of a Prophet coming to the Captains of the Host and he said I have an errand to thee O Captain And Jehu said unto which of all us And he said to thee O Captain I a poor Minister bring a message from the Lord to sinners namely that God would have them to enter into Covenant with him Now will these ask me To which of them I bring this message I answer To thee O sinner whoever thou art that hast not yet engaged thy self to God This is every mans duty and let men think what they please till they have done this they have done just nothing in religion The Scripture speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles sets it forth by this Psal 68.31 Princes shall come out of Egypt Aethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God h. e. they shall enter into Covenant with God Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord. Zech. 2.11 Many Nations shall be joyned to the Lord in that day and shall be my people O that in these days we might see more of the accomplishment of these Prophesies that the poor Heathens might be brought to joyn themselves to the Lord and that Christians living under the Gospel they also might subscribe with hand and heart to God and enter into the obligation of the Covenant 'T was prophesied of the Jews upon their coming out of Babylon they should be so affected with this great mercy that they would renew and heighten their Covenant obligations Jer. 50.5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come and let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten Sinners will you speak this as to your selves and make it good will you joyn your selves to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant God incline your hearts thus to dedicate your selves to him I will press this upon you by a few Arguments 1. 'T is an unspeakable mercy that God will deal with the Creature in the way of a Covenant As he is our Soveraign he might have imposed a Law upon us and dealt with us only in that way But such is his mercy and condescension he will deal with us also by a covenant A Law obliges the creature whether he consent to it or not but now a covenant presupposes consent Man being a free and rational agent God deals accordingly with him and sets a covenant before him which if he will consent to he shall be happy for ever Doth not this hold forth infinite goodness in the great God that he will thus treat with us And after all this shall not we be willing to enter into covenant with him Besides this consider the Nature of a Covenant 'T is as the * Pactum est duorum pluriumve consensus in idem placitum Civilians define it the consent of two or more to something that is agreed upon but this is a very imperfect description More fully therefore A * Vide Zanch. in Hos 2.21 Cloppenb in Syntag. Disput Selec de Foedere Coccei de Foedere Camer de Tripl Foedere Wendelin Theolog Christ l. 1. c. 19. Tilenum p. 2. Disput 54. Ames Med. l. 1. câ— 38. 39. quamplures alios de Foedere inter Deum Creaturain tâ— actantes Covenant is a mutual stipulation or compact between two parties as to something wherein they do agree upon which they are mutually obliged each to the other Such a Covenant there is betwixt God and the Creature these two do interchangeably indent and stipulate each to the other the one for mercy the other for duty and so there a mutual obligation passes upon both Says God here is pardon reconciliation eternal life which I offer upon such and such terms and I am willing upon those terms to engage to give out these mercies Says the Creature I accept of those terms and I solemnly bind my self to make them good according to the utmost of my strength Then says God 't is a Covenant betwixt us I bind my self to thee and thou bindest thy self to me be thou faithful to me I will be faithful to thee What an Ocean or Treasury of love and goodness doth God manifest in this federal transacting of things that he should be willing to stipulate with us and to enter into an obligation to us O the heights bredths depths lengths of this love Here 's another difference betwixt a Law and a Covenant a Law binds the subject but it doth not bind the Lawgiver quatenus Lawgiver the obligation there is but to one party but now a Covenant binds both there the * Mutua foederatarum partium obligatio est forma foederis so all express it Foedus propriâ— obligationem duarum partium certis utrinque conditionibus complecti certum est Gomar Haec est mutua reciproca conventio foederis ut homo intuitu promissae mercedis alacrius operetur Deus intuitu operis det mercedem Cloppenb Disp 1. Th. 7. obligation is reciprocal It hath pleased God to deal with man this way and so he binds himself As to his Law we only are bound but as to the Covenant he out of the riches of his grace is willing to be bound as well as we How should the consideration of this immense love of God engage the Creature to Covenant with him 2. The matter of the Covenant on Gods part is very high the terms or conditions on our part are very just and equitable If this be so surely then men will be willing to enter into Covenant with God one would think this should carry it against all opposition and frivolous objections In every Covenant there is something promised and something demanded in order to the making good of what is promised In this Covenant that which is promised is on Gods part and this is the matter of it what is that No less than that God will be your God O admirable transcendent mercy what can be higher than this I will open it under the next particular The terms or conditions are on the Creatures part what are they That the sinner will break off all his leagues covenants with sin and Satan and the world and that he will enter into a league of friendship with and subjection to the blessed God Surely these are very fair and reasonable terms the sinner cannot well object against them God offers very high he goes no lower than the making over of himself whatever I am saith God it shall be all yours but the terms spoil all God stands upon too high conditions and that keeps us of doth he so that would be something indeed for he that promises something upon impossible and unreasonable conditions promises nothing But can you make good what you say Take heed of belying God what doth he require of you Is it to burn in Hell a
