bleed inwardly to think, how many of the ordinary profes fors of religion are here included. How many are there, who, if confcience would be faithful, must confefs, that the favor of God, his worship, his fabbaths, his people, are not their fupreme delight! Yet that this is effential to real religion, or rather is the fubftance of all true religion, I think we have repeated affurances in the holy fcriptures. It is plain from the language of the Pfalmift, Pfal. lxxiii. 25. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I defire befides thee." It is plain from the fum of the moral law, Luke x. 27. "Thou shalt love "the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul, and with all thy ftrength, and with all thy 'mind; "and thy neighbor as thyfelf;" as alfo from that trying paffage, Matth. x. 37. "He that loveth father or mother "more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth "fon or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me." Take heed then, my brethren, to this important truth. If the world would keep its diftance, fo to fpeak, it might be esteemed, and used, in its proper place, and to its proper end; but if it will needs pretend to be what it is not, and to promise what it cannot give, we must take it for a deceiver, and hold it in deteftation. Your Maker form. ed you for his own glory: He must be the reft and confo. lation of your fouls, or they never shall have rest; he must be their happiness, or they fhall be miferable for ever. But if the world would feem to be your home, if it promiseth you content and fatisfaction, if the poffeffion of it is the ultimate end at which you afpire, fo that you do not hear. tily, and with affection, look any further, it is ufurping its Creator's throne; and therefore down with the idol, and tread it in the duft. Is not this the great queftion with regard to us all, Whether the objects of faith, or of fenfe, things present or things to come, God or the world, has the poffeffion of our hearts? A believer who will thankfully receive and ufe the bleffings of a prefent world for their proper end, will notwithstanding hold it, and all its poffeffions, in the higheft degree of contempt, when compared with the one thing needful. He will fay, from the bottom of his heart, in the prefence of an all-feeing God, "Lord, let me never have "my portion in this world only. The glory of a throne, "the most inexhaustible mines of gold and filver, without "thy favor, I would not only defpife, but abhor." Whence arifes this difpofition in the believer? From a conviction of the unfatisfying nature of all earthly enjoyments; from an inward perfuafion of this truth, That "the world, in its beft ftate, is altogether vanity;" from a sense of the infinite difproportion between the poffeffion of the creature, and the favor of the Creator; but, above all, from a deep and abiding conviction of the precariouf ness and uncertainty of all earthly things. However undeniable it is, that the fafhion of this world paffeth away, few there are who live under the strong and lively practical impreffion of it. The deceived hearts of finners believe the contrary. How well are they defcribed by the Pfalmift, Pfal. xlix. 11, 12, 13. "Their inward thought "is, that their houfes fhall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands "after their own names. Nevertheless, man being in "honor, abideth not: he is like the beafts that perish. "This their way is their folly; yet their pofterity approve "of their fayings!" One would think, nothing more fhould be neceffary to crucify the world, than to reflect upon the many defcriptions given us in the word of God of its uncertain duration; Pfal. xxxvii. 35, 36. "I have "feen the wicked in great power; and spreading himself "like a green bay-tree. Yet he paffed away, and lo, he "was not; yea, I fought him, but he could not be found." Ifa. xl. 6. "And the voice faid, Cry. And he said, What "fhall I cry? All flesh is grafs, and all the goodliness "thereof is as the flower of the field." I fhall only add our Lord's defcription of the fudden call of a worldly man to death and judgment; Luke xii. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. "And he fpake a parable unto them, faying, The ground "of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, faying, What fhall I do, because "I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, "This will I do; I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I beftow all my fruits, and my "goods. And I will fay to my foul, Soul, thou haft much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, “drink, and be merry. But God faid unto him, Thou "fool, this night thy foul fhall be required of thee; then "whose fhail those things be which thou haft provided? "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not "rich towards God." 3. The world must be crucified, as it pretends to be necessary to our felicity. This is chiefly directed againft thofe who love the world to excefs, though at the fame time they at least pretend to love God more. They feem to have chofen God as their fupreme; but it does not ap pear, that they have chofen him as their fufficient portion. The world till bulks fo much in their eye, that they know no happiness or comfort of which it makes not a part. They fee, or think they fee, the infufficiency of the world, without the favor of God, as a refuge when the world fails; but they can no more reft fatisfied in God without the world, than in the world without God. I have no doubt you will be fenfible there are many amongst us in this condition: nay, I am afraid there will be not a few within themselves fecretly juftifying this character and conduct. They will fay, Is it poffible to deny that the world is neceflary to us while we continue here? is it not fo to you as well as to us? and therefore why fhould it 'not be regarded in this light?' 