there is mention made of little children, of young men, and of fathers. All are not fathers in grace, and all are not young men in grace; there are some children in grace. A Christian in this life has his degrees of growth; he is first a child in grace, and then a young man in grace, and then a father in grace.

For the further opening of this point, I shall aim at these four things;

I. I shall endeavour to decypher to you souls weak in grace;

II. I shall endeavour to lay down those things that may encourage, support, and comfort souls that are weak in grace;

III. I shall speak to the duties that lie upon those that are weak in grace;

IV. The duties that lie upon those that are strong in grace, towards those that are weak in grace.

On these four points we shall speak, as the Lord shall assist.

I. I shall begin with the first, to decypher souls weak in grace.

1. The first thing by which I shall decypher souls weak in grace, is this-weak Christians are usually carried out much after the poor low things of this world.

They are much in carking and caring for them, and in pursuing and hunting greedily after them. That is a clear text for this, Mat. vi. 24, to the end. Christ labours by several weighty arguments to fence and fortify his disciples against those diffident, doubtful, carking cares that divide, distract, distemper, torture, and tear the heart in a thousand pieces. And yet neither these arguments, nor yet the presence of him who was the great landlord of heaven and earth, and whose love and bowels were still yearning towards them, and whose special eye of providence was still over them, could rid their heads and hearts of these worldly cares, that do but vex and perplex the souls of men. And it is very observable, that after this smart lecture which Christ read them, they did strive three several times who should be greatest and highest in worldly enjoyments. Their hearts should have been only in heaven, and yet they strive for earth, as if there were

no heaven, or as if earth were better than heaven: all which does clearly evidence, that their graces were very weak, and their corruptions very strong. Men that have little of the upper springs within, are carried out much after the springs below. Baruch was good, but weak in grace; he had but some sips and tastes of the glory of that other world, and that made him, when God was pulling down all worldly glory, to seek for earth, as if there were no heaven, Jer. xlv. 1-5. Certainly there is but little of Christ and grace within, where the heart is so strongly carried out after these things without. Where there is such strong love and workings of heart after these poor things, it speaks out the soul's enjoyment of God to be but poor and low.

In the old testament, the Jews, being babes and infants in grace and holiness, had a world of temporal promises, and very few spiritual promises; but now in the days of the gospel, the Lord is pleased to double and treble his spirit upon his people; and now you meet with very few temporal promises in the gospel, but the gospel is filled with spiritual promises. The gospel drops nothing but marrow and fatness, love and sweetness; and therefore God looks in these days that men should grow up to a greater height of holiness, heavenliness, and spiritualness, than what they attained to in those dark days, wherein the sun shined but dimly. Men rich and strong in grace, look upon the world with a holy scorn and disdain; as Themistocles, when he saw in the dark a thing like a pearl, scorned to stoop for it himself, saying to another, Stoop thou, for thou art not Themistocles. Abraham, a man strong in grace, looked with a holy scorn and with an eye of disdain upon these poor things. poor things. When Melchisedech from God had made him heir of all things, he refused the riches that the king of Sodom offered him, because God was his shield, and his exceeding great reward, Gen. xiv. 21; xv, 1. The greatest bargain that a soul rich in grace will make with God for himself is this, "Give me but bread to eat, and clothes to wear, and thou shalt be my God." So it was with that brave soul in Gen. xxviii. 21; he desires but food and raiment. Mark; he asks for food, not junkets; raiment, not ornaments. A little will serve a

