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their own weakness more, their patience is tried, their faith in God confirmed and ftrengthened, and their high thoughts of God and his perfections raised to a higher pitch.-As an improvement of this, I obferve, that this affords ground of hope and comfort to the Lord's people, when matters are come to the lowest ebb with them, Zech. xiv. 7. Faith has ground to ftand upon, when all things fail to fenfe. It is God's fpecial time of beginning to work, when men can do no more. Thus Hagar at the well. Many a time the Lord makes the wheel of providence drive downward and downward, till we are almoft at its extremity; and then is the turning point.

THE

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

SERMON XXXVIII.

ACTS, xxviii. 23. For there flood by me this night the angel of the Lord, whose I am, and whom I serve.

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upon.

I.

AVING explained and improved the first branch of the text, I now come to the Second branch, namely, Paul's fpecial relation to the God of heaven: Whose I am, and whom I ferve. And this is the chief thing I would infift And here Paul declares two things. To whom he belonged: I am God's, I own no other Father, Lord, Master, or Proprietor.' The centurion might fay, I am Cæfar's;' but Paul avows a more honourable Proprietor. 2. What was his bufinefs: Whom I ferve. He was on the fervice of that God to whom he belonged.

This word, the Lord, whofe I am, is very important. There were four things implied in it.

1. A comfortable view of God's special intereft in him. He was convinced, that whoever others belonged

belonged to, he belonged to God, that there was a faving relation betwixt God and him.---There is,

2. A recognifing God's fpecial intereft in him. He had faid it before at his first accepting of the covenant, I am the Lord's ;' and he did not repent the bargain, but repeated it over again, I am his.'-There is,

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3. An open profeffion of his special relation to God. He was not ashamed of his Proprietor, his Lord and Master; but he gloried in it, accounting himself happy in the relation.-There is,

4. A rejoicing in it, particularly with respect to this season of diftrefs. As if he had faid, The fea rages, the waves threaten us with death; but this is my happiness, I am the Lord's, in whofe hands all these are. From this fubject I would take the following DOCTRINES.

DOCT. I. That it is the duty and intereft of thofe who have truly given themselves away to the Lord, to look on themselves as his.

Docr. II. That those who are the Lord's ought to make, and will make, God's fervice their bufinefs.- -We begin with

DOCT. I. That it is the duty and intereft of thofe who have truly given themfelves away to the Lord, to look on themselves as his.

IN treating this point, I fhall,

I. Confirm this doctrine.

II. Shew in what refpects those who have given themselves away to the Lord in his covenant are to lock upon themselves as his.

III. Affign reafons why it is the duty of those who have truly given themselves away to the Lord in his covenant, thus to look on themselves as his.

IV. Shew how it is their intereft to look on themselves as the Lord's.

V. Conclude with some practical improvement. -We are then,

I. To confirm the doctrine, That it is the duty and intereft of those who have truly given themselves away to the Lord, to look on themfelves as his. This is evident, if you confider,

1. The laudable practice of the faints, who had given themselves away to the Lord. They go over the bargain again, hold by it, and look upon themselves as the Lord's: Pfal. cxvi. 16. "O Lord, truly I am thy fervant, I am thy fervant, and the fon of thy handmaid, thou haft loofed my bonds." bonds." And Pfal. cxix. thine, fave me." The fpoufe, Song, ii. 16. " My beloved is mine, and I am his."

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"I am

2. The Spirit of God inftructs them fo to do. 1 Cor. vi. 19. 20. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy Ghoft, which is in you, which ye have of God? And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." There is great weight in it, whose we look on ourselves to be. It is the fin of many, that they fay, Pfal. xii. 4. "Our lips are our own: Who is Lord over us?" This proceeds from Satan, and the corrupt heart. The Spirit of the Lord teaches his own to look on themselves as his.

3. The Lord looks on fuch to be his, by a fpecial relation: John, xvii. 9. 10. "I pray for them I pray not for the world, but for them which thou haft given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and

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I am glorified in them." Yea, he takes a pleasure to affert his interest in them; he calls them, and pleads with them, to own the mutual relation betwixt him and them: Jerem. iii. 4. " Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?"

Laftly, The nature of the thing requires it, for they are his indeed. Honest covenanters with God, give themselves to the Lord: 2 Cor. viii. 5. "But first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God." They yield themfelves to him, so that they are his, and therefore should look upon themselves as fuch.-Let us now,

II. SHEW in what refpects those who have given themselves away to the Lord in his covenant, are to look upon themselves as his.

1. They are to look upon themselves as his, in oppofition to all his competitors. The Lord will not divide fhare in his covenant-people with any whatsoever: Ifa. xxvi. 13. "O Lord our God, other lords befides thee, have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.” He will admit no rival with him, but if ye take me, let these gc. The foul, till it comes within the covenant, is in a reftlefs cafe, like a bee going from flower to flower, or a bird from bufh to bufh. The man has many mafters and lords. But when come into the covenant, he breaks his league with them all, and is married to Christ, to live in undivided fociety with him: Pfal. xlv. 10. "Hearken, O daughter, and confider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's houfe."

Believers, ye are not your own, and you must no more look on yourselves to be your own, 1 Cor. vi. 19. (quoted above). Have you given yourselves

away

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