218 Tut WORLD TO COMB. should be obeyed by every creature without the least reluctance or reserve, without a moment's delay, and that to all the length of their existence. " Submit to his government with pleasure, O my nature, and be all ye my powers of soul and body in ever+, lasting readiness to do whatsoever he requires, and to he what - soever he appoints. Wilt thou have me, O Lord, lie under sickness or pain, wilt thou have me languish under weakness and confinement ?. I am at thy foot, I am for ever at thy dis- posal. Wilt thou have me active and vigorous in thy service Lord, I am ready with utmost cheerfulness. Wilt thou confine me to painful idleness and long patience ? Lord here I am, do with me that seemeth good unto thee. I am ready to serve thy purposes here, or thy orders in the unknown world of spirits, when thou shalt dissolve this mortal frame: I lay down these limbs in the dust of death at thy command : I venture into the regions of angels and unbodied minds at thy summons. I will be what thou wilt, I will go when thou wilt, I will dwell where thou wilt, for thou art always with me, and I am entirely thine. I both rejoice and tremble at thy sovereignty and dominion over all. God cannot do injury to a creature who is so entirely his own property ; ,God will not deal unkindly with a creature who is so sensible of his just dominion and supremacy, and which tows at the foot of his sovereignty with so much relish of satis- faction." 8. Let us next take notice of the perfect purity of the nature of God, his universal holiness, the rectitude of the divine nature manifested in all his thoughts, his works, and his words, all perfectly agreeable to the eternal rules of truth and righteous- ness, and at the furthest distance from every thing that is false and faulty, every thing that is or can be dishonourable to so glorious a being. " Have we never seen God in this light, in the glory of his holiness, his universal rectitude, and the ever- lasting harmony of all his perfections in exact correspondence with all the notions we can have of truth and reason ? And has not God appeared then as a glorious and lovely being ? And have we not at the same time beheld ourselves as unclean and unholy creatures, in one part or other of our natures ever ready to jar or fall out with some of the most pure and perfect rules of honour, justice or truth ? Have we not seen all our sins and iniquities in this light, with utmost abhorrence and highest hatred of them, and looked down upon ourselves with a deep and over- whelming sense of shame and displicence against our depraved and corrupted natures, and abased ourselves as Job does in dust and ashes, and not daring to open our mouths before him ; Job 5, 6. 1 haze heart of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee, and I abhor myself in dust and ashes. 'The least spot or blemish of sin grows highly offensive and painful to the eyes of a saint in this situation. Every little
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