388 eH1tiSTTAN IsfORkLITV, VIZ. TiStRM. XCTTI. 2. Let us remember that we are the sons and daugh- ters of the most high God. We profess to separate our- selves from the triflings and impertinences of this world, as well as from the impiety and guilt of it. " Come out from among them, saith the Lord, and I will be your Father, and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, sait). Cxod almighty." Surely the children of a prince should behave with solemnity and honour, when they are in the midst of the lower orders of mankind ; and the children of the King of heaven should remember the dignityof their birth, and their high relation, when they are con- versant among the sons of earth. Their carriage indeed should not be proud and haughty to the men of this world ; Jesus, the only begotten Sont was meek and Jowly : And there is a sacred art of maintaining a divine humility, among the meanest of our fellow- creatures, without indulging the practice of any thing mean and ri- diculous. Our blessed Lordwas a companion of fisher- men, but not ofmimics and public jesters. S. Let us thinkagain; that we are bought with a high and valuable price; we are redeemed, not with cor- ruptible things, as silver 'and gold, but with the precious ;blood of Christ, as ofa lamb without blemish, and with- out spot, I Pet. i. 17, 18. And what is it that we are re- deemed from ? It is from this evil world, and from a vain conversation. The Son of God hath loved us, and washed us in his own blood, and shall we defile these souls of ours with the meannesses of this life which Christ hath cleansed in so rich a laver ? He bath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. Let us nowand then ask ourselves and enquire, is our language and behaviour becoming such illustrious names, such titles, such honours, as are put upon us by the Father and the Son ? 4. Again, let us review our profession : What is our calling? What is our design? What is our hope? Are we nol born from above? Are we not pilgrims and strangers here ? Do not we profess to seek a better country, that is, a heavenly ? Do not we live for heaven and immortality.? How unbecoming is it then for chris- .tians to be perpetually light, and vain, and frothy ? How unbecoming our holy and heavenly calling, and our everlasting hopes? If we are children of the light and of the day, let us not live as though we belotwed to the
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