SERMON 5

 

THE HEAVENLY PATTERN.

 

MATT. 6: 10. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

 

 SUCH is the corruption of our nature, and so is that corruption improved by custom, that there is almost a constant standing opposition between GOD’s will and our own GOD's will is the straight rule, requiring such things as are honest, pure, holy, and of good report; our own will is the crooked rule, requiring such things as please ourselves, our sense, our humor, lists: So long therefore as sin and sensuality have hold of us, this is the controversy we lay debating, Whether we shall follow the crooked rule or the straight Whether we shall please GOD or ourselves And our souls hang wavering and distracted under this foolish, unreasonable doubt.

 

 It passes with us into a proverb, that let children have their wills, and they will undo themselves, because they want understanding to choose what is good for themselves: But it is as true, that let men have their wills, and they will undo themselves much more; because they that are sinful are much more foolish in their choices, than they that are children; and they that want grace have less understanding, than they that want years.

 

 Whither does the issue of our own wills lead us but to intricacies, and mazes, and grief, and shame, and repentance; or else to consequences that are much more unhappy than these Whereas, on the other. hand, to do the will of GOD is our wisdom and our welfare, our security and our freedom, our peace and our salvation. And this is the ground of that petition in the text, wherein we must interpret ourselves to pray unto GOD that he would restrain us by his grace from doing our own will, till such time as his will becomes ours; and that he would assist us to do his will and obey it to all well pleasing, even as it is done in heaven.

 

But it is not my purpose to speak more at present concerning either the reason, or rule, or nature of our obedience; I shall rather choose to confine myself to the pattern of it, proposed in the text, and that is the holy angels; for it is they are meant to do the will of GOD in heaven in such a manner as we desire and endeavor to do it on earth.

 

 Had our SAVIOR taught us to pray in positive words, Thy will be done on earth cheerfully, constantly, perfectly; this certainly had been equivalent to " Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven;" for as they do no less in heaven, so neither can they do more than obey GOD cheerfully, constantly, perfectly: And yet the expression of our SAVIOR, though it be but the same sense, is much more instructive by reason of the comparison; for by teaching us to pray, " Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven," He has suggested this instruction, viz., That it is always of advantage to us to have a good pattern in our eye: And the reason is, because a pattern begets emulation; a passion of mighty influence upon human practice.

 

 With the moralist's leave, I call emulation, (which in its own nature is no other than a propension to imitate,) I call it a passion; and it is a very different passion from all that the moralists are wont to enumerate: For all other passions (they say) are terminated either in good or evil; ex gr., love, joy, hope, are terminated in good; grief, hatred, and fear are terminated in evil; but emulation is terminated in pure action or imitation, without respect whether the matter imitated be good or evil.

 

 That such a kind of emulation as this is natural to mankind, and that it has a great influence upon practice, we may learn from children; whom we may observe to be prone with eagerness to do any thing which they see another do before them; though they have neither thought nor power to discern either the rectitude or convenience of what they do: But we may learn it more from them that are of mature age; who though they have power to discern the rectitude and convenience of what they do, yet we find that emulation is able to hurry them on to do things without the exercise of this their power: For we may observe in the world, that many vanities and many vices are supported in daily practice by the pure force of emulation Even after all their intrinsic temptations are over; when men have no apprehension of any, either pleasure or advantage to arise from them, yet this is a sufficient reason to continue them in practice, even this, That they may imitate and vie with those others that do the same. I esteem therefore that emulation is a passion naturally planted in us, and designed by Providence (as all other passions are) for excellent uses; though the success of this, as well as of all the rest, depends wholly upon man's wisdom in applying them; for as I have intimated already that emulation is of mighty force to lead us to ill, so (let us but change the pattern and) it will be of equal force to lead us to good: And if for the example of our imitation, we will but entertain the idea of an obeying angel in our mind, it will be spurs and wings to our endeavors to arrive at the perfection of angelical obedience.

 

 My next business therefore shall be to exhibit the pattern itself. In order to which it will be expedient, 1. To take a view of the nature of angels; so far forth as to inform us how they are furnished and instructed to do the will of GOD. O. To take a view of their law; or that will of GOD which he has appointed them to do. And, S. To show their manner of doing this will, and obeying this law; to which the text requires our obedience should be conformed.

 

In this age (so fruitful in wild opinions) many have made it their business to run down the belief of angels and spirits, the more easily to introduce the belief that there is no GOD; or at least (so far as the Sadducees carried the argument) that there is no future state. Others have advanced the doctrine of angels into such a superstitious abuse, as to make them the object of their adoration; and in prejudice taken from this abuse, others have run into an indiscreet extreme, that is, to neglect and lay aside the knowledge of what the Scripture has delivered concerning angels, although of great importance to Christian edification.

 

 1. I have made this reflection, as my apology for meddling with a subject which many may be prone to censure, either as superstitious, or useless, or unseasonable; and now begin with what I proposed, viz., To take a view of the nature of angels, so far as to inform us how they are furnished and instructed to do the will of GOD. On which subject I shall not engage in any speculation that is either precarious or simply curious; but' I shall follow the light of Scripture into such notices of them there delivered, as best serve my present design.

 

 Of angels we may assert, (1.) That they are the supreme order of created beings; " the chief of the ways of GOD:" For so some of the ancients interpret that expression of Jon, (accounting the whole passage allegorical,) " the angels are the chief of the ways of GOD" that is, the most excellent of his works: Their abode is nearest the throne of his presence; they partake most amply of the image of his perfections.; they are best fitted for his ministry, and endowed with such accomplishments as are most proper for the knowing and executing of his will. Their understandings are piercing and comprehensive; the Tekoite's compliment implies so much, when she says, " My LORD is wise according to the wisdom of an angel of GOD, to know all things that are in the earth." ST. PETER alleges it for the magnifying of a mystery, that " the angels could not see through it;" and our SAVIOR alleges it for the magnifying of a secret, that " the angels were ignorant of it."

 

 As for the substance of their nature, the Apostle tells us, (Heb. i,) that " they are spirits," that is, such beings as are free from the cloud and impediment of gross matter And hence it is that they are strong, agile, quick, penetrating, as the wind,’ as the flame of fire, as the lightning; by which metaphors, therefore, they are sometimes expressed in Holy Writ. The Prophet ISAIAH, to express the weakness of the Egyptian army, says, " Their horses are flesh, and not spirit;" implying that spirits among beings are the most powerful, vigorous, and strong; and accordingly the angels are called " powers and strengths, and such as excel in strength." No resistance of material bodies can hinder their passage or motion; no darkness or covert can hinder their sight or intuition.

 

 The angel saw SARAH laugh, though she conceived it impossible, because she was in another tent; and that other (Acts 12) could indifferently pass through the prison doors to visit PETER, and burst them open to make room for him to pass. The first born slain in every house throughout the land of Egypt, and above 18O,OOO of SENNACHERIR'S army slain in the space of a small part of a night, and both by the hand of a single angel, sufficiently evince both their force and their expedition.

 

 Though they have no bodies, yet they can act upon all bodies; accordingly they can in an instant form and assume bodies unto themselves; which is demonstrated from their frequent appearances in Holy Writ, and from their converse in human shape. They can restrain and suspend the natural agency of bodies; as we are told, an angel withheld the fire from burning the three Israelites in the furnace of Babylon. They can collect and manage to their uses all meteors and exhalations: Witness those thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes, at the delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai; all which we are told was done by the ministry of angels.

 

 And by this power of theirs they are qualified to be the instruments of GOD'S pleasure in disposing the temperature of the air, ordering the influences of the elements, and administering the several issues either of public blessings or calamities. In like manner they can act also upon the bodies of men, and produce in them different effects, either hurtful or salutary; whether by disposing our humors, or affecting our spirits, or forming objects in our imagination: By altering the crasis of our bodies, that is, either by disturbing or composing them, they can influence our state of health: So the plague that was inflicted upon Israel for DAVID'S numbering the people, is said expressly to have been from the operation of an angel; which angel of GOD opened the eyes of DAVID that he might see him about his work, as we are told; (1 Chron. xxi;) so that the death of those 7O,OOO taken away in that plague, did not proceed from any transient contagion, propagated from man to man, but from the influence of the angel, working each man's blood and humor into a poisonous inflammation: And so we are expressly told of IIEROD's death, (Acts xiii,) whose bowels putrefied into worms, that it was the stroke of an angel; that is, that it was an angel that disposed the humors of his body to such a putrefaction.

 

 In like manner they can affect us variously by working upon our animal spirits, by either fixing or dilating them, and so procuring either vigor or dejection, joy or sadness. Thus we see DANIEL, (chap. x,) after the awful touch of one angel had quite enervated him, repressed his spirits, and brought him to a swoon; another touch of the same hand strengthened him again; that is, restored his spirits to their former motion and vigor. And this was the case of SAUL, and other demoniacs, that the evil angels (let it suffice to mention no more of the cause at present) did at certain times disturb their animal spirits, and run them into desperate melancholies; as we find intimated, 1 Chron. 16.

 

 Nor have we any countenance from reason or piety to doubt, but that the good angels have always been, and still are, as ready and successful in exhilarating the spirits of good men, and so supporting them in their religious labors, and strengthening them in their sufferings, and sometimes even in suspending their sense of pain in the midst of their tortures; whereof we meet with some instances in the history of the primitive Martyrs.

 

 And yet farther, the angels can make a nearer approach to our souls, and act upon them by the mediation of our fancies; in which they have power to form such images and fantasies, or (as some love to phrase it) to excite such motions as may become the immediate object of thought, and produce affections suitable to the several appearances.

 

 And by this manner of operation were all dreams, revelations, visions of the night, and prophetical discoveries, communicated to men heretofore. Thus it is said of JACOB, of BALAAM, Of ST. PAUL, of JOSEPH the husband of the blessed Virgin, That " the angel of the LouD appeared to him in a dream;" which words we cannot so interpret as if they dreamed they saw an angel: For if so, whence came the dream It were absurd to say that GOD immediately gave the dream, and made them dream that an angel gave it: But the meaning is this, that they had such dreams, that made such strong impressions upon their minds, as convinced them that they had been wrought by the operation of an angel.

 

 And what I have said of dreams and visions of the night, is the same in reference to suggestions of the day, or to men when awake: For by forming of such species, or giving such touches to the brain, as they, who fully understand the mechanism of our sensation, know are proper to produce such and such notices; they are able to inform or warn, to encourage or deport our souls in any manner as GOD's commission or their own charity shall direct them. And to this head we must refer that complaint of holy JOB, (vii. 14,) " You scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me with visions:" Where the analogy of the history will not suffer us to interpret that God himself did inject those affrighting dreams; but that the evil angel (unto whose temptations GOD had submitted the holy man for the perfecting of his patience) did frame such terrifying objects in his imagination, thereby to urge him to melancholy and despair.

 

 And, indeed, we need look no farther than the single instance of that one man to demonstrate all that power that I have hitherto ascribed to angels: For the Sabeans and Chaldeans animated to pillage his substance; the fire kindled to destroy his houses; the wind raised to overwhelm his children; the blains pustulated to afflict his body; and his imagination disturbed to terrify his conscience, are all the declared effects of SATAN'S procuring: And if an evil angel can do so, there is no room for doubting an equal power in the good.

 

 Those powers and faculties of angels already mentioned, will afford a Christian at any time an useful contemplation to consider how the good are qualified to protect and assist; and it will afford as well a very awful contemplation to consider how the evil are equally qualified to tempt, seduce, and captivate all those who, through resisting GOD's grace, are submitted to their assaults. But each of these contemplations will receive new matter from what I am to add upon the next head, and that is to take a view of the law of angels, or of that will of GOD which he has appointed them to obey.

