words and language call them so; yet take heed that thou dost not lay any emphasis upon it. Thus Nabal, that blunt churl, accents his selfishness: 1 Sam. xxv. 11. Shall I take my bread and my wa ter, and my flesh that I have killed for my shepherds? alas! poor wretch, there is nothing of all this thine: nay, thou thyself art not thine, but belongest, if not to the grace, yet to the dominion of God. Indeed we must distinguish between things being ours for our good and benefit, and being ours as to absolute title and dominion. Neither way can a wicked man call any thing his : his table is a snare; and that, which should have been for his welfare, is become a curse unto him. But it is not thus with the godly for the Apostle tells us, 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. that whether.....the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are theirs; and they are Christ's; and Christ is God's: this argument is very cogent, as to the benefit and good, that shall redound unto them from every thing they enjoy; in this sense, all is theirs, because they are God's. But, because they are God's, therefore nothing is theirs as to absolute right and sovereign dominion. Both they and wicked men have a natural right to many blessings, and a civil right to many more: but neither of them have a supreme, free, and independent right, to any thing which they enjoy; but all is God's, lent to them. for their use and his service.

(5) Ye are not your own; let not then any sin be your own.

You are God's peculiar people; let not any sin be your peculiar sin. Shall we ourselves be God's, and yet any sin be ours? what is this less than, by a kind of practical blasphemy, to transfer our sins upon God?

And, so much, for the First Part of the words, Ye are not your

own.

Thus have we considered the proposition, Ye are not your own. Ye have not a sovereign right over your own beings, to seek your own interests, to dispose of your own affairs, to follow your own wills and appetites; but you entirely belong unto another.

ii. And, lest you should be put to seek for an owner, since you are thus denied, and, as it were, turned out of the possession of yourselves, the Apostle informs you WHO IT IS, THAT LAYS IN HIS CLAIM TO YOU; even the great and universal Lord

both of Heaven and Earth, whose all things are by a most absolute and indisputable right: Ye are God's. Indeed, God hath manifold titles to you.

1. As he is your Almighty Creator.

When thou layedst huddled up in the great chaos and confusion of mere possibilities, he beckoned and called thee forth; bade thee be, and take thy place and station in the order of things and that, not in a vile and contemptible nature, a worm, or a fly, which we crush or sport to death; but a man, one of the peers and nobles of the world. See how magnificently David speaks of thy original: Ps. viii. 5, 6. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou art born a king; crowned, in thy very cradle: and thy being, in the scale of creatures, is but one round lower than that of the angels.

Thy Body, which is the basest and most disgraceful part thou hast, yet of how excellent a texture and frame is it! such various springs of motion, such secret channels and conveyances for life and spirits, such a subserviency of parts one to another in their mutual offices, and such a perfect beauty and harmony in the whole, that David might well say, Ps. cxxxix. 14, 15. Į am fearfully and wonderfully made.....and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Yea, not only a David, but Galen a heathen, when he had minutely inspected the admirable artifice that appeared in the frame of our bodies, the structure and use of the several parts, and the many wonders and miracles that were woven up in every one of them, his speculation of nature led him to adore the God of Nature, and he could not forbear composing a hymn in the praise of our All-wise Creator. Now whose is this elegant piece of workmanship, but God's? In his book, saith the Psalmist, were all our members written, which afterwards were fashioned: as architects do usually draw a model of those buildings, which they intend for more than ordinary state and magnificence before they erect them; so God doth, as it were, delineate a draught and platform of man in his book, that is, in his own counsel and decree; and limns out every member, giving it its shape and proportion in his own ideas; and afterward, according to that perfect pattern, sets up the frame he first makes the materials, and then brings them together; and causes all nature to contribute what is most ft and proper for it.

And yet these bodies, though they have so much cost and care bestowed upon them, are but a case and covering for the Soul. That is perfectly spiritual; and hath no other cause of its being, but only that God, who is the Father of Spirits. It is a spark, kindled immediately by his own breath: not formed out of any pre-existent matter, as corporeal beings are; but created out of pure and unmixed nothing, by the same almighty word, that spake out angels, and all the glorious hosts of heaven, and made them emerge into being. And when the body is sufficiently furnished with all the organs and instruments necessary for the function of life, then God bestows a soul upon it. Not as if the soul did pre-exist before its union; but it is created in that very instant when it is united to the body. And this is the meaning of that known maxim of St. Augustin, Creando infunditur, & infundendo creatur: "It is created in infusing, and infused in creating."

