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clining us to obey his Laws for his own fake, and because he commands them. Where this is wanting, Men do not obferve God's Will, but their own; neither do they fo much ferve God, as themselves. True Evangelical Óbedience is hearty and fincere, 'tis done as unto God, and from an inward Defire to please him; 'tis not mov'd, like an Engine, by the Wheels of Intereft; nor acted by ByEnds or external Motives in his Service; but proceeds from a Principle within, which keeps good Men as much, yea, more to their Duty in fecret, than in the fight of Man. God cares not for a heartlefs Service, he hates thofe unwilling Sacrifices that must be dragg'd to the Altar. His Call is, My Son give me thy Heart! where this is, he accepts of weak and imperfect Services; but where this is wanting, the moft grand and pompous Shews are an Abomination to him. God indeed does not forbid us all Love to ourselves, nor will us to caft off all regard to our own Intereft in his Service: No, he propofes to us great Rewards, as Motives to Obedience; and the most eminent Saints have ever had an eye to the Recompence of Reward. So that this alone cannot corrupt our Service, or render our Obedience infincere; 'tis the joining the love of Sin with the ferving of God that corrupts the Duty, and 'tis the defigning or preferring any temporal Ends in his Service that wholly mars the Offering: and therefore that we may obey and ferve God acceptably, it must come from the Heart, and not be embas'd by finifter and fecular Ends.

2dly, Another Qualification of true Obedience, is Integrity; which imports the Obedience of the whole Man to the whole Law or Will of God. It must be intire in refpect to the whole Man; that is, all the Faculties and Powers both of Soul and Body, are to be exercis'd and employ'd in his Service. Our bleffed Saviour requires us, To love the Lord our God, with all our Heart, with all our Soul, and with all our Mind; meaning, that those noble Faculties of our Understanding, Will, and Affections, fhould be all principally bent towards God, and that we are to labour to know, love, and ferve him above all things. Befides which, he wills us to love him with all our Strength; that is, with all our bodily Powers, all the Members whereof are to be employ'd, not in the Service of Sin, but to be Inftruments of Righteousness and Holinefs unto God; our Mouths are to be open'd to fhew forth his

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Praife; our Tongues to be Heralds to proclaim his Honour; our Hands to be lifted up in daily Supplications unto God, and open'd in charitable Difpofitions to our diftreffed Neighbours; our Feet to be swift, not to fhed Blood, but to run the Paths of God's Commandments. Thus muft our Obedience be intire, in refpect of the Subject, by being the Service of the whole Man. Moreover,

It must be intire in respect of the Object, by being extended to the whole Will and Law of God. Then shall I not be ashamed (fays the Pfalmift) when I have respect to all thy Commandments. 'Tis the Univerfality of our Obedience that recommends it unto God, for that manifeftly fhews it to proceed from a Principle of Love and Senfe of Duty to him: Zachary and Elizabeth are commended for walking in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless, Luke 1. 6. Indeed, the Authority of God equally running thro' all his Laws, there can be no reason why we fhould observe one and defpife another; unless it be from fome By-end, and Partiality to ourselves, which is enough to debase our Service, and render it unpleafing to him. He that faid, Thou Shalt not commit Adultery; faid alfo, Thou shalt not steal: fo that tho thou avoidest Adultery, yet if thou fteal, thou art a Tranfgreffor of the Law. Yea, St. James declares, That if we keep the whole Law, and offend but in one Point, we are guilty of all; becaufe fuch a partial Obfervance proceeds not from the true Motive of Obedience, which is the divine Authority: for that being ftamp'd on all his Laws, would make them all current, and extend our Obedience as far as that reaches, even to all the CommandSo that our Obedience cannot be fincere, unless it be univerfal. Again, It must be intire, not only as to the Object, but as to the Time; it must hold out and extend to the whole Courfe of our Life: Which is the

ments.

Next Qualification of true Obedience, viz. Conftancy and Perfeverance to the end. And this will lead me to the

Third Thing propounded to be spoken to; which was, To fhew what is meant by walking in the fame all the days of our Life. By which no more nor lefs can be meant, than that we do not faulter or tire in our Chriftian Course, but perfevere and hold out to the end our Obedience must be conftant as well as fincere, and continue all the days of our Life. 'Tis not enough to ferve and obey God now and then, by fits and ftarts, to be warm and zealous

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at fome times and in fome Duties, and at other times to be cold and carelefs in his Service: this is an humourfome and hypocritical fort of Obedience, that finds no Acceptance either with God or Man. To approve ourselves Chrift's faithful Soldiers and Servants, our Service muft be more uniform and conftant, and our Obedience laft to our Lives end. We find God Almighty asking the Queftion, If a righteous Man turn from his Righteousness and commit Iniquity, and do according to all that a wicked Man doth, fhall be live? And anfwers it himself; No, by no means: all his former Righteousness fhall not be mention'd, and in the Sin that he bath finned, in that he shall die; Ezek. 18. 24. 'Tis they who by patient continuing in well-doing feek for Glory and Immortality, that hall have eternal Life, Rom. 2. 6. And this will bring me to the

