Page images
PDF
EPUB

clude, because indeed it is the Sum of all that I have faid, and may serve for a Recapitulation of my whole Discourse upon this Point.

You may find it in the xviith Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, and the 7th Verse, Which of you (faith he) having a Servant plowing or feeding Cattel, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the Field, Go and fit down to Meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thy self, and ferve me, till I have eaten and drunken, and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that Servant because he did the Things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewife ye, when ye have done all those Things which are commanded you, Jay, We are unprofitable Servants, we have done that Thing which was our Duty to do. Thus far our Saviour. From whence we may gather, that those that do all these Things which God hath commanded them, are but unprofitable Servants; and therefore how unprofitable must they be, that do not an hundredth Part of that which God hath commanded us? And yet I doubt this is the Cafe of even good People among us. May God forgive the best of us all our Neglects and Miscarriages, and inspire us both with Power and Will to serve him better; and this for the only Merits of his dear Son Jesus Chrift. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, &c.

SERMON

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

37. Jesus faid unto him, Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God, with all thy Heart,
and with all thy Soul, and with all thy
Mind.

38. This is the first and great Commandment.
39. And the Second is like unto it, Thou
Shalt love thy Neighbour as thy felf.
40. On these two Commandments hang all
the Law and the Prophets.

T

HE Method I have proposed in treating of this Text was,

First, To explain the Duty here commanded, that is to say, what

is implied in loving God with all our Hearts and Souls.

Secondly, To shew upon what Accounts this may be truly faid to be the first and great Commandment.

Thirdly, To make some Application of this Doctrine, by drawing fome useful Inferences from it. And,

Fourthly, Fourthly, To speak to fome Practical Cafe about loving God with all our Hearts. Three of these Heads I have already gone through in several Discourses. I now come to the Fourth and Laft.

५८

Now the Cafe I have to speak to concerning the Love of God, is the Cafe of those, who though they exercise Devotion towards God, yet do it with great Dulness and Deadness of Affection; whether these People can be faid to love God with all their Hearts and Souls?

いこ

The Cafe is this: Prayer and Devotion, and the Worship of God, are (we know) the most proper Instances and Expreffions of our Love to him; and it is readily acknowledged on all Hands, that those Persons who do not practise these Things, who can live without praying and worshiping God, have no true Love of God in them. But now what shall be faid of those Persons that do indeed say their Prayers, and that perhaps both in Publick and Private, but yet they say them without any Vigour or Life, their Affections are Dead and Flat in these Holy Exercises, they find no Relish nor Sweetness in them? Other People talk of a great Pleafure and Delight they take in these Duties, and look upon it as a most agreeable Employment to fing Praises to God, and to pour out their Souls in most fervent Devotion to him; but they take no Satisfaction in these kind of Things. On the contrary,

1t

it is with great Reluctancy oftentimes that they can obtain of themselves to engage in these Exercises, and while they are engaged, their Minds are often employed about other Things, and glad they are when they come to the End of their Offices. What now shall we say to these Persons? Is such a Temper as this consistent with that fincere Love of God, and that hearty Sense of Religion that is required of us? This is the Cafe. But as thus generally put, it cannot be answered by a single Yea or No. It may so happen, that a Man that truly loves God may be in this dull Dispensation, though it doth more often happen that this Frame and Disposition of Mind is an Effect of Lukewarmness. We must therefore take into Confideration several other Circumstances in the Persons concerned, before a right Judgment can be made of their Cafe. That which I can say about it, I shall reduce into these Propositions. And,

First of all, As it is certain that no Man can be faid to love God, or to have any Sense of Religion, who lives in a general Neglect of Prayer, and other Exercises of Devotion; so it is likewise certain, that, generally speaking, all Men that do fincerely love God, supposing they be in Health, and free from the Disorders that arise from hypochondriack Melancholy, will find their Affections so carried out after God, that they will with great Vigour, and the utmost IntenfeIntenseness of Mind, perform their Devotions to him; nay, they will take a great Pleasure and Delight in so doing. Not that they think God needs our Service, or is any way better by them; but because they know and feel that they themselves are really better by thus lifting up their Souls to God; by adoring his Excellencies, and setting forth his Praises; by meditating on his Goodness, and paying their Acknowledgments; by devoting themselves to his Service, and recommending the Supply of all their Wants to his fatherly Care and Bounty. These heing the proper Methods of growing and improving in all Virtue and Holiness, the natural Expressions of the Sense we have of God, and the Love we bear to him, and the Chief, if not the only Means of maintaining and enjoying a real Communion with him, upon these Accounts, as they will take all Opportunities that their Time and Business allows them of approaching to God both in Publick and Private, so they will do it chearfully and readily, and their Hearts and Minds will go along with the Service. And fo far will they be from looking upon it as a Burden or Imposition, thus to pay their constant Tribute of Prayer and Thanksgiving to God, that they will reap great Satisfaction and Content from so doing. This we say, generally speaking, will be the Temper of those that truly love God.

But

« PreviousContinue »