you now stand still and loiter? God forbid! Up then, brethren, and give the Nation the fruit of their cost and labour. Frustrate not all the Preparer's works: fail not the long expectations of so many thousands that have prayed in hope of a true Reformation; paid in hope, ventured in hope, suffered in hope, and waited till now in hope. In the name of God, take heed that you do not disappoint all these hopes! Have they spent so long time in fencing the vineyard, and weeding and pruning it, and making it ready for your hands, and will you fail them that are sent to gather in the vintage, and lose their labours? When they have ploughed the field, will you sow it by halves? If they had known beforehand that Ministers would have proved idle or unfaithful, how many hundreds would have spared their blood, how many thousands would have sat still, and have let the old Readers and Formalists alone, and have said, 'If we must have dullards and unprofitable men, it is as good to have one as another; it is not worth so much cost and pains to change one careless Minister for another.' The end is the mover and life of the agent in all the means. How many thousands have prayed, and paid, and suffered, and more in expectation of a great advantage to the Church, and more common illumination and Reformation of the Nation by your means; and will you now deceive them all? Again I say, God forbid! It is at your hands that they are expecting the happy issue of all. The eyes of the Nation are, or should be, all under God upon you, for the bringing in the harvest of their cost and labours. I profess, it maketh me wonder at the fearful deceitfulness of the heart of man, to see how every man can call on others for duty, or censure them for the omitting it, and what excellent judges we are in other men's cases, and how partial in our own! The very judicious Teachers of the Nation can cry out, and too justly, against one sect and another sect, and against unfaithful underminers of those that they thought would have done the work, and against the disturbers of the Reformation that was going on, and say, 'These have betrayed the Church, and frustrated the Nation's cost and hopes, and undone all that hath been so long a doing.' And yet they see not, or seem not to see, that it is we that are guilty of this, as much as they. It was not the Magistrates' driving, but the Ministers' drawing, that was the principal saving means that we waited for.

Brethren, it were a strange mistake, if any of us should think, that the price of the Nation's wealth and blood was to settle us in good benefices, and to pull down the Bishops, and give us the quiet possession of our livings which they would have deprived us of. Was this the Reformation intended, that we might live in greater ease and fulness, and succeed the ejected Ministers in their less disgraced sins? Why, sirs, what are we more than other men, that the people should do all this for us? That they should impoverish the whole Nation almost to provide us a livelihood? What can they see in our persons, or countenances for which they should so dote upon us? Are we not men, frail and corruptible flesh, and unworthy sinners like themselves? Surely it was for our work, and the end of our work, and not for our persons, but in order to our work, that they have done all this. What say you now, brethren? Will you deal faithfully with your creditors, and pay the Nation the debt which you owe them? Shall all the blood and cost of this people be frustrated or not? You are now called upon to give your answer, and it is you that must give it. The work is now before you; and in these personal instructions of all the flock, as well as in Public preaching, doth it consist. Others have done their part, and borne their burden, and now comes in yours. You may easily see how great a matter lies upon your hands, and how many will be wronged by your failing, and how much by the sparing of your labour will be lost. If your labour be more worth than all our treasures, hazards, and lives,-more worth than the souls of men and the blood of Christ; then sit still, and look not after the ignorant or the ungodly; follow your pleasures and worldly business, or take your ease; displease not sinners, nor your own flesh; but let your neighbours sink or swim; and if Public preaching will not save them, let them perish. But if the case be far otherwise, you were best look about you. But I shall say more of this anon.

II. Having given you the first sort of moving Reasons, which were drawn from the benefits of the present undertaken work, I come to the second sort, which are taken from the difficulties; which if they were taken alone, or in a needless business, I confess might be rather discouragements than motives; but taking these with those that go before and

follow, the case is otherwise. For difficulties must excite to greater diligence in a necessary work. And many difficulties we shall find both in ourselves and in our people; which, because they are things so obvious, that your experience will leave no room for doubting, I shall take leave to pass them over in a few words.

In ourselves there is much dulness and laziness, so that there will be much ado to get us to be faithful in so hard a work. Like a sluggard in bed, that knows he should rise, and yet delayeth and would stay as long as he can; so do we by duties that our corrupt natures are against, and puts us to the use of all our powers. Mere sloth ties the hands of many.

2. We have also a base man-pleasing disposition, which will make us let men perish lest we lose their love, and let them go quietly to hell, lest we should make them angry with us for seeking their salvation. We are ready to venture on the displeasure of God, and suffer our people to run into everlasting misery, rather than get ill-will to ourselves. This disposition must be diligently resisted.

