tures are forced to echo this unanimous confession, Happiness is not in me. Thus, like Hagar,* we wander in this howling wilderness, till the water of hope be spent in the bottle, and our souls, like Ishmael, be ready to perish under the shrubs of guilt and wrath, and then we sit down in sorrow, ready to pine away in our iniquities, loth to see or think of our own damnation, lifting up our voice with bitter weeping and despair. God hears and asks the troubled soul what it ails, and amidst these confusions he creates a blessed spring of hope in this desert state; opens the eyes, enraptures the heart with the glory of gospel grace, draws water of life out of the wells of salvation, and satisfieth the hungry soul with good things; the ransomed sinner is made to own that God thus owns him in a time of need, and to cry out with repenting Israel," Once, O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only will we make mention of thy name," Isa. xxvi. 13; or with David, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever," Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26; as if the por soul should say, I have been long seeking contentment here below, but I see by sad experience, all things fail, there is vanity and vexation written upon the sweetest comforts under the moon; I have laid out much labour for that which profits not; I am weary with my disappointments, I will return to my first husband; return unto thy rest, O my soul! God alone is the most, yea, the only, suitable satisfying rest of my wandering and bewildered soul. Let others go a whoring from God to creature dependencies -it is good for me to draw nigh to God; I am undone * Gen. xxi. 15-19.

Woe is me,

without him; I am sick of love for him. what shall I do? If my soul get not an interest in God I faint, I die, I perish. Lord, put me not off without thyself, let nothing take up my heart besides thee;" let all the pleasures, profits and honours of the world go whither they will, so only I may have my God, I can set God against them all, if God be the portion of mine inheritance, I can say truly, "the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage," * I can bid defiance to all the world to make me miserable; when all the world looks black about me, and all my comforts forsake me, when seeming friends scorn me, and open enemies pursue me with cruel hatred; I can then encourage myself in the Lord my God; yea, rejoice in the Lord; should even the whole creation crack about my ears, the earth tremble, and the heavens be rolled together as a scroll; I know that my Redeemer lives and I shall live with him in joy and blessedness for ever. These, or the like, are the musings of the humble, sensible sinner, and though he cannot say the Lord is his, yet, he can say through grace, that it is the desire of his soul to have the Lord for his God, he looks upon that as the happiest estate that a creature is capable of, and if God should say this house or land, and these goods, or this kingdom, or this world, are thine, except he say withal, I am thine, the soul goes away disconsolate, and looks on all those things as nothing worth.

Christians, try yourselves, hath it been thus with you, or hath it not? What settled, prevailing esteem hath the God of heaven in your hearts? Do you look upon all the bravery and delights of the world but as straw and mire under your feet in comparison of your God? Do your hearts pant after the living God? Do *Psalm xvi. 5, 6. 2 C

VOL. II.

your souls desire him in the night? Can you boast of your God, and challenge all the world, and say, there is none like unto our God? Can you depend upon him, and cast all your care on him? Do you, in all things, give him the preeminence? Are your hearts endeared to, and enamoured with this glorious, gracious God? But,

I proceed to ask, have you given yourselves up to him? for if you be the Lord's you are not your own, you have wholly resigned up yourselves to him; * you have given him the keys of your hearts, and delivered him possession of your souls, as the only rightful owner thereof; just as the wife gives up her all to her husband, so that "she hath not power of her own body, but her husband;" so do believers surrender themselves unto the spiritual husband of the church, so that now they have nothing to dispose of without leave; house, land, money, estates, relations, name, time, gifts of mind, members of the body, faculties of soul, life itself, and all they have and do are at God's disposal, and they lay them all at his feet, and dare not dispose of one penny in their purse, or minute of time, or cast of the eye, or thought of the heart, with their good will, but by his permission. Hence, you will hear a believer inquiring with respect to sin and duty, and making conscience of compliance with the Lord's will and pleasure. The Scripture calls this a giving ourselves to the Lord, 2 Cor. viii. 5; yea, there are several outward symbols to evidence it, Isa. xliv. 5, "One shall say I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." Profession, subscription, denomination, nay, though it be to endure the scorn of * 1 Cor. vi. 19. +1 Cor. vii. 4.

a reproachful name, any thing would he do, or undergo, so he might be ranked amongst real saints, and be indeed the Lord's.

And there are four properties of the soul's self-surrender to God. A covenanting soul gives up itself to God these four ways, that is to say,

Really, readily, resolvedly and unreservedly.

(1.) Really, truly, sincerely, without the ordinary, counterfeiting and complimenting expressions common in the world. It is easy, as it is customary, for men to court others with that empty ceremony, Your servant, sir, when they never think as they speak. This, by the way, is to be ranked, at least, among idle words, of which, I fear, many have a sad account to give. Let professors learn better manners and language than to conform herein to the world; well, but a saint's giving up himself to the Lord, is not complimental, but real. Hear holy David, you shall find him in good earnest, Psal. cxvi. 16, “O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid, thou hast loosed my bonds." Here is,

[i.] An asseveration, "truly."

[ii.] An affirmation, "I am thine."

[iii] A reduplication, "I am thy servant, I am thy

servant."

[iv.] A confirmation by two arguments.

First, "He was his servant by his birth, being born in his house," for if a woman was servant in a house, all the children she bore there were servants to the master of that house. Hence, saith David, "the son of thine handmaid.

"thou

Secondly, David was God's by redemption, hast loosed my bonds," for such as delivered any from captivity, had them to be their servants for ever. Thus every genuine believer really professeth himself to be the

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*

Lord's, he is God's bought and devoted servant, he doth,
as the servant of old, plainly say, "I love my master,
I will not go out," and so is brought to the door-post,
and hath his ear bored through with an awl, he re-
ceives an ear mark, being subjected to the operation of
the blessed Spirit of God, and so made willing and obe-
dient to the Lord's calls. This engageth him to be
much in desiring to know the Lord's will with a reso-
lution to do it; he stops not his ear, he hides not his
eyes from his master's commands, but prays as David,
Psalm cxix. 125, "I am thy servant, give me under-
standing, that I may know thy testimonies;" a good
man would not be ignorant of any part of his work,
because he is a real servant, and makes conscience of
upright obedience. Ah sirs, what say your hearts to
this? are you in good earnest? do you, indeed, speak
as you think, and will you do accordingly? It is no
jesting, trifling matter. Israel
Israel gave God good words;
so that God saith, they have well spoken, when they
promised to he the Lord's and to obey him, but God
adds,
"O that there were such a heart in them that
they would fear me," &c.-Deut. v. 28, 29. Alas,
persons may say fair, in a glow of affection, but in-
quire you into the frame of your spirits and actions
whether they be of a genuine description.

(2.) This self-surrender to God is ready, free, willing, and cheerful, not with grumbling, and by compulsion. When persons do it because they cannot help it, when they see they must die, and can serve the devil no longer, or when they are under the rod, they will assume the appearance of being religious; but it is full sore against their wills, for they would rather choose to be slaves to their passions. They are, however, forced on by violence or constraint, or else they lie under such See Exod. xxi. 5—6..