 

 2. And this general law of angels I shall reduce to these four particulars, viz., The First law of angels is to serve GOD's glory. The Second is to serve his providence. The Third is to serve his church.. And the Fourth is to serve the particular members of his church. The First is to serve GOD's glory: Which certainly is the first and supreme law of angels, as it is indeed of all other creatures; as SOLOMON intimates, (Prov. 16: 4,) when he says, that " GOD made all things for himself," that is, for his own service and glory. Or if we should say that the first motive of GOD's making any creature, was his benignity and pleasure to communicate of his goodness to that creature, the result is the same; for thence it becomes the supreme obligation of every creature to return unto GOD of that his goodness. How the angels discharge this obligation we have an account given us in an express form of their heavenly service, recorded Rev. 7: 11, 12 "And all the angels stood about the throne, fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped GOD, saying, Amen Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our GOD for ever and ever. Anmen." This is the angels' employment about the throne of GOD's presence; nor is it simply their employment, but it is their happiness too: For as the wind that fans the flowers returns from them with the tincture of their sweetness; so all the breath that the heavenly host spends in the praise of GOD returns to themselves accumulated with joy and blessing: GOD having appointed (as his holiness requires) that there shall be an inseparable connection between duty and beatitude; between a zeal for his glory and the participation of his glory.

 

 The Second law of angels is to serve GOD's providence; that is, by working and procuring the several issues of it in the world. For it is a doctrine received as well by Jews heretofore, as now by Christians, that GOD does work all outward events, whether of judgment or mercy, not immediately by himself, but by the delegation and ministry of angels. And so that text, (2 Chron. 16: 9,) where it is said, that "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him," the Jews interpreted of the angels. And indeed the interpretation is confirmed, (Rev. 5: 6,) where the spirits that are said to be " sent forth from GOD into the whole earth," are called by the name of " eyes." By these eyes, therefore, (as the former text tells us,) " GOD shows himself strong;" that is, he does not only see and visit the state of men, but likewise executes his will and the issues of his Providence upon

 

them by his angels: And of this kind the Scripture abounds in numberless instances.

 

 The bird law of angels is to serve GOD’s Church, their most peculiar and principal charge. Therefore the Apostle, (Heb. 1: ult.,) gives us a definition of angels that only bears respect to their office, namely, they are a ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation." And as we are told particularly concerning MICHAEL the archangel, (Dan. 1O:,) that he was the Prince or tutelar angel of the Jewish church and people; so from Rev. 12:, &c., we have reason to infer that he and the heavenly host under his command, are related in the same capacity to the Christian Church, to watch over it, and to administer its affairs, and to guard it from the violence of its avowed enemy the Devil.

 

 That every particular church of CHRIST has the presidence and guardianship of an angel, we may collect from the beginning of ST. JOHN'S Revelation, where the several messages and monitions, sent from CHRIST our LORD, are directed to the angels of the several churches. For although by angels there are most probably meant the Bishops of those respective churches; yet the very reason of the metaphor implies thus much, that there were angels appointed by God to preside over churches, as well as Bishops; and this is it that grounds their analogy between Bishops and angels. And that text of ST PAUL, (1 Cor. 11: 18,) where the Apostle urges the necessity of a decent behavior in the Church, " because of the angels," appears to set it out of controversy, that all Christian assemblies are attended with their presence and inspection.

 

 To what ends, and to what purposes of piety, I shall speak more under the next head The Fourth law of angels; which is to serve the particular members of the church. It were too nice to say that every distinct man has his distinct guardian angel: It may be true sometimes that mnany have but one; and it may be true at other times that one has many; as we find JACOB had at Mahanaim, and ELIAS at Dothan. But this we may safely affirm, that no Christian is without an angel to inspect his behavior, and to solicit his well doing.

 

 To this the Psalmist gives express testimony when he says, "The angel of the LORD standeth round about those that, fear him:" And that passage which the Devil applies to our Savior, " He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways," is delivered by the Psalmist as true of every servant of CHRIST as well as of CHRIST himself. And this doctrine receives undeniable confirmation from our SAVIOR'S own mouth, (Matt. 18: 1O,) where he gives us. an illustrious proof of the great regard that God has to all mankind, by assuring us, that those very angels that always behold the face of GOD, that is, enjoy the beatific vision, and in consequence are as happy as it is possible for creatures to be, do yet (as by order they are appointed) take care of those that we look upon as the most inconsiderable part of mankind, that is, little children.

 

 But to impress the concern of this doctrine a little closer upon our minds, I shall show in a word more, what are the particular ends of this ministry of angels: And these I shall comprise under these three offices, viz., To guard, to guide, and to be witnesses of our conversation. The first end of the ministry of angels, is to guard: Where by guarding I mean largely both offices, either of assisting to good or protecting from evil, juvandi or averruncundi, as the Gentiles styled them, and attributed them to their demons; borrowing their notion undoubtedly either from Holy Writ, or from the Jews with whom they had conversation. Thus says TOBIT of his son traveling into Media, G The good angel will keep him company, and his journey will be prosperous;" which is but the same that ABRAHAM says of his servant traveling to NAHOR, " The LORD will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way..", And as we may observe that each of these mentioned travelers were attended with remarkable circumstances of felicity in their journey; so we must conclude (unless we will charge the Patriarch himself with ignorance and superstition) that those circumstances were mediately brought about by the assistance of angels.

 

 In reference to the office of protecting, JACOB tells us of the " angel that redeemed hint from all evil," (Gen. xlviii. 16,) and wishes the same protection from him to his children. Now this protection of JACOB from evil by his angel we may apply to several passages of his life; particularly, when he returned from Mesopotamia, through his brother ESAU's territory; for while he lay under a terrible apprehension of his brother's displeasure, it is said, "the angels met him." (Gen. xxxii. 1.) " They met him," that is, they showed themselves to him to assure him of their custody; and by and by we see what followed: His brother ESAU, contrary to his natural roughness, and his avowed revenge, comes and treats him in the most friendly manner.

 

 But doubtless the most important part of the custody of angels is, to guard men from the insults of SATAN and evil spirits: For when we consider both the malice and power of those evil spirits, we must conclude that our safety from perpetual mischiefs can depend upon nothing, but their restraint; which restraint though it issue primarily from the good will of GOD, yet we have reason to believe is executed by the vigilance and protection of angels.

 

And this is the meaning' of that " war in heaven," (that is, the Church,) waged between MICHAEL and the Dragon, (Rev. 12:). the one always contending to destroy men, and the other to save them.

 

 The Second end of the ministry of angels is to guide. By guiding I mean whatsoever is opposite to seducing and tempting, the office of the Devil. For as he go about seeking to seduce us from good; so the holy angels on the contrary solicit and guide us to good; and by all those methods of their acting upon us, (which I have already mentioned,) especially by suggesting good thoughts, warming holly purposes, and refreshing men in pious undertakings;, they assist and promote, the work of our sanctification.

 

 But because it were impious to eclipse or any way derogate from the gracious undertaking of the DIVINE SPIRIT, the HOLY GHOST, the sole original Author of our sanctification; it is fit to observe that this doctrine of the guidance of angels is clear from any such guilt: For it admits that all the means and methods of our sanctification do originally flow from the HOLY GHOST; and that even when angels assist, the grace is his; and therefore his the glory; because they act only by his delegation.

 

 But farther, (which we ought chiefly to observe,) this doctrine does not assert that the assistance of the HOLY GHOST, and the assistance of angels is alike, or so much as of the same kind. For there is a mighty disparity between the operation of the HOLY GHOST, and the operation of angels upon our souls. And I find ST BERNARD thus distinguishing upon the matter: Angelus (says he) adest animee, non inest; suggerit bona, non ingerit; hortatur ad bonum, non bonuni treat: Which in effect is this:’ The angel comes to the soul; the HOLY GHOST comes into the soul; the angel suggests and recommends good to us; but the HOLY GHOST does by a powerful energy create and plant it in us.'

 

 In a word, the angels cannot act upon our souls but mechanically, and by the mediation of our body; but the HOLY GHOST acts directly upon it, that is, immediately, and upon its very essence. It seems therefore most worthy the majesty of GOD, and most suitable to our own distance, to believe that whatsoever of GOD's pleasure can be done for our souls mechanically, the angels are the instruments of doing it. Say, what else could be the reason, why our SAVIOR CHRIST himself, (as we are remarkably told,) was refreshed when hungry, and strengthened when agonizing, by angels; although, at the same time, he had the HOLY GHOST dwelling bodily, that is, essentially in him.

 

 But on the other side, to work immediately upon the soul, so as to change, and sanctify it effectually, this (I say) is only the work of GOD that made it.

 

The Third end of the ministry of angels is to be witnesses of our conversation, and upon occasion to evidence and make report of the actions of men. This is an office of angels, not so expressly delivered in Scripture; but it is strongly implied there. For we know angels are referred to as inspectors of human actions. (Eccl. 5: 6; 1 Co . 11: 1O, &c.) And why do they inspect, if not to testify We know ST. PAUL obtests and charges TIMOTHY " before the angels." (1 Tim. 5: 2.) And why before the angels, if they were not to be witnesses of the manner of his discharge And when our SAVIOR says, " There is joy in heaven over a sinner that repenteth:" How can this be, unless the repentance be some way testified and reported in heaven And surely whatever notice they above can have of our affairs, this way of communicating by the intercourse of angels deserves more credit than that strained invention of the Speculum Trinitatis.

 

 There is likewise another matter to which this office may justly be extended: We know that SATAN is styled the " accuser of the brethren ;" which style implies, that as he now tempts men, so he will afterwards (whether at death or judgment) charge, and exaggerate, and clamor for justice upon those whom he has tempted: Now to balance this malice of SATAN, (who nevertheless shall not want a hearing,) it is reasonable to believe that the holy angels shall appear as compurgators of the accused, and produce their knowledge to vindicate GOD's mercy towards them, and to stop the mouth of the calumniator.

 

Nor will this seem a precarious conjecture to any who shall consider that the Holy Scripture tells us the same thing in a matter of fact: For, Zech. iii, we have the representation of a particular judgment; JOSHUA the High Priest is. brought in, and insulted over by SATAN, as a vile and unpardonable sinner; but in the mean time, a good angel appears, sustains the High Priest, alleges that what he had done was accepted to the remission of his sins; and thereupon silences the Devil with the menace of GOD’s rebuke.

 

 I shall close this office of angels with the judgment of venerable ORIGEN; who, in his Commentary upon Job 1: 6, speaking of the angels offering up the prayers of the saints unto GOD, says, O fferunt sancti angeli Deo, non quasi nesciat is qui omnia novit, antequam, fiant; sed ut testes efeiantur sanctitatis atque pietatis justorum, that is,’ They do these offices, not to carry the knowledge of these things to GOD, who knows all before, even before they are done; but it is to act and discharge themselves as witnesses of the piety of good men.'

 

 And now what I have said concerning the nature and offices of angels may serve, (1.) To recommend that part of devotion, wherein pious Christians in all ages have been wont to implore of God their succor and protection. For when we consider of what importance it is to have the succor and defense of angels, it must appear either to be great ignorance of the matters of religion, or great neglect of our own welfare, that shall hinder us to pray for so important a blessing. It may serve, (2.) To mind us of the wonderful vouch safements of God unto mankind, how contemptible soever it may appear to he in other respects, yet it is honored with the attendance and service of such excellent creatures: So that whosoever shall take care to live in the fear of GOD, though his outward fortunes be not above those of LAZARUS, he shall have his angels to wait on the advantages of his soul while in the body, as well as translate it out of the body to a blessed eternity.

 

It may serve, (3.) To dispose our minds to a proper reverence of the holy angels; that is, to think on them as those who are constant witnesses of our behavior, and to bear an awful regard to their presence and inspection; and to take care that they who wait on us for our good, be not frighted or grieved from their station by our unworthy deportment.

 

 But then, all I have said does not serve in the least to countenance the worshipping of angels, being a practice so contrary both to the precepts, and warnings, and instances of Holy Writ, that nothing less than a strong delusion could ever give it birth in the Christian church. When ST. JOHN had the presence of an angel made visible to him, (Rev. 22: 9,) and that angel was employed to conduct him to the knowledge of many ravishing mysteries, it is true, indeed, that the Apostle, (as one overcome with the transport of what he saw and heard, and so reduced to a sudden lapse of mind,) made offer to give the angel worship; but we see how the angel rebukes the offer by crying hastily, " See you do it not; I am thy fellow servant; worship GOD:" Which is a passage sufficient to make us admire the gross infatuation which that pretended infallible church fell under when she established the worship of angels; after that God had not only forbidden it, but likewise the angels themselves had declared their express abhorrence of such a worship.