3. Some of us have a foolish bashfulness, which makes us very backward to begin with them, and to speak plainly to them. We are so modest forsooth, that we blush to speak for Christ, to contradict the devil, or to save a soul; when of shameful works we are less ashamed.

4. We are so carnal, that we are prone by our fleshly interests, to be drawn to unfaithfulness in the work of Christ; lest we lose our tithes, or bring trouble upon ourselves, or set people against us, and such like. All these require diligence for their resistance.

5. The greatest impediment of all is, that we are weak in the faith; so that when we should set upon a man for his conversion with all our might, if there be not the stirrings of unbelief within us, to rise up actual questionings of heaven and hell, whether the things that we should earnestly press be true; yet at least the belief of them is weak, and does not excite in us fervent, resolute, and constant zeal : thus our whole motion is weak, because the spring of faith is weak. O, what need therefore have all Ministers for themselves and their work to look well to their faith, especially that their assent to the truth of Scripture, about the joy and torments of the life to come, be sound and lively.

6. And lastly, we have commonly a great deal of unskilfulness and unfitness for this work. Alas, how few know how to deal with an ignorant, worldly man for his salvation! To get within him, and win upon him, and suit all speeches to his condition and temper; to choose the fittest subjects, and follow them with the holy mixture of seriousness, terror, love, meekness, and evangelical allurements! O, who is fit for such a thing! I profess seriously, it seems to me,. by experience, as hard a matter to confer aright with such a carnal person in order to his change, as to preach such Sermons as ordinarily we do, if not much more so. All these difficulties in ourselves, should awaken us to resolutions, preparations and diligence, that we be not overcome by them, and hindered from, or in the work.

In our People, we have also many difficulties to encounter. 1. Too many of them will be obstinately unwilling to be taught, and refuse to come near us, as being too good to be Catechised, or too old to learn, unless we deal wisely with them in public and private, and by the force of reason, and the power of love conquer their perverseness, which we must carefully endeavour.

2. Many that are willing are so extremely dull, that they can scarcely learn a leaf of a Catechism in a long time, and therefore will keep away, as ashamed of their ignorance, unless we are wise and diligent to encourage them.

3. When they do come, so great is their ignorance, that you will find it a wonderful hard matter to get them to understand you; so that if you have not the skill of making things plain, you will leave them as strange to it as before,

4. Yet harder will you find it to work things upon their hearts, and set them so close to the quick, as to produce that saving change, which is our end, and without which our labour is lost. O what a rock is a hardened, carnal heart! How stiffly will it resist the most powerful persuasions, and hear of everlasting life or death as a thing of naught! If you have not therefore great seriousness, and fervency, and fitness of expression, what good can you expect? And when all is done, the Spirit of Grace must do the work; but as God and men do use to choose instruments most suitable to the nature of the agent, work or end, so here the Spirit of wisdom, life, and holiness, doth not use to

work by foolish, dead or carnal instruments, but by such persuasions of light, life, and purity, as are most like himself and the work that is to be wrought thereby.

5. And when you have made some desirable impressions on their hearts, if you look not after them, and have a special care of them when they are gone, their hearts will soon return to their former hardness, and their old companions, and temptations will render all abortive. I do but briefly hint these things which you so well know. All the difficulties of the work of Conversion, which you use to acquaint the people with, are here before us in our present work which I will forbear to enumerate, as supposing it unnecessary.

III. The third sort of moving reasons are drawn from the necessity of the undertaken work for if it were not necessary, the lazy might be discouraged rather than excited, by the forementioned difficulties. And if we should here expatiate, we might find matter for a volume by itself. But because I have already been longer than I did intend, I shall only give you a brief hint of some of the general grounds of this necessity.

In the first place it is necessary by obligation, Ut Officium, necessitate præcepti :' in the second it is necessary ' ad finem ;' and that for God, for our neighbours, and for ourselves.

(1.) We have on us the obligation of Scripture-precepts, both general, and special.-(2.) The subservient obligation by promises and threatenings.—(3.) These are seconded by executions, of actual judgments, and mercies.-(4.) We have the obligation of our own undertaking upon us. These all deserve your consideration, but may not be insisted on by me, lest I be over tedious.

1. Every Christian is obliged to do all that he can for the salvation of others; but every Minister is doubly obliged, because he is separated to the Gospel of Christ, and is to give up himself wholly to that work. (Rom. i. 1; 1 Tim. iv. 15.) It is needless to make any further question of our obligation, when we know that this work is needful to our people's conversion and salvation, and that we are in general