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Saviour's Doctrine is good; to have a fingle Eye, and 1718. to avoid all double Dealing.

Verse 24. No Man can ferve two Mafters: For either be will bate the one, or love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and defpife the other: Ye cannot ferve God and Mammon.

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1 Joha 2.

1 Tim. 6.

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We cannot give our Hearts to God, and to this World, and the Things of it alfo, fo as to set our Affections on both, as faith the Apostle, If any Man love the World, the Love of the Father is not in him. 15. And again, The Love of Money, is the Root of all Evil; i. e. the inordinate Love of it, and feeking after it, and ferving of, and for it, more than for our Maker and Saviour. Then let us defpife the World, and the Things of it, in Comparison of our God, and our Saviour. We do not understand by thofe Words of Chrift, that he intended to debar us from feeking a comfortable Accommodation for ourselves and Families, in this World; but that we fhould not fet our Hearts and Affections upon it; for we cannot equally affect both Heaven and Earth.

Verse 25. Therefore I fay unto you, take no Thought for your Life, what ye fhall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your Body, what ye shall put on: Is not the Life more than Meat, and the Body than Raiment ?

Verfe 26. Behold the Fowls of the Air: For they fow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into Barns; yet your beavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Chrift would have us without anxious Thoughts about our Livings in this World, i. e. about our Eating, Drinking, and Cloathing, and tells us, that the Life is more than Meat, and the Body than Raiment; by which he fhews us, that he which gave the Life, will, by his Providence, fupport it; and as he hath formed the Body, he will form that which muft feed it; and that we might the more depend upon God's Providence, he brings us to learn, or teaches us by the Fowls of

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1718. the Air, who neither fow nor reap, nor gather into Barns, and yet their great Creator feedeth them: and afks, If we are not much better than they? So that we being more noble Creatures, need not doubt of the Care and Providence of God, and his Bleffing on the Labour of our Hands; though our Hearts are not concerned unneceffarily about it, but we have freely given them to God, and to his Chrift, our Saviour.

Verse 27. Which of you by taking Thought can add one Cubit to his Stature?

The Farmers or Planters cannot by their Thoughtfulness cause their Corn, Fruits, nor Cattle to multiply or grow; nor the Tradesman his Custom, Goods, or Bufinefs (without a proper Application, which our Saviour is not against) only he would have us without an incumbered and over-caring Mind. The Merchant likewife, by all his Thoughtfulness, cannot bring home his Ship from far, nor carry her fafe to her defired Port. All Things on this wife are in the Hand of Almighty God, and it is our Duty to trust in him, and to depend upon his Divine Providence, for Meat, Drink and Cloathing, for Happiness here, and hereafter, for ever.

Verse 28. And why take ye Thought for Raiment? Confider the Lillies of the Field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.

Verse 29. And yet I fay unto you, that even Solomon, in all bis Glory, was not arrayed like one of thefe.

Verse 30. Wherefore if God fo clothe the Grafs of the Field, which To-day is, and To-morrow is caft into the Oven, shall be not much more clothe you, Ob! ye of little Faith?

Verfe 31. Therefore take no Thought, Jaying, what fball we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal fhall we be clothed?

Verfe 32. (For after all thefe Things the Gentiles feek) for your beavenly Father knoweth that ye bave need of all thefe Things.

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Many People now, as well as then, are very fond 1718. of their Cloathing, and love to be gay and fafhionable therein, and some are not a little proud of their Clothes, and are not a little thoughtful how they may deck themselves to be admired: When our plain Lord, who wore a Vesture without a Seam, fends us to the John 19: Lilly to confider her Beauty and Glory, and innocent 23. Thoughtleffnefs, declaring, that Solomon, in all his Grandeur and Splendor, was not arrayed like one of thefe: For this is a natural Sweetness and Gaiety that the Lilly is clad with; but Solomon's (as is alfo most Men and Womens) is generally but artificial: Well, it God fo clothe the Grafs of the Earth, will he not clothe us: If we believe not, we must have but very little true Faith. So that it would be much better for us to confult how we shall do to please God, and honour him, and his holy Son, and Divine Name, than to confult what we shall eat or drink, or how, or wherewith we shall be clothed, which Things the Gentiles fought after, more than after God. But we knowing that our heavenly Father feeth that we have need of all thefe Things, fhould chiefly leave it to him, and first feek his Kingdom and Righteousness.

