not, therefore, bid adieu to all other lords and lovers, and cleave unto the Lord with all your heart forever? for this is your wisdom, and this is your life: Which brings me to add,

Consider, if you will have done with every thing else, and give up yourself to the Lord, to love him, and live to him, and be wholly his, then God will be your God sensibly, and you will, in spiritual respects,be one of the happiest creatures in this world— a hundred times happier than you could possibly be in the ways of sin; you shall have an hundred fold in this present world, besides eternal life in the world to come. If any man love me, says Christ, and keep my commandments, I will love him and manifest myself unto him: and I and my father will come and make our abode with him....John xiv. 21, 23. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty....Psalm xci. 1: And God will be your dwelling-place forever....Psalm xc. 1. While the nations dash themselves in pieces, and all the world is in confusion, and while you pass through the fire and through the water, God will be with you— and he will always be your light, life, peace, joy, glory, and blessedness, in this undone, dreadful world-and your heart will be firm and fixed like Mount Zion, that cannot be removed, but abideth forever-and nothing shall ever separate you from the love of God, neither things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor life, nor death, nor any other thing: And God will certainly give you every thing in this world that is best for you, and most for his glory, and you will not desire any more; and all the evil things you may pass through will sensibly work together for your good....Mat. vi. 33-Rom. viii. 28—39— Psalm 1xxiii. 25, 26.

And thus you have, by experience, always found that God has dealt with you. I appeal, O believer, to your own conscience, that thus it has always been, whenever you have sensibly from the heart renounced all other things, and given up yourself to the Lord, to love him, and to live to him, and to take content in him, God has sensibly been a God, and father, and portion unto you, and has given you all things, which (every

thing considered) you could desire, and sensibly made all things work together for your good; whence you have been many a time ready to say, That not a word of all his promises has ever fallen to the ground: And you have actually enjoyed a hundred times more comfort in the service of God....in devotedness to God, and communion with him, than could have been had in the service of sin; And will you not now, therefore, be entirely and forever the Lord's? O how happy you might be! And what blessed days you might enjoy!

4. And that which cannot but touch a filial heart, consider, that if you will thus be wholly the Lord's, to love him, and live to him, and delight in him, and to do his will, God will be glo rified thereby....it will be to his honor in the world....John xv, 8, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a pe culiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light....I. Pet. ii, 9. God has but few friends in the world. Many that pretend to be his friends, are a great dishonor to him, and disgrace to religion: By their means his name is blasphemed, and his ways are evilly spoken of; and, in general, his honor is every where trodden down in the dust, And can you stand by unconcerned?...yea, can you look on without your heart bleeding within you? O, therefore, be serious...be humble...be meek, holy, and heavenly...be peace-makers, and merciful...be kind and tender-hearted, condescending and obliging, and abound in ev ery good work; for you are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world: O, therefore, live so, as that your Father, which is in heaven, may be glorified....Mat. v. 13-16.

To conclude, will you not now, therefore, determine, from this day forward, to be wholly the Lord's, and from this day be gin to live to God in better earnest than ever? God is ready to help you. You will, as to present comfort, be undone, if you do not live to God; and peace, and glory, and blessed, ness is before you, if you do, and God, even your God, will be glorified: And if you are now ready, by the grace of

God, to hearken unto this advice, then take these two directions:

1. Lay aside every weight, and the sins which more easily beset you....Heb. xii. 1. In a serious and sweet hour, when you get alone, and mourn, and pray, and give up yourself to God, and think and resolve you will now be forever the Lord's, you are wont, upon self-examination, and a review of past times, to see and say, "This, that, and the other thing, has been the sin"ful occasion, time after time, of my losing a serious, gracious "frame of heart-and by such and such sinful means I have "gradually lost a sense of divine and eternal things, and so have "wandered from God, and laid a foundation for darkness and sorrow. O my carelessness! O that I had prayed more in "secret! O that I had spent precious time better, &c. &c."These now are the weights, and these the sins which easily beset you-and these you must lay aside forever, if you design to be the Lord's indeed, and to make a business of religion to purpose: But perhaps you will say, "My worldly business....my 66 necessary cares, and the common duties of life, are sometimes "the very things, and these I ought not to lay aside; and what "shall I do in this case?"-I answer, that, at another time, the necessary cares, business, and duties of life, you find to be no hinderances at all-even at such times when you do all out of love to God, and for God, with singleness of heart. If you will, therefore, but always go about the common duties of life in such a manner, they will never be any clog to you. What you have, therefore, to do in the case, is not to lay aside that which is your duty, but to lay aside your wrong ends and aims: and thus you must lay aside every weight: But,

2. If you design to be religious in good earnest, then be careful to use all proper means, and do every proper thing that has a tendency to promote your spiritual life: Every proper thing, I say, to guard against those anti-scriptural methods which enthusiasts are wont to take, and by which, above all things, their false affections are promoted, but which have a direct tendency to kill the divine life. In a serious hour of sweet retirement,

and in happy days when you are nearest to God, and enjoy most communion with him, and have your senses most accurate to discern between good and evil, you are wont to see and say— "O how blessed I might be, if I did always keep in this narrow "way which now lies open plain before me-if I were always "serious, watchful, prayerful....always reading, or meditating, " and looking to God, and keeping my heart, and improving ev"ery precious moment of my time wisely for God," &c.Well, well, O believer, this is the way-walk in it, and you shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, whose leaf never withers; and whatsoever you do shall prosper : And, after a few more days, and weeks, and months, and years spent in prayer, and faith, and holiness, in this your pilgrimage state, you shall come and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God, and dwell forever with the Lord. Amen.

Now, the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ: to whom be glory forever and ever. AMEN.