clude, because indeed it is the Sum of all that I have faid, and may serve for a Recapitulation of my whole Difcourfe upon this Point. . You may find it in the xviith Chapter of St. Luke's Gofpel, and the 7th Verfe, Which of you (faith he) having a Servant plowing feeding Cattel, will Jay unto him by and by, when he is come from the Field, Go and fit down to Meat? And will not rather fay unto him; Make ready wherewith I may fup, and gird thy felf, and ferve me, till I have eaten and drunken, and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink? Doth be thank that Servant because he did the Things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewife ye, when ye have done all thofe 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 muft 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 infpire us both with Power and Will to ferve him better; and this for the only Merits of his dear Son Jefus Chrift. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghoft, &c. SERMON 234 SERMON XI. MATT. XXII. 37, 38, 39, 40. 37. Fefus 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 firft and great Commandment. HE Method I have propofed in First, To explain the Duty here commanded, that is to fay, what is implied in loving God with all our Hearts and Souls. Secondly, To fhew upon what Accounts this may be truly faid to be the firft and great Commandment. Thirdly, To make fome Application of this Doctrine, by drawing fome useful Inferences from it. And, Fourthly, Fourthly, To fpeak to fome Practical Cafe about loving God with all our Hearts. Three of thefe Heads I have already gone through in feveral Difcourfes. I now come to the Fourth and Laft. Now the Cafe I have to fpeak to concerning the Love of God, is the Cafe of those, who though they exercife Devotion towards God, yet do it with great Dulnefs and Deadnefs of Affection; whether thefe People" can be faid to love God with all their Hearts and Souls? The Cafe is this: Prayer and Devotion, and the Worship of God, are (we know) the moft proper Inftances and Expreffions of our Love to him; and it is readily acknowledged on all Hands, that thofe Perfous 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 fhall be faid of thofe Perfons that do indeed fay 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 thefe Holy Exercifes, they find no Relifh nor Sweetness in them? Other People talk of a great Pleafure and Delight they take in thefe Duties, and look upon it as a moft agreeable Employment to fing Praises to God, and to pour out their Souls in moft fervent Devotion to him; but they take no Satisfaction. in these kind of Things. On the contrary, it T it is with great Reluctancy oftentimes that they can obtain of themselves to engage in thefe 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 fhall we fay to these Perfons? Is fuch a Temper as this confiftent with that fincere Love of God, and that hearty Senfe of Religion that is required of us? This is the Cafe. But as thus generally put, it cannot be answered by a fingle Yea or No. It may fo happen, that a Man that truly loves God may be in this dull Difpenfation, though it doth more often happen that this Frame and Difpofition of Mind is an Effect of Lukewarmness. We must therefore take into Confideration several other Circumstances in the Perfons concerned, before a right Judgment can be made of their Cafe. That which I can fay about it, I fhall reduce into these Propofitions. And, First of all, As it is certain that no Man can be faid to love God, or to have any Senfe of Religion, who lives in a general Neglect of Prayer, and other Exercises of Devotion; fo it is likewife certain, that, generally speaking, all Men that do fincerely love God, fuppofing they be in Health, and free from the Disorders that arife from hypochondriack Melancholy, will find their Affections fo carried out after God, that they will with great Vigour, and the utmost Intenfe Intenseness of Mind, perform their Devotions to him; nay, they will take a great Pleasure and Delight in fo 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 being the proper Methods of growing and improving in all Virtue and Holinefs, the natural Expreffions 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, fo they will do it chearfully and readily, and their Hearts and Minds will go along with the Service. And so far will they be from looking upon it as a Burden or Impofition, thus to pay their conftant Tribute of Prayer and Thanksgiving to God, that they will reap great Satisfaction and Content from fo doing. This we fay, generally speaking, will be the Temper of those that truly love God. ་ But |