hearts to loathe it; he makes them sick at the heart with it, and puts more and more bitterness in the cup to them, till it be of all things the bitterest, to this very end, that Christ may be the dearest to them, and that whatever they may afterwards meet with in his way, they may embrace it rather than sin. Sin has been bitter to many, but not extremely bitter; therefore they say, as the drunkard, Prov. xxiii. 35, "When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again." But the experience of sin duly embittered quickly determines the Christian which side to choose, when they are brought to this alternative, to suffer or sin.-Another reason is, 2. That God is man's chief end; and when he made him, he made him pointing towards himself as his chief end: Eccl. vii. 29, "God made man upright." But man sinning, turned off from God, turned his intention, his love, and desire, beside the mark set before him, turned these in to himself, made himself his chief end. So that the whole of every natural man's religion, however refined, resolves itself into that cursed principle, "Master, spare thyself." Hence they choose new gods, father, mother, &c. setting their heart on them more than on God. Hence is their war in the gates against heaven, those things which were to be subordinate to God are set in opposition to him; those which were to be below him in their love and esteem, are set above him. If the grace of God rectify not this disorder, it does nothing for it is impossible, while the soul is perverted as to its chief end, that any thing can be right with that person; as a watch that is once wrong set, though it go never so regularly, it is still wrong, for it never points right. But grace truly, though not perfectly while here, brings back the Christian to God as his chief end. It makes him say, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee," Psalm 1xxiii. 25; and again, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain," Phil. i. 21. It makes him holy in all manner of conversation; so that whatever way the Christian turns, he points habitually towards God.-Another reason is, : 3. That as there unquestionably is, so they have seen, a vanity and emptiness in all things of the world, even the things that are dearest to them: Psalm cxix. 96, "I have seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad." God has hung the sign of vanity at the door of all the creatures, yet do men throng into the house, every one calling and looking for a fill, and promising it to themselves after a thousand disappointments: Isa. Ivii. 10, "Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way: yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved." They see not the sign by the VOL. IX. 2 B light of grace, although they may have a rational conviction of it, which will be as far from producing a true weaning of the heart from the world, as painted fire is from burning off a man's bands. But Christians are made to see it with the light of grace, which is the light of life, which makes them go by the creatures' door to him in whom "it hath pleased the father that all fulness should dwell," Col. i. 19. The Lord squeezes the sap out of all things, besides himself, to his own, so as that when the heart is seeking its rest, they are tasteless to them as the white of an egg: Phil. iii. 7, 8, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ." Another reason is, 4. Because they find Christ of all objects the most suitable to them, and therefore he cannot but be dearer to them than the dearest thing in the world. The soul which has long gone through the dry places of the world, seeking rest, and finding none, when it comes to Christ, finds rest to the conscience under the covert of his blood, and rest to his heart in that all-fulness dwelling in Christ which is commensurate to the unbounded desires of the heart, desires which can never be satisfied but by an infinite good; and therefore of necessity, and from choice, settles here, saying, "This is my rest;" and that soul is not to be drawn away from Christ by any means whatever: Rom. viii. 35, 38, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." He is fully suited to their case: and, what is more, he is suited to their mind, they have no fault whatever to him Song v. 16, "His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogetherlovely; this is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." There is nothing in him they would have out of him, and nothing out of him they would have in him; whereas every created enjoyment is lame, and defective to a great degree; the fairest rose has some sharp prickles about it. Now, that soul which has traversed all created enjoyments dissatisfied, and could never find contentment, is completely satisfied in him. How, then, can it otherwise be, than that he is dearer to it than all other persons and things whatever?-Another reason is, 5. Because he is their greatest benefactor; his unparalleled benefits command their hearts to be all his he has done for them what none other could do. When Lebanon was not sufficient to burn, nor the cattle on a thousand hills for a sacrifice, when rivers of oil were too shallow, and the fruit of their bodies for the sin of their souls would have been rejected, he redeemed them with his own blood; he left the bosom of his Father, and came and poured out his soul unto death for them, when they deserved to have died for ever. He is doing for them what none can do, he is their resident at the court of heaven, taking up emergent differences betwixt God and them, preparing a place for them in his Father's house of many mansions. And he will do for them what none but he himself can do; he will at last bring them to his glory, and make them perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of their God and Saviour through all eternity.Another reason is, 6. Because they are sensible, that whatever they have in the world, they have it through and by him. And so they behold him as the fountain of all their mercies.-Thus, (1.) They have the enjoyment of their blessings through him. It is by him they enjoy father and mother, wife and children, &c.; not only by his common providence, as the wicked enjoy their mercies, but by his blood, whereby the malefactor is not only pardoned, but also is set down with these, and far better things, as the purchase of Christ's blood; whereas, had not the Mediator intervened betwixt them and the stroke of justice, they had been stripped of all their enjoyments in the world, even life itself, and shut up for ever in the prison of hell.