come And in order to this fall upon the duty The way to pray is to pray Duty is the best preparative for duty 'T is better to use Crutches than to stand still alway but use legs and have them so we use to say Do but set your selves to the duty and the Spirit of God Ezek. 12.10 that blessed Spirit of Grace and Supplication will help you in it 'T is his great office to help poor Creatures in their infirmities as to prayer Rom. 8.26 Never did any heartily desire to pray but this Spirit enabled them to pray Do not mistake the duty it doth not lie in words in volubility of expressions in good language though it becomes us to speak becomingly to Gods Majesty in strains of Rhetorick but in the inward pantings of the heart after God 'T is not the elegant but the fervent prayer that prevails Jam. 5.16 The key opens the lock though it be made of plain mettal The Child is heard though he speaks but very brokenly and imperfectly sighs and groans must do your work and surely if you had but a sense of your personal and Family wants this you would come up to You need not teach a Beggar how to beg nor a starving man how to ask bread Be but sensible of your need of mercy and you 'l know how to speak to God Optimus or andi magister est Necessitas saith Luther Pinching necessity is the best Master to teach men to 〈◊〉 Get but a sense of this and the â—…'s asistance and I 'le secure you this inability will soon be removed So much for the pressing of the First duty which I would have every man to set up in his House viz. Family-Prayer Should I give you Directions about it I should be too tedious 'T is better to say nothing in so weighty an Argument than not to speak fully to it and that I must not do at present A Second Duty that I would commend to you is the Frequent reading of the Holy Scriptures in your Houses 'T is not enough to pray in your Families but the Scriptures must also be read in them Aaron was to burn the Incense and to light up the Lamps too Exod. 30.7 8. The Incense was a resemblance of Prayer Psal 141.2 Let my Prayer be set forth before thee as Incense and the Lamps of the Word Prov. 6.23 The Commandment is a lamp and the Law is light Psal 119.105 Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Thus it must be with you the Incense and the Lamp Prayer and the Word must go together in your Houses Prayer and Reading God's Word are two duties which do so well accord and so mutually help each the other that 't is pity to part them I would here speak something to stir you up to read the Scriptures by your selves O when you are alone let the Bible be much in your hands let not a day pass over you in which you do not spend some time in this duty The Jews were to go out and gather a certain rate of Manna every day Exod. 16.4 Do you every day retire your selves from the world for the reading of the Scriptures and gathering something out of them May be you look into them a little upon the Sabbath day but then they are laid aside all the week surely this should not be so Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hearken says Chrysostome you that are Tradesmen get you Bibles get you Bibles read the Scriptures that the word of Christ may dwell richly in you The same do I say to you O shall the Shop-book be minded and shall Gods-book not be minded shall that be altogether in your eye in your hands and this be neglected Shall News-books Plays Romances Histories Philosophical Discourses take up all your time 'T was a most blasphemous speech that of Politian that There was more in one of Pindar's Odes than in all David's Psalms This was the person who said He had never spent his time worse than when he once read over the New Testament and yet 't is reported of him that he spent three years in studying this brave Criticism Whether it should be written Virgilius or Vergilius O the desperate folly and wickedness of the man Do not many of you think and interpretatively speak that other Books are better than the Bible because you read the one so much the other so little Hierome once heard a voice speaking to him Ciceronianus es non Christianus Thou art a Ciceronian not a Christian because Tully was much the Scriptures but seldome perused by him O if such audible voices were now in use how many might expect to hear something every day to upbraid them with their great neglect of reading the Word and spending their time in other impertinent unedifying flesh-pleasing but not soul-saving Writings I intreat you to set upon daily diligent serious reading of the Scriptures Hath God in them giben you so full so plain so excellent a Revelation of his Will and will you not look into them Is such a revelation to be slighted when God hath so condescended to give it will you make nothing of it They are your Rule for Faith and Manners Isa 8.20 Gal. 6.16 They are the foundation upon which all is built Eph. 2.20 They are as a Light hung out in a dark Night to keep you off from rocks and sands the Star which must direct you to Christ the card or compass that you have to sail by the glass in which you may see not what your faces but what your hearts are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Are you blind there 's eye-salve they are a glass that mends and cures the eye which no other glass doth Are ye assaulted with Enemies there 's an Armory a Magazine to furnish you with weapons offensive and defensive Are you sick there 's that which is Medicinal Are you hungry there 's Food Are you under wants there 's a Shop in which you may be furnished with whatever you need Are you ready to faint there are Cordials to revive and strengthen you O who would not read the Scriptures There the deep things of God the whole platform and contrivance of God about man's Salvation are revealed 1 Cor. 2.10 They are able to make men wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 that 's an high Elogium of the Scriptures 't is a commendation only proper to them All the Books that ever were pen'd cannot do this They are profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness 2 Tim. 3.16 They are God's * Quid est Scriptura Sacra nisi quaedam Epstola omnipotentis Dei ad Creaturam suam Disce cor Dei in verbis Dei Gregor Letter indited by his own Spirit written as it were with his own hand which he hath been graciously pleased to send to you and will you not