 

 " Worship GOD," and we may be secure of the good offices of his angels: But worship angels, and we may be sure to displease both them and him that sends them.

 

 3. And now I come to the Last thing proposed, that is, to show the manner how the angels do the will of GOD; in which particular the text proposes them for our pattern. And we are sure they do it perfectly: All the representations we have of them in Scripture serve to typify the perfection of their obedience. They are represented to us as standing about the heavenly throne; a posture that signifies their readiness and preparation for their employment They are represented as full of eyes; a circumstance that signifies their ambition to know every instance of the Divine will: They are represented as furnished with many wings; a symbol that signifies their speed and cheerfulness in executing their charge: And finally their assiduity and perseverance in this course is represented to us when we are told that they " cease not day nor night," they are ever praising, ever serving; to do the will of GOD is their meat and drink, their great, refreshment, their eternal feast.

 

Thus the will of GOD is done in heaven; butt alas! How shall it be done so on earth Or to what possible measures of conformity can weak and foolish man ever work his obedience Why this is the matter that requires our industry.; this is our work; and it is not an impracticable one: We do not pray vainly, " Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;" and if it be riot our own fault, we shall not pray so in vain.

 

 Is it hard to convince ourselves that the will of GOD is our best interest Or that the doing of it is our greatest good Or is it hard for our best interest to engage our obedience Or for our greatest good to command our affections Now to obey GOD with affection is all our work; and when we do this, we do his will even as it is done in heaven.

 

 For as in the casting into the treasury, (Luke xxi,) when the rich " cast in their abundance," and the widow " but her mite;" though their gifts were different, yet the charity was the same: So the performances of men and angels cannot but differ in measures; yet if they proceed from the same principle, the obedience is the same; the same in kind, the same in acceptance. And therefore, though we cannot do the will of God so worthily, accurately, indefinitely; yet we may do it with a free heart, and with all our power; and so we may do it as do the angels.

 

 But still the difficulty is behind: Remove the impediments, and the way is easy; but how shall these be removed How shall man be able to walk affectionately with GOD, whose soul has naturally another bias How shall he be able to act always of the same side, who naturally is not the same man He that has a heart and a heart, a lust and a lust, a law and a law, and these contrary the one to the other; how shall such a one be able to act freely, and readily, and undistractedly as the angels do

 

 Why, even in this, our pattern may instruct us; for the angels, though they were made such excellent creatures, yet we may observe that the bare excellency of their nature did not carry them to that pitch of obedience, which they now perform unto Gon: For we find from the instance of those that fell, that they were made obnoxious to passions, and temptations, and falling, as well as we: And the reason they now stand so firm to their obedience is, that which our SAVIOR has mentioned, viz., Because " they continually behold the face of God." (Matt. 18: 1O.) They continually look unto GOD, and in him they see so much amiableness, as gives an eternal poise to their affections, whereby they are bent and fixed inseparably to the love of GOD. If then we be like to the angels, (as our SAVIOR tells us all good men some time shall be,) we must begin our imitation of them at this point: Faith must be to us instead of vision, contemplation instead of seeing: We must contemplate GOD frequently, diligently; we must always behold that gracious_ representation he has made of himself in the Scripture; and there we shall discover such riches of his goodness and benignity as cannot but excite our love towards him. And if the love of GOD once take root in our hearts, it will exhaust all our loose affections, and will suspend all our sinful desires; it will make the Divine will pass into our own; and then we shall do it as we do our own, without reluctancy, without sloth, without weariness. So it is they do in heaven; and so may we do it on earth! By the assistance of that grace which GOD will give through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

 

To whom, &c.

 

SERMON 6

 

THE PREPARATION OF THE HEART TO WAIT UPON GOD.

 

PSALM 2:11.

 

Rejoice unto him with trembling.

 

 ST. JOHN relating his vision of heaven, (Rev. iv,) tells us of some angels he saw attending about the throne of GOD, that " they were full of wings and of eyes:" A good man, in the humble distance of his station, is not unlike one of those angels.: His affections are the wings of his soul; and a sanctified. understanding is his eyes to guide those wings His love, hope, and joy, mount him up to GOD, and keep him attending on holy contemplations; and his hatred, grief, and fear, keep him in a due aversion and distance from evil:

 

 But on the other side, while we he under the dominion of sin, we are like creatures that have wings, but no eyes; our affections are always flying, but without wisdom or discernment: They often fly to those things that are most hurtful; and they as often fly from those things that are most friendly to us: They weary and waste us with vain hurryings, and often dash us in pieces by the mere precipitancy of their flight.

 

 Would we then get eyes to our wings, we must hearken to the advice of the Holy Scripture which calls all our affections to GOD; as my text in particular does two of them, viz. our joy and our fear, in the present words. "Rejoice unto him with trembling," or with fear. Our joy is commonly employed in waiting upon our vanities; our fear is commonly employed in waiting upon our phantasms and apprehensions; and there both of them do us mischief:

 

 But let us bring them both together to wait upon God in the offices of religion, and there they will do our souls their proper service.

 

I do not purpose (at this time) to speak of the difference between a good and an evil joy; or between a carnal and a heavenly fear; I only purpose to speak of the uses of these two affections in the service of God and religion; according to the direct scope of the text; where, lest any should look upon the service of GOD as a burden, the Psalmist bids us perform it with joy; and, on the other hand, lest our joy should prove to be rash, he bids us temper it with fear.

 

 Joy therefore and fear are two qualifications which the text recommends to us as equally necessary to dispose our minds to the offices of religion. And my business shall be to speak of them severally, with regard to the several influences they bear on the due discharge of those performances And, First, Of joy, in our addresses to God:

 

 Joy towards GOD, (or, as the text expresses it,) " rejoicing unto him," signifies no other than the taking a rational pleasure in the acts of his worship and the offices of his service. And the needfulness and use of such a joy will appear from these following considerations:

 

 1. Because without such a joy we can never make it appear that we are sensible of, or thankful for GOD’s goodness towards us. 

 

 When the Law was delivered upon Mount Sinai, by which law all presumptuous sins were punished with death, death without mercy, because no atonement was allowed for them, (as we see Num. 15::3O,) this law was ushered in with thundering, and earthquakes, and fire, and smoke, and all the motives of terror: Signifying, that if GOD should proceed with man according to the rules of rigorous justice; there would be no reasonable place left for joy among mankind, but every soul must pine away with terror and the apprehensions of wrath to come.

 

 But when our SAVIOR came to deliver the law of grace, his coming was ushered in with quite contrary circumstances: With the music of angels, and with a soft voice proclaiming, 14 Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy:" Joy, that there is a general atonement allowed for all manner of sin; joy, that GOD is propitiated and made favorable to mankind by the undertaking of a Mediator; that there are overtures of mercy, boundless compassion, bowels yearning to seek those that are lost, and opened to receive those that return; joy, that men may be delivered from the bondage of fear into the liberty and love of sons into access and acceptance with GOD, and the precious hope of a blessed immortality. All this matter of joy has GOD published to the world, and that for this very end, that he might thereby prepare to himself a willing people, with free hearts, and cheerful services, and joyful obedience.

 

 From which consideration it must follow that all slackness and lukewarmness of affections, all servile and involuntary performances of duty towards God must needs be unworthy his acceptance, as being so far short of, and unsuitable to, the encouragements that he has given us.

 

 2. A Second argument I allege for joy or cheerfulness in the service of GOD, is this: Because without such a religious joy, a man shall always he open and unguarded to the assaults of sensual joy. For joy is almost the same to the soul, as breathing is to the body; it is necessary to life, and the want of it is pure suffocation. As therefore when a man goes out of a good air, he must yet necessarily breathe, though he be sure to breathe infection; so the soul, if it seeks not its joy in good, must necessarily take up with that that offers itself in evil, though in the end it prove mischievous and undoing. He, therefore, that is so wise as to inure himself to wait upon GOD till his soul takes pleasure in being religious, till such time as he ca tastes and sees how good the LORD is," till he feel the practice of his duty bring a constant refreshment to the soul; such a man has always something to answer to the temptations of worldly joy. when they assault him; that is, he has no need of them; his soul is already at ease; so that he has leisure to examine the nature and consequences of all other joys, before he entertains them: Whereas he that finds no joy in religion, can never restrain his soul from seeking it elsewhere: And hence it comes to pass that men usually close with every appearance of worldly pleasure, though at the expense of their virtue, and hazard of eternal life, only because they will not be so happily curious as to try and inform themselves what rest, satisfaction, and comfort, there is to be found in being truly religious.

 

 3. without this religious joy, a man has no inward principle that can dispose him to the several offices of his duty. There is a face of religion in the world; but this is the general complaint that it is but a face; it wants the life: And the reason is, because men's religion does generally grow from principles that are weak and not able to support it. For, 

 

 (1.) Custom, and fashion, and compliance with human laws, and regard to credit, and respect to worldly advantages, are common principles that set men a work in the outward offices of religion; but these principles, as they are not intrinsically religious in themselves, so neither can they produce or support religion, but only in form and show. But, 

 

 (2.) There are other principles which are intrinsically religious, as the fear of GOD's justice, and sorrow for sin; and these may set men a work upon their duty: But yet these principles, though they are good, are defective, and not sufficient for the work; they are proper to begin a good life, but not to carry it on through all its offices They, are purging, but they are' likewise weakening: Fear and sorrow have each of them torment in then, and oppress the soul in such a measure, that if it be not relieved by some more cordial affections, it will not long be able to endure their yoke. Fear, therefore, though it be always good, because it restrains from evil, yet it never rightly advances religion till it becomes filial, that is, mixed and sweetened with love: And sorrow, though it cleanses, yet it does not sanctify as is requisite, till such time as looking through the cloud of GOD's anger, and apprehending his goodness, it twines itself and lessens into joy.

 

 (3.) When joy is once introduced into the soul, when a man is once come to take delight in the service of GOD, he has then got a lasting and vigorous principle that will carry him through all the, offices of his duty; that will dispose' him to blessing, and praise, and thanksgiving; which are the most high and excellent acts of religious worship; and yet the soul is never rightly disposed to perform them, till such time as it is raised to some degrees of spiritual joy.

 

 (4.) without this religious joy a man has no proper indication that the spiritual life is formed in him. For we may observe, that wherever there is a life, there are peculiar actions that naturally flow from that vital power, and in those actions does consist the proper pleasure of that life. Ex. gr. The sensitive life exerts itself in tasting, smelling, hearing, and the other acts of sensation, and in the exercise of these acts does properly consist the pleasure of the sensitive life: So the rational life exerts itself in the acts of invention, arguing, and discourse, and in these acts does consist the proper pleasure of the rational life: And in like manner all the notion we can have of the spiritual life must be this, that it is a vital power derived' from the SPIRIT of GOD, whose peculiar acts respect the offices of religion, and therefore its proper pleasure lies in the exercise of those acts. So that where the acts of religion are performed without any pleasure, joy, or complacency taken in them, we may infer that they are only forced acts from a false principle; that that vital principle of the new creature, that regeneration whereby a believer is different from, the rest of the world, is not yet introduced into the soul. I do not say but that this principle of the new life may sometimes be obstructed for a season in the complacency

 

of its acts, even when it is in the soul: The spiritual power may have its drowsinesses, as well as the sensitive and rational powers have theirs; because this power may be affected with the infirmities of the body as well as they, But this I say, that for a man to be long hungerless towards the acts of religion, and long joyless in the performance of them, is a sign that the power is not barely obstructed, but wholly absent; it is a sign that the soul is unsanctified and dead in sin.

 

 Thus much I have said to recommend the First necessary qualification to make our addresses acceptable to GOD, that is Joy: I proceed to the Second, which is Fear.

