stoop, even to the holding of his stirrup. Tamerlane, a Scythian captain, the terror of his time, died with three fits of an ague. Anacreon the poet was choked with the kernel of a grape. Eschylus was killed by the shell of a tortoise which fell from an eagle's talons, who, as some conceive, took his bald head for a white rock. The Lord Montaigne tells us of a duke of Brittany that was stifled to death in such a throng of people as is in some great congregations on the Lord's-day. An emperor died by the scratch of a comb; and one of the kings of France died by the chock1 of a hog; and one that was brother to a great lord, playing at tennis, received a blow with a ball a little above the right ear, which struck him into his grave. There is nothing so small but may be a man's bane. The paring of a toe, the cutting of a corn, the scratch of a nail, the prick of a pin, a fishbone, a hair, a drop of water, a crumb of bread, a bad air, or an evil smell, may bring a man to his long home, yea, a little smoke may soon stifle him, or his own spittle, let down unwarily, may suddenly choke him.

And oh that all I have spoken upon this account might be so blessed as to work you to take heed of putting the day of your death so far from you! The evil servant, when he thought his master was gone afar off, then he lays about him, distempers himself, and beats his fellow-servants, Luke xii. 45. And so the lewd woman in the Proverbs, chap. vii. 19, 20, when the goodman was gone a long journey, when he was far from home, then she grew wanton, vain, and secure; so when men put afar off the day of their death, then they grow more loose, profane, and unholy; whereas a serious and frequent eyeing and minding of death as at hand, as at a man's elbow, would alarm a man to break off his sins by repentance, and to labour for holiness, as a man would labour for life itself. Í have read of the women in the Isle of Man, that the first web they make is their winding-sheet, wherewith they usually gird themselves when they go abroad, to shew that they are still mindful of their mortality. Ah, friends, a constant minding of your mortality would contribute very much towards the making of you holy. He that daily looks upon death will be daily a-looking after holiness. The oftener any man looks into the grave, the oftener that man will be looking up to heaven, and a-begging that God would make him holy even as he is holy. But,

6. Sixthly and lastly, Take heed of settling yourselves under a lewd and scandalous ministry, or of having any inwardness with such whose lives give the lie to their doctrine. An ill-lived preacher is the greatest destroyer of the souls of men. He that preacheth well, but lives ill, does what he can to murder all his hearers at once. There is no greater bar to holiness than ministers' lewdness: an unholy life mars the soundest and the sweetest doctrine: Isa. ix. 16, 'The leaders of this people have caused them to err.' The sins of teachers are the teachers of sins; as the corrupt glosses, so the lewd practices of many preachers makes many to stumble at that word, and to shuff,2 and chat, and contest, and kick against that word whereby they should be made holy and happy for ever. A scandalous minister is the greatest 26 'Push ;' sometimes 'shuft.-G.

As before, 'neck.'-G.

(

pest, the worst plague, and the sorest mischief that can be to a people; for his enormities, his wickednesses, will have the strongest influences upon the souls and lives of men, to make them miserable in both worlds. His falls will be the fall and ruin of many; for people are more prone to live by examples than by precepts, and to mind more what the minister does than what he says, and to eye more how he walks than how he talks. It was said of one, long since, that was an excellent preacher, but a very bad liver, that when he was in the pulpit it was pity he should ever come out of it, he preached so well; and when he was out of it, it was pity that ever he should go into it, he lived so ill. Certainly it is pity that ever such should go into a pulpit who preach well but live ill, who have much of God in their mouths, and much of the devil in their lives; who have the earth as much at their fingers' end as they have heaven at their tongue's end, who puts a loud lie upon the truth, and whose lives puts their words to a blush; who have much of heaven in their expressions, and nothing of heaven in their conversations; who have much holiness in their books, but none in their bosoms, and much holiness in their lips, but none in their lives. The lewd lives of such persons causes people to slight and abhor the holy things of God, 1 Sam. ii. 17; yea, their bad lives often raise doubts in their hearers' hearts whether those things be true that they preach or no. Hearers will be ready to object and say, If these things be true that the minister says, why does he not practise what he preaches? why does he not do as well as say? and with what face or confidence can he appear against that in the pulpit, which he countenanceth and patroniseth in his life? Who will credit that man's doctrine, who has Jacob's voice, but Esau's hands; who is a saint, yea, an angel, in the pulpit, but a debauched sinner, yea, an incarnate devil, out of it? I have read of a woman who, living in professed doubt of the Godhead, after better illumination and repentance, did often protest that the vicious life of a great scholar, under whose ministry she did live, did conjure up those damnable doubts in her soul. There is nothing that brings holy truths so much into question as the unholy conversations of such preachers; neither is there anything that exposes a minister's person and office to so much scorn and contempt as an unholy life. Let a minister be never so learned, solid, quaint, elegant, zealous, judicious, sententious, &c., yet if he be carnal, covetous, worldly, vain, and loose in his life and conversation, his hearers will rather deride his doctrine than reform by his doctrine, they will rather contemn it than study how to profit by it; therefore he said right that said

'Turpe est doctori, cum culpa redarguit ipsum.'