Infidels whom you disdain What is it that you think they are so hardly brought to Is it only to be sprinkled or washed with water That is not it do they not daily wash their hands and face And would not any of them be hired for a little to bath themselves in a River in the heat of Summer and to speak as many words as are spoken for you in baptism Alas the difficulty is not here But to take off a sensual sinner from the love of this world and fleshly pleasures and to make him stedfastly believe that there is an endless blessedness in Heaven for believing Saints intended by God procured by Christ and given in the Gospel-covenant and to perswade him to devote himself and all that he hath entirely to God and resolvedly to consent to the terms of that Covenant and to follow his suffering-Saviour to that glory This is the thing that is necessary to salvation and this is it which Heathens and Infidels are so hardly brought to And is it not so with all the rabble of hypocrite-Christians as well as with them If a little water and a few good words can make a man pass for a Christian with God and can charm him into Heaven who either knoweth not what Christianity is or never heartily consented to it himself nor never set his heart on Heaven or denied his fleshly pleasures to obtain it then let the sensual hypocrite hope still to be saved If Christ had set up such a Religion as this it had been no hard matter for the Preachers of it to have procured better quarter with the world and to have brought the generality of drunkards fornicators and worldlings to be Christians in sensu composito when not a hair of the heads of any of their fleshly lusts should perish and then vice versâ as the rabble would have all been Christians the few that are now true Christians would have been the enemies of such a Christianity Dedication to God doth signifie that which is more than ineffectual knowledge and convictions and more than delatory purposes to repent and more than a course of the easie outward duties of Religion and more than a Religiousness which stoopeth to worldly interest and is subordinate to the pleasure and prosperity of the flesh and more than a frightened unsetled resolution to be religious indeed and more than a taking of Christ as upon trial with a reserve to leave him when he calleth you to the cross This Self-Dedication is that act of a convinced humbled penitent sinner by which he doth deliberately soberly and resolvedly consent to the Covenant of God according to the tenor of baptism and dedicated and give up himself entirely and absolutely to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as his Owner to be disposed of by him as his Ruler to obey him and as his Benefactor and chief Good thankfully to depend upon him and so Love him as his ultimate end A person thus Dedicated to God hath the highest preferment the noblest and the safest station the Relation which he entereth into is not an empty unprofitable title as on his part it engageth him to duty so on Gods part it estateth him in mercy And they shall be mine saith the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels or special treasure and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Mal. 3.17 He will say Touch not mine anointed And will be avenged on that sacrilegious violence which laid hands on them who were Dedicated to God For the Lord is our defence and the holy one of Israel is our King Psal 89.18 These vessels of mercy shall dwell in his sanctuary where they shall see Him and his goings Psal 63.2 and 68.24 and shall worship him in the beauty of holiness Psal 29.2 They shall be cloathed with white robes and stand before the Throne of God and before the Lamb Rev. 7.9 They shall be pillars in his Temple and go out no more He will write upon them the name of God and of the city of God the new Jerusalem and his new name Rev. 3.12 Their employment also shall be high and holy even with readiness to do his will to attend him and adore him to praise him in his Sanctuary for Holiness becometh his house for ever Psal 93.5 This entire Dedication of our selves to God is virtually every duty and good work It is the beginning and spring of a holy life it is the root and kernel of Religion and as One habit of every gracious act it is a setled opposition to every sin and a preventing repulse of every temptation the soul hath one answer for every tempter I am Dedicated to God and though it is impossible for creatures to merit commutatively of God because they can give him nothing but his own he taketh this rendition of his own as acceptably as if it were a proper gift And as his mark is engraven on the forehead of his consecrated ones Holiness to the Lord this mark is the sum of all their ascertaining evidences for salvation it is their pledge and earnest for glory and as God himself speaketh as Owning them by this mark so by it they may certainly know themselves to be his peculiars 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his and Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity and though the World and the Church-visible be like a great house where there are both vessels of honour and of dishonour yet if a man purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the masters use prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. 2.20 21. For he that redeemed us from all iniquity doth purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 Areal Devotedness to God is a standing witness to the soul of its sincerity though we are conscious of many failings yet if we are also conscious of this it proveth them all to be pardoned faults and proveth our interest in Christ it is the proper mark to know what sins are truly venial or pardoned infirmities when they consist with an unfeigned devotedness to God And when many other signs of grace seem dark and wants and weaknesses cast us into doubts this one is the ordinary certain evidence which may give a constant quietness and comfort to an upright soul when we can truly say I am devoted entirely unto God and it is for his service that I live in the world And if we should deny him this as it would be disingenuous injustice to alienate his own and blasphemous contempt to give our selves rather to a dirty world or a filthy lust than to our Creator and Redeemer so it would be the cruellest enmity to our selves to deny our souls so blessed a condition and to cast them into the sink of sin instead of Dedicating them to God
