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persons are for the covenant of grace, and yet will not ratify it, by receiving the seals of that covenant?—Learn,

3. That such as have given themselves honestly away to the Lord, should look on themselves as his. Impress it on your spirits, ye are not your own, but the Lord's. Have you given your consent to Christ in the covenant? Then henceforth reckon yourselves to be his. Look on yourselves,

(1.) As his habitation: Eph. ii. 22, " In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Christ has called to you to open to him, promising to dwell in you. You have given consent to him, now look on yourselves as his habitation, and exert yourselves to drive out the old inhabitants. Consider yourselves as no more at liberty to harbour his enemies. Our Lord has made a purchase of two houses, and has made two journeys, to take infeftment and possession of them; (1.) Having purchased heaven for his people, he went thither in his ascension, to take possession of it for them: Heb. vi. 20, "Whither the forerunner hath for us entered, even Jesns, made an High-priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." (2.) Having purchased the sinner for himself by his blood, he comes to the sinner's heart, to take possession of it for himself: Rev. iii. 20, "Behold," says he, "I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." To the former house he has ready access, having to do with a holy and just God: but not so to the latter; often his enemies are admitted in, and he is made to stand at the door, as if the house were not his own, because here he has to do with fickle creatures: Song v. 2, "I sleep, but my heart waketh; it is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night." -Look on yourselves,

(2.) As his temple, 1 Cor. vi. 19, (quoted above); a temple consecrated and set apart for the Lord, which, therefore, it is most dangerous to defile. Before the soul comes into the covenant, the man is Satan's work-house: Eph. ii. 2, "He is the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." His heart is a forge of evil imaginations, a den of thieves. But entering into the covenant, he is consecrated for a holy temple unto the Lord. Be careful, then, that your hearts and lives be a continual sacrifice of praise, Christ the altar, and thou the priest. Feast on the sacrifice slain for you, feed daily on Jesus Christ, and guard against pollutions of heart and life.-Look on yourselves,

(3.) As his confederates, or covenant-people: Heb. viii. 10, "I

will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Remember, the covenant ye have entered into is an offensive and defensive league. You are to have common friends and common enemies with the Lord. Whoso are the friends of God, they must be your friends also, as Ruth said to Naomi, "Thy people shall be my people." Psalm cxix. 63, "I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts." If you desire heaven, you must associate with those who are going thither, for a companion of fools shall be destroyed."-His enemies must also be yours Psalm cxxxix. 21, 22, "Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred, I count them mine enemies." See also Psalm lxix. 9, " For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen upon me."-Look on yourselves,

(4.) As his followers: Eph. v. 1, "Be ye, therefore, followers of God as dear children." Our Lord is given for a Leader, Isa. lv. 4, to lead his people through the world to heaven. Now, you are going through the wilderness, where it is hard, in many cases, to discern the right way, and where there are many to lead us wrong. The multitude goes the way to destruction, but do you keep your eye on your guide: Prov. iii. 6, “ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Observe his precepts, his example; mark his footsteps, and follow them: 1 John ii. 6, “He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked." Follow also the footsteps of his flock, and conform not to the world, to follow them: Rom. xii. 2, " And be not conformed to this world; but be transformed, by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”— Look on yourselves,

(5.) As his subjects, for he is your King and Lord, yea, your God and King, to whom you owe absolute resignation and obedience : Psalm xlv. 11, "He is thy Lord, and worship thou him." Christ has a kingdom in the world, and whoso have entered into his covenant are the subjects of that kingdom. Observe, therefore, to live according to his laws, confederate not with his enemies, but be true to your King and Lord.-Look on yourselves,

(6.) As children of his family: 1 Pet. i. 14, "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in your ignorance; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." Have you come out from among those of Satan's family, and entered into the family of God? then walk as the children of God. Do not again mix with Satan's family: Psalm xii. 7, "Thou shalt keep

them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Avoid them, their company, and their ways, as you would shun a society infected with the plague: Acts ii. 40, "And with many other words did he testify, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Strive to be like your heavenly Father; study to be obedient and dutiful children to him.-Look on yourselves,

Lastly, As his servants. So says the text. Our Lord has been amongst us, seeking servants to himself. Remember he is your Master, and you must apply yourselves to his work.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

SERMON XLII.

ACTS xxviii. 23,

For there stood by me this night the angel of the Lord, whose I am, and whom I serve.

