verse, was, that they were generally dead, tho they had a name to live; but, as if he had faid, Tho' the generality of this church be dead, yet even there I have a few lively and tender Christians. But then 3. Notice the ground on which the commendation runs, they have kept their garments clean, or have not defiled their garments. Perhaps there may be an allusion in this expreffion unto the Jews, who were not to come near any thing that was unclean, by the law of Mofes, or to touch them with their garments, left they should be defiled; or it may allude unto the practice of the eastern countries, who used to gird up their long garments, to keep them from being defiled, or spotted: The meaning is, that this little remnant in Sardis had maintained their integrity, like Job, they were perfect and upright men, men that feared God and efchewed evil; they had not complied with the abounding errors and corruptions of their day, but exercised themselves to keep confciences void of offence towards God and man: When others were fleeping, they were awake about their work; when others in that church were dead and secure, they were lively. So much for the commendation given by Christ unto this remnant. Secondly, In the words we have a reward, or rather we may call it a confolatory promise, made unto this little remnant, they shall walk with me in white. Perhaps the expreffion may allude unto the practice of the Romans, who clothed their nobility at any folemnity in white; or to their conquerors, who triumphed upon any victory obtained in white garments; or to the priests under the law, that ministred in the temple in white garments; they shall walk with me in white, that is, they shall be admitted to the immediate

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reason and ground of this, for they are worthy. First, I say, we have the commendation itself, where we may notice the commender, the commended, and the ground on which the commendation runs. 1. The commender, who he is may be gathered from the connection: It is he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars, v. 1. It is Christ himself; and his commendation may be depended upon; for he trieth the heart and reins, and needs not that any should testify of man unto him, because he knows what is in man. 2. The party commended; who are described, (1.) From their designation, they are called names, God had given them a new name, a name better than of fons and daughters, even a name among the living in Jerufalem; they were marked among the rolls of his chofen, redeemed and sanctified ones; by their zeal, uprightness, integrity, and their honest appearance for God, in that degenerate day and place, they had diftinguished themselves from others, and so purchased a name to themselves, and they were known to men as well as unto God: The Lord knoweth the righteous, and he knows them by name, they are marked out from among others. (2.) They are described by their paucity, they are a few names; they were comparatively few, when laid in the balance with the multitude and bulk of carnal secure professors in this church; there was but a small part of them, that had kept themselves free of the corruptions and defections of that church, and that had not bowed the knee unto Baal. (3.) They are defcribed from the place of their residence, Sardis, one of the seven churches of the Leffer Afia. The expreffion here is obfervable, a few names even in Sardis. Christ's character of this church, in the close of the first verse,

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verse, was, that they were generally dead, tho they had a name to live; but, as if he had faid, Tho' the generality of this church be dead, yet even there I have a few lively and tender Christians. But then 3. Notice the ground on which the commendation runs, they have kept their garments clean, or have not defiled their garments. Perhaps there may be an allusion in this expreffion unto the Jews, who were not to come near any thing that was unclean, by the law of Mofes, or to touch them with their garments, left they should be defiled; or it may allude unto the practice of the eastern countries, who used to gird up their long garments, to keep them from being defiled, or spotted: The meaning is, that this little remnant in Sardis had maintained their integrity, like Job, they were perfect and upright men, men that feared God and efchewed evil; they had not complied with the abounding errors and corruptions of their day, but exercised themselves to keep confciences void of offence towards God and man: When others were fleeping, they were awake about their work; when others in that church were dead and fecure, they were lively. So much for the commendation given by Christ unto this remnant. Secondly, In the words we have a reward, or rather we may call it a confolatory promise, made unto this little remnant, they shall walk with me in white. Perhaps the expression may allude unto the practice of the Romans, who clothed their nobility at any folemnity in white; or to their conquerors, who triumphed upon any victory obtained in white garments; or to the priests under the law, that ministred in the temple in white garments; they shall walk with me in white, that is, they shall be admitted to the immediate

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mediate enjoyment of fellowship and communionn with me, and be partakers of my glory in heaven through eternity. But the import of the expreffion may be more fully spoken to afterward. Thirdly, In the words, we have the reason and ground, why the Lord puts such a difference between his remnant and others, for they are worthy; that is, valuable and excellent persons, as Solomon speaks, the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour : Not as if they had any worthiness or excellency in themselves beyond others by nature: No, no; they are children of wrath and condemnation even as others; but they are made worthy by justifying and fanctifying grace, by imputed righteousness and inherent holinefs. Some render the word, for they are meet; so the word is render'd Matt. iii. 8. Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance : So here the Lord promises, that they who keep their garments clean, should walk with him in white; why? because it is meet or fuitable it should be so, that they who are holy here, should be happy hereafter.

Doct. That, altho' there be but few in a vifible church, that keep their garments clean in a declining time, yet these few are highly valued by Chrift, and fhall be admitted to partake of his glory in heaven.

This doctrine I take to be the Scope of the verse, thou hast a few names, &c. In discoursing this point, I shall endeavour, through divine afsistance, to do these fix things, (1.) Offer a few propofitions concerning this little remnant. (2.) Shew that Chrift has a high value for this remnant, they are worthy in his esteem. (3.) What is imported in their keeping their garments clean. (4.) What it is to walk with Christ in white. (5.) Enquire into the connection between the duty and privilege. (6.) Apply the whole.

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The first thing is to offer a few propofitions concerning this remnant, who are said to keep their garments clean. And, first, That God the Father gave a remnant unto Christ of the pofterity of Adam, in the covenant of redemption, to be ransomed and redeemed by him from that woe and wrath, into which Adam by his apoftacy had involved himself and all his pofterity. That such a remnant was gifted unto Christ by the Father, is plain from John xvii. where Christ in his Prayer frequently speaks of those that the Father gave him, particularly verse 6. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. He promised to him, for his encouragement in that great undertaking, that he should have a feed to ferve him, and fee of the travail of his foul. Second, The Lord Jefus, the eternal Son of God, in the fulness of time, took on the nature of man, and in our nature obeyed the law, and died in the room and stead of this remnant which the Father gave him: He did not obey the law, and fatisfy justice for the whole world, or for all men, as Arminians talk; no, but he died for a select number: Hence he is faid to lay down his life for his sheep, and not for the goats. And, as his death, fo his interceffion is confined unto this remnant, as it is plain from John xvii. 9. I pray for them : I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Third, This redeemed remnant are, in God's own time, sooner or later, under the miniftry of gospelordinances, determined by the power and efficacy of divine grace, to close with Christ upon the call of the gospel, and to go in to the blessed contrivance of falvation and redemption through him: He tranflates them, in a day of his power, out of darkness inta

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