return in comparison of what we receive 'T is but a drop for an Ocean 't is but finite for infinite 't is but emptiness for fulness 't is but Nothing for All. Go however as far as you can when you have gone the farthest you come infinitely short of what God deserves 3. 'T is a good evidence of the sincerity of love Then we love God in sincerity when we give our selves to him Eph. 6.24 love 't is a giving grace and 't is for the giving of self nothing below this will satisfie love The wife loves her Husband and she gives her self to him take a friend whose heart is a treasure of love his self his all is made over to his friend O where is our love to God 'T is sad that love betwixt creature and creature should exceed our love to God Do you love God Do you love him indeed Evidence the reality of your love by giving your selves to him let not any fancy they love God if this be not done How doth divine love plead with the soul to give all to God! O it thinks nothing enough nothing too much for God self being the best saith holy love God and Christ shall have it 4. This is the highest gratitude the best thankfulness The first fruits were dedicated to God partly to shew Gods right to the whole crop partly as an expression of the peoples thankfulness for all the rest self-dedication and self-giving is the best expression of our thankfulness Could you give burnt-offerings Calves of a year old Mic. 6.7 thousands of Rams ten thousand rivers of Oyl the most costly sacrifices bags of gold and silver or could you bring the most melting acknowledgments the highest verbal resentments of Gods goodness to you all this would be nothing in comparison of dedicating and giving your selves to him then we praise God aright when we devote our persons our lives our all to his praise Do you receive so many mercies and shall God have no praise What 's all your praise if self be not given to him Higher than this you cannot lower than this you should not go O the poor creature that falls down at the feet of God in the sense of mercies and says Lord thus and thus thou art pleased to do for me food raiment peace liberty the Gospel Christ thou givest to me for all this how shall I express and testifie my gratitude Blessed God I 'll do it thus here I give my self to thee Quod unum reliquum est dono tibi dono meipsum Silver and Gold I have none I cannot build Hospitals or do any such thing I have but little in the world but I give thee my self to be thine for ever here 's the right thanking of God for mercies received 5. This is very pleasing and acceptable to God Rom. 12.1 Psal 51.17 Self is the sacrifice acceptable to God the sacrifice which God will not despise God stands upon the giver more than upon the gift As the King of Sodom said to Abram Gen. 14.21 Give me the persons and take the goods to thy self so God speaks to us do not give your gifts to me but give me your selves 2 Corint 8.5 How did the Macedonians please him when they gave themselves to him Luther observes of Cain Cainistae sunt offerentes non personam sed opus personae Lutherus in Gen. that he gave his offering to God but he did not give his person to God and he calls those Cainists who offer the sacrifice but not the person upon this God took no delight either in him or in his offering Abel offered both and so he pleased God You cannot do a thing more acceptable to God than to give your selves to him O says God here 's a poor creature that thinks not his self too good for me that 's his best his all and yet that he gives to me I 'll requite him I have his self and he shall have mine he thinks nothing too good for me and I will think nothing too good for him This I say and nothing below this pleases God he deals with men just as the Saints deal with him how 's that They must have his self they cannot take up with any thing short of this the mercies gifts of God will not satisfie them unless they have his self and they can part with all for this as August said whatsoever God will bestow August in Psal 29. let him take it all away and give himself so God deals with men 't is their self that he minds and values As nothing below Gods self should satisfie us so nothing below our self can satisfie God These are the motives to stir you up to give your selves to God which is the first thing in self-dedication 2. Secondly Live in a constant surrender and resignation of your selves to the will of God This is a blessed frame and temper and that which is of the very essence of self-dedication I will pursue this Exhortation according to the distinction laid down in the Explicatory part The will of God is either his Preceptive or his Providential will 't is mans duty to surrender up himself to both so as to be subject to the one and submissive to the other 1. As to the preceptive will of God which consists in those excellent laws commands precepts injunctions which the holy God in his word hath imposed and laid upon his creatures in order to the directing and obliging of them to their duty Surrender up your selves to this will 't is a very becoming thing for the creature so to do a creature as a creature is bound to be subject to the will of his Creator and Soveraign The law of obedience is written in our very being he that considers what God is and what he himself is cannot but judge it a very reasonable thing for him to resign up himself to the will of God And indeed the creature never acts according to the natural obligation which lies upon him neither is it ever right or well with him till he comes to say O God I entirely resign up my self to thy will and government wilt thou have me to be holy I will be so wilt thou have me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 to live soberly righteously godly in this present world I will do so Is my sanctification thy will 1 Thes 4.3 I will endeavour to come up to it I will not advance my own will or oppose my own will to thy will but thy will shall carry it what thou commandest I will do give me but strength to obey Da Domine quod jubes jube quod vis August and command what thou wilt as that holy Father once said This self-resignation to Gods will is a main part and an infallible evidence also of sanctification When God sanctifies a person what doth he do He doth this he makes him willing to act in universal
