230 SERMONS upon Serm. 26. 2. To praile the Lord when it.is accomplilhed. t Cor. 3. g. What is Paul ? Or what is Apollo ? but Min lets, by whom ye have believed. As if Children (hould thank the Servants for what they have. Grace maketh us more in debt ; you have received it from him, not from your felves : Not I, but the Grace of God in me. Thy 'Pound bath gained ten Pounds. If you have any Holinefs, any good Work, it is not of your felves, but of God. Every Al?, every Degree of Holinefs is from God. III. For whom he prayeth, the Ipo files, I. That were already holy ; John t3. io. Te are clean; and in the Yerfe immediate,. ly preceding, They are not of the World; yet now, Santlify them, let their Hearts be more heavenly, and their Lives more pure every day. Obferve 5 Thole that are fanIlified, need to be fansIified more and more. Rev. 22. t I. He that is righteous, let him be righteous full he that is holy, let him be holy fill/. I. Our inward Sanftification mull increafe, becaufe of the weaknefs of prefent Grace, and the relifls of Corruption. 2 Cor. 4. 16. Tho our outward .Man peril'', yet the inward Man is renewed day by day. It is not a Work to be done at once, I Theti 5.2 3. And the very God of Peace fanllify you wholly ; and 1 pray God your whole Spirit, Soul and `Body, be preferved blamelefi unto the coming of our Lord Jefus Chr f. It is per - feft in parts at fir?, the New Creature doth not come out maimed ; but not in degrees, there is need of more Sanftification in Spirit, in Soul, in Body; the Kingdom of Hea- ven increafeth by degrees. 2. Our outward Man mutt be cleaned day by day, becaufe, of new defilements. John 13. io. He that is walked, needeth not but to walls his Feet, but is clean, every whit. It is an Allufion to a Man coming from the Bath, his Feet contraft Soil in the Pallage. Your Perfons are fanftified by the Spirit; but when you are never fo holy, there are new Defilements. Zyfe t. Be not fatisfied with any prefent degrees of Grace. There is an holy Cove - toufnefs. I count not my jlf to have attained. Phil. 3. 14. Chrill is fo full, that we cannot receive all at once. 2. It is a (}range Conceit in any, to think they may be too good. When we begin to be unwilling to grow better, we begin to wax worfe ; it is a good.degree of Grace to know our Dcfe &s. 3. Therefore let us ufe Means to perfil? in Holinefs, to increafe in Holinefs; efpecially Prayer, which is the Breath which God bath appointed to keep in the Flame. II. For the Perfons once more : They were to preach the Word; as a Prepara- tive, he prayeth for Sanftification. Obferve; Holinefs is a good Preparative to the Minifiry ; and they are inwardly con - fecrated by the Spirit fanllifying them. t. That they may have experience of the Truth of the Doflrine upon their own Hearts. The Apofiles were to preach the Truth to others, now faith he, Sanhlify them through thy Truth. I believed, and therefore have I fpaken. Pfal. 116. to. We fpeak bell, when we fpeak by experience. This is the right way of getting Sermons'by Heart. We are God's Witnefles, now we Ihould have found Experience. t John I. t. That which woe flans the beginning, which we have heard, which we have fen with our . Eyes, which we have looked upon, and our Hands have handled of the Word of Life : That which we have feen and heard, declare we unto you. Ezekiel was firfi to eat the Roll, Ezek. 3. I, 2, 3. not only to fee it, and to hear it, but to eat it. Minifers mull firit eat them - felvec, then feed others. We are not to fpeak by hear -fay, to deliver God's Meflige as a nicer Narration, but out of a deep Impreffron on the Heart. What cometh from the Heart, and from Experience, is quick and lively. 2. For the Honour of God. Carnal Minifters bring a Reproach upon the Ordi- nances. I Sam. 2. 17. The Sin of the young Men was very great before the Lord, for a/1`'len abhorred the Offering of the Lord. Who will take Meat out of a Leprous Hand ? 3. To anfwer the Types of the Law. .Aaron and his Sons were Gtnflified for the Levitical Prielthood. Lend. 29. 4. To be walked with Blood and Oil, to be waffled in the great Laver, fprinkled with Blood, anointed with Oil, which denotes Remiflion of
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