HAVING Considered and improved the first doctrine taken from these words, I now go on to

DOCT. II. That those who are the Lord's ought to make, and will make, God's service their business.-For illustrating this doctrine, I shall shew,

I. What is that service of God which is the business of those who are the Lord's.

II. I am to shew, what it is to make God's service our business, or when one may be said to do so.

III. I will confirm the doctrine. And then,

IV. We shall add the practical improvement of the subject.—We are then,

I. To shew what is that service of God which is the business of those who are the Lord's.

This is to be considered in respect, First, Of the matter; Secondly, Of the manner of this service.

First, We are to consider the service of God, as to the matter of it. This is as wide and broad, as is the broad law of God; therefore serving God, and keeping his commandments, are joined together. The servant's work is to do the Master's will: Luke xii. 47,"And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with

many stripes." I shall offer you some directions anent this service, that you may see what it is in respect of the matter of it.

1. There is salvation-work, and generation-work, which God puts in your hands, as the matter of your service.-There is salvationwork: Phil. ii. 12, "Work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling." You must begin this work, carry it on, and work it out. Sinner, thou art in hazard of perishing, God calls thee to see thyself, that thou perish not, and accounts it service to him that thou art concerned, and layest out thyself for thy own salvation. It is most necessary work, for the sinner's case is in this respect like theirs, whom some punish, and oblige to work, by putting them into a house where the water comes in on them, where they must either work at the pump, or be drowned.-There is generation-work: Acts xiii. 36, "For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption." There is something which God has put into every one of our hands, to do for him and his honour in the world; the duty of our stations and relations, and the duty arising from some special occasions we have of honouring God. It is our business to discern all this, to exert ourselves, and get it done before our time be done : Gal. vi. 10, "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” If we do not, we are unprofitable servants, cumberers of the ground, and useless for God in the world.

2. There is an external and internal service to God.-External service, a service with the outward man: 1 Cor. vi. 20, “For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit which are God's." The whole man is God's, and therefore though internal service be preferable to external, yet God must have the one as well as the other. Here are to be taken in all external duties, of piety towards God, of righteousness and mercy towards our neighbour. These are a great part of our business in this world, if we be the Lord's servants. Our ears must be employed to hear his word, our eyes to read it, our tongues to speak to him in prayer and praise; to speak of him and for him to men; our hands and all our members to act for him in the world. There is-Internal service, we are to glorify him with our spirit, which is his John iv. 24, "God is a spirit; and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." This is the soul of religion, and the chief part in the service of God, without which the other is but a lifeless, unacceptable carcase; and therefore the character of a true servant is taken from it: Phil. iii. 3, "We are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ

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Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Art thou the Lord's ? Then it must be your business to love him, to fear him, to believe and depend upon him, to obey and resign yourselves unto him. In a word, it is to keep the heart, and employ it in his service; it is to meditate on, rejoice and delight in him; suiting your will to his in all things, and consecrating the whole of your affections to him.

3. There is stated service and continual service.-Stated services are to be performed to God, at such and such times. Thus you are to serve him in secret in your closets, in private in your families, worshipping him morning and evening, Matth. vi. 6; Jer. x. 25. If you be the Lord's, it is the least you can do, to pay thy homage to him by thyself in the morning, when he gives thee a new day; and at evening, when thou are to enter into the darkness of the night. And if yourselves be the Lord's, you will also devote your houses to him, and pay him your homage in a family capacity: Josh. xxiv. 15, "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Look on the morning sacrifice in your family as the Lord's due, as well as the evening one. Job had as great a family, as large a stock, and as much work in hand, as any can pretend to, yet he duly observed the morning sacrifice. Thus did Job continually, chap. i. 5. And then there is the Lord's weekly service in his own day, in the public duties and ordinances thereof. A piece of service this which those who are the Lord's will find themselves obliged to make conscience of, and not loiter away the day unnecessarily at home: "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth," Psalm xxvi. 8. It was the godly Shunamite's practice, though she had a good way to go, 2 King iv. 23. It was David's also, so that Saul knew, when he was absent, there was certainly some extraordinary thing kept him away, 1 Sam. xx. 26. -There is continual service: Acts xxvi. 71, "Unto which promise, our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come." A Christian must never be out of his Master's work, he serves God in the interval of duties, as well as in duties. Hence we are ordered to pray always, and not to faint; not that we are always to be on our knees, but are always to be in a praying frame. The Lord's servants will find no time in which to be idle, as long as the broad law is continually laying work to his hands, he desires to "walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless," Luke i. 6. Whatsoever we do, we are to have an eye to God in it, and so to manage our worldly employments, as to tincture them all with religion: Col. iii. 17, " And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." This is the walking with God recommended to us by the example of Enoch, Gen. v. 24.

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