one for worldly self is sinful self and so the membra dividentia are not opposita 1. Sinful self must be denied Till the heart be disengaged and disintangled from sin and freed from the love and dominion of sin a man will never give himself to God so long as there is any one lust predominant let it be what it will there will be a keeping off from God Never did any dedicate himself to God but first sin was subdued in him after this is once done self-dedication follows in course Therefore begin with the heart see that the power of sin be broken there as the Priests in the cleansing of the Temple 2 Chron 29.16 they first began with the inner part of it and fetch'd out all the uncleanness that was there So do you if you would be the Lords by donation and resignation of your selves look into the heart purge out that sin that is there get every corruption mastered put it away with detestation and then you are in your way A man shall find if at any time he doth but think of dedicating himself to God if there be any one sin reigning in him this will make him hang off from God and it will smother all inclinations in him to that which I am upon O therefore down with sinful self as sin goes down God goes up in the soul 2. Farther worldly self must be denied for the carnal worldly part in the sinner always sets it self against God O what suggestions reasonings solicitations doth this follow him with to keep him off from God! Till a man therefore be crucified to the world Gal. 6.14 and that earthly part that is in him be removed there 's nothing to be done The young man in the Gospel did seem to bid fair for this dedication but his heart being unmortified to the world that spoil'd all Luke 18.22 23. God and the world cannot have the heart at the same time the heart cannot be given to God if the world hath the prepossession of it O begin your work at the right end take a right method that you may make something of it Would you set upon dedication-work begin with crucifixion-work Gal. 5.24 let those earthly affections that are in you be crucified get the Moon under your feet Rev. 12.1 be dead to present things Col. 3.3 look upon all here below Philip. 3.8 as dross and dung pull the world off from the throne do this first and then you will certainly surrender up your selves to God This is the second means I am the shorter in it because you have so many helps elsewhere about it 3. The third is Prayer In consideration you plead with your selves in Prayer you plead with God the former will not avail without the latter A man may think and think to eternity and yet be but where he was if God by his mighty power doth not do the work Self-dedication is our act but 't is done in Gods strength Isa 26.12 Thou hast wrought all our works in us The desire of it is of God the actual performance of it is of God He worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure Philip. 2.13 As none can come to the Son unless the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 so none can dedicate himself to the Father without the efficacious Almighty drawings and workings of the Spirit First the heart is framed to this by divine grace and then the person gives himself to God The giving self surrendring resolving separating covenanting God-glorifying part of dedication are each of them all of them of God all brought about by a supernatural power Reason may suggest much to further this but it will never produce it in the soul O therefore pray call in Gods help set your selves to beg this frame and you shall prevail The work is as good as done when your hearts in prayer are drawn out after it Go often to the throne of Grace and plead thus with the God of all Grace Blessed Lord I would fain dedicate my self to thee the desire of my soul is that I may live and act that of which here I have read so much I have been my own too long now I would be thine entirely thine everlastingly thine but I 'm a poor weak creature and not only unable to come up to this but naturally I 'm averse to it O do thou help me do thine own work in me give to me that I may give my self to thee draw me and I will run O illuminate my understanding bow my will rectifie my affections work me up to self-denial set in with consideration and fully convince me O for Christs sake do not leave me in my natural non-dedicated condition encline mine heart to an universal subjection to thee Do that in me and for me which all creatures in Heaven and Earth cannot do Let my condition in the world be what thou pleasest but Lord let me be in the number of those few who do sincerely devote themselves to thee O glorifie the riches of thy grace towards me and let the day of thy power arise upon my soul and in spight of all opposition do thy work in me that Personal Dedication may end in eternal glorification Thus Pray and God will hear CHAP. 7. Some things in special urged upon the people of God in reference to their Dedication HItherto I have been speaking to men as they lie in the general lump or mass I will now direct my discourse to the people of God whom he hath singled and called out of this mass I will leave a few things with them and so close up this first Head of Personal Dedication You therefore that are Saints to be sure you have done that which I have been pressing upon others for you are Saints which you could not be without Personal Dedication this being the very forma constituens or that which makes you to be so 'T is observable how Gods people are described and set forth in Scripture by those things which imply and connote Dedication The Temple was dedicated the Saints are the Temple of God 1 Cor. 3.17 2 Cor. 6.16 The first fruits were dedicated the Saints are first fruits Jam. 1.18 Revel 14.4 The Priests were dedicated the Saints in a spiritual sense are such 1 Pet. 2.5 Rev. 1.6 It being thus with you that you are dedicated persons let me commend the ensuing particulars to you 1. First I would have you often to revive upon your thoughts your holy and solemn Dedication 'T is easier to think of it than to do it and it would be of great use and much to the advantage of the people of God if they would often think of this How would this further Humiliation when they come short in their duty How would this excite and quicken them to every thing that is good be it never so hard and difficult How would this engage them to universal holiness this being nothing but what