 

 It is observed in nature that men of a complexional fear, that is, they who have the passion of fear too much abounding in their temper, are not fit for action, because their spirits are always clogged with coldness, and misgiving, and irresolution: And likewise, on the contrary,,, men of a complexional joy, that is, they whose spirits are always simmering and leaping into gaiety, are not wise in action; because they are apt to act rashly and disorderly: And therefore the truly wise and useful complexion is that where these two passions are properly mixed; where there is a due proportion of joy to set us a work, and a due proportion of fear to bound us within the limits of discretion.

 

 And the same observation holds true in reference to religion: Where fear without joy must necessarily hinder us from serving so willingly as our duty requires, and joy without fear must necessarily hinder us from serving so wisely as our safety requires: And this is the reason why my text enjoins us to mix these affections, and " rejoice unto God with trembling."

 

 I intend not (upon this head) to speak of the general use of fear in religion; but only of its peculiar use in conducting and tempering our joy, when we act in respect to GOD: And this I shall show, according to my former method, in these following considerations 1. Because religion offers no matter to our joy, but that

 

in the same prospect it offers an equal concern to our fear. Ex gr., It is a proper matter of joy, for me to reflect that I am a Christian; that I live among the outward ordinances and means of salvation; that I am a member of a covenant established upon glorious privileges, excellent benefits, precious promises: But it is equally a proper matter of fear to reflect that he is not a Christian who is " one outwardly," that " in CHRIST JESUS nothing availeth but a new creature;" that the privileges of Christianity are annexed to the duty; the benefits to the life; the promises to the conditions: So that the name of a Christian is but like the waters of jealousy, which as they gave reputation to the innocent, so they rotted the guilty. And in like manner the living in the outward profession of religion does bring most happy advantages to those that walk in sincerity; but to those that retain that profession in unrighteousness, it will serve no more than as an aggravation both of guilt and. punishment.

 

It is a proper matter of joy to contemplate the merits of CHRIST, and what a competent satisfaction his obedience has wrought out for the sins of the whole world: But it is equally matter of fear to contemplate that all the obedience of CHRIST is designed for example as well as merit: And therefore it is observable that there is no act of CHRIST'S obedience upon which our joy is reasonably grounded, such as are his birth, life, death, and resurrection; but there is some duty required of us, which the HOLY GHOST in Scripture is pleased to call by the very same name: Thus there is a Christian birth, life, death, and resurrection, all different from natural, which we are required to pass through And the design of the HOLY GHOST, in calling the several parts of our duty by the same names that he calls those of CHRIST's satisfaction, seems to be this; namely, That the very names should always serve to put us in remembrance, that we stand indispensably obliged to a studious' imitation of CHRIST; and unless his example reach us, his merit never will.

 

 It is a proper matter of joy to contemplate the happy state of the world to come; the franchises of the New Jerusalem; the fellowship of saints and angels; the vision and enjoyment of GOD, where there are pleasures for evermore: But it is equally matter of fear to consider, that the New Jerusalem is called the holy city where nothing unclean can enter; and therefore it is impossible for ourselves to enter there, unless we are capacitated by laying aside and stripping ourselves of the habit, and power, and desire of every known sin.

 

 Once more: It is a proper matter of joy, and the application of all the rest, to be able to contemplate a good state of things within us, to see that we live under restraint, and perform holy offices to GOD, and good works to men: But then in this prospect it is equally matter of fear to consider what careless intervals, what sinful mixtures, what overvaluing pride, may sully all our performances, and render them unacceptable to God. From which follows another consideration to evidence the needfulness and use of fear; namely, That without fear our religious joy may be altogether absurd and groundless.

 

 We read, in Scripture of the " hypocrite's hope," and the " hypocrite's joy;" implying (as we must interpret it) that the hypocrite though he put on religion only as a vizor to deceive withal, yet he may sometimes ground a religious hope and joy upon it: For doubtless men taking up an outward form of godliness to deceive others, do very often effectually deceive themselves; and pretending to be holy when they are not, in process of time come to think themselves holy, though they are not; and so their mischief becomes so much the more desperate.

 

 The word Hypocrisy (we know) is originally borrowed from the stage, and it signifies the acting of a part; and we have heard of a stage player (PHAEDRUS in his fable tells us of one) who acted apart' so long, that be believed himself to be the very person he acted. And so I take it to be no extraordinary thing for the religious hypocrite to be given up to the same delusion, to believe his own lie; and, having put on religion at first for a formality, to believe at length that that formality is religion; to believe that a little wariness in sinning is the power of godliness; and a Pharisaical zeal is the spirit of saint ship; and a partial obedience (such as may best suit with his complexion) is such an obedience as GOD will accept of, And that this in fact does often come to pass, we may learn from several instances of the Jews in ISAIAH's time, of whom GOD says, " They seek me daily, and delight to know my ways; they ask of me the ordinances of justice, and take delight in approaching unto me;" (Chap. lviii. 2;) when yet they were at that time so degenerate and loose in manners, that God even loathed their service; he declares himself to have hated their feasts and sabbaths, and sacrifices, and looked on their solemn meetings as no other than iniquity. From this instance we may learn, that men may sometimes take delight in the service of GOD, when yet GOD takes no delight in the services they do him.

 

 We may learn from the instance of the Laodiceans, that men may please themselves with the opinion of being "rich, and increased with goods, and wanting nothing;" and yet at the same time, be "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Rev. 3:)

 

 We may learn from the instance of those in the parable, (Malt. 7: 22,) that men may make confident and cheerful applications to CHRIST; professing that he is their Lord, and they have wrought, and labored by him, and for him, when yet CHRIST shall say unto them, " I know you not."

 

Now these are all instances of a joy that is purely rash, and absurd, and groundless; and such may the joy of all men be, if they take not in fear to examine the reasons of it.

 

 But yet farther, Supposing our joy to be well and reasonably grounded; supposing it to be the testimony of a well examined conscience, " that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have our conversation in the world;" yet still fear is needful, and without its conduct, even such a joy will be obnoxious to several abuses. As,

 

 1. Joy without fear may betray us to Pride; it may make us bold with GOD, and forget our distance, and value ourselves; though it is certain that the best man has nothing valuable in him in the sight of GOD, when once he has quitted his humility. Now so easily does joy betray men to pride, that (we see) GOD would not trust ST. PAUL himself with his visions without an allay, without sending a "messenger of SATAN to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure." And therefore the same Apostle advises those that are well grounded in religion, that they " be not high minded, but fear:" To be high minded is the direct way to fall; and the only way not to be highminded is to fear.

 

 2. Joy without fear may betray us to Security. We know our Christian life is compared in Scripture to a warfare; and though we are not always in actual conflict with our enemies, we are always in danger of them: Outward temptations or inward lusts, and the suggestions of the Devil, always lay round and begirt us; and we can never vanquish them so far, but that they will have power left to. make a new assault. 

 

Thus every Christian is like a town infested by potent neighbors, and fear is the only watch or sentinel of the town: So that if once we discharge fear, we give our enemies their desired advantage that they may take us by surprise.

 

 3. Joy without fear may betray us to Slackness; which always breeds danger. For morality and religion (which is but morality well directed) are progressive states; and not to go forward in them is certainly to lose ground. Because our progress towards good being partly violent, and as it were up a, great steep; as soon as that violence which is necessary to the motion ceases, our natures will run back to ill, of their own accord.

 

Now joy does often make men slacken their diligence, and so lose ground, by amusing them with the pleasures it brings with it; as a traveler is apt to loiter upon a diverting road: But fear, like rough weather at sea, though it be more unpleasing, yet it always rids most way, and makes the quickest voyages.

 

 To conclude this part: We may observe of natural joy, that although it be a passion so pleasing and cherishing to, the soul of man; yet if it be suffered to run to excess, it sometimes proves deadly, and directly kills.

 

 So GELLIUS (among other examples to the same purpose) tells of a Roman matron, who seeing her son return from the battle of Cannee, where she apprehended he had been slain; immediately fell down dead, being overcome with the excess of joy, which she conceived at the sight.

 

And thus as natural joy, though it be the very life of our life, may, if ungoverned, be the occasion of natural mischiefs; so religious joy, though it be the very life of religion, may, if let loose from the discipline of fear, become the occasion of many spiritual mischiefs.

 

Indeed joy without fear is only proper for the state of heaven; and for those blessed souls who are confirmed in grace, and can sin no more: But for frailer mortals who are always either under the power of sin, or at least under the assaults of it; for such to rejoice without the restraint of fear, is pure ignorance of our state, as well as an occasion to betray us unto worse.

 

 I have now showed both of these affections, how needful they are to qualify us in the discharge of our offices to GOD and religion. No disposition but joy is fit to express our sense of the Divine Goodness; and keep us affectionately devout: No disposition but fear is fit to express our sense of human frailty, and keep us solicitously humble. Both of them joined, consummate the temper of a good man's heart; which I will leave you to contemplate farther under this familiar emblem, A good man's heart is dike the flame of a candle; its joy makes it mount continually towards heaven; and its fear makes it lessen and tremble as it mounts.

 

 The mention of a candle puts me in mind of an ancient and pious custom among Christians, as often as a candle was brought into the room, each person in the company, either by an audible voice, or at least by some mien of reverence, expressed a mutual wish, that GOD would send them light everlasting. We live indeed in an age wherein all forms of grace, and usages of piety, are run out of countenance: But let not piety quit the stage for fear of being derided; let not

 

the scorner's chair come into such authority as to be able to prescribe profaneness. An honest Heathen advises us, Noli virtute relictd invidiam pacare: Let us not leave off doing what is fit, to appease the envy of such as would have no such thing done.

 

 And therefore as I have brought in the candle by way of symbol, so I will likewise bring in the wish, and beseech Almighty GOD, that he would make us all partakers of everlasting light, through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

 

SERMON 7

 

THE NATURE AND USE OF SELF DENIAL. MATT. 16: 24.

 

Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself,

 

and take up his cross, and follow me.

 

 THE occasion of these words we meet with three verses before, where it is said, that " from that time forth began JFsus to show unto his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the Elders, and Chief Priests, and Scribes, and be killed." Upon the hearing of this, PETER, who was always particularly zealous for his Master's welfare, presumes to expostulate with him, and (as the text expresses it) to’6 rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, LORD, this shall not be unto thee." Let us unfold this argument, and it runs thus: 

 

 LORD, you sayest, that going up to Jerusalem, you must suffer many things, and be killed; but why then must you needs go up If you foreseest that the Jews have malice enough to form such a design against thee, why should you not rather prevent their malice Dews Toi, xupie, which (to render the phrase literally) is, Propitius esto tibi, Domine, LORD, favor thyself, or be kind to thyself, LORD, and suffer not these evils to come upon thee.'

 

Thus argued PETER; being possessed with this natural sentiment, that whatsoever is grievous to be borne, in all right and discretion ought to be avoided.

 

 But we may observe, that while he made this argument for his Master's favoring himself, he made no provisional exception for the glory of GOD, nor any reserve for those obligations, that the cause of righteousness might lay on him to the contrary; and this was the reason why he met with so severe a reprehension: " Get thee behind me; SATAN, you art an offence unto me; for you savorest not the things that be of GOD, but those that be of men. Get thee, behind me, SATAN."

 

 We must allow that PETER had discovered too much of the man in his advice, it savored of flesh and blood: But I do not apprehend that there was much Of SATAN in it, not much either of that pride, or dissembling, or malice of intention, that the Devil is wont to use in his addresses This agrees not with the usual character of that disciple;; and therefore I persuade myself, that our SAVIOR called him SATAN for no other reason than this, viz. that he had imprudently run upon the same advice that SATAN uses the most successfully of all others to undo men by, and that is the advice of self indulgence:’Favor thyself.'

 

 'Favor thyself' s the most artful of all suggestions of the Devil; because being made specious with the pretences of reason and justice, and sweetened by its agreeableness to that self love with which all men naturally abound, it seldom fails of being swallowed, though poison and death lurk under it. Now it was expressly against the deceit of this indulgent advice, that our SAVIOR levels the doctrine of the text, where he runs his own case into a general one; and as he implies what himself would do, so he declares what all others must do that will be his disciples," Whosoever will come after me," &c.