Since, then, God hath created us; and chosen us, out of the infinite number of things possible, to bestow an actual being upon us since, if he had so pleased, we might have been as much nothing to all eternity, as we were from all eternity; and might have lain hid in that vast crowd and multitude of souls, which might have been, but never shall be; only, God hath been pleased to lay the ideas of them aside, and to pick and cull us out to be his creatures, to prepare us such exquisite bodies, and to breathe into us such rational and intellectual spirits shall we not with all thankfulness acknowledge, that we appertain unto him, who without him should have continued a long and endless nothing? Hath not he, who created us, an absolute and sovereign right to do to us and to require from us, whatsoever pleaseth him? Thus the Psalmist infers it, Ps. c. 3. It is he, that hath made us, and not we ourselves; and therefore it follows, we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. And, 2. We are his, upon the account of Preservation.

He still maintains those beings, which at first he made; and exerts the same almighty power to continue thee in thy being, as at first he did in producing it. Every new moment that passeth over thee, thou art, as it were, again created; fetched out of nothing for all that part of thy life, which is already passed, is become a mere nothing. So that, whether thou lookest to the time that is before thee, or to that which is behind thee; yet, still, thou flowest along, from that which is nothing, to that which is nothing: and yet, still, thou thyself art pre

served in being, and art not swallowed up in the same nothing, that yesterday or the last year are dissolved into. To whom owest thou this, but only to that God who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever? He makes all the differences of time in thy age, in whom time itself makes no difference. It is his visitation, as Job speaks, that preserves our spirits: Job x. 12. nor can we subsist one breath, or one pulse, nor one moment longer, than he is pleased to wind off our time to us, from that great bottom of eternity which he holds in his own hand. If thou canst find out any one such day or hour, wherein thou canst maintain thyself, without any charge to God or dependance upon him; if thou canst either live, or move, or be, without the continual influence of the divine power and providence; then, for that time, thou mayest glory in thine own sufficiency, acknowledge no superior, be thine own, and live wholly to thyself: but, certainly, whilst thou owest both the beginning and the progress of thy being unto God, thou owest thyself to him, and art his.

But this is not all; for,

3. God hath another right and title to us, as he is our Go

vernor.

Now the two chief and comprehensive parts of government, are Protection and Provision: to defend those, that are under their charge, from harms and injuries; and, to supply them with necessaries.

But,

(1) God doth mightily protect us from those innumerable evils and mischiefs, which would else befall us.

Perils and mishaps are thick strewed in all our ways; and death and ruin lie every where in ambush for us: in our food, our affairs, our recreations, at home and abroad, every where, death and danger take their stand and aim at us; dangers, that we could neither foresee, nor prevent, but only the watchful" providence of God hath watched over us hitherto : He hath given his angels charge concerning us, to keep us in all our ways. In their hands have they borne us up, so that our feet have not dashed against a stone. Who can particularly recount the infinite number of those private mercies, which we have received or how often God hath diverted and struck aside many sad casualties, that were just befalling us; and plucked us back, when we were just upon the very edge and brink of destruction? Or, if we consider the boundless wrath and malice

of the Devil against us, or wicked men his instruments, have we not great cause thankfully to acknowledge that powerful restraint, which God lays both upon him and them? the Devil implacably hates us; and would, every step that we take, tear our souls from our bodies, and our bodies in pieces, and both from God: wicked men, who are inspirited and acted by him, would soon fill the world with the direful effects of their hellish natures; and by killing, and stealing, and swearing, and lying, and committing adultery, they would break out until blood touched blood but only God holds them both in a strong adamantine chain, so that they cannot come near to hurt us, but by a special permission.

:

(2) Neither is God only a shield to us, but a Sun. The Lord God is our sun and shield: Ps. lxxxiv. 11. He not only protects us from dangers, but he likewise cherishes us and provides for us. We live upon his allowance; and are maintained by him, as those, who belong unto his family. All are waiters at his table, and he giveth them their food in due season: He crowneth the year with his blessings, and filleth our hearts with food and gladness: he better manures the earth by his blessing, than the husbandman can by his industry; and makes our sustenance to grow and spring up round about us, allotting unto every one a needful and convenient portion.

If, then, God doth thus protect thee and provide for thee, hath he not a right and title to thee? Is not that life his, which he hath defended from so many deaths; and rescued, when thou hast been surrounded with dangers? If thou wilt not acknowledge thyself his, why dost thou live in his family, eat his bread, and wear his livery, and maintain thyself at his expence? It is but reason and justice, that thou shouldst either refuse his benefits, or not refuse his commands and service. But, yet farther,

4. We are God's by Covenant-Engagement and solemn Promise. In our baptism, we were consecrated and devoted to be the Lord's, to fight under his banner against all the enemies of his glory and our salvation: therein, we have renounced and abjured the usurpation and tyrannical power, that sin and Satan have exercised over us; and, with the greatest solemnity, have bound ourselves unto the service of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our baptism is a seal: not only on God's part, of the truth and stability of his promises, that we shall obtain remission of our sins and eternal life, upon the performance of the con