by Prayer and Praise And indeed the first laying is not safe or firm without this In our entrings upon New Houses we have several civil rites and customs there are * Many open House-Dedication by these Feastings See Mariana and others cited in Lorinus upon Deut. 20.5 Dedicari res dicitur quan do cum solenni aliquo ritu vel convivio rei usus inchoaatur Menoch Feastings great Entertainments Friends come and rejoice with us and send in their Provisions to be merry with us and this they call House-airing or House-warming I have nothing to say against this usage provided 1. That this be soberly and temperately managed 2. That the main duty to God be not neglected But the misery of it is this we have these external expressions of Love and Joy when the religious part is omitted This I find former * Nos hodie Conviviis Domos nostras Dedicamus parum expenden tes divinum beneficium Muscul Nunc ferè res tota versa est in luxum Conviviorum plurimas Helluationes Moller Writers much lamenting O let not your Dedications lie in eating and drinking much less in intemperance and insobriety but in Prayer and Praise 'T is observed of the * Hoc etiamnum fit à Judais sed helluando pergraecando ludendo aliisque oblectamentis potius festum agitant quà m seriâ ad Deum gratiarum actione ob reportatam ab bostibus victoriam Buxtorf Synag Judaic cap. 23. Jews that they yet keep the Feast of Dedication but how do they keep it In swilling drinking immoderate use of the Creatures and the like but as for the serious remembrance of God's mercy vouchsafed to their Nation upon which that Feast was grounded that is lost O that it was not thus amongst Christians upon other Accounts what feasting are we like to have in this City as persons shall come into their New Habitations Pray take heed of excess do not so soon forget Gods punishing of you for this which I look upon as one of the Cities sins and withall make Conscience of the main As soon as you are setled in your Houses dedicate them by Prayer and Praise David here as soon as his House was built for so I told you some Expositors time the words he falls upon the dedication of it by Prayer and Praise I beseech you do you do as he did A word to each of these First for Prayer That 's a duty always seasonable but in the present case very seasonable Howshall our dwellings be * Peccatis polluuntur precibus sanctificantur aedes Scultet sanctified but by Prayer This is the Sanctifying Ordinance 1 Tim. 4.5 As sin defiles the House Prayer sanctifies it How will you testifie your dependance upon God for mercy in your Houses but by Prayer How will you own God to be your Chief Landlord Dei se inquilinos esse fatebantur Calv. that you hold all from him that you are his and your House is his and your All is his I say how will you own God thus if you do not enter with Prayer Will you settle upon your Houses and not ask God's leave You will not enter into your Neighbours House but you will say first By your leave Is not your House Estate Goods All the Lord's and will you invade his Blessings without his Leave Do you expect Protection from God that he will keep your Houses day and night and will you not in a solemn and special manner pray for this Can you look for any blessing but in the way of Prayer O set some time apart for the solemn performance of this duty Oh let your Prayers enter Heaven as soon as you enter into your Houses and plead with God thus Lord I justifie thee in thy judicial dispensations thou wast just in turning me out of my former Habitation for I did not pay thee my rent for it I did not only deserve to have my House in Flames but to have my Soul to burn in Hell for evermore Notwithstanding former forfeitures present unworthiness thou hast provided another House for me and mine Lord I am less than the least of all thy mercies but since out of thy free mercy thou hast made this provision for me help me to own thee in it to carry it better than formerly I have done Let my House and Heart and all be sanctified let me live and walk in it with a perfect heart Let me devote it and all in it to thy glory let thy special presence be with me and thy special providence over me Secure me from all evil and from mischievous men who are set on fire with Hell Let not my House be good and my Heart naught As my House is new let my Heart be new also Lord I here dedicate my House to thee I and my House will serve thee But I must break off from this the Spirit of God will direct you and assist you when with sincerity you set upon the Duty And then as to Praise In antient Dedications they used to give gifts and to offer Sacrifices In the dedicating of your Houses to God let your Gift and Sacrifices be Praise this is more to God than all Legal or Mosaical Sacrifices Psal 50.13.14 Psal 69.30 31. 'T is of great advantage for men to enter upon their Comforts with Thanksgiving * Non potest fieri utqui Donum Dei gratus agnoscit illo abutatur Muscul Minemur hinc pro omnibus rebus pracipuè cum primùm quid in usum venit Gratias Deo agere inde sane mens amore Dei as ita ad oinnem magis pietatem accenditur simulqueadmonemur at Deâ—Ì„ Donis quà m castissim utatur Quis enim re abutatur ad luxum pro quo jam Deo gratias egit Bucer We do not so easily abuse mercies which we solemnly bless God for Get such a sense of the goodness of God upon your hearts as to call upon your selves to bless God Ah and to call in others too to bless God for you and with you This was David's practise as I might show you in several places and in the managing of this I would have you in a special manner to fix upon those mercies which have a more immediate reference to the occasion As for example your Houses were burnt but as to the most of you a considerable part of your Estates was preserved however your Lifes were not touch'd Indeed this was admirable that in so fierce so terrible a fire the Life 's of more were not destroy'd It might have been with us as with Sodom our persons as well as our Houses and Estates might have bin consumed but the merciful God ordered it otherwise Lot own'd it as a singular mercy though he lost much that his Life was spared when Sodom was burnt Gen. 19.19 'T was mercy that when we were in flames we were not in blood too that 't was not killing and murdering as well as burning Blessed be