 

 After our SAVIOR had proposed heaven for a reward to his followers, he needed not his divine prescience to foresee, that a world of hypocrites would come into his train For whether men bring their hearts to his service or not, they cannot withhold their affections from his wages; and hence it must needs come to pass, that many would pretend to " come after" him, though in the mean while they walked not in his, but in their own way; and many would take up his name, as it were, for a passport to glory, though in the mean while they resolved to coast and avoid all the roughness and difficulties of the road..

 

 These, indeed, are vain thoughts; but the Psalmist tells us, " that the thoughts of men are but vain:" Vain even in worldly projects, where they deliberate most; and therefore no wonder if more vain in religious, where they are so much less considerate. But to give a check to all such deluding thoughts, our SAVIOR forewarns us here, that if we will " come after him," that is, in the place and profession of disciples, we must " follow him" with the hearts and sincerity of disciples; and if we will arrive at that happy place whither he is gone before, we must follow him; not in the by paths of our own projecting, but * (as ST. PETER expresses it,) " in his very steps," and particularly in these of self denial, and taking up our cross.

 

 To " deny ourselves," and to " take up our cross," are two expressions which each of them import the Christian's obligation to suffer: For a man may suffer two ways, viz. either by his own act, when he inflicts any thing uneasy upon himself; or by another's act, when any such thing is inflicted on him from without; so these two expressions have a direct regard to these two kinds of suffering: Selfdenial, which is a man's own act, requires no less than that a man should suffer from himself by voluntary inflictions; and " taking up our cross," which is the submitting to another's act, (for it was part of the condemned man's sentence to bear his cross to the place of execution,) requires a submissive and patient bearing of involuntary evils, or such as Goes providence ordains to come upon us, from other hands; and both these are essential parts of the Christian's duty, both necessary to the ends of virtue, and both obliging all those that will follow our LORD in the way that leadeth to life.

 

 It shall be my present business to speak to the former, the duty of self denial. To deny, in our common notion of the word, is to refuse when asked; and if we will retain that notion in this place, to " deny ourselves," is to deny our desires; when they ask and solicit, we must refuse and control them: And this is the plain and the whole of the duty.

 

 One may possibly suppose that all our desires are not to be so treated: For it is to be hoped there are in us some desires that are truly spiritual, and conformable to the will of GOD; and we know it is the main business of religion, to nourish and improve such desires: But then we may observe likewise concerning such desires, that they are not properly ours; when they are in us, they are not of us, nor can they be derived from the principles of our own nature, wherein are so many rooted oppositions to the Divine will; but they are derived from the influences of grace, and when we relish them, and are led by them, and maintain them against the insults of our inferior desires, it is a proof that we are advanced to a pitch above our natural state: All good desires are from GOD in their fountain, as well as to him in their streams: And therefore those notwithstanding, the rule still holds that all our desires have need of this discipline of denial.

 

 Let us then (in the next place) see those desires that are properly our own: See them, did I say Alas, what a spectacle would they make! Were our breasts but for a while that " sea of glass, clear as crystal" to one another; (as ST. JOHN in his Revelation tells us, they are always unto GOD;) were our breasts so laid open for a while, that each could see the natural propensions of another's heart, in the same form that they now commonly stand; how should we be glad to run away from ourselves, and be ashamed to own our own appearances! For the desires of man are but of two kinds; the first are actually evil, and the second incline to be so; that is, they certainly will be evil, unless a careful discipline prevent them.

 

 Of those desires that are actually evil, some become so from the unlawfulness of their object; which therefore the Apostle calls the " desires of evil things, that is, of such things as are forbidden and sinful in their own nature Others become evil, not from the nature of their object, but from their own excess; and of such desires we may interpret ST. PETER, where he speaks of " men walking after their own desires." (2 Eph. 3: 3.)

 

 " Walking," The expression imports desires grown so strong and masterly, that the man cannot govern his desires, but the desires govern the man; who is therefore said to " walk after them," as a slave walks after his chain. Now in such an excess, the desire of any indifferent thing becomes evil, because it gives up the heart to the thing desired, and so robs GOD of his proper worship.

 

 Concerning these desires that are thus actually evil, the duty is plain enough; there can be no controversy but they must be denied: These are the enemies " that war against the soul;" and not to deny them, is to be confederates to our own undoing. And yet these desires are dear unto us, and we look upon them as a part of ourselves; in them when accomplished, we count ourselves happy; in them when crossed, we account ourselves disappointed; in them when unheard, we account ourselves affronted; nay, we sometimes look upon them as our most intimate self, and they are more dear to us than our very soul. But it would be worth our while to reflect, that (Psalm lxxxi. 13) it is mentioned as the severest judgment

 

 God could inflict on the stubborn Israelites, on this side excision, that he " gave them up to their own hearts' desire:" He had cut them short, and distressed then, and sorely punished them before; but in all this he had a mixture of mercy, for he intended to reclaim them; but at last being incorrigible, he " gave them up to their own hearts' desires" in pure vengeance.

 

 Thus we see men may pursue those things as gratifications, which yet GOD cannot permit them to enjoy, but as a curse. Indeed, it is wonders of mischief that sin can work in us; it can set up self against self, and make one part of our being destroy a better with pleasure and with joy; it can put out our eyes, and be welcome; it can waste our judgments, and snake stupefaction please us, as it certainly does when we account ourselves happy in those sinful issues, which at the same time we cannot but allow make all men miserable.

 

 To deny all desires that are in their consequences so pernicious, as it cannot but be our duty, so it is a duty well reducible to the intention of my text; but yet I think that in strict interpretation it is not directly intended there For, indeed, to deny such desires is too mild a term to express the discipline that is due to them: That which the Scripture requires in respect of these, is to " hate and crucify them," to " cut them" off, and " cast them" away: Whereas to deny, signifies properly no more than to restrain the effect, not to root out the principle; and therefore it is not so accurately applied to things that are simply evil, as to those that are indifferent.

 

And desires we have of this kind too, that is, such as in themselves are morally indifferent. Desires that were in our nature before sin was there; and consequently our SAVIOR took them upon himself with our nature, though he never partook of any thing that was sinful: Of this kind are the desires of ease or indolence, of proper refreshments and honest pleasures, and of avoiding those things that are noxious and afflicting: These are the orderly requests of our nature, and such as it seems innocent, just, and rational to enjoy; such as a well meaning PETER might advise his master to indulge himself in; and yet these are they that are to be denied. It is true, it is severity to deny them; but the only inference that can be drawn thence is this, that a Christian is a person that lies under the obligation of being severe to himself. And this is the strict and genuine doctrine of the words; and this our SAVIOR expressly meant, opposing his advice to PETER'S, which gave the occasion, , LORD, be kind to thyself,' says the disciple. ‘ No,' says CHRIST,’ but rather be hard and severe to thyself, if you wilt follow me.'

 

 This then shall be the point to be insisted upon, viz. that there are voluntary severities, consisting in the submission of ourselves to many unpleasing things, though otherwise avoidable; and in the restraint of ourselves from many pleasing things, though otherwise lawful; and these severities are to be engaged in upon their respective occasions, as absolutely necessary to make a good Christian.

 

 And certainly that Christian is much too delicate, (as ST. JEROME calls one upon a like account,) that would excuse himself from this discipline in the school of CHRIST; since we may find that in every Heathen school they required no less to make a philosopher, that is, (in the sense of their sober style,) an honest and good man.

 

 I confess it was a grateful scheme of doctrine that EPICURUS presented to the world, when he pretended to satisfy the aims both of sense and morality together; inviting men to virtue, and at the same time to pleasure, and speciously telling them, that the life that was both virtuous and pleasurable, was purely like the life of the Gods; and therefore such a life as every wise man ought to aim at.

 

 This was a grateful scheme, and the very instance of the comparison gave it a deceiving color; but in the mean time it was very weakly grounded; and all the other sects showed themselves much better acquainted with both the corruption of human nature, and likewise with the means of reforming that corruption; in which two points the whole pretence of moral philosophy consists. They all saw that to live pleasurably, and at the same time to live virtuously, was so much like the life of the Gods, that it was no way imitable by impotent and foolish men: And there. fore they all remonstrate against this new Doctor, as one who, by hanging out the flag of pleasure, had covered all that was true, and laid aside all that was great in philosophy. They all teach (on the contrary) that whoever proposes to be a virtuous man, must by no means propose his life to be a scene of pleasure: They teach us that wisdom and felicity have built their palaces together upon the top of a craggy rock, whither it is not a little difficult to ascend. The same instruction it is that we have from the symbol of PYTHAGORAS's Letter: And the same we

 

have from CEBES's Commentary upon his emblematical picture; where he tells us of the *, terms expressly the same with our SAVIOR'S’ “strait gate" and “ narrow way." They represented their HERCULES as always engaging in labors, always seeking conflicts, always severe to himself; and his character they set before their scholars, as the common guide to proficiency in good living, The school of PLATO reduced all morality to two governing virtues, and they were * and *: as the school of ZENO did to their *: Both agree in sense; and both their words are properly rendered in our language by bearing and forbearing. Bearing and forbearing were their cardinal virtues, accounted by them the hinges and foundation of all the rest: And be pleased to observe that these two words exactly answer the signification of the two expressions in the text, 6' denying ourselves," and’1 taking up our cross."

 

 I mention not all this with a purpose to enforce the precepts of our LORD from the authority of philosophers; I mention it to hinder lest any one's indulgence should persuade him that he can be a good Christian without the offices of self denial; when it appears that the Heathens did not think it possible that any one could be a commonly good man without them. I mention it to convince us, that our LORD, who has’ opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers,' ought not by any means to be accounted a hard master, when he imposes no other terms than the Heathens thought fit to engage in upon the mere spur of their private consciences and public shame. I mention it likewise to stick upon us for an admonition, how speechless great part of the Christian world must needs stand in the day of inquiry; when it shall appear that PYTHAGORAS, and PLATO, and ZENO, could have disciples run through such a discipline as necessary to virtue, when many that profess CHRIST esteem that discipline needless, only because it is unpleasing.

 

 And now I shall proceed to show farther the necessity of this discipline, by arguments drawn front the nature of our religion. The First step of the Christian life, (or rather the First step towards it,) is, To forsake sin; the Second is, To prevent sin, and to guard ourselves against it; the Third and finishing step is, To gain those holy affections that are preparative to future glory. Now our religion instructs us, that none of these can be done without being severe to ourselves.

 

 1. There is no forsaking sin without it. I know a man may possibly forsake a sin, as a surfeited stomach forsakes its meat; but then as in this case there is nothing of temperance, so in the other there is nothing of repentance For the Apostle (`v Cor. 7: 11) makes the chief office of repentance to consist in revenge; so that a man cannot be said to repent, in the sense of the Scripture, without bringing himself under severities, and executing acts of displeasure upon himself, such as are mourning, and abstinence, and vigilance, and restraint of delights, and labor in the works of charity, and whatsoever else may conduce to the humbling of our nature, and taking revenge upon those passions whereby we have offended GOD. It was to inculcate the necessity of these acts, that the ancients were wont to style them by the name of satisfactions; not meaning, (as latter ages would have them interpreted,) that they are of value to satisfy the Divine justice; (nothing but the blood of JESUS can do so;) but meaning. that they satisfy those conditions which the Gospel requires of penitents, as necessary both for their present correction and future caution. But this is a matter, that however it be corrupted in practice, yet it is not much contestable in judgment; and therefore I shall pass from it to the Second use of voluntary severities, and that is, To prevent sin.