Verse 33. But feek ye first the Kingdom of God, and bis Righteoujnefs, and all thefe Things fhall be added unto you.

Verse 34. Take therefore no Thought for the Morrow: For the Morrow shall take Thought for the Things of itJelf: Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil thereof.

Here is a glorious Gofpel Promife; upon feeking the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness, all these Things fhall be added to us, viz. Meat, Drink, and Raiment, the neceffary Things that we want, to support us in thefe lower Regions, or while we are here in this World; but then, withal, let us remember it must be our firft Work, it must be the chief Defire of our Souls; it must be first in feveral Senfes; firft, as to our young and tender Years; firft in the Morning

1718. Morning of every Day; firft, in refpect of, and before all other Things; firft, as it hath pleafed God to give us a Being in this World, and being in the Prime and Flower of our Years, we should then devote our Souls to God, and his Work and Service, and enter into Covenant with him, with full Purpose of Heart, and Defign of Soul, to keep the fame truly and inviolably; for it would be better not to make Covenant, than to make it, and break it; neither should we flight or put off the Work of God till we are old, and in our declining Years; as though we give him the Refuse, and broken End of our Days, and conclude, it will better become me when I am old to ferve Him: Oh, no! Learn the Fear of God truly, and practise it when thou art young, and thou wilt not eafily depart from it when thou art old: As thou wilt find it hard to get into a holy Life and Conversation, when thou haft been spending thy Youth in Folly and Vanity : Remember thy Creator therefore in the Days of thy Youth, before the Evil Day come: The Autumn of Man's Years is here in divers Respects called the Evil Day: Oh! 'tis exceeding sweet and precious to fee and be fenfible of an innocent Life, and modeft, fober Conversation, in Youth; when they are in their blooming, flow'ry Years, to be fcented with Grace, and Truth, must needs be affecting. When Youth are laden with Fruits of Grace, and of the Holy Spirit, how pleasant is the Taste of it; it generally relishes well with all Men, and naturally brings Praise to God, as well as Peace to the Soul. May the Youth of this prefent Generation, as alfo Generations to come, be fuch holy Plants, that God's Right-Hand may be seen in planting them: When after being friutful, and doing the Work and Service of their Day, and anfwering the noble End of God in making and planting them here in this World, they may be tranfplanted into the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven; which, doubtlefs, they will,

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who first feek his Kingdom, and the Righteousness 1718. of it.

2dly, If we confider that our Life and Being is daily granted to us, and we fupported by the Goodness and Providence of Almighty God every Day, it is but juft that he fhould have the firft or prime of our Thoughts in the Morning of the Day; and he (being the First and the Laft) ought to be laft, as well as the firft, in our Thoughts, alfo in the Evening. The Royal Pfalmift faith, If I prefer not Jerufalem before my chiefeft Joy, then let my Right-hand forget its Cunning, and my Tongue cleave to the Roof of my Mouth; much more ought we to prefer our Creator to all Things, and to have our Thoughts on him, first and foremaft in all Things, and every Day.

Pfal. 137

3dly, For what are the Things of this World in Comparison of those that are to come, all these are fading and tranfitory; but the Things of that which is to come, are durable, and permanent; and therefore ought to be firft and chief in our Minds. That which is chief in our Hearts, may be faid to have the first Place there; One Thing (fays a Servant of God) bave I defired, Pfal. 27: and that will I feek after, that I might dwell in the Houfe 4 of God all the Days of my Life. This was the first or prime Thing, which he and we was, and are to feek for, and after. As for the Morrow, we need not be too thoughtful or anxious concerning or about it, for we know not whether we fhall live to enjoy it, fo that as Chrift fays, Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil thereof.

CHAP. Vii. Verse 1. Judge not, that ye be not judged; Verse 2. For with what Judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what Measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

A great and wife Expreffion, or Sentence from a Righteous and Juft Judge; the Judge of Heaven, and of Earth, to whom all Power in both is given, by which we may eafily perceive we are to be very careful in our Judgment and Cenfures of others, and

that

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