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in the want of God, will fhortly be taken away from you. At death, you will be ftript of them all, and carry nothing of them away with you. None of the good things of this world, will go along with you, or follow you, inta the other world. And when you fhall find all these things: to be gone from you, what will you think when you shall find God alfo gone quite away from you? Will you not then fee yourselves to be in a moft miferable and unhappy condition? Will not your diftreffing cry be that in Matth. XXV. 11. Lord, Lord, open to us! Will you not with greatest importunity beg, that you may be admitted to the enjoyment of God, in heaven? But all cries will then be in vain. And you shall take up Saul's lamentation, and fay, The Lord is departed from me, and will answer ne no more at all.

2. It will iffue in everlasting deftruction from God. Such as, abide at a distance from God, fhall be punished, not only with a bare feparation from God, but also with perdition, or infliction of dreadful wrath from God. God will be far from them, as a good and gracious God, but he will be near to them, as an holy, juft and fin revenging. God. In his righteous indignation, he will be nigh to them, to make their plagues wonderful and everlafting. The fentence, that will be paffed and executed upon them, carries in it the punishment of fenfe, as well as the punishment of lofs.. Matth. xxv. 41. Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Exquifite, endless torment, in foul and body, will take hold upon them. Deftruction from the Lord, will bẹ their portion. Pfal. Ixxiii. 27. For lo, they that are far from thee, shall perish; thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. God will deftroy them and they fhall perish, not as to their being, but as to their wellbeing. Their deftruction fhall not be an annihilation, or turning them into nothing; but an intolerable mifery, through the effufion of divine wrath upon them. They fhall be the eternal monuments of the vengeance of the Lord God Almighty.-O let us ponder upon thefe things,

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and seriously confider what answer we can make to those moft folemn demands, in Ifai. xxxiii. 14. Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?i

DOCT. II. 'Tis the duty of men, fo to hearken to the call of God, as to come unto him. The call in the text is, Incline your ear, and come unto me.-Under the former doctrine, we heard in what refpects men naturally are at a distance, or departed, from God. And now in the fame refpects they should return, or come to God. Wherefore, 1. Men fhould come to God as their fovereign Lord. This is their great duty, to return to him as their fupream Lord. And this is done thefe two ways more efpecially,-viz.

(1.) By acknowledging God for their Lord. They fhould come to God, owning his lordship over them, and right to rule them. This is what God calls them to, and to this call of God they should readily answer, as in Jer. iii. 22. Return, ye backfliding children, and I will heal your backflidings: behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. We fhould renounce all other Lords, and profeffedly chufe God for our only Lord.

Thus did the people of Ifrael, in the days of Mofes. Deut. xxvi. 17. Thou haft avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep bis ftatutes, and bis commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken to his voice. Thus alfo did they in the days of Jofua. Joth. xxiv. 22, 24. And Joshua faid unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourfelves, that ye bave chofen you the Lord, to ferve bim. And they faid, we are witneffes.-The Lord our God will we Jerve, and bis voice will we obey. In like manner, fhould we make a folemn election of the great God, for our Lord, and king, and law giver. This we should frequently do in our retirements. And this we fhould publickly do, whenever called of God thereunto. We should not be afhamed, before the whole world to own God for our Lord.

(2.) By actual fubjecting ourselves to God as our Lord. 'Tis not enough, in our words to own God for our Lord. Many do so, that yet do not the things which he commands, but in their works deny him. Our profeffion of God for our Lord,fhould be accompanied with cordial and practica! fubjection to him. We must renounce the fervice of fin and fatan, and no longer be fervants unto them: but yield

ourfelves fervants unto God. When we thus lend an obedient ear unto God, then do we incline our ear aright. And when we thus come under the yoke of God, then do we come unto him aright.-Thus for the first thing.

2. Men fhould come unto God as their chief good. Under this notion of God, as the chief good of man, 'tis the duty of every one to return and come unto him. And this is done thefe two ways efpecially :

1. By making choice of God as their chief good. Men do then come to God as the chief good, when their wills do close in with God and chufe him for their portion; as in Lam. iii. 24. The Lord is my portion, faith my foul. Our fouls fhould go out to God, and fix their choice upon him, as the only object that can make them bleffed. All other things are to be renounced as infufficient to conftitute an happiness for us and God alone is to be chofen and defired as a fufficient and everlafting portion for our fouls. Pfal. Ixxiii. 25, 26. Whom bave I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth, that I defire, befides thee. God is my portion for ever.