will men say What need we to trouble our selves about Prayer in our Houses when such a neighbour or such a neighbour who go for Professors omit it as well as we And will not the sad effects of this reach to thyself too will not the fervor of thy affections towards God very much abate will not grace insensibly decline will not the power of Godliness languish wilt thou not be at a stand nay wilt thou not go backwards in Heavens way canst thou do any thing more to gratifie Satan Do but observe how it is with persons who cast off Family-prayer or perform it very seldom and in a careless negligent manner and tell me then whether I speak truth or not We read of one Baldwyn Archbishop of Canterbury Pope Vrban writing to him he stiles him Girald Itiner Camb. L. 2. C. 14. Monachum ferventissimum Abbatem calidum Episcopum tepidum Archiepiscopum remissum He was whilst a Monk very fervent when an Abbot then but hot when a Bishop then but lukewarm when an Archbishop then he was key-cold That effect which preferment had upon this person the neglect of secret and Family-prayer hath upon Christians it makes them by little and little to cool in their spiritual heat and in time to come to just nothing you that profess God do not you live what ever others do without this Heavenly duty This in General to urge Family-Prayer It will be asked How often are men to pray in their Families I answer Every day morning and evening The Jews they offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord according to the custom as the duty of every day required Ezra 3.4 that is they offered burnt-offerings morning and evening See v. 3. They had their morning and their evening Sacrifice every day that 's clear from 2 Chron. 31.3 and from several other Scriptures So here you that are Masters of Families * See Whole Duty of Man p. 110. morning and evening in your Houses there must be Prayer oftner if you please but to be sure not seldomer This must be the Alpha and the Omega of every day you must begin and end all with God Hinc omne Principium huc refer exitum Horat. Prayer as one expresses it must be the key to open all in the morning and the Bar to shut up all at night Sit oratio Clavis Diei Sera Noctis 'T is not enough now and then to give God a prayer under some sudden pang of devotion but there must be a daily constant performance of it As to * Morning Prayer I cannot ope mine eyes But thou art ready there to catch My morning soul and sacrifice Then we must needs for that day make a match Herb. Poem p. 54. is it not sweet Is it not good when the body hath been refreshed by sleep in the night to get by prayer in the morning some refreshment for the Soul to begin so as to get an heavenly tincture and savour upon the heart all the day after Have not mercies been received in the night must they not be acknowledged Do not renewed mercies call for renewed praises Do not you need God in the day in sundry respects and will you not therefore go to him and plead with him * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V Ch rond in Pythag. Fragm p. 205. Is it not reason that God should have the precedency will you serve the world before you serve God what a preposterous thing is that Is not this the way to prosper in your enterprizes to be blessed in your undertakings all the day Is not this true that work on earth is done best when work with Heaven is done first as one says Psal 5.3 O in the morning let God hear your voice in the morning do you direct your prayer to Him both alone and also with your Family 'T is the custome of some in this City they pray in their Houses at Night but not at the morning Surely this is an omission God appointed the morning as well as the Evening sacrifice Is there not reason for the one as well as the other Shall we say of Prayer what bloody Gardiner once said of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith that it was good Supper-doctrine but not so good to break fast on I say shall we say this of Prayer And then as to Prayer at Night O do not dare to lie down at night before you have sued out the pardon of the sins of the day past acknowledged mercies received and solemnly put you and yours under God's Almighty Protection Who knows what a Night may bring forth O how many amazing Accidents may fall out before the morning and therefore first commit your selves to God by fervent prayer and then lie down to take your rest I put in Fervent prayer for this indeed is the only prayer God will not be put off with dull dead sleepy devotions he will have you pray in prayer you do nothing if you do not pray with holy fervour Jam. 5.17 As neglects of Prayer are very evil so negligences in prayer are very evil also When you are about God's work take heed of doing it negligently lest you meet with a curse instead of a blessing Jerem. 