* (2.) They have the comfort of them through him. Every creature is to us what the Lord makes it to be, and it is no more; no more it can be. The creature in itself is a mere nothing: what drops of sweetness are to be found in it, are distilled into it from himself, the fountain of goodness: none good but one, that is, God. And surely the Lord never puts any sweetness in the creature to arrest our hearts upon it, but rather that, finding the sweetness of the streams, we might thereby be drawn up to the Fountain, where sweet water is always sweetest. Let God call in his own from our enjoyments, our dearest relations shall be utterly uncomfortable; yea, our very life a burden. If it be by him only, then, that our enjoyments are desirable, surely himself is much more so. And seeing the Christian loves these things for what of God is in them, The worthy author is doubtless here to be understood as referring to that comfort and benefit which is enjoyed in such relations; for it is only in the nature and extent of this kind of enjoyment, that a difference arises between the Christian and the sinner, or that the former, with propriety, can contemplate the enjoyment of these relations as the fruit of Christ's blood.-EDIT. and with them, and can never be satisfied with them without Christ, surely Christ himself must be dearest of all.-Another reason is, 7. Because, if it were not so, Christ would have no church in the world. His standard would fall, and there would be none to take it up. There is an old inveterate enmity in the wicked against godliness; the devil's partizans are alway the most numerous. If imprisoning, banishing, spoiling of goods, fields and scaffolds reeking with the blood of the saints, would have deterred all persons from following Christ, there had been no church in the world this day. But God will have a church in spite of devils and wicked men. The spark shall be kept alive, though in the midst of an ocean, and "his name shall endure for ever," Psalm lxxii. 17. A new seed shall ever be rising to enlist themselves under Christ's banner. God will not remove the rocks for them, but the way to heaven, to the world's end, shall lie through many tribulations; for he will animate his people to quit with all that is dearest to them in a world, rather than quit his way, and make them overcome through the word of his testimony, and not love their lives even unto death.I come now, IV. To make some practical improvement. 1. In an use of information.-You may hence see, (1.) That Christ will admit no rival in the heart. One throne cannot receive two kings, and one heart cannot admit both Christ and any worldly thing set up beside him; it must needs lie at his feet, or all is wrong in that heart; Matth. vi. 24, "No man can serve two masters.-Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Christ and the world have long struggled together, it is hard to tell which of them many of us have been chiefly following: but when Christ and the world parts, it will be known which of them is our master.Hence see, (2.) How far those persons are from being Christ's disciples, to whom a loathsome lust is dearer by far than the Lord Christ. Though it tends to ruin their bodies, their souls, and consciences, they notwithstanding will not part with it for Christ. When Christ commands thee to do some great thing for him, how wilt thou do it? Is it a right hand, a right eye? Thou must cut it off, pluck it out; for wast thou parting with all but one thing, this one will eternally separate betwixt Christ and thee, if thou canst not also part with it for him. Hence see, (3.) That men are not out of danger, even when walking within the bounds of lawful things. It is a certain observation, that lawful things are a ditch, in which many souls are drowned, Matth. xxiv. 38, 39. A man in the use of lawful things, is like one walking on the brink of a steep precipiece; the ground is firm, but his head is ready to become giddy, and he may fall over. It is hard to rejoice in them, and not to overjoy; to have them, and yet to sit loose to them. Be often feeling the pulse of thy affection to them, how it beats, lest it be so violent as to separate Christ and thee. (4.) This shews what is the root of apostacy and defection from the truths and ways of Christ, in a time of the church's trials and troubles. It is the things of the world being dearer than Christ, his truth and ways, this is the first spring of it: "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved the present world." If Christ be dearer to us than all things else, we will follow him wherever he goes, and never break with him, for the world's frowns.-I shall only add, 2. An use of exhortation. Let me now exhort all of you, especially those who have been communicants, to evidence yourselves the true disciples of Christ by your comparative hating of father and mother, &c., for Christ and his cause in the world. Let your hearts be loosed from, and do you sit loose to, all that is dear to you in the world, resolving in the Lord's strength, and showing yourselves ready to part with all for Christ, if he shall call you to it. In order to influence your complying with the exhortation, I would lay before you the following motives :— MOT. 1. This is necessary to fit you for trials; that you may be able to stand in the evil day, arm your souls with this disposition. -For this purpose consider, (1.) That the pathway to heaven lies by the cross, and all who have a real desire for heaven must lay their account with suffering; John xvi. 33, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Acts xiv. 22, "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom." .2 Tim. iii. 12, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Therefore he who does not lay his account thus is a foolish builder, Luke xiv. 25, and downwards. There is always a hot noon-tide in the church's day, Song i. 7, and it may as certainly be expected as the noon.-Consider, temper of (2.) That the things which concern us appear to be making haste. You have enjoyed the dispensation of the sacrament after Christ's institution in peace, we have no great ground to promise another such season in a haste. There has been much sad work wrought upon this church in a little time, and it is the our enemies to drive more violently than deliberately. We have had long peace, and the air is usually quiet and clear before an earthquake, and the winds are laid before great rains fall. The gospel has been doing little good for many years; and where people |