 

 2. It is in respect of this office, that the Christian state is called a warfare, that is, the necessary and continual engagement of our rational desires against our sensual, in order to bring them under, and keep them in obedience. And this is a warfare from whence there must be no dismission; there must be no league, no truce, no laying down of arms in it; for our enemies are perfidious, and will never keep the peace, and therefore we are never out of danger, but while we are actually fighting. We find ST. PAUL, a man of miracles and visions, and a sanctity of life more glorious than, either; even while he was daily fought against from without by the malice of SATAN and evil men, yet as if this were not mortification enough, we find him moreover " fighting" against himself, " casting down" his mind, (as he calls it,) and " beating down" his body, and bodily" affections. Now can we incline to think that ST. PAUL did this, either from the affectation of singularity, or from a principle of vain glory, or from a pretence to supererogation, or by a simple mistake of judgment No, he tells us himself, that he did it for no less `reason than this, viz. lest for want of this discipline, he might possibly be a cast away:" And if he were fain to maintain this fight for fear of being a cast away, who among Christians can lay down his arms and be safe

 

 This fighting with our appetites and desires, is the same thing with "denying ourselves," in the text; and the practice of it consists in restraining them, and not giving them leave to satiate themselves on their particular objects: For he that gives his appetites their loose or their fill, I mean even of those enjoyments that are otherwise lawful, he ceases to fight with them or to deny them, and from that moment brings himself in danger of being worsted by them.

 

And this is a truth that the Heathen sages insinuated in the passage of their HERCULES fighting with ANT EUS Whilst HERCULES grasped his adversary, and held him up in his arms, he could manage and master him with ease; but no sooner did he let ANT,LUS come to touch the earth, but he got strength again, and was able to renew the combat. ANT.EUS touching the earth is morally no other than an earthly affection permitted to its element, that is, suffered to have its fill; at which time it always gets strength and grows masterly, and becomes less manageable than before.

 

 Grapple with thy desires, hold them off from the reach of their quarry, and restrain them even from the lawful measures of enjoyment: For so they will grow weak, and thy government firm over them: But if you permit them to the utmost of what is lawful, you art certainly a baffled man; for, besides that the precise limits of lawful and unlawful are very often undistinguishable, thy appetites will grow so strong by what you dost allow them, that they will take the rest in spite of thy approbation.

 

 3. It is necessary to be strict and severe upon ourselves, in order to gain those holy affections that are preparative to future glory.

 

The Apostle tells us, (Col. 1: 12,) that there is an a certain meetness or fitness, which is required to be in all those that shall be " partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." They that hope rationally to have that glorious change pass upon them, must make advances towards it by heavenly sentiments and heavenly desires, and a proper hunger and relish of those enjoyments that are in heaven; which are much different from those wherewith our appetites are naturally affected: But the question is, how this shall be done, and how such perfective dispositions shall be brought into the soul

 

 We are told concerning our SAVIOR CHRIST himself, that " he was made perfect through sufferings: For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." (Heb. 2: 1O.) The words indeed do not absolutely imply, that those sufferings were necessary for the personal perfection of our SAVIOR; he might have passed to glory an easier way, because he wanted no virtue to qualify him for that state; but the words imply, that his sufferings were necessary for his exemplary perfection; that is, as he was to be an example to us, and the Captain and President of our salvation; as he was to lead the way by which many adopted " sons of GOD" might likewise pass into glory; so it was necessary he should “be made perfect through suffering;’’ because no adopted son, no Christian can ever be perfected without those means. Accordingly, sufferings are mentioned in the Christian covenant, as an express condition of future glory " If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." And “We are heirs with CHRIST, if so be we suffer with him." As we likewise find the same Apostle teaching his converts at Antioch, that we must’ through much tribulation [the word is *, through many wrestlings and contendings] enter into the kingdom of GOD."

 

 Now if the SPIRIT of GOD gives us warning, that sufferings are of so necessary importance to our future welfare, and yet at the same time does not lay upon us any outward necessity to suffer; it is a proof that in this case the necessity lies upon ourselves to take care that we suffer from our own voluntary discipline. For I do not think any one will argue, that sufferings take any of their virtue from being involuntary; or that when our SAVIOR says, "Blessed are ye that hunger," and " Blessed are ye that mourn," he means it only of those that hunger and mourn, because they cannot help it; or that those restraints which a man imposes upon himself, will not conduce as much to the perfecting of his nature, • and the making him humble and sober, as those that are forced upon him by outward violence To argue this would be against all the rules of moral reasoning. No, certainly, there is an inward discipline, which is altogether as perfection, nay much more, than any outward persecution; there is a mortification, and continual watching over ourselves, (which the Father calls Judge Martyrium, the Daily Martyrdom,) as acceptable to GOD, as is the shedding of our blood: And who can doubt but that ST PAUL, when from a thorough experiment made of his own patience and resignation, he could say, " I am crucified with CHRIST," was as glorious a Christian, as when he held forth his neck to the sword at his execution

 

 When all this is said we must observe, that it is not the sufferings themselves, but the effect of them that makes a Christian. And therefore sufferings are good no longer than they produce good, that is, gracious dispositions in the soul that bears them. And this is to be laid down for a rule, whereby every man ought to govern himself in all the offices of self denial: For by observing this, he may prevent pride and vanity, and confidence in the outward work, and all other consequences whereby those offices may otherwise either become unprofitable, or degenerate into ill.

 

 But then, forasmuch as a man may (on the other side) elude the obligation of these offices, by alleging, that he does not find what good they are like to do him; fancying himself in a possibility of being as good a Christian without them, I shall show, in the last place, the necessity of this discipline from the relation it bears to some particular duties.

 

 The duties I shall choose to instance in are these: Humility, lity, Compassion, and Devotion.

 

 Humility is the right posture of our souls towards themselves; Compassion is the right posture of our souls towards others; and Devotion is the right posture of our souls towards GOD; so that these three seem to make up the absolute perfection of the Christian state. And yet I think it as possible for a man to be a good Christian without these dispositions, as it is to obtain these dispositions without voluntary seventies.

 

 1. Humility is little else than the true knowledge of ourselves; how corrupt, how impotent, how vain we are; how we depend absolutely upon GOD's pleasure every moment, and yet every moment merit his displeasure, at least till such time as we are truly humble. Now though every man may speculate and discourse upon this notion of himself; yet no man can know it, (in the Scripture sense of knowing,) that is, feel it intimately, and be properly affected with it, till such time as he takes himself into discipline. For when a man is pinched, or straitened, or languishing; when he is in pain, or in a set conflict with any passion, and therewithal reflects, how every little thing is able to make him miserable,; then he proves and learns effectually, how little a thing himself must needs be; and till then he never conceives a notion of himself mean enough to size his own unworthiness.

 

 But farther, while a man holds himself under discipline, there follows another gracious effect, and that is this, The less he enjoys, the less he thinks himself to deserve; which is true humility: Whereas, on the other side, the more a man allows himself of the pleasurable things of this life, the more he thinks he deserves; or at least, (to speak the most candidly the case can bear,) the more he allows himself of the pleasurable things of, this life, the less he thinks of his not deserving them; and the less he thinks of his not deserving them, the more he allows himself: And so pride and indulgence mutually nurse each other.

 

 2. I come to the instance of Compassion. Compassion is the enlarging of our spirits to a tender concern for the calamities and sufferings of others. But forasmuch as sense is our common schoolmaster, and we have but weak notices of those things we do not feel, and those notices we have quickly pass away, it cannot be that we should maintain a proper compassion for what others either do or may suffer, unless we in some measure or resemblance suffer the same ourselves: Our sense must be both our instructor and remembrancer of the duty. And so we find, that even our SAVIOR himself went to this school of experience; for “he learnt by suffering," says the Apostle; and the thing he learned was compassion: For therefore " he is a merciful High Priest," therefore " he is touched with our infirmities," and therefore he is ready to " succor us when tempted;" because he was made obnoxious unto both, " even like unto us:" As the Apostle argues, chapter two of his Epistle to the Hebrews. On the other hand, the Prophet denounceth " a woe to them that are at ease;" and the reason he gives for it is, because " they are not grieved at the afflictions of JOSEPH;" wanting nothing themselves, they are never duly sensible of what others want or endure. And from this same root springs the reason of that political observation, namely, that luxury has always been so fatal to states and kingdoms; the reason is chiefly this, Because when men come to indulge themselves, they set up self for the idol, and this insensibly shrinks away the public spirit and extinguishes all just concern for the common good.

 

 3. I come to the Last instance, which is that of Devotion. Devotion is the lifting up our soul unto GOD, which never rises so kindly, as when it restrains and weans itself from sensual enjoyments; for they bring a clear contrary bias and propension upon the mind. "In his vita spirit"," says good HEZEKIAH, speaking of religious mortification and mourning, " the spirit of man lives in these things:" It lives and asserts itself by them, and gets freedom from the body, command over the affections, and ardor in desires, and power with GOD. Never came a truth more Christianlike out of the mouth of a Heathen, than that of

 

HORACE:

 

 Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit

 

 A Diis plura feret

 

 The more a man denies himself, the more prevalent he shall be with GOD. Where we have the very duty in the expression of the text, and recommended to us upon this consideration, that it will procure us the divine favor and bounty.

 

 But I am aware, that while I say, the Christian stands obliged to deny himself, for the ends of virtue and devotion; others may possibly say, they do not deny themselves, and that for the very same ends, namely, because they find that they are never so towardly disposed to the offices of virtue and devotion, as when they are in gaiety of spirit, and nature in them is entirely at case. Now were it thus, yet it were well to consider, what a miserable piety that is that depends upon a good humor; and what must become of that humor in the day of visitation; and how we shall be able to maintain it under the circumstances of affliction, sickness, agonies, or any other forced restraints, or whether those are circumstances that must be provided for, only just when they come to seize us. Indeed a good humor is a gay promiser, but always deceitful in performance; it is, like EPHRAIM, glorying in harness and bow, but turning back in the day of battle." And though it may seem to

 

make us more prompt in the discharge of some offices; it makes us more presumptuous in the neglect of others. Nay, we may farther observe, that when it is the height of our animal spirits that founds a good humor, the same spirits do at the same time produce a good opinion, and make us apt to take up such a sanguine conceit of ourselves, as a sober judgment can by no means maintain or allow; the consequences of which mistake cannot be otherwise than extremely dangerous. Whoever therefore will secure either his virtue or devotion, he must try what they will bear, and confirm them by bearing, and he must ply his discipline till such time as piety comes (not to wait upon, but) to command his good humor, without which it is impossible that it can ever have any firmness of root. If we will be "perfect and entire," says ST. JAMES, (nor does he mean any supererogating perfection, but only that soundness that is necessary to make every Christian accepted,) if we will be " perfect and entire," we must " let patience have her perfect work." And, in the mean time, we may assure ourselves, that the most empty breathings of an humble spirit are a more acceptable sacrifice than all the forward conceptions and promising overtures of a fancy kept pregnant by the warmth of indulgence.

 

I have thus far shown the general nature and necessity of self denial: As for its particular measures, because they are variable according to particular circumstances, I must leave it to private discretion to determine them; only with this caution, Favor not thyself; be just and impartial in thy censures. To avoid partiality in our transacting with others, it is a safe rule to suppose other men to be ourselves; and it maybe indifferently safe in transacting with ourselves, to suppose ourselves to be other men. Let every one therefore divest himself as much as possible of all selfish fondness, and determine, and do that which his conscience tells him this precept of self denial obliges another man to do.

 

SERMON 8

 

THE CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE.

 

ROM. 12: 1.

 

I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of GOD, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,

 

holy and acceptable; which is your reasonable service.

 

 PASSING by the prefatory clause of the words, wherein our Apostle applies himself to the Jews at Rome, with the most endearing compellation, (my brethren,) with the most respectful address, (" I beseech you,") and with the most obliging argument, (" by the mercies of GOD,") giving us a specimen through all of the proper sweetness of a Christian application, and the most hopeful method of edifying those with whom we have to do; I say, passing by this prefatory clause, the rest of the words present these two matters to our consideration, viz. 1. The nature, and, 2. The commendation of the Christian sacrifice: The nature of it is implied in these words, " That you present yourselves a living sacrifice;" and its commendation in the following, where the Apostle says of this sacrifice, that it is, " holy and acceptable unto GOD," and our " reasonable service."

