why the word preached hath been no more effectual to convert the wicked, or to edify the saints : I believe one of the chief causes is the divisions amongst those that have made the greatest profession of the truth. 1. For the saints ; it is no wonder they should thrive no more under the word ; for the body of Christ is edified in love, Eph. iv. 12. The apostles themselves, when wrangling, got little good by Christ's sermon, or the sacrament itself, administered by Christ unto them. One would have thought that was such a meal, in the strength whereof (as so many Elijahs) they might have gone a long journey ; but, alas! we see how weak they rise froin it : one denies his Master, and the i-est in alarm forsake him ; so unfit were they in such a temper to make a spi- ritual advantage of the best of means. Again, Pray for the wicked. It is no wonder that the word prevails no more on them ; the divisions that have arisen among those that call themselves saints, have filled their hearts with prejudice against the holy truths and ways of God : Christ prays for his people's unity, • — 'That the world may believe that thou hast sent me,' John xvii. 21. What is oftener in the mouths of many profane wretches than this, — We will believe them when they are all of one mind, and come over to them when they can agree among themselves ; who loves to put his head into a house on fire. This should stir up all that wish well to the gospel, to pray for the re-union of their divided hearts ; hot disputes will not do it ; prayer will, or nothing can. The God of peace can only set us at peace : if ever we are wise to agree, we must obtain our wisdom from above ; this alone is pure and peaceable.
CHAPTER XXI.
SHEWS THAT ALL SAINTS ARE THE SUBJECT OF OUR PRAYERS.
In praying for saints, you must pray for all : I do not mean as the Papist, for quick and dead ; prayer is a means to wait upon them in their way; at death, when they are at their journey's end, prayers are useless, and the wicked in that estate are beneath, the saint above, our prayers ; we cannot help the wicked, the tree is fallen, and so it must lie. We read of a change the body shall have after death. Vile bodies may, but filthy souls cannot after death be made glorious ; if they leave the body filthy, so they shall meet it at the resun-ection. The time to pray for them is now, while they live among you, or never ; for death and hell come together to the sinner. No sooner Dives's wretched soul is forced out of his body, but you hear it shriek in hell, Luke xvi. 22, ' The rich man died, and was buried ; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment :' but Abraham tells liim, there is a gulf fixed which forbids all intercourse between heaven and him. Now, what is that, but an irrecoverable decree with which the wicked are sealed vmder everlasting wrath. If God receive no prayers from them, then not from others for them : and as the wicked are beyond our help, so the saints above all need of our help. Prayer implies want, but saints de- parted are perfect, called therefore ' the spirits of just men made perfect :' we need not beg a pardon for them, for the Lord acquits them, they are 'just ;' — not for a supply of any good they want, they are ' made perfect ;' — not to remove any pain they feel, for the Spirit saith, ' Blessed are they that die in^he Lord, they rest from their laboui's.' But they who invented this device, intended it as gain to their own purse, rather than benefit to soids ; it is a doctrine con- trived to bring grist to the pope's mill. But to leave this ; they are living saints, your companions here in tribulation, that are the subject of your prayers. The Papists speak much of a treasury the church hath ; this, indeed, is the true treasury of the church, the common stock of prayers with which they all trade to heaven for one another. Paul tells us what a large heart he had, even for those whose face he never saw in the flesh. Col. i. 2. First, We are to love all saints, therefore to pray for all. Love in a saint is the picture of God's love to us; and God's love is not partial to one saint more than another: that image is not of God's drawing, which is not like himself; natvu-e may err in its produc- tions, but not God in the grace which he begets in his saint. The new creature never wants its true nature ; if God loves all his children, then wilt thou all thy brethren, or not one of them. When Paul commends Christians for this grace of love, he doth it thus, Eph. i. lo, 'After I heard of your faith in the Lord
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