystery, which the world, in all ages, hath unriddled. But though the earthen vessels, wherein God has put the treasure, be turned, with many, into vessels wherein there is no pleasure, yet why is the treasure itself slighted? But slighted it is, and that with a witness, this day. Lord, who hath believed our report? to whom shall we speak? Men can, without remorse, make to themselves silent sabbaths, one after another. And alas! when they come to ordinances, for the most part, it is but to appear (or, as the word is, to be seen) before the Lord; and to tread his courts, namely, as a company of beasts would do, if they were driven into them, Isa. i. 12. So little reverence and awe of God appears on their spirits. Many stand like brazen walls before the word, in whose corrupt conversation the preaching of the word makes no breach. Nay, not a few are growing worse and worse, under precept upon precept; and the result of all is, "they go and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken, Isa. xxviii. 13. What tears of blood are sufficient to lament that the gospel, the grace of God, is thus received in vain. We are but the voice of one crying; the Speaker is in heaven, and speaks to you from heaven by men: why do ye" refuse him that speaketh ?" Heb. xii. 25. God has made our Master heir of all things, and we are sent to court a spouse for him. There is none so worthy as he; none more unworthy than they to whom this match is proposed. But the prince of darkness is preferred before the PRINCE of PEACE. A dismal darkness overclouded the world by Adam's fall, more terrible than if the sun, moon, and stars, had been for ever wrapt up in blackness of darkness; and there we should have eternally lain, had not this grace of the gospel, as a shining sun, appeared to dis

pel it, Tit. ii. 11. But yet we fly from it; and, like the wild beasts, lay ourselves down in our dens, when the sun ariseth. We are struck blind with the light thereof; and as creatures of darkness, love darkness rather than light. Such is the enmity of the hearts of men against Christ, in his prophetical office.

Secondly, The natural man is an enemy to Christ, in his priestly office. He is appointed of the Father a priest for ever; that by his alone sacrifice and intercession, sinners may have peace with, and access to, God but Christ crucified is a stumbling-block, and foolishness to the unrenewed part of mankind, to whom he is preached, 1 Cor. i. 23. They are not from him, as the new and living way. Nor is he, by the voice of the world, an high priest over the house of God. Corrupt nature goes quite another way to work.

Evidence 1. None of Adam's children naturally incline to receive the blessing in borrowed robes; but would always, according to the spider's motto, owe al to themselves and so climb up to heaven on a thread spun out of their own bowels. For they " desire to be under the law," Gal. iv. 21. And "go about to establish their own righteousness," Rom. x. 3. Man naturally looks on God as a great Master; and himself as his servant, that must work, and win heaven as his wages. Hence, when conscience is awakened, he thinks that to the end he may be saved, he must answer the demands of the law; serve God as well as he can, and pray for mercy wherein he comes short. And thus many come to duties, that never come out of them to Jesus Christ.

Evid. 2. As men naturally think highly of their duties, that seem to them to be well done; so they look for acceptance with God, according as their work is done, not according to the share they have in the blood of Christ. "Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not ?" They will value themselves on their performances and attainments; yea, their very opinions in religion, (Phil. iii. 4, 5, 6, 7.) taking to them

selves what they rob from Christ, the great highpriest.

Evid. 3. The natural man, going to God in duties, will always be found either to go without a Mediator, or with more than the one only Mediator, Jesus Christ. Nature is blind, and therefore venturous. It sets men a-going immediately to God without Christ; to rush into his presence, and put their petitions in his hand, without being introduced by the Secretary of heaven, or putting their requests into his hand. So fixed is this disposition in the unrenewed heart, that when many hearers of the gospel are conversed with, upon the point of their hopes of salvation, the name of Christ will scarcely be heard from their mouths. Ask them, how they think to obtain the pardon of sin; they will tell you they beg and look for mercy, because God is a merciful God; and that is all they have to confide in. Others look for mercy for Christ's sake: but how do they know that Christ will take their plea in hand? Why, as the papists have their mediators with the Mediator, so have they. They know he cannot but do it; for they pray, confess, mourn, and have great desires, and the like; and so have something of their own to commend them unto him. They were never made poor in spirit, and brought empty-handed to Christ, to lay the stress of all on his atoning blood.

Thirdly, The natural man is an enemy to Christ, in his kingly office. The Father hath appointed the Mediator King in Zion, Psal. ii. 6. And all to whom the gospel comes are commanded, on their highest peril, to kiss the Son, and submit themselves unto him, ver. 12. But the natural voice of mankind is, Away with him! as you may see, ver. 2, 3. "They will not have him to reign over them," Luke xix. 14.

Evidence 1. The workings of corrupt nature, to wrest the government out of his hands. No sooner was he born, but, being born a king, Herod persecu ted him, Matt. ii. And when he was crucified, they "set up over his head his accusation written, This is

Jesus the king of the Jews," Matt. xxvii. 37. Though his kingdom be a spiritual kingdom, and not of this world; yet they cannot allow him a kingdom within a kingdom, which acknowledgeth no other head or supreme but the royal Mediator. They make bold with his royal prerogatives, changing his laws, institutions, and ordinances; modelling his worship according to the devices of their own hearts; introducing new offices and officers into his kingdom, not to be found in the book of the manner of his kingdom; disposing of the external government thereof, as may best suit their carnal designs. Such is the enmity of the hearts of men against Zion's King.

Evid. 2. How unwilling are men naturally to submit unto, and be hedged in, by the laws and discipline of his kingdom! As a King, he is a law-giver, (Isa. Xxxiii. 22.) and has appointed an external government, discipline, and censures, to control the unruly, and to keep his professed subjects in order, to be exer cised by officers of his own appointment, Matt. xviii. 17, 18. 1 Cor. xii. 28. 1 Tim. v. 17. Heb. xiii. 17. But these are the great eye-sores of the carnal world, who love sinful liberty, and therefore cry out, "Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their cords away from us," Psal. ii. 3. Hence this work is found to be, in a special manner, a striving against the stream of corrupt nature which, for the most part, puts such a face on the church, as if there were no king in Israel, every one doing that which is right in his own

eyes.

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Evid. 3. However natural men may be brought to feign submission to the king of the saints, yet lusts always retain the throne and dominion in their hearts, and they are "serving divers lusts and pleasures," Tit. iii. 3. None but these in whom Christ is formed do really put the crown on his head, and receive the kingdom of Christ within them. His crown is "the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals." Who are they whom the power of grace has not subdued, that will allow him to set up, and to put down, in their souls, as he will? Nay, as

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