'Unto a teacher it's no small disgrace

When his own faults reprove him to his face.'

There is nothing in all the world that is more powerful and prevalent to corrupt and mislead unholy men, and to harden, strengthen, and encourage them in ways of wickedness, than the looseness of their lives whose office binds them to look to the salvation of their souls, Ezek. xiii. 22, and Jer. xxxiii. 15: Mal. ii. 8, 'Ye are departed out

1 Mr [Samuel] Ward's Sermons.

of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law.' When the preacher departs out of the way of holiness, the people will quickly stumble at the law of holiness; when ministers are as wandering stars, no wonder if their hearers wander from all that is good. He whose life is not a standing reproof to sin, will, by his life, encourage sinners more and more in a way of sin. There is nothing that keeps men so off from a good opinion of holiness, and from the love of holiness, and the liking of holiness, and from the pursuing after holiness, than the unholy lives of their teachers; and therefore, as ever you would be holy, fly their tents, and abandon their company and society. Ministers whose lives are lewd, though their parts may be high, are like a stone gutter, that conveyeth water into a garden, but receiveth no benefit itself thereby; or like a harp that maketh others melody, but heareth nothing itself; they are like those carpenters that built the ark to save others, and were drowned themselves; or like porters at great men's gates, that let in others, but lodge without themselves; or like sea-marks, that rot themselves, and yet give others warning to avoid shipwreck; or like Cæsar's soldier, that digged a fountain for Cæsar, and perished himself for want of water.1 Oh, the folly and madness of such ministers that give light to others, and yet walk in darkness themselves; that feast others' souls, but starve their own; that rescue others from a devouring enemy, and yet suffer themselves to be devoured; that forewarn others of the horrible pit, and yet fall into it themselves; that give good counsel to others, and yet can't take good counsel themselves; that study and strive to bring others to heaven, and yet have no mind to go thither themselves! Certainly society and company with such upon choice can't but be a mighty hindrance to holiness: he that is in good earnest resolved to be holy, must resolutely be resolved to have nothing to do with such unholy persons. And thus you see the several things that you must decline, if ever you would be holy. But,

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II. Secondly, As there are several things that you must decline if ever you would obtain that real holiness without which there is no happiness; so there are several things that you are to do, that you are to put in practice, without which you will never be holy here, nor happy hereafter. Quest. But what are they? Ans. They are these:(1.) First, Greatly lament and mourn over thine own unholiness, over thine own wickedness. The first step to holiness is melting and mourning over a man's own unholiness. Go to thy closet, and fall down before the most high and holy God, and mourn bitterly over the unholiness of thy nature, the unholiness of thy heart, the unholiness of thy affections, the unholiness of thy intentions, the unholiness of thy resolutions, the unholiness of thy expressions, and the unholiness of thy conversation: Joel ii. 12, Turn ye to the Lord with weeping and with mourning.' The foundation of a thorough reformation must be laid in a deep humiliation. The best way to be holy is to accuse, indict, arraign, and condemn thyself for thy unholiness.2 You shall as soon espouse light and darkness, and marry midnight to the noonday, as you shall espouse or marry a holy God to an unhumbled sinner. Oh, who can look upon sin as an offence against a holy God, as the 1 Augustine.-G. * Ezra vi. 2; Jer. 1. 4; Ps. li. 5.