、 To all fuch I anfwer, The world, in a certain proportion, is indeed neceffary to us; but this proportion is not to be ascertained by us. It must be left to the difpofal of infinite wifdom, without any conditions. When there is a divorce or feparation between the believer and the world, it is entire and complete, without referve or limitation. He gives up all as the object of carnal affection, that he may receive again, for a nobler purpofe, that measure which feems neceffary to the fanctified will of God. He is juft in the fituation of a man who, having contracted obligations which he is unable to difcharge, has furrendered his all into the hands of another; and has no further ule of what was formerly his own, than as much, or as long as the new proprietor fhall think fit. I know no image that more properly represents the condition of the believer : with this difference, that in human affairs the change is ufually for the worfe; but in fpiritual things, the renunci. ation is an infinite advantage, and the feeming lofs an unSpeakable gain. ་ Think not, my brethren, that this is carrying matters to excefs. It is what our Saviour exprefsly requires of all that would embrace his doctrine: Luke ix. 23. "And he "faid unto them all, If any man will come after me, let "him deny himself, and take up his crofs daily, and fol"low me." It is indeed one of the hard fayings of the gofpel. You have heard it fometimes faid, that every Christian must be a martyr in refolution; and doubtless the world is not thoroughly crucified, unless our attachment to every worldly enjoyment, without exception, be fo broken, that we are ready to refign it whenever God, in his Providence, fhall fee fit to demand it. We have an excellent leffon to this purpose, in the trial to which our Saviour put the young man in the gospel, with a decent and regular profeflion: Matth. xix. 21, 22. Jefus “faid unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and fell that "thou haft, and give it to the poor, and thou fhalt have "treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But "when the young man heard that faying, he went away "forrowful; for he had great poffeffions." To crucify the world, then, is to count no worldly enjoyment whatever neceffary, either to our prefent comfort, or everlasting happiness, but to put an abfolute and unfhaken confidence in the wildom and goodness of a reconciled God. This is excellently expreffed by the prophet Habakkuk, chap. iii. 17, 18. "Although the fig-tree fhall not bloffom, neither "fhall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olives shall "fail, and the fields fhall yield no meat, the flock fhall be "cut off from the fold, and there fhall be no herd in the "ftalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the "God of my falvation." 4. In the laft place, The world must be crucified, as it is a separate and independent good, without its due relation to God. God himself alone is independent. All other things ftand in an infeparable relation to him, and fhould be used in fubferviency to his honor: "For of him, and "through him, and to him, are all things." Every rational creature, who continues in, or return to his duty, difcerns this relation, and maintains this fubferviency. It was the firft idolatry and facrilege, to break the ties that join the Maker to his works, and love the creatures for its own fake. But he that is crucified to the world, will confider every earthly enjoyment as the gift of God: he will confefs the goodness of God in beftowing it, and will obey the command of God in the use and application of it. That this is the duty of a Chriftian, is plain from the general strain of the holy fcriptures; and particularly from this exprefs and pofitive declaration, 1 Cor. x. 31. "Whe"ther therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do "all to the glory of God." The world, then, as a feparate independent good, or as a mere gratification of carnal defire, is to be crucified. It was not given us for fo low a purpose as the indulgence of appetite, but for nobler ends. But perhaps it will be necessary to observe, that some of the mystic writers have raifed a variety of improper queftions on this fubject. Some have affirmed the unlawfulness of tafting any of the sweetness of created enjoyments more than was barely necessary for fubfiftence. It is easy to fee, that it must be very hard, in many fuch cafes, to fix the bounds between neceflity and convenience, ufe and pleasure: hence the confcience is involved in unfpeakable and endless perplexity. Upon this I would obferve, that the general reference of all things, even common actions, to the glory of God, is fufficiently and clearly established upon the paffage of fcripture above mentioned. But in order to do this in the moft profitable manner, fome fubordinate ends also muft be confidered: and therefore, not only what is neceffary to health and comfort must be used with this view, but the enjoyment of many of the creatures may be allowed as the fruits of divine bounty, and tending to infpire an habitual chearfulness and gratitude to God. I fhall conclude with giving you these two general rules to be obferved in the enjoyment of outward mercies. |