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precious seed, and hope to come again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them. Thus also the Lord encouraged the prophet: Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house: which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not-yet it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house. Ezek. xii. 2, 3.

(3.) While we labour to exhort, we would also add our fervent prayer, that our instructions and exhortations may not be in vain. Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things! Amen.

Amidst displays of wrath and love,

What stubborn wretches, Lord, are we!
Unmoved by all the joys of heaven,
Unawed by endless misery.

With what a base contempt we treat
Thy threat'nings and thy promises!
Duty neglect, and mercy slight,
Nor fear t' offend, nor seek to please.

Could angels weep, they'd weep for us;
Break thou these rocky hearts, O God!
O let us melt beneath thy grace,
Nor feel the terrors of thy rod!

Acceptance with God.

SERMON II.

EZEK. XX. 41.

I will accept you with your sweet savour.

IN the foregoing verses, God promises the children of Israel that he would establish his worship amongst them, even in his holy mountain; and here, that he would take delight in it, and would bless them. To be accepted of him is our highest happiness: it is the foretaste of heaven, and an earnest of the full fruition. The approbation of our fellow-creatures is desirable, and it was well for Mordecai that he was accepted of the multitude of his brethren: but how much more desirable is it to be approved and accepted of God! May this be the principal aim in all our religious exercises!

Let us then enquire what is implied in this acceptance, and with what it must be accompanied. I will accept you with your sweet savour.

I. What is implied in our being accepted with God.

1. It supposes a drawing near to him on our part. Acceptance on one part implies application on the other. "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee." There is a drawing near in all the exercises of private devotion:

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every lifting up of the heart, and the expression of inward desire, is an approach to God. The tendency of sin is to alienate the heart, and destroy all desire after him this is seen in the conduct of the prodigal, who left his father's house and went into a far country. The tendency of grace is to bring us back, and bring us near. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God. Coming to him is not only expressive of love and confidence, and of the going forth of the soul after God; but it includes the whole of religious worship. Those who worshipped at the altar are described as the comers thereunto; and of believers, in reference to Christ as the foundation, it is said, To whom coming, as unto a living stone. Our whole life should be a continual coming unto God by him. Duties should closely follow one another, like the successive products of the field, and even our ordinary concerns in life should be so conducted as to bring us nearer and still nearer the Lord. The great object of the christian life is to maintain an habitual spirituality, to be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, as well as when we are in the immediate discharge of holy duties, that so our intercourse with heaven may be uninterrupted.

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2. Acceptance implies approbation and delight on God's part, as well as an approach on ours. that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. We might be rejected, even though we come to him: but the promise not only secures us from this, but insures to us the most gracious acceptance: the Lord will receive such with infinite good will, and embrace them in the arms of love. Like Noah, they find grace in the eyes of the Lord for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness, his countenance doth behold the upright. He frowns upon the ungodly, but smiles upon those that seek him; and though despised and hated of the world, they are the objects of his delight.

VOL. 111.

3. When God accepts, he not only approves, but grants some visible token of his favour. I will ac

cept you with your sweet savour, and you shall know it; yea, and the world shall know it. When the Publican had prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner," he went down to his house justified: he came to the temple trembling, and went away rejoicing, bis soul being refreshed with a sense of pardoning mercy. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy waysThou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. And when God accepted Job, he did it openly, and made his friends to know it, and to bring their offerings to him that he might present them before the Lord. Those that honour him, he will honour; and with the upright, he will shew himself upright. All flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. Isai. xlix. 26.

4. Our persons must be accepted before our services can be so, and the latter are accepted for the sake of the former. God had respect to Abel, and his offering: but to Cain, and his offering, he had not respect. In both these instances the person is put first, as the more immediate object of acceptance, and then the offering; and this shews that the different treatment they met with was not altogether owing to the different nature of the offerings they brought, though Abel's consisted of the firstlings of the flock, and Cain's of the fruits of the ground, but to the difference of character and condition, between the offerers. The one came in the exercise of faith, and the other not. By faith, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain; and without faith it is impossible to please God. Acceptance ends in the service, but begins in the person: I will accept you with your sweet savour.-Many there are, indeed, who hope to commend themselves to God by a multitude of duties,

and are ready to think it hard if they may not be accepted on that ground. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? (Isai. Iviii. 3.) All this flows from a spirit of relf-righteousness, which God abhors; and he can no more accept the services of such, than a prince could the offering of a condemned malefactor. Let but the curse be removed, and the sinner shall be accepted; and when he is so, his offering shall not be despised, though it be only that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Psal. li. 17.

II. Consider what must accompany our being accepted of God: "I will accept you with your sweet

savour."

The allusion is to the burnt-offerings and peace-ofofferings under the law, which are said to be of a sweet-smelling savour unto the Lord. The holy fragrance rendered them pleasing in his sight; and such are the exercises of grace in the offerings which we present. This leads us to observe,

1. That our approaches to God must be accompanied with spiritual and holy dispositions, or they cannot be acceptable to him. I will accept you with your sweet savour, but not without it. Duties without grace in exercise are like dead carcases, not fit to be presented before the Lord. To serve him acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, we must have grace; and not only have grace implanted, but grace in exercise. The Lord's people are to him a kingdom of priests; and their work is to offer spiritual sacrifices, holy and acceptable, by Jesus Christ. The various graces when in exercise yield a sweet savour, like the holy unction and the incense, which consisted of the richest odours. The precious ointment that was poured upon Aaron's head was as the dew of

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