breach of a holy law, as the wounding and crucifying of a holy Saviour, as the grieving and sadding of a holy Sanctifier, and as an eternal loss and undoing of his own soul, and not mourn over it? Oh, who can cast a serious eye upon the nature of sin, or upon the exceeding sinfulness of sin, or upon the aggravations of sin, and not have his heart humbled, his soul grieved, and his spirit melted for sin? Oh, who can look upon sin as it strikes at the honour of God, the name of God, the being of God, the glory of God, and the design of God, and not have his mouth full of penitential confessions, his eyes full of penitential tears, and his heart full of penitential sorrow? Some, as they say of witches, cannot weep for sin; but they that weep not for sin here, where there are handkerchiefs in the hands of Christ to wipe off their tears, shall weep out their eyes in hell hereafter. It is better to weep bitterly for thy sins on earth, than to weep eternally for thy folly in hell. Ah, how hard is that heart that can sadly lament and bewail the loss of a groat, a chick, a child, a sheep, a ship, a friend, &c., and yet can't let fall a tear to save a lost soul! Jacob weeps and prevails with God, Hosea xii. 4; his tears made a happy conquest upon God. Jacob weeps and prevails with God for his life; and what dost thou know but that by thy penitential tears thou mayest prevail with God for thy soul? He weeps and prevails with God for temporals; and why mayest not thou by weeping prevail with God for eternals? He weeps and prevails with God for some outward happiness; and why mayest not thou by weeping prevail with God for inward holiness? It is an old observation, that the tears of repenting sinners are the wine of angels. Certainly God himself can smile to see a sinner grieve for his sins, and to see him grieve that he can grieve no more, for that he has sinned against a God so great, so gracious, so bountiful, so merciful, &c., Ps. li. 17. Though God be displeased with a sinner's sins, yet he is very well pleased with a sinner's tears, and therefore as he has a bag for the one, so he has a bottle for the other. It cannot but be a pleasure to God to see a sinner drown his sins in a deluge of penitential tears. Though tears of indignation, as was Esau's, and tears of dissimulation, as was Ishmael's, and tears of desperation, as was Judas's, be abominable to God, yet tears of godly compunction and contrition are acceptable and delightful unto God. A sinner never looks so sweetly, as when he weeps most penitentially: witness Mary Magdalene, Manasseh, and those murderers of Christ, Acts ii. A sinner's face never shines so beautiful, as when it is bedewed with penitential tears. Tears have a voice as well as blood, Ps. vi. 8. And God has an eye as well upon a man's tears as upon his prayers. Penitent tears are divine ambassadors, that never return from the throne of grace without answers of grace, Isa. xxxviii. 5. Peter said nothing, but went out and wept bitterly, and obtained mercy, Mat. xxvi. 75. Tears are a kind of silent prayers, that will at last prevail for mercy. Naaman the Syrian was cleansed of his leprosy by the waters of Jordan; penitential tears may do much towards the cleansing of thy leprous soul from sin. He that really grieves that he cannot grieve for sin, is grieved for sin; he that is truly sorry that he cannot be sorry for sin, is in a measure sorry for sin; he that truly desires to drown his sins in his tears, he has in divine account drowned his sins in his

tears. The maid in Scaliger swooned at the sight of a lily. Oh, how much more should you at the sight of your unholiness! Basil wept when he saw the rose, because it brought to his mind the first sin from whence it had the prickles. Oh, how should a sinner fall a-weeping when he looks upon the greatness of his wickedness and his want of holiness! As ever you would be holy, mourn over your own unholiness. But,

(2.) Secondly, If ever thou wouldst be holy, thou must seek the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the efficient cause of all that holiness that is in the world. The Spirit of God is a spirit of holiness, Rom. i. 4; he is frequently called the Holy Spirit: Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me,' Ps. li. 11; 'But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit,' Isa. lxiii. 10; And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption,' Eph. iv. 30; He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit,' 1 Thes. iv. 8; 'In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise,' Eph. i. 13. To make a man holy is more than to create a world; it is a work too high and too hard for angels or men; it becomes none, and it can be done by none but by the Holy Spirit. Sanctification is made the Spirit's personal operation, in that 2 Thes. ii. 13, and in that 1 Pet. i. 2. It is the great work of the Spirit to shape, form, and fashion the new creature holiness, in all the vessels of glory. The Spirit is the root of all holiness; and therefore the several parts of holiness are called the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22. It is true, God purposes holiness to his people, and Christ has purchased holiness for his people; but it is only the Spirit that is the efficient cause or worker of holiness in his people. Though the Father, Son, and Spirit hath designed to re-imprint holiness upon man's heart, yet the Spirit has the greatest hand in that work. When man was in his primitive glory, holiness was his loveliness and his likeness to God; but being now fallen, that image is so broken and marred, that no hand can repair it or restore it but the hand of the Spirit. The great principle of holiness which was in Christ, as to his human nature, was the Holy Spirit, which he had above measure; for he was anointed with the unction of the Spirit above his fellows. So that, look which way you will, the Spirit still appears to be the great principle of holiness. Holiness is the very picture of God, and certainly no hand can carve that excellent picture but the Spirit of God. Holiness is the divine nature, and none can impart that to man but the Spirit. A man never comes to see his sins, nor to be sick of his sins, nor to loathe his sins, nor to arraign his sins, nor to condemn his sins, nor to judge himself for his sins, evangelically, till he comes to be possessed of the Holy Spirit. A man never comes to spit out the sweet morsels of sin, he never comes to make a sacrifice of his only Isaac, and to cut his delicate Agag in pieces, and to strangle his Delilah, and in good earnest to set upon an utter extirpation of those sins that his constitution, inclination, custom, calling, and interest does most incline him to, till a Spirit of holiness comes upon him. Till this Holy Spirit, which is a spirit of judgment and burning, falls upon the hearts of sinners, they will never be fired out of their pride, formality, carnality,