 

 1. I begin with the consideration of the nature of the Christian sacrifice: Concerning which the several expressions offer these three things, namely, its Matter, its Form, and its Quality. Its matter is said to be " our bodies;" its form, " that they be presented unto GOD;" and its quality,

 

that it must be " a living sacrifice."

 

 (1.) The word Sacrifice, in its most simple sense, signifies no more than the offering of something to GOD; whence it follows, that wherever there is a religion, there must be a sacrifice; because there can be no religious worship without offering of something to God. Now it was instituted under the Law, that men should offer sacrifices of the fruit of their cattle and of their ground; but such sacrifices could extend to no more than a. very defective service; they came very short of the great ends of religion, and very short of what was fit for a rational creature to give, and for an infinite Being to accept: And therefore our Apostle forms his description of the Christian sacrifice (in the text) with opposition to those sacrifices of the Law, and implicitly argues thus much by it, namely, That if we will make a worthy offering, “ holy and acceptable unto GOD," and such a one as may amount to the estimation of a’" reasonable service," we must offer something better than fruits and beasts; something more suitable to the Majesty of GOD, and more expressive of our honor of him; and the only thing we have of this kind to offer is ourselves.

 

 For although the matter of our sacrifice be expressed in the text by 11 our bodies," yet that must be interpreted of our whole selves: For our bodies alone will not answer the duty, because they are but a part of us; and we may learn from the analogy of the legal institution, that whatsoever is offered to God must be entire: Thus, for example, when the Jew was to offer a lamb, and could not reach the charge of a lamb, in such a case he might offer two turtles or two pigeons; but half a lamb, (though of greater price,) would not have served the turn; because to divide the sacrifice had been to profane it.

 

 But that this sacrifice of ourselves must be entire, there is yet a greater argument than can be drawn from the analogy of that service: For had the Jew divided his lamb, his sacrifice had only been defective, it had not therefore been unclean: But in the offering of ourselves by parcel unto GOD, the part reserved will defile the part offered, and render it absolutely unclean. Thus the malice or pride of the soul will poison all the services of the body, in like manners as the filthiness of the flesh will unhallow all the offices of the soul: Thus again, it is in vain that the hand be liberal, if in the mean time the eye be lustful; it is in vain that the appetite be temperate, if in the mean time the hand be griping or unjust: Every ill that we allow, will canker and spoil every good that we do; and no man can be clean to GOD, that is not clean throughout. And from hence it is evident, that our bodies (in the text) must be taken figuratively, to signify entire persons. And so we have a proper paraphrase of the text in the Communion office, where it is said, " And here we offer and present unto thee, O LORD, ourselves, our souls, and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee."

 

 (2.) This being the matter of our sacrifice, we are next to see the form of it, or the manner in which this sacrifice is to be made: And the text tells us, it is by’1 presenting ourselves unto GOD;" that is, by dedicating and devoting ourselves to his service. It is true, indeed, that we are so devoted already; for we all in our baptism made this vow, and entered into this solemn engagement, that we would cleave unto GOD, and renounce all that might keep us at a distance from him But the text puts us in mind of a farther duty; for the word *, (which we translate to present,) signifies properly to bring, or to render that which was promised before. Thus (for example) when HANNAH the mother of SAMUEL begged a son of GOD, and on that condition vowed him to his service, when afterwards she brought her son to the tabernacle, and entered him into his attendance there, she may properly be said zsa~a5 q~c a O u, to have rendered her son, and so absolved her vow.

 

 Baptism is the HANNAH that has promised us all to GOD, but has left it to ourselves to make that promise good; and this is that the text calls upon us to do. Remember then that we hold it for a rule of truth in all instances of promise, " Better is it that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay:" But when the instance comes to be so high as the condition of a covenant for eternity, no man can too much consider the importance of that rule.

 

 In the last chapter of Joshua, there is a remarkable passage between that good man and the people of Israel: After having recounted GOD’spower and goodness, which they were well conscious of, he, in fine, bids them choose, and profess openly, whether they would serve GOD or no Hereupon the people instantly make an engagement, " that they would serve the Lord:" JOSHUA seeing how forward they were to promise, checks their indeliberation, and argues against them on this manner: " But you cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy GOD, he is a jealous GOD; he will not forgive your transgressions, nor your sins: If you forsake the LORD, he will turn against you, and consume you." This caution notwithstanding, the people adhere to their promise, and cry again, " Nay, but we will serve the LORD:" Upon which JOSHUA, instead of commending their zeal, seems rather to cool it again with this reply, " Therefore," says he, " you are witnesses against yourselves, that you have chosen the LORD to serve him: And they said, We are witnesses."

 

 In the whole passage we may observe, that JOSHUA is arguing expressly for the service of GOD, and yet arguing against the promise to serve him, unless it be very deliberately and seriously made: To put us in mind that the making of a promise to God is a very awful thing; and that if it be not kept, it will certainly bring these two mischiefs upon the promisers, (1.) That GOD will punish the sins of such more severely than of any others, because he is more immediately concerned in the sins of such men And (2.) That such men become witnesses against themselves, viz., witnesses that they thought,fit to choose that which they do not think fit to stand to; and so being made witnesses against themselves, they are cut off from all pleading for themselves in the day of account.

 

 If we will submit to the force of JOSHUA'S argument, we must lay to heart our Christian promises; we must look upon ourselves as set apart, and consecrated to the service of GOD, therefore separate from what is sinful; and we must take care that our daily practice repeat and confirm the engagements of our baptism: And this is actually to make our sacrifice; whereas to have made the promise of our sacrifice, carries nothing in it but the articles of higher guilt and conviction.

 

 But, forasmuch as the matter of our Christian oblation consists of several parts, viz., of as many parts as we ourselves are composed of, understanding, will, passions, affections, senses, and members; and each of these requiring a several conduct, I shall add one word of particular direction to each of them.

 

First, Then in order, We must dedicate our understanding " to know JESUS CHRIST, and him crucified;" that is, to learn the patience and love of JESUS: And for a motive let us consider, that without this nothing else can possibly make us wise.

 

 We must dedicate our will to that holy rule of resignation, " Not as I will, but as you Wilt:" And for a motive let us consider, that what GOD wills for us is always safe; but what we will for ourselves, we are never sure it will be safe for us to attain it.

 

 We must dedicate our passions, (I mean our anger, fear, grief, and hatred,) to the discipline of sin, to be spent and exhausted in that affair; and for a motive let us consider, that there is hardly any other business in the world, that these' passions can wisely and innocently be employed upon.

 

We must dedicate our affections (I mean our love, hope, joy, and desire) to the pursuit of things above: And for a motive let us consider, that all things below debase our affections at least, if they do not defile them.

 

 We must dedicate our senses to the *, (as the Apostle directs, Heb. 5: 14,) to have them exercised and trained, and under restraint: And for a motive let us consider, that if they are let loose, they will so impose upon our understanding, (as the Apostle intimates in the same verse,) that " we shall not be able to discern between good and evil."

 

 Finally, we must dedicate our members " to be the instruments of righteousness unto holiness:" And for every motive let us consider, how it is that these members ought to be employed, which are the members of CHRIST, as well as ours.

 

 Thus it is our sacrifice is to be made: In respect of which every man is a Priest unto himself: For, indeed, who but ourselves can offer us unto GOD Others may beseech or advise; but none has any command over the motions of our heart but our own will; and therefore that will must be the Priest. And it is for this reason that the whole people of Christianity are styled in Scripture, " a holy priesthood," and " a royal priesthood." The latter epithet denoting the great honor conferred on us, in that we have not only leave, but right and authority to make a present of ourselves to GOD, with assurance to be accepted in CHRIST JESUS.

 

 (3.) The Third thing I am to observe of this sacrifice is its quality; it must be a living one.

 

The word "living" marks a notorious difference between the legal sacrifices, and this of ours: For as in the legal sacrifice, the beast was first to be killed, and then spent in an act of GOD's worship; so, on the contrary, in the Christian sacrifice, the man is to dedicate his life, and spend that in the worship of God.

 

And this difference is pointed out by the first notion of the word " living," as it is opposed to natural death. But the same word has other moral significations in Scripture, which are more particularly instructive to our present duty. We may observe, that in Scripture the word," living" signifies secondarily three things: [1.] It signifies pure, in opposition to sin, which is a kind of death. [2.] It signifies active, in opposition to sloth, which is another kind of death. And, [3.] It signifies vigorous, in opposition to impotence, which is another kind of death.

 

 [1.] It signifies pure, in opposition to sin. Thus the father in the parable says concerning his son, when returned from his vicious courses, " This my son is alive again." For we must take notice, that in the account of GOD, (as he has manifested in his word,) the life of man (as man) is not indicated by sense and motion, but by virtue, and the quickening of the SPIRIT: Nor is the crisis of our health to be taken from the temperament of heat and moisture in our bodies, but from the temper of our hearts.

 

 In the eye of the world that man seems to live most advantageously who lives in pleasure; but the Apostle tells us of such a one, " that he is dead whilst he liveth." When an ill man attends a funeral, he comforts himself to think what a happy difference there is between himself and the corpse; for he can live and enjoy himself, while the other can only stink and putrefy: Whereas the Scripture tells us, there is no difference between these two; because the ill man answers the true ends of life no more than does the dead; nay, he putrefies and stinks as much to a wise understanding, as the carcass does to our common sense. And this is no more than what our SAVIOR intimates in that reply to his disciple, " Follow you me, and let the dead bury their dead." (Matt. 8: 22.)

 

 So that " living" imports one quickened by grace, and raised up to a pure intention of soul; one fixed with strong purposes and fervent desires to perfect holiness in the fear of GOD: And such a one presenting himself to GOD, under such a state,' becomes properly a living sacrifice: For a pure and sincere intention is the first point from which we may be said to be spiritually alive.

 

 [2] The word " living" signifies active, in opposition to sloth. Thus running waters are in the holy style called "living waters:" And (on the contrary) the Apostle (Eph. 5: 14) reckons the slothful among the dead. And this signification of the word puts us in mind, that, in order to an acceptable sacrifice, we must be diligent in the execution, as well as pure in the intention of our duty. A pure intention, without activeness in the discharge, is properly represented by the foolish virgins in the parable; they purposed as well as any, and their style of virgins imports no less; but they were foolish, because they were slothful; for therefore they wanted oil in their lamps, and therefore were excluded at the coming of the bridegroom.

 

 Slackness in the business of religion is fatal upon a double account, because it makes us fail in compassing our task; and not only so, but it is an express affront to GOD, who employs us with the encouragement of so great a reward. The very beasts therefore, when laid upon GOD'S altar, (give me leave to say,) were not to be dead there; they must, as it were, be alive again, and be actuated anew by fire. And that same fire was, both in its use and in its original, a designed emblem of, that warmth of affection, which is required to quicken all the offices of our sacrifice. A warmth that is to be derived from heaven, from the influences of GOD's HOLY SPIRIT; and therefore it is that those influences are called in Scripture, " the baptism of fire." Water is not sufficient for us, although it cleanse us, because it is a sluggish element; there must be fire likewise to actuate, and inflame, and mount us upwards. The truth whereof, if you will take it in plainer terms, is this, that innocence itself, if alone, (supposing it possible it should be alone,) would not render us accepted of GOD; because he requires further, that we should be diligent, and active towards acquiring goodness. And indeed, without this qualification, how is it possible we should acquit ourselves in any proportion touching those general charges of the Gospel, viz., of watchfulness in prayer, of laboring in charity, of pursuing peace, of perfecting patience, of " redeeming the time, of using all diligence, of walking worthy of the LORD to all well pleasing, being fruitful in all good works; and, in a word, of “striving to enter in at the strait gate;" which imports a strong endeavor, and that enforced with this caution, that " many shall seek to enter, and shall not be able:" Where it is implied, that bare seeking cannot succeed, because it is too supine, because it is not sufficiently active.

 

 [3]. The third signification of the word “living" is vigorous, in opposition to impotence; and thus the word woa signifies in all those texts, where our translation renders it, lively; as, “who has begotten us to a lively hope;" and, " mine enemies are lively and strong," that is, vigorous and strong. And this signification of the word minds us particularly of the proper season of our sacrifice.

