70 S ER MONS zipoir Serm. XI. 4. Since fin cannot challenge any jtit Title to us , it is unquettionably our Duty to yield up our (elves to the Lord. Let us fee in what manner it is to be done. I. It mutt be done with hearty and full content of Will. In the Covenant of Grace God demandeth his Right to be given him by your Content , it is indeed a due Debt, but it is called a Gift : My fon , give me thy heart, Prov. 23. 20. becaufe you become his People not by constraint, but by content : Pfd. I r o. 3. Thy geopte'hag be willing in the day of thy power ; and therefore it is refembled to Marriage , than which nothing .fhould be more free and voluntary : Cant. a. 16. I am my beloveds , and my beloved it mine. Thus freely and willingly fhould we refign our felves to him. 2. It mutt be out of a deep fenfe of his Love and Mercy : Rpm.i a. i. I befeech yon, bre- thren, by the mercies of God , that ye prefent your bodies a living facrifce, &c. and efpecial- ly his great Love in Chrift : a Cor. 5. 14. For the love of Chrifl confiraineth its , becaufe we tbua judge, &c. There mutt be thankfulnefs in the Refolution to become the Lord's, for no bands will fo ftrongly hold us to our Duty as the bands of Love; when the Soul is filled with admirations of his Grace , and the ravilhing fenfe of the wonders' of his Love in Chrift , we do molt kindly , heartily, and thoroughly furrender our felves to God. . 3. It mutt be with grief and fhame, that his Right hath been fo long detained from him , and that we have. wafted fo much of our time and firength in the fervice of fin : I Pet. 4. i, 2,.3. Forafmuch then as Chriif hath fufred for we in the ffefh, armyour felves likewife with the fame mind; for he that bath fsfered in the fie'h hash ceafèd fromfin, That he no longer fhould live the refi of his time in the. flefh, to the lulls of men , but to the will of God. For the time paft of our life may fufce us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in laf ivioufncfi, lulls, excels of wine, revelling!, banquettings, and abomina- ble idolatries. Therefore we Ihould the more earnefily make re itution. O how fad a thing is it to grow old and grey - headed in the Devils fervice , and to fpend the frelh and flower of our time fo vainly and unprofitably ! Alas , how bath our time, Rrength, and parts been wafted, and unprofitably imployed ! Let us at length Peek to do as much for God, as ever we have done for fin. 4. This Refolution mutt be full and entire , of all that you are and have. All your Faculties , t Cor. 6. 1g, 20. Te are not your own , ye are bought with a price; Therefore glorifie God with your bodies and fouls which are Gods : All that the Soul can do , and the Body can do, it is all due to God, and all to be devoted to him. In every ftatei Rom. 14. 7, 8. For none of us liveth to himfelf, and no man dyeth to himfelf. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, or whether we dye, we dye unto the Lord ; whether we live there- fore or dye, we are the Lords. Whatever you are and have, you mutt have that and be that to God, living, dying, 6cknefs, health, in profperity, in adverfity, in every ani- on : Zech. 4. 20, a I. ¡n that day (hall there be upon the balls of the horfes HO L I NE S S TO THE LORD, and the pots in the Lords hoofs 'hall be like the bowls before the Altar, yea every pot in ferufalem and fndah'hall be Holinefs to the Lord of Hefts. There mutt be Gods imprefs on all we do , our Civil and Sacred anions; all Referves are hypocriti- cal ; what one Faculty you keep back from God , you do what you can to cut it off from his Bteffing. Would you be contented , if God fhould take the Soul to Heaven, and leave the Body in Hell ? or the contrary. What elate is not given to God, is not fannified: what anion is not ordered towards him as our fail end, is not rewarded, fo that you give all or none rightly. g. The end why we give up our felves to God is to be governed , difpofed, and or- dered by him, to be what he would have us to be, and to do what he will have us to do, to fubmit our felves to his difpofing Will, and fubje& our [elves to his command- ing Will. Firfi, To fubmit our [elves to his difpofing Will, or the Dominion of his Providence. Let God carry you to Heaven in what way foever he pleafeth, if by many afinions, or (harp pains , and infirmities of body , you dare not prefcribe to God. You mull fay as Chrift, Heb. t o. 9, 6. A body hall thou prepared for me, Lo .1 come to do thy wig. God is wife, and knoweth that if we had a more healthy body , we might be in danger of negleaing the Soul; or if we, bad more of the World, we fhould neglen Heaven. Therefore you mutt except nothing out of your refignation , better the Body be pain- ed, than the Soul loft, the thorn that Ricketh in the flefh may occafion rich experiences of Grace. It may be God will have you to glorifie him by Martyrdom , Phil. r. 20. Chrifi'hag be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death; that is, either by li- ving in the body to preach the Gofßel longer, or figning the Truth of his Blood, if he died.
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