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difpofing to pick and fteal, cheat, and catch any little advantage they can get of their neighbour without being discovered, that one can trust them no farther than they fee, is moft difhonouring to God, as if either he did not fee, or else did approve of their wicked practices, Pfal. 1. 21. 22.

3dly, Be readily difpofed to the duties of humanity, doing good to your neighbour, being kind, merciful, and compaffionate to them that are in diftrefs and need: Col. iii. 12. Put on therefore (as the elect of God, holy and beloved) bowels, of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meeknefs, long-fuffering, This honours God in a very particular manner: Luke vi. 35. 36. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again and your reward fhall be great, and ye fhall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful, and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. And it has much encouragement by promife: Prov. iii, 9. 10. Honour the Lord with thy fubftance, and with the firft-fruits of all thine increafe. So fhall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy preffes fball burst out with new wine. Pfal. xli. 1. 2. 3. Blessed is he that confidereth the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preferve him, and keep him alive, and he fhall be blessed upon the earth; and thou wilt not deliver him into the will of his enemies. The Lord will ftrengthen him upon the bed of languifhing thou wilt make all his bed in bis fickness. A felfish, unkind, unfympathifing, narrow fpirit, is a great ftain on an otherwise fair character...

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4thly, Be the fame in fecret when no eye fees.

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you, that you would be in public. This will much honour God, when the confcience of his eye being on you, is as forcible to reftrain you from evil, as the eyes of the world would be; as was the cafe with Jofeph, Gen. xxxix. 9. when he faid to his lewd miftrefs, How can I do this great. wickedness, and fin against God? O what do the practifers of fecret mischief think of God! They can do a mischief unfeen, and then cover it with a lye. But alas! is there not a God in heaven, that fees himself difhonoured by fuch practices? See Prov. xxvi. 26. Open fhame, or else à fecret ftroke, will be the confequence, Job xx. 26.

5thly, Shew yourselves on God's fide, in the midst of the difhonours done to him in the world. For ye muft either join iffue with the dishonourers of his name, or elfe teftify against them: hence fays our Saviour, Matth. xii. 30. He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, fcattereth abroad. If you have no heart nor brow to appear for God, while ye fee him difhonoured, remember what God accounts of that, and how he will treat it: Mark viii. ult. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and finful generation, of him alfo fhall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels. Beware of being partakers with other mens fins; but fet yourselves to be a check upon fin in others, and witneffes againft it, elfe ye honour not God.

6thly, Commend the way of God and religion to others, and encourage good motions where ye can perceive them. Grace is communicative for the honour of God; and every gracious perfon is difpofed

difpofed to propagate religion. Hence faid the Lord of Abraham, Gen. xviii. 19. I know him, that he will command his children, and his houfehold after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, &c. The wearing out of that fo much now, from what it was in former years, is one of the black symptoms of the decay, of religion at this day.

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7thly, Learn to bear troubles in the world with a Chriftian patience, meeknefs, refignation, and holy chearfulness. This doth exceedingly tend to the honour of God; as you fee exemplified in the worthies mentioned Heb. xi. There is a defpifing of the chaftening of the Lord, wherein the. proud and foolish scorn to be lowered by the rebukes of Providence, wherein the Atheism of the heart, and contempt of God appears. There is a fainting under the rebukes of Providence, wherein unbelief appears. Both are difhonourable to God, and to be guarded against, Heb. xii. 5. The middle course is to God's honour.

Lastly, Walk with God in a confcientious performance of the duties of your ftation. Hence is that exhortation of the Apostle's, 1 Cor. vii. 24. Brethren, let every man wherein he is called, therein abide with God. That is the sphere wherein ye are set to honour God: and God is much honoured that way. It is exemplified in the cafe of the priests, Mal. ii. 6. in that of wives, 1 Pet. iii. 5. and in that of fervants, Tit. ii. 10. No man can live to the honour of God, who does not carefully notice, and diligently pursue the duties of his station, to the honour of God.

I fhall give you a few motives to live to the honour of God.

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Mot. 1. God is the author of thy life. The life and being thou haft, thou haft from God: Rom. xi. ult. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever. Amen. Therefore remember now thy Creator in the day's of thy youth, Eccl. xii. 1. And fince he is your

firft caufe, is it not reafonable that he be your chief end? The life which you had from him, will ye not improve for him?

Mot. 2. God is the preferver of thy life, Hence fays David, Pfal. xxxvi. 6. O Lord, thou preferveft man and beaft. For every moment's life thou haft had, thou art his debtor. Thy life is continually in his hand, to prolong it, or take it away, as feems good in his fight. If he fhould but withdraw his upholding hand, thy life would prefently go. Every moment there must be a new outletting of influence from him for prefervation of thy life. How unacountable must it be then not to live to his honour? This was a grievous charge against Belshazzar, Dan. v. 23. The God in whofe hand thy breath is, and whofe are all thy ways, haft thou not glorified.

Mot. 3. God is the giver of all thou haft whereby thou mayft honour him. Haft thou a tongue whereby thou art capable to fpeak for God, and, hands to act for him? he gave them to thee. Haft thou any health, ftrength, wealth, and reputation, whereby thou art in capacity to honour him? all is from him and fhall not his own be used for him? Hence faith David, 1 Chron. xxix. 14. All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. Is it not facrilegious to do otherwife? Mot. 4. God puts opportunities in thine hand for honouring of him. As he has given thee means whereby

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whereby thou mayft honour him, so his providence lays to thy hand opportunities calling thee to use them, Luke xix. 13. Every opportunity is a providential call, to lay out what the Lord has put in thy hand for his fervice. And it will be found dangerous to hide one's talents in the earth, and not lay them out for God.

Mot. 5. There are fome who are deprived of thofe abilities or occafions ye have to honour God. So the whole Pagan world is deprived of gofpellight, which we all have; the fick of thofe which the healthy have. The not improving of them then will aggravate your condemnation, Matth. xi. 21. It is fad to be cumberers of the ground in God's vineyard, taking up room in it uselessly, which others might improve to good advantage. Mot. 6. Ye have forfeited by fin all your abili. ties, opportunities, and your very life. God might justly have taken them all from us, and made us as incapable to fpeak or act for his honour, as we have been unwilling to it. But his patience has fuffered us long, and he has done us good though unthankful and evil, if peradventure these might lead us to repentance. Shall not this engage us to live to his honour?

Met. 7. This was the defign of the redemption purchased by Chrift, Tit. ii. 14. Who gave him felf for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Man was made at firft for the honour of God: fin entering rendered him unfit for that his great work. Therefore Christ died that they might be again brought to live to God's honour, Eph. v. 25. 26. 27. If then ye are not fo living, it ia an evidence Chrift's redemption

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