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man that is strong in grace, much will not serve a man that is weak in grace, nothing will serve a man that is void of grace. Souls weak in grace, have their hearts much working after these poor low things, as you may see in Mat. xviii. 1; Who shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven? The question is stated by the disciples, who, one would have thought, should have had their hearts and thoughts in heaven; but they dreamed of an earthly kingdom, where honours and offices should be distributed, as in the days of David and Solomon. And it is observable in Mark ix. 33, 34, they are at it again; And he came to Capernaum, and being in the house, he asked them, what was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace; they were ashamed to tell him; for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be greatest. Says one, I will have this,' and says another, I will have that.' Or, as it is in the Greek, They disputed, who was the greatest. Says one, I am greater than thou.' 'No,' says another, ‘I am greatest.' It is an argument of a childish disposition, to be taken more with rattles and baubles, than with jewels and pearls. That Christian has little of the power of grace within him, whose heart is so strongly carried out to these vanities below. Men that are grown up to years of understanding prefer one piece of gold above a thousand new counters. A soul that is strong in grace, that is high in its spiritual enjoyments, prefers one good word from God, one good look from Christ, above all the glory of this world. Lord, says he, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me. 'Warm my heart with the beams of thy love, and then a little of these things will suffice.' You see Moses and all those worthies in the eleventh of the Hebrews, who were men strong in grace, how bravely they trample upon all things below God. They left their families and their countries, where they lived like princes, to wander in a wilderness, upon the bare command of God. So Luther, a man strong in grace, when he had a gown and money given him by the elector, turned himself about, and said, 'I protest God shall not put me off with these poor low things.' Souls that know by experience what the bosom of Christ is, what spiritual

communion is, what the glory of heaven is, will not be put off by God or man with things that are mixed, mutable, and momentary. And to shame many professors in these days, I might bring in a cloud of witnesses, even from among the very heathen, who never heard of a crucified Christ, and yet were more crucified to things below Christ, than many of them that pretend much to Christ. But I shall forbear; only desiring that those who think and speak so scornfully and contemptuously of heathens, may not at last be found worse than heathens; yea, be judged and condemned by heathens, in the great and terrible day of the Lord.

2. In order to a further decyphering of weak Christians, I shall lay down this, that weak saints usually over-fear troubles before they come; yea, those future evils that may never fall out.

The mere empty thought and conceit of trouble, is very terrible and perplexing to a weak saint. When it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim, his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved, with the wind, Isa. vii. 2. Their hearts quaked and quivered, as we say, like an aspen leaf. It is an elegant expression, shewing, in their extremity, the baseness of their fears, arguing no courage or spirit at all in them. The very news and conceit of trouble or calamities, O how does it perplex, and vex, and grieve, and overwhelm weak Christians! The very hearing of trouble at a distance, makes them to stagger and reel, and ready to say, Will God now save? Will he now deliver? It puts them into such shaking fits, that they know not what to do with themselves, nor how to perform the service they owe to God or man. Now tell me, can you call that a stout spirit, a strong spirit, that is daunted with the very report and thoughts of calamity? or that does torment men with immoderate fear of a thousand things that haply will never fall out; as fears of foreign invasion, or fears of home-bred confusions, fears of change of religion, or being surprized with such and such diseases, or being ruined in their outward estate by such and such devices or disadvantages, or by falling under the frowns of such a great man, or under the anger and re

venge of such and such a man, and a thousand such like things? Now this speaks out much weakness in grace. Souls strong in grace are carried up above these fears, yea, with the Leviathan in Job, they can laugh at the shaking of the spear. They can say, with David, Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil, for thou art with us, thy rod and thy staff do comfort us. But weak souls are afraid of their own shadow. The very shadow of trouble will exceedingly trouble such souls, and oftentimes make their lives a very hell.-Weak Christians are afraid of the shadow of the cross.

3. Fainting in the day of adversity speaks out a soul to be but weak in grace.

Weak Christians are overcome with little crosses; the least cross does not only startle them, but it sinks them, and makes them ready to sit down, and to cry out with the church, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by; behold and see whether there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, Lam. i. 12. Before trouble comes, weak Christians are apt to think that they can bear much and endure much, but, alas, when the day of trial comes upon them, when they are put to it, they prove but men of poor and impotent spirits; and then they roar and complain, and lie down in the dust, suffering crosses and losses to bind them hand and foot, and to spoil them of all their comforts. And now though they have many comforts for one cross, yet one cross does so damp and daunt their hearts, that joy and comfort flies away from them, and they sit down overwhelmed. Certainly this speaks out little of Christ within. All Rachel's comforts were no comforts, because her children were not. This speaks out much weakness within.

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small, Prov. xxiv. 10. If thou shrinkest, if thou abatest and slackest in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. Man has no trial of his strength, till he is in trouble; faintness then discovers weakness. Afflictions try what sap we have, as hard weather tries what health we have. A weak Christian sinks under a little burden. Every frown, every sour word, every puff of wind, blows him down, and makes him sink under his burden. But now a