Fourth and Laft thing propounded; and that is to fhew, That this fincere, uniform, and conftant Obedience, is one of the Terms of the Baptifmal Covenant, and a Condition of eternal Life and Salvation. When Chrift commiffion'd his Apoftles to baptize all Nations, he bid them teach them to observe all things whatsoever he bad commanded them; Mat. 28. 19, 20. withal telling them, That he who breaks the least of these Commandments, fhall be called least, that is, none at all, in the Kingdom of Heaven. If we will enter into Life, our Saviour directs us to keep the Commandments; and our Catechifm teaches, that to be Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, we must keep God's holy Will and Commandments, and walk in the fame all the days of our Life. The Author to the Hebrews tells us, That Chrift is become the Author of eternal Salvation to all, and only those, that obey him; Heb. 5. 9. Which made himself fay, He that endures to the end, the fame fhall be faved, Mat. 10. 22. And elsewhere, Be faithful unto Death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life. This Crown is promis'd to none but fuch as continue ftedfaft in the Faith, and perfevere to the last in well-doing: For Tribulation and Anguish shall be render'd to every Soul that doth evil, and they that hold not out to the end of the Race, Shall never obtain the Prize.

But here it may be ask'd, If this intire and conítant Obedience be the neceffary Condition of eternal Life, Who can then be fav'd, fince there is none that liveth and fins not?

VOL. I.

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To which I anfwer, That the rigorous Conditions of the old Covenant are by the Satisfaction and Interceffion of Chrift mitigated into milder and eafier Terms in the new ; and instead of that exact and unfinning Obedience requir'd in the former, we may be justify'd and fav'd by a fincere, tho imperfect Obedience in the latter. The first Terms were, Do this, and live; and the Soul that fins, fhall die: by which, the leaft Tranfgreffion excluded us from all Hopes of Mercy, and confign'd us over to eternal Perdition: but now, by the Merits of our Saviour, Repentance and Amendment to the best of our power entitle us to Mercy, and will inftate us into the Kingdom of Heaven. God Almighty has proclaim'd himself to be a God gracious and merciful, long-fuffering, abundant in Goodness and Truth, forgiving Iniquity, Tranfgreffion and Sin; and tho he will not acquit the Guilty that live in an obstinate Violation of his Laws, yet he fhews Mercy to thousands, in them that love him, and keep his Commandments: He has abated of the Rigour of the firft Covenant, and accepts now of our hearty Defires and Endeavours to please him in the second: He allows for our Infirmities, and will not be extreme to mark all that we have done amifs; infomuch that tho the Law denounces nothing but Death and a Curfe upon every Breach of it, yet we may now appeal from the Extremity of the Law to the Equity of the Gofpel: for we are not (as the Apostle tells us) under the Law, but under Grace; we fhall not fuffer for involuntary Failings where our Hearts are upright, but may take fanctuary in fuch cafes from the Sentence of an incens'd Judge, in the Merits and Mercies of a Saviour. However, this is not intended to give any Encouragement to Sin, but to relieve us from the heavy Burden and Curfe of it: Shall we fin (fays the Apoftle) that Grace may abound? No, God forbid! This were to defeat the Ends both of the Law and the Gofpel; and nothing creates greater and jufter Fury than abus'd Mercy.

Thus I have briefly laid before you, both the Privileges of the Baptifmal Covenant beftow'd on God's part, whereby we are made the Members of Chrift, the Children of God, and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven; and likewife the Conditions to be perform'd on our part, to be made Partakers of them which ; are to renounce all our fpiritual Enemies, to believe all the Articles of the Chriftian Faith, and to keep God's holy Will and Commandments all the

days

days of our Life. I fhall conclude with two things by way of Application.

1. We may infer from hence the Folly and Prefumption of thofe, who expect the Bleffings of the Covenant without performing the Conditions. A Covenant neceffarily implies mutual Engagements; and in this, as God promiles to be our God, and beftows many and great Bleffings upon us, fo we engage to be his People, and to demean ourselves accordingly fo that if we neglect our Duty to God, and lead wicked and unholy Lives, we forfeit his Favour, and can lay no Claim to any of his Bleffings. And yet fome have greedily embrac'd a vain Opinion, that in this new Covenant God has taken all upon himself, and requires nothing, or as good as nothing, from us. They talk of nothing but abfolute Promifes, and think it a Difparagement to the Freedom of Divine Grace, that any thing fhould be expected from them but only to believe, that is, to be confident that God will perform his part, tho they do nothing on theirs: which (as one has well obferv'd) is an eafy Condition indeed to Fools, but the hardest in the World to a Wife Man. But be not deceiv'd, God expects other things from us; namely, Repentance and new Obedience: for, Not every one that says, Lord! Lord! ball enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but be that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven. And Baptifm will never fave us, without that Newness of Life which is promis'd in it.

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Wherefore, 2. As we hope for Mercy and Salvation by Christ, let us perform the Conditions on our part, by forfaking Sin, and living in obedience to God's Laws; let us make his holy Will and Commandments the Rule of our Actions and Walk.

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