I I 2 SERMONS upon Serm. obedience from him to other things. Well then, whom will you ferve and love ? To whom will ye give up your minds andMtearts , and whole man ?- To do what God re- quireth, or to ferve and pleafe your Lufls? Make a right choice, and then be firm and true to it. Will you pretend to be Servants to God, and do nothing for him ? 2. The Confìderations which mull guide us in this choice, are two.. (r.) Right and Intereft, (a.) The Good or Hurt that we all get by it ; for there are wages proportio- nable and fuitable to every work. t. Where lyeth the Right to command , and who bath the beft Title to us ? Juaice is to give every one his own, Give unto Cefar the things that are Cefars, and to God the things that are Gods. Surely fin is an Ufurper , but God is our rightful Lord , for he made us, and to him wemutt give an account of our time, ftrength, and imployments, Aïfi 27.23. There flood by me this night an Angel of God , whole lam , and whom I ferve. And, 2. His fervice turneth to the belt account. Our Apoftle telleth us, Rom. 6. 23. The wages offin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jefim Chriff our Lord. 3. That in a moral Confideration there are two Matters, finful Self, and the Holy God. This diftribution comprehendeth all men, either they are fervants of Sin, or fer- vants to God : whofoever yieldeth his content or obedience to fin , doth thereby make himfelf the true and proper fervant of fin; and whofoever yieldeth his obedience to God , is the fervant of God if you deliver up your felves to ferve God , to obey his . commands, you will be reputed as his Servants, and fo accepted of the Lord ; therefore one of them you are , a fervant of fin , or a fervant of the Lord. I (hall prove it by thefe Confiderations. I. That all men are either good or bad ; carnal or regenerate ; there is no middle ftate. All that can make us demur upon this mutt be either this Obje &ion , That all Sinners are not alike vicious, but they are all Sinners , Ifa. 53. 6. All we like Cheep have gone afiray , we have turned every One into his own way. As the chanel is cut , fo doth corrupt Nature vent and iffue forth; fome ferve one fin, fome another; but if you give up your (elves to any fin to ferve that , you are flaves to fin, Pfal. 119.133. Order m, tees in thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Ir may be you are no Adulterer, no Drunkard, yet you have your way of finning, or Come great drain , into which all your corruption emptieth it felt Or this Obje &ion, That fome are inter regenerandum, upon Regeneration, as being under fome common work of the Spirit, which if God biefs, may be the beginning of a new Efate : As for inftance, take that Scripture, Mat. x3. 45, 46. The kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant man, feeking goodly pearls, and when he had found one of great price, he went and fold all that he had, and bought it. The Peeking of goodly Pearls is the inclination of Nature to Happinefs; the finding one of great price is common Grace, which implieth Knowledge, fome kind of Faith and Elkem of Chrift ; but his going and felling all to buy it, is fpecial and fa-. ving Grace. All men would be happy ; none can be happy but by Chrift ; when we, count all things dung and dro(s, that we may gain Chrift, then we are really convert- ed. Now before this, here is fome knowledge, fome affent, Come value for Chrift. Do not thefe things make a middle Eflate? Anfw. No, though they have fome thoughts bubbling up in their minds concerning the Goodnefs of God , the neceffity of a Saviour, the Love of Chrift , and the Joys of Heaven 5 yet they are not fo rooted in the heart, as to become a new Nature in them, or the Habit and Principle of their daily courfe of Life ; they do not gain the Heart to Chrift , and ingage us refolvedly to do his Will, and therefore they are to be reckoned among the carnal and untan&ified , though not among the prophane. So the young Man had a great deal of good in him, for which Chrift loved him ; best he went away grieved, for he had great Killion:, Mark io. 21, 22. And we read of another , to whom Chrift Paid , Thou art not far from the kingdom of God , Mark ta. 34. that is, from being a Chriftian, but really was not fo ; for he put the Quettion to Chrift temptingly. Many that come near, never enter, and though they be almoft Chrifians, yet if not altogether, they are not converted, and fo to be reckoned among the obedient Servants of God. So that this needeth not flop our way, though they have fome Convi &ions of the good of Holinefs, and evil of Sin , and fome mind to part with it, yet there is no Caving Change , till their hearts be fubdued to a refolute obedience. 2. That no man can ferve both. This is affected by our Lord in (o many words, M r. 6. 24. No man can ferve two maters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other ; or elfe he will hold to the one, and defpife the other : ye cannot ferve God and Mam- mon.
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