we fhall have the benefits of that facrifice of his; all our fins, how many and great foever, fhall be forgiven us, and we faved from thofe eternal punishments, which were due unto us for them. Another part of the priest's office was bleffing and praying for the people; and this alfo Chrift performs to us. It was his fpecial commiffion from his Father to bless us, as St. Peter tells us Acts iii. 26. God sent his Son Jefus to bless you: And the following words fhew wherein that bleffing confifts, in turning away every one of you from his iniquity: Thofe means which he has used for the turning us from our fins, are to be reckoned, of all other, the greatest bleffings; and for the other part, that of praying, that he not only performed on earth, but continues ftill to do it in Heaven; He fits on the right hand of God, and makes request for us, Rom. viii. 34. Our duty herein is, not to refift this unfpeakable bleffing of his, but to be willing to be thus bleffed, in the being turned from our fins; and not to make void and fruitless all his prayers and interceffions for us, which will never prevail for us, whilft we continue in them. 21. The third thing that Christ was to do for us, was to enable us, or give us strength, to do what God requires of us. This he doth, first, by taking off from the hardness of the law given to Adam, which was never to commit the leaft fin, upon pain of damnation; and requiring of us only an boneft and hearty endeavour to do what we are able; and where we fail, accepting of fincere repentance. Secondly, by fending his Holy Spirit into our hearts to govern and rule us, to give us ftrength to overcome temptations to fin, and to do all that he now under the Gofpel requires of us. And in this he is our King; it being the office of a king to govern and rule, and to fubdue enemies. Our duty in this particular is, to give up our felves obedient fubjects of his, to be governed and ruled by him, to obey all his laws, not to take part with any rebel; that is, not to cherish any one fin, but diligently to pray for his grace to enable us to fubdue all, and then carefully to make ufe of it to that purpose. 22. Laftly, He has purchased for all that faithfully obey him, an eternal glorious inheritance, the kingdom of Hea ven! ven, whither he is gone before to take poffeffion for us. Our duty herein is to be exceeding careful, that we forfeit not our parts in it; which we fhall certainly do, if we continue impenitent in any fin: Secondly, not to faften our affections on this world, but to raise them according to the precept of the Apofile, Col. iii. 2. Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth; continually longing to come to the poffeffion of that bleffed inheritance of ours, in comparifon whereof all things here below fhould feem vile and mean to us. 23. This is the fum of that Second Covenant we are now under, wherein you see what Chrift hath done, how he executes thofe three great offices of King, Prieft, and Prophet: As alfo what is required of us; without our faithful performance of which, all that he hath done fhall never ftand us in any ftead; for he will never be a' Priest to fave any, who take him not as well for their Prophet to teach, as their King to rule them: Nay, if we neglect our part of this Covenant, our condition will be yet worse, than if it had never been made; for we fhall then be to anfwer, not for the breach of law only, as in the first, but for the abuse of mercy, which is of all fins the most provoking. On the other side, if we faithfully perform it, that is, fet our felves heartily to the obeying of every precept of Chrift, not going on wilfully in any one fin, but bewailing and forfaking whatever we have formerly been guilty of, it is then moft certain, that all the forementioned benefits of Chrift belong to us. 24. And now you fee how little reafon you have to caft off the care of your Souls, upon a conceit they are paft cure, for that it is plain they are not; nay, certainly, they are in that very condition, which, of all others, makes them fitteft for our care. If they had not been thus redeemed by Chrift, they had been then fo hopeless, that care would have been in vain ; on the other fide, if his redemption had been fuch, that all men fhould be faved by it, though they live as they lift, we should have thought it needlefs to take care for them, because they were fafe without it. But it hath pleafed God fo to order it, that our care muft be the means means, by which they must receive the good, even of all that Chrift hath done for them. 25. And now, if after all that God hath done to fave thefe Souls of ours, we will not beftow a little care on them our felves, we very well deserve to perish. If a phyfician fhould undertake a patient, that were in fome defperate difeafe, and by his skill bring him fo far out of it, that he were fure to recover, if he would but take care of himself, and obferve thofe rules the phyfician fet him; would you not think that man weary of his life, that would refufe to do that? So certainly that man is weary of his Soul, wilfully cafts it away, that will not confent to thofe eafy conditions by which he may fave it. 26. You fee how great kindness God hath to these Souls of ours; the whole Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, have all done their parts for them. The Father gave his only Son; the Son gave himself, left his glory, and endured the bitter death of the cross, merely to keep our Souls from perifhing; the Holy Ghoft is become, as it were, our attendant, waits upon us with continual offers of his grace, to enable us to do that which may preferve them; nay, he is fo defirous we should accept thofe offers of his, that he is faid to be grieved, when we refuse them, Eph. 4. 30. Now what greater difgrace and affront can we put upon God,than to defpife what he thus values? That thofe Souls of ours, which Chrift thought worthy every drop of his blood, we fhould not think worth any part of our care? We use, in things of the world, to rate them according to the opinion of those who are best skilled in them: Now certainly God, who made our Souls, beft knows the worth of them; and fince he prizes them fo high, let us (if it be but in reverence to him) be ashamed to neglect them, efpecially now that they are in fo hopeful a condition, that nothing but our own carelesness can poffibly deftroy them. 27. I have now briefly gone over those four motives of care I at firft proposed, which are each of them fuch as never miffes to stir it up towards the things of this world; and I have also shewed you, how much more reasonable, nay, nay, neceffary it is, they should do the like for the Soul. And now what can I fay more, but conclude in the words of Ifaiah chap. xlvi. 8. Remember this, and fhew your felves men; that is, deal with your Soul, as your reafon teaches you to do with all other things that concern you. And fure this common juftice binds you to; for the Soul is that which furnishes you with that reafon which you exercife in all your worldly bufinefs: And fhall the Soul it felf receive no benefit from that reafon which it affords you? This is as if a master of a family, who provides food for his fervants, fhould by them be kept from eating any himfelf, and fo remain the only ftarved creature in his house. 28. And as juftice ties you to this, fo mercy doth likewife: You know the poor Soul will fall into endless and unfpeakable miferies, if you continue to neglect it; and then it will be too late to confider it. The laft refuge you can hope for is God's Mercy; but that you have defpifed and abufed. And with what face can you, in your greateft need, beg for his mercy to your Souls, when you would not afford them your own? No, not that common charity of confidering them, of beftowing a few of thofe idle hours, you know not scarce how to pass away, upon them? 29. Lay this to your hearts; and, as ever you hope for God's pity, when you moft want it, be fure in time to pity your felves, by taking that due care of your precious Souls which belongs to them. 30. If what hath been faid, have perfuaded you to this fo neceffary a duty, my next work will be to tell you how this care muft be imployed; and that, in a word, is, in the doing of all thofe things which tend to the making the Soul happy, which is the end of our care: And what thofe are, I come now to fhew you. SUNDAY İ. Of the Duty of Man by the Light of Nature, by the T HE Benefits purchased for us by Chrift, are fuch as will undoubtedly make the foul happy; for eternal happiness it felf is one of them: But because thefe benefits belong not to us, till we perform the condition required of us, whoever defires the happiness of his foul, muft fet himself to the performing of that condition. What that is, I have already mentioned in the general, That it is the hearty, honeft endeavour of obeying the whole Will of God. But then that will of God containing under it many particu lars, it is neceffary we fhould alfo know what thofe are; that is, what are the feveral things that God now requires of us, our perform ance whereof will bring us to everlafting hap pinefs, and the neglect to endless mifery. B 2. Of I |