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2. By diligent feeking the enjoyment of God as their chief good. Our chufing of God, is to be followed with the diligent ufe of means for the enjoying of God. We fhould feek after communion with God here on earth, in the ways of his own appointment. Thus did David, who had chofen God for his portion. Pfal. xxvii. 4. One thing have I defired of the Lord, that will I feek after, that I may dwell in the boufe of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in bis temple. Pfal. lxiii. 1, 2. O God, thou art my God: early will I feek thee. My foul thirfteth for thee, my flesh longeth

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for thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where is no water; to fee thy power, and thy glory, fo as I have feen thee in the fan&uary. Thus fhould we feek God, and follow hard after him, in all his holy ordinances, defiring more and more communion with him; never refting fatisfied, 'till we come to the immediate and full fruition of him in the kingdom of heaven. Joh. xxiv. 23. Incline your heart to the Lord.

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APPLICATION.

The only Ufe I fhall make of this point, fhall be by way of Exhortation; to prefs upon us the practice of this duty of coming to God; under that double confideration of him, as our fovereign Lord, and our chief good. Wherefore,

EXHORT. I. Let us come to God as the fovereign Lord; owning him, and fubjecting ourselves to him, as our Lord. We fhould take him for our Lord, to ferve and obey him, in all things, and at all times. To excite hereto,

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1. Confider, God is our only rightful Lord. No other can lay any juft claim to dominion over us. Sin and fatan, whom men naturally are fubject to, are ufurpers, that have no fhadow of right to rule over us. None but God can make juft pretenfions to fuch authority over us; and his pretenfions hereunto are indifputable. For, he is our cre ator. 'Tis he that has made us, that brought us out of nothing, and has given being unto us. Now this relation between God as our creator, and us as his creatures, gives him an unquestionable right to rule over us. Surely, he that gave us being, has power to give laws unto us. We Owe all poffible refpect and homage to him that made ùs, that formed and fashioned us, and fhould receive our law. from him. This is mentioned as an argument engaging unto obedience to God. Pfal. xcv. 6. O come, let us worship. and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. This confideration is alfo mentioned as an aggravation of the people of Ifrael's disobedience to God. Deut. xxxii. 18. Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and haft. forgotten the God that formed thee.-Again, God is our preferver

preferver and benefactor. As he has given us our being, fo he upholds us in being, and beftows all those bleffings upon us, that tend to our well and comfortable being. He gives to us life, and breath, and all things, and in him we live, and move, and have our being. Act. xvii. 25, 28. His Almighty hand fuftains us, and his bountiful hand fupplies us. As therefore the law of creation, fo likewife the law of preservation and provifion, binds us to take God for our Lord to ferve. For, this his good providence over us, gives him a juft right to dominion over us. Who fhould rule us, if not he that maintains us? and to whom fhould we live, if not to him by whom, and upon whofe bounty, we daily live? Hence this is mentioned as an aggravation of the fin of God's people. Ifai. i. 2. Hear, Q heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath Spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me, So likewife as an aggravation of Belfbazzar's fin. Dan. v. 23. The God, in whofe hand thy breath is, and whofe are all thy ways, haft thou not glorified. From thefe things then it appears, that God has a just title to lordship over us. It is therefore an act of justice towards God, to take him for our Lord; and rot a meer act of liberty. 'Tis not only a thing that we may do if we will, but a thing that we are in justice bound to do.

2. God is a moft glorious Lord. He is a king, of most glorious majefty. Pfal. cxiv. 5. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majefty.-His name alone is excellent, and bis glory is above the earth and heaven. Pfal. cxlviii. 13. There is none that may be compared with the Lord, for glory and excellency. Pfal. cxiii. 4, 5. The Lord is high above all nations, bis glory is above the heavens: Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high? He is indeed. one of infinite excellency and greatnefs. Pfal. cxlv. 3.. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unfearchable. Surely, God is the most excellent being, infinitely excellent and on this account is moft worthy. to be owned and ferved as our Lord. His furpaffing and incomprehenfible excellency, makes all poffible homage

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