SEEM. %XXVIII. THE CHRTSTIAN'S TREASURE. 135 may rise in the language of faith, and say in the words of the blessed apostle, " How shall he not herewith freely give us all things;" Rom. viii. 32. Thus having made it appear in what sense all things are yours, and upon what foundations this glorious pri- vilege is built, I proceed in the Last place, to consider what use may be made of this discourse. First Use: Itaffords a wordof mourning and terror to obstinate and impenitent sinners. Are all things made beneficial to the saints ? Think with yourselves then what you lose, because you are not of that number. If you live and die in this sinful state, you have a comfort- able interest in nothing : Nothing works for your real benefit: Your abuse of all things that you have any thing to do with, takes away the true pleasure and en- joyment of what you possess, and turns them into a curse to you instead ofa.blessing. " Whether Paul, or Apol- los, or Cephas, or this world, or life or death, or things present, or things to come, nothing is yours; for ye are not Christ's" Andye shall reap no final and lasting ad- vantage from any thing, ifyou persist in a sinful and im- penitent state; for ye are without God in the world, without Christ, and without hope. Do you sit under the ministryof Paul, who spreads the glorious light of the gospel, around you ? But the God of this world hath blinded your minds, that this divine light should not reach you : Even the preaching of Paul is a savour of death unto you, if you live and die without the faith and love of Christ. Do you hear the zealous and pathetic language of Apollos ? But your heart perhaps grows the harder under it : You resist the affec- tionate entreaties of the gospel, from the lips of that elo- quent preacher. And even Apollos, whose soul is wont to melt with compassion for perishing sinners, shall rise up in judgment against von, And as for the plain andConde, scending ministry of Cephas, you despise the man and his serinons together ; therefore you can get no benefit by them. Neither Paul, nor Apollos, nor Cephas is yours. Well, ifspiritual things are not yours, you hope, how- ever, that you have a property in things temporal : If the. blessings of the church do not belong to you, yet you x4
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