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Lord, begged God's direction therein, for the furnifhing of his family, and done his beft endeavour in the way of means, he may have the more peace whatever way it fall.

3. Servants, in your difpofing of yourselves, own God the great Mafter; and make it a matter of fo-. lemn feriousness, what company ye caft yourfelves into. Have regard to the intereft of your fouls, and not to your worldly intereft only, in that matter.

It is a business of great weight, how ye difpofe of yourfelves, and there may be in it either a fnare to your fouls, or advantage to them. And it is a pity it fhould be fo lightly thought of. Labour to know the mind of God in the matter, by his word and by his providence. And labour to be fure ye be there where God is guiding you to by his eye fet on you.

4. Lastly, Let every one in their civil affairs in the world own God, and carry their religion about with them, in whatever business providence lays to their hand. Remember the text, and split not on the rock which the princes of Ifrael dafhed upon. Therefore,

ift, Entertain no project, though promifing never fo fair for your temporal advantage, which is not juft, being weighed in the balance of the fanctuary, no project which will wound your conscience in the least. Confider that paffage, If. xxxiii. 14. 15. The finners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath furprised the bypocrites: who among us fhall dwell with the devouring fire? who amongst us fhall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly, he that defpifeth the gain of oppreffions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stop= peth his ears from hearing of blood, and butteth his eyes from feeing evil: he fhall dwell on high, &c. An unjuft project, tending to the wronging of any man, is what God will never blefs; and is to be looked on as a bait of the devil, for catching the foul, wherein

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the lofs is a thousand times more than the gain, as will appear at balancing the accounts.

2dly, Lay all your juft projects and lawful defigns, efpecially in matters of greatest weight, before the Lord in prayer, Phil. iv. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing, by prayer and fupplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Beg of God direction to what may be most convenient for you, Prov. xxx. 8. laying yourselves down at his feet. It is he that has determined the bounds of all mens habitations, has the hearts of all men in his hands, and can bring them together for their comfort, who knew not of one another. Beg of him wisdom and difcretion to manage your affairs; for he it is who doth inftruct him to difcretion, and doth teach him, If. xxviii. 26. And beg of him fuccefs in yout. lawful undertakings, Pfal. i. 3.

3dly, Purfue folemn prayers with frequent ejaculations to the Lord in the time of the management of your affairs, 1 Theff. v. 17. Pray without ceafing. Sometimes ye must come into difficulties in these things. Faithlefs thinking how to do, becomes not a Chriftian. Look up to the Lord, and think, pray, and confider what is beft to be done. Perhaps the nature of the thing will not allow folemn prayer. But people can never be in fuch a hurry or hafte to come to a point, but they may get time for an ejaculation, for a glance of the eye of the foul to the Lord, as Nehemiah did, chap. ii. 4. There is a promise to fix on in fuch a cafe, Prov. iv. 12. When thou goest, thy Steps fhall not be straitened; and when thou runneft, thou shalt not stumble.

4thly, Hold clofely and strictly by the rule of juftice, as managing your affairs under the eye of a juft God, who hates all unrighteousness. God requires this of thee, Micah vi. 8. to do justly. 1 Theff. iv. 6. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother any matter. A man may be just in his dealings, and yet no good Christian; but no man can be a good

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Chriftian who is not just in his dealings. Keep the golden rule of righteousness always before your eyes, Whatfoever ye would that men fhould do unto you, do ye even fo to them. And do not to others, what you would not have done to you in their circumftances. And remember, that God the Judge of all is no respecter of perfons, nor can be biaffed in favour of any

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5thly, Never reckon that advantageous which will not be for God's honour, and for your foul's good, I Cor. x. 31. forecited. Separate gain from godlinefs, and the gain will not be worth the taking up at your foot, being but a bait to cover the hook that will pierce into the foul. The intereft of eternity is the greateft intereft, and what is beft for that is best for the man, be what he will. And therefore in all changes and projects whatsoever, ask yourselves, Will this be beft for my foul's behoof?

6. Lastly, Manage your matters without anxiety and diftrustful cares, but with a believing dependence on the Lord, having first laid them over on God. It becomes a Chriftian well to reft fatisfied, and fay, He fball chufe our inheritance for us, Pfal. xlvii. 4. Anxiety is unprofitable; but dependence on the Lord both gives eafe to the heart, and has its plentiful income of fruit in the Lord's own time. For motives, confider,

Motive 1. God's eye is on us at all times, and he will call us to an account of our behaviour in our civil affairs as well as in others, Eccl. xii. 13. 14. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God fball bring every work into judgement, with every fecret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Let us keep in view that awful tribunal then where-ever we go, whatever we be employed about; fo fhall we be excited to walk as in the fight of him, who is now our witness, and will hereafter be our judge.

Mot. 2. Our time is fo fhort, and the continuance

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of our business in the world fo uncertain, that nothing which can be gained by going out of God's way, is worth the pains of going off our way for it. A little ground will ferve each of us ere long, and ere long we shall have no more portion in what is done under the fun.

Mot. 3. A little gain with God's good-will and approbation is better than much without it, Pfal. xxxvii. 16. There is more fap and foifon in it, men have a furer hold of it, and there is a vast difference in the after reckoning.

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Mot. 4. This is the moft comfortable way in cafe of matters mifgiving, and in case of disappointments and croffes in the world. Our comforts in the world are very uncertain. Riches are not for ever. man may meet with a crofs in the way where God bids him go, and with a ftroke in the way he went without God's leave. But the former has inward peace, which the other wants in that case.

Mot. 5. At this rate, ye may have communion with God in your civil affairs, and experiences of the Lord's love in your worldly business, which the world knows not of, as Jacob had, Gen. xxxiii. 10. Answers of prayer are fweet in whatever matter they be; and to get a common mercy in the way of dependence on the Lord, puts a double value on it.

Mot. 6. The ftriving against the stream of a wicked generation requires this. There are many to dishonour God, by not owning him in their civil affairs; join not with them, left religion be wounded through your fides. When the beft is as a brier, and the most upright as a thorn-hedge, it paves the way for a national stroke, with which we are so much threatened.

Mot. 7. laft. As ever ye would have a blessing, and escape a curse on your labours, and your fouls too, own God in your affairs. For whofo honoureth God, he will honour, and make him profperous. Wifdom will be juftified of her children.

Refolute

Refolute cleaving to the Lord Jefus

illustrated and enforced.

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SERMON

Preached at Galashiels, Sabbath afternoon, Auguft 6. 1721, after the Celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

ACTS xi. 23.

And exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they

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would cleave unto the Lord.

N fome preceding verfes we have an account of a great addition make to the Chriftian church, by the converfion of many in Antioch and other places. The means of it was the preaching of Chrift; that is the appointed means of the converfion of finners, Gal. iii. 2. The occafion of the gofpel coming to that people, was the perfecution raised at Jerufalem. Satan's defign in it was to quench the holy fire, but God turned it about to the spreading and increafing of it. Thus Satan is often outfhot in his own bow; and God's people, the more they are oppreffed, the more they grow. What this fuccefs was owing to, was the hand of the Lord with the preachers. No doubt there was a more than ordinary edge upon the fpirits of the perfecuted minifters who preached to them; but that was not it which did the business, but the hand of the Lord with them. The nearest means of their converfion was their believing: faith is that which turns the whole

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