 

 For as active denotes the exercise, so vigorous denotes the power of acting; whence we may observe, that all seasons will riot serve us wherein we may be active: For though the will should not be wanting, yet at some time the very power will fail. If a man that is to run a race should inconsiderately he in the cold, and benumb his limbs, it is in vain to exhort such a one to make speed, for though he would, he cannot. It is requisite therefore that our sacrifice be presented in the season of such a vigor as may render it capable of being active towards GOD and goodness. And this lesson was pointed out by the state of all the sacrifices that were appointed in the law, they were all to be offered in the prime and vigor of their age.

 

 In respect of this qualification my address becomes more particular," To you, O young men, because you are strong," (as ST JOHN words it,) or, what imports the same, because you are vigorous; that is, you are now in such a state both of body and soul, and affections, as is most subservient to piety: For in those years it is, that our understandings are capable of the firmest impressions; then our wills are most ductile and pliable; then our affections most patient of discipline; then our bodies most useful to our minds; then our whole soul is most quick and governable, and most successfully applied to the offices of duty.

 

 Lose not therefore your irrecoverable advantage; but answer now when GOD calls with most affection; answer now when nature itself is readiest to answer; offer yourselves while you are most worth the offering, and while the odor of innocence may best perfume your oblation. Govern therefore your appetites " before the evil day comes “Now, you may gird them, and carry them whither you will;" but if you neglect the season, " they will hereafter gird you, and carry you whither you would not."

 

 An early virtue is a most worthy and valuable offering, honored, and blessed with the kindest acceptance of GOD:. But when a man shall look into himself, and find his parts. and faculties depraved, vitiated, weakened; stained with the pollution, stiff with the custom, wearied with the service, sick with the disappointments, and darkened with the impostures of sin; what a melancholy task must such a one have to prepare an acceptable sacrifice to GOD out of so. vile a herd! It is certain that old age, and the infirmities that creep upon us through the bare influence of time, bring with them a great debility towards several offices of virtue; but (what is of more concern) it is certain that old, ill habits, and the stiffness that is contracted by accustoming to vice, bring a deplorable impotence towards them all.

 

 Having thus far viewed the nature of our sacrifice, I pass to its commendation, which the text makes to consist of three members, namely, that it is "holy," that it is " acceptable," and that it is " our reasonable service." All which particulars I shall show are so peculiar to this spiri . tual sacrifice of ourselves, that they never could be duly ascribed to any other sacrifice, or manner of worship.

 

 1. Then this sacrifice of ours is" holy." We must not say but that the ritual sacrifices of the Law, for as much as they were instituted by God as a part of his. worship, were in some sense holy; but, such was their nature, they were holy because they were instituted, not instituted because they were holy; and therefore GOD says of them expressly, that "they were ordinances not good:", And it is in opposition to these that the Prophet MICAH says, " The LORD has showed thee, O man, what is good;, and what is that, but to do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy GOD" Which are the pure offices, of our Christian, our spiritual sacrifice.

 

 To see into the ground of this truth, we must observe, That nothing is capable of real holiness, but an intelligent beings or mind (or at least that which is actuated by a mind, as our bodies in the state of union are,) whence it follows, that where there is no mind, there no thing, or action, can be really holy. And therefore it was purely from the mind of the sacrificer, that the sacrifices of the Law (notwithstanding their institution) took their form and value: And so the good man's lamb sent up a savor of a sweet smell unto GOD; while the ill man's lamb was but "like the cutting off a dog's neck." And whereas it was expressly commanded, " that salt was to be used in all their sacrifices;" (Levit. 2: 13;) we may reasonably suppose that salt was designed for the symbol of the soul; for so the ancients accounted it: And so as the beast, though upon the altar, was profane without the salt; so both salt, and beast, and the whole action was unhallowed, unless the soul of the offerer were made part of the oblation.

 

 2. The Second member of its commendation makes it ~~ acceptable." Whether any sacrifice can possibly be acceptable to GOD, beside this of ourselves, we may judge from the first instance of divine worship that is mentioned in Holy Writ, I mean the sacrifice of CAIN: " He brought of the fruits of the ground an offering to GOD, (says the text,) but GOD had not respect unto it." The reason whereof, I do not suppose to be that expressed in the old Monkish verse, Sacrzficabo macrum, nec dabo pingue sacrum; as if CAIN had brought some mean refuse fruits, and that had been the reason of his non acceptance: It had been as hard for CAIN to have met with bad fruit, (considering the state of the ground at that time,) as it had been absurd for him to grudge that which was good, in such an unrivalled plenty But the reason was plainly that which God himself alleges in those words, " If you doest well, shall you not be accepted But if you doest ill, sin lieth at the door:" Sin lies in the way, and hinders thy acceptance. This was the reason why CAIN was not accepted; he was a man of a loose and alienated mind, and though he brought his fruits for formality's sake, yet he brought not his heart unto GOD and this would have barred acceptance,. though he had brought his fruits from Eden itself.

 

 But (what is yet of a closer concern to us) we know there are other sacrifices more nearly related to holiness than the ritual could be;_ sacrifices of a moral nature, perpetually obliging; and therefore a part of our Christian service; which yet are not acceptable to GOD, unless ourselves are first offered to him.

 

By these moral sacrifices I mean, (1.) Prayers and praises, which are called " the calves of our lips," because offered to God as those beasts were by the Law; but of a much more holy nature than they; and therefore, where GOD rejects " the blood of bulls and of goats," (Psalm 1. 13,) he requires thanksgiving as a proper and lasting service: And yet (for all this) prayers and praises borrow all their value from the mind of the offerer; so that if that be unsanctified, both of them are turned into sin: We are told no less in the sixteenth verse of the same Psalm.

 

 (2.) There is another moral sacrifice, that of, Charity, a " sacrifice wherewith GOD is well pleased," says the Apostle: And this sacrifice is in some sense better than the former, because it always leaves some good effect behind it, that is, the receiver has benefit by the gift, whatever the mind of the giver be; (which is more than can be said of prayers and praises;) and yet while our souls are at a distance from GOD, charity is but a lost expense: And accordingly the Apostle tells us of a possible case, wherein " we may give all our goods to feed the poor, and yet it shall profit us nothing."

 

 Nay, there is yet a nobler sacrifice than all these, I mean. Martyrdom, when man offers up his life for the seal of his religion: And what can bear a nearer affinity to holiness than this And yet the Apostle tells us of a possibility of giving our bodies to be burned, and yet it shall profit us nothing." So that it is not the blood, nor yet the cause, but purely the mind that make the martyr: The sincere love of GOD must recommend what we do, or else it cannot be acceptable; and this love is the soul of that sacrifice my text requires.

 

 3. The Last commendation of our Christian sacrifice is, that it is " a reasonable service," that is, a service worthy a reasonable creature's offering to GOD. Let us see how far any other sacrifice might be so accounted. It is a commendation to the sacrifices under the Law, that they were in use before the Law: For it is evident, that many constitutions under the Law were purely arbitrary, and seem, partly at least, to have been grounded upon the reason of amusing the thoughts, and taking up the time of a busy, fanciful, and carnal people: Whereas the worship that was before the law, and that in universal practice, cannot seem to have been less than consentaneous to the common reason of mankind. We read of this practice of sacrificing as high as CAIN. and ABEL; and who can doubt but that they received it from their Father And that he used it before them, and perhaps in Paradise itself Nor can any argue it of absurdity to believe, that those skins wherewith our first parents are said to have been clothed, were the skins of such beasts as they had offered in sacrifice; there being reasons for the rite of sacrificing that comport with the state of innocence, as well as that of the fall. And yet those very reasons upon which this practice was founded may serve to evidence, that it was not in itself a reasonable service. (Ex. gr )

 

 The First reason for the rite of sacrificing seems to have been the acknowledgment of GOD's supreme dominion; the acknowledgment that as all these beneficial creatures proceed from his bounty; so of right they were all his: And this we find respected in many old forms of the Jewish consecration. And yet it is certain. that he who will reasonably acknowledge GOD's dominion, must do it out of his heart, and not out of his herd: And SAMUEL intimated thus much to SAUL, when he told him that, " To obey was better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

 

A Second reason for sacrificing was the profession of thankfulness to GOD; men intimating thereby, that they were ready to part with the most precious of what they had for his sake: And this made it necessary for every one to offer out of his own stock, and at his own expense; and this DAVID seems to have respected when he replied to ARAUNAH, " that he would not offer to GOD of that which cost him nought:" And yet it is certain, that he who will reasonably express his thankfulness to GOD, must do it by charity, that is, by parting with what he has for GOD's sake, to those that want it, which GOD does not: And thus DAVID makes charity the moral of sacrificing: ".My soul, you have said unto the LORD, my goods are nothing unto thee, but to the saints upon the earth, in whom is my delight." (Psalm 16: 3.)

 

 A Third reason for sacrificing was in regard of sin, to acknowledge by a symbol, that " the wages of sin is death;" and, that as the beast was slain, so (in justice) the sacrificer should be too: And yet it is certain, that he who will reasonably express the demerits of sin, must do it, not by the penance of his beast, but by his own repentance, and mortification: And thus again the Psalmist makes repentance a sacrifice, " You desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it thee, but you delightest not in burnt offerings; the sacrifices of GOD are a troubled spirit; a broken, and contrite heart, O LORD, you wilt not despise." (Psalm. li. 16.)

 

A Fourth reason for sacrificing was to signify the great propitiation, the death of CHRIST, and to prefigure that blood which was able to atone, and cleanse, though the blood of bulls and goats could not. And yet reason tells us, that though the propitiating blood of CHRIST might be shadowed forth by a slain lamb, yet it could not be applied to the remission of sins, but only by an humble faith; upon which account it is said, that by "faith ABEL offered a more excellent sacrifice than CAIN." (Heb. 11:)

 

 From all which it appears, that the rite of sacrificing, did never in itself amount to a reasonable service: All it amounted to was no more than a reasonable sign, or symbol; but the reasonable service itself consisted purely in the moral duties, that were signified, and pointed out by those symbols, namely, obedience, love, repentance, and faith All which are the essentials of our Christian sacrifice, when we offer up ourselves to GOD. It is evident therefore, that’the offering " of ourselves unto GOD, is the only reasonable service;" and that alone wherewith GOD is pleased, or has been pleased at any time since the beginning of the world. And therefore the Jew, that was a Jew in the spirit, that is, who advanced to these spiritual duties that were pointed out by his sacrificing, was "holy," and 4' acceptable to GOD;" whereas he who was a Jew in the letter only, never arrived to an acceptable worship.

 

 And yet I cannot but observe, that a Jew in the bare letter, might seem a saint in comparison to a formal Christian, or a Christian in the letter. For such a Jew submitted to the burden of many troublesome ceremonies, purgations and restraints; to the great expense of many sacrifices, both stated and occasional; to the labor of many journeys, to the temple at Jerusalem; for there all his vows were to be performed; and all this bore a fair face of fearing and honoring GOD; though in the mean time his heart were not right with GOD. But when a Christian to whom all these burdensome duties are remitted, shall likewise fail in the offices of his moral oblation: When he shall pray at his leisure, and work at his ease, and give at his discretion, as if all religious duties were submitted to his convenience and good liking; When he shall not defraud himself of the pleasures of sin, and in the mean time look upon CHRIST as his righteousness, and faith as his buckler of defense; such a one makes Christianity to be the most empty, worthless, unreasonable service, that ever was in the world.

 

 But on the contrary, he that shall serve GOD as a Spirit, in spirit and in truth; he that shall serve GOD as holy, with probity of manners; as omniscient, with reverence of thoughts; as every where present, with composure of actions; as bountiful, with willingness of heart; as merciful, with imitating that mercy we hope for; such a one shows what Christianity is, and that it is the only standard of a reasonable service: Such a one offers a sacrifice worthy himself; and (as it is graciously interpreted) worthy of GOD; and (as _the Prophet MICAH has rated it) more worthy than thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil.