To the Rev. Mr. HUNTINGTON.

DEAR SIR,

1

THE request we are going to make, we truft, is under an impreffion from Him who has left it on record, that when he was upon earth, he prayed to his heavenly Father, not for his disciples then with him alone, but for those also who fhould in future believe on him through their word; taking into his view, and expreffing the love of his heart for, all that his Father had given to him, which were afterwards to appear in the world, down to the laft hoof, which is not to be left behind, or the last stone that shall be laid in the building of mercy, We have heard the word this night from your mouth, not as the word of the man who delivered it, but as of God, who, we are well convinced, gave it to you. And, as we know it concerns not us only, but the elect of God at large, and the rifing generation that are to fucceed us, we wish it to be spread in the present day, and handed down to those whom it may concern when time with us is no more. With this view, having reason to bless our gracious

God for condefcending fo eminently to enlighten, teach, and instruct you, so as to cause you to go not only before us, but before any we have heard or known of, either in the prefent day or for ages past, we wish you to be at the trouble to write down, as nearly as you can, the Sermon this evening delivered, and to permit us four to be at the expense of printing and publishing the fame; in doing which we believe you will not only oblige and serve us, but thousands befides in the prefent day, and alfo unknown numbers of God's children yet unborn. Remembering that light is fown for the righteous, let us not spare fome pains and expense to communicate and hand down to others a little of what it pleases God to fhew you. We remain,

DEAR SIR,

Affectionately yours,

Monday Evening, 22d October, 1798.

V. L

M. C.

E. T.

O. T

A SERMON.

REV. iii. 5.

He that overcometh, the fame fhall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life; but I will confefs his name before my Father, and before his angels.

THE church of Sardis certainly was a type or figure of the church of God in the present day; which appears from the next mentioned church, called that of Philadelphia, having an open door set before the angel of it, which no man can fhut, and which fhews the universal spread of the gofpel, till the earth be filled with the knowledge and glory of God as the waters cover the fea; and when that glorious time shall be over, the last church of the seven will appear, and which will end with the world; for what is faid to that church exactly agrees with the account of the wife and foolish virgins in Matt. xxv. when the bridegroom will come, and find profeffors flumbering and fleeping, which is there called, lukewarm in their fouls; when he will fhut the door, and

fpew all careless and lifeless profeffors out of his mouth, they having no abiding place in the bowels of his mercy. Hence he tells the laft church of the feven, that he ftands at the door and knocks; and, in his account of the last days, he bleffes that fervant who, when he cometh and knocketh, fhall open to him immediately. Moreover when he writes to the Laodiceans he ftiles himself the Amen, to fhew that he then comes to give the finishing.ftroke both to the church and to the word. Hence it appears that these seven churches were typical, which feems to be the reason why thefe feven churches in Afia are written to, and no others; no, not fo much as the church at Jerufalem, which was the metropolitan church, and the mother of all the reft; and which in all things had the pre-eminence, by being the mother of Chrift, for he was born there, and of her, according to the flesh; and it was fhe that first trusted in him, and from whom the word and the law came forth to all nations: and yet even fhe is not named in these epiftles, though no doubt but she is included in one of the types; no, nor any church in Africa, nor any in Europe; which fhews plainly that they were types of churches which fhould afterwards appear in the world. And, as Philadelphia prefigures the next glorious appearing of the church, and the univerfal spread of the gofpel in the world, and that of Laodicea agrees with the Lord's account of his coining to judgment, so the church of Sardis reprefents the church in our day; and every thing that is

faid to this church exactly agrees with it in its prefent ftate.

In addreffing this church Chrift ftiles himself be that bath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. By the seven spirits of God is not meant angels; for it can hardly be thought that angels are joined with God the Father, and with the Lord Jefus Chrift, in fending these epiftles to the churches, as in chap. i. ver. 4, 5; but the Holy Ghoft, with all the fulness of his gifts and graces, is meant; and by the feven ftars the feven minifters of the churches, which, like ftars, have a little light in them, and which is reflected from Chrift; and their being in Chrift's hand Thews their weakness, and the need of his power to fupport, protect, and keep them.

I know thy works, that thou haft a name that thou liveft, and art dead. The works that Christ requires are the works of faith, the labours of love, and the patience of hope, performed in his ftrength, by perfons interested in him, and who abide in him, who enforce and defend his truth, who embrace it, hold it fast, and abide by it. All works fhort of these are dead works, performed by perfons dead in trefpaffes and fins, and under the curfe of the law, and the fentence of their own confcience; and, what is most dreadful of all, they are damned by the gospel; it is a favour of death unto death to them, being only hypocrites in Zion.

Thou haft a name that thou liveft, and art dead. There is nothing more common in the prefent day