48.10 I cannot dismiss this Exhortation to Family-prayer though I have been long upon it before I answer a few Objections that many are too ready to make against it 1. Object Say some We pray in secret for our selves and for our Families must we pray with them too Ans Yes Secret prayer is very good a great evidence of sincerity you do very well in making conscience of it but withal you must make conscience too of Family-prayer both are of divine Institution and the one must not thrust out the other Indeed I can hardly believe that you pray in secret See Guâ—n Christ. Arm. 3d. part ch 40. pag. 421. unless you pray in your Houses also He that is sincere in one duty will be sincere in every duty You may do your Relations much good when you are alone in praying for them but probably you will do them more good when 't is not only praying for them but praying for them and with them too for now they too are in God's way and so more capable of Divine impressions and Divine blessings 2. Obj. Others say We go to Church on the Lord's day with our Families and there we pray is not this enough Ans No That-God who requires publick prayer requires Family-prayer also and the whole will of God must be observed O how soon are men cloy'd with duty They never think they have enough of the world but they soon think they have enough of duty You do not give God all of his Sacred Time will you give him no part of your Common Time Will you be Christians on the Lords day and Heathens all the week after And wherein are you better than Heathens in your Families if no religious exercises be there performed
them Good Instruction good Admonition good Inspection will signifie but little without a good Conversation Holy Practices must back and set on holy Counsels Examples are very prevalent and teach best Vertue or Vice are most effectually advanced in the world by Example O the power and energy of this especially upon such as are young and upon those who are in the state of * Velocius citius nos Corrumpunt vitiorum exempla Domestica magnis Cum subeant animo◠Autoribus c. Juven Sat. 14. inferiority and subjection How apt are Children to imitate their Parents such as the Father is such is the Child very often 't is thus I do not say always for sometimes the Father is good and the Child naught or the Father is naught and the Child good but commonly 't is as I say there is not a greater likeness as to features than there is as to Manners and whence is this but from the proneness that is in Children to imitate their Parents And which is the misery of it they are more most prone to imitate them in what is evil Dociles imitandis Turpibus ac pravis omnes sumus Juven ibid. through the prevalency of Natural Corruption Proclivis est malorum aemulatio quorum virtutes assequi nequeas citò imitaris vitia Hieron There is a great proclivity in persons to imitate what is evil and you will soon follow their vices whose graces you cannot so presently come up to The poor Children had heard their Fathers deride the Prophet and they upon this had learnt to call him Bald pate too 2 King 2.23 Just what Abraham had done in his dissimulation just the same his Son Isaac did Gen. 26.7 compared with Gen. 20.2 And further too the consideration of which should very much work upon Parents to be very careful as to their Example what Children learn by imitation when they are young usually it sticks by them and is very hardly removed Alexander in his youth had got the Gate of his Master Leonides and he could never leave it All this holds true in Servants also they will tread in the steps and follow the examples of their Governors Prov. 29.12 If a ruler hearken to lies all his servants are wicked Doth it not therefore highly concern Parents and Masters to look to their carriage in their Families that they set a good Example to all that are under them This David's eye was much upon Psal 101.2 I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way O when wilt thou come unto me I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart O that this might be the resolution of all Parents and Governors in this City Would you have yours not to sin do not you sin your selves The swearing Father makes a swearing Child the cursing Father makes a cursing Child the drunken Father makes a drunken Child and so in all cases Look to your selves that you do nothing that may be to yours inductivum peccati This was Hieroms counsel to Loeta l I cite that Epistle very often Nihil in te in Patre suo videat quod si fecerit peccet Hieron because 't is written wholly upon the Argument which I am upon O 't will be matter of rejoycing to you in case your Child should do evil if you can say as that Pope once did Haec vitia me non commonstratore didicit He never learn'd this by my example And so Would you have them to be good and to do good Be you so and do you do so than you may say what Gideon did to his Soldiers Judg. 7.17 Look on me and do likewise as I do so shall ye do And it will be so If you pray they will pray if you be religious they will be religious if you make Conscience of keeping the Sabbath they will do the same O the advantage and benefit of good example How are Children and Servants undone by the want of it How few do mind or regard it How do the most first make over their sins and then their estates and before their Children have from them what is but imaginarily good they have that from them in their evil example which is really evil as the * Ante eorum incipiunt nequitiam quà m substantiam possidere c. Ac antequam habent illa quae falso dicuntur hona habent illa quae verè probantur mala Ad Eccles Cathol l. 1. p. 346. Author of the Epistle ad Eccles Cath. in Salvian expresses it O you my dear Friends in this City let it be otherwise with you order your Conversations so that they may be exemplary You teach and instruct those under you and 't is well but do you set them a good Example Do you not unteach in your Lifes what you teach with your Tongues Is not Practise as hath been said the most powerful and the most effectual way of teaching Precepts may teach but examples lead and draw according to the known saying You lose your Authority in good Counsel Perdit authoritatem docendi cujus sermo opere destraitur Hier. ad Ocea if you do not second it with doing well your selves Inferiors do not so much mind what you say as what you do how shall it appear that you are in good earnest if you do not practise your selves what you perswake others to Will not your bad example do more hurt than the best advice will do good O so teach and so live The life of teaching is the teaching of the Life let your actions be instructive as well as your words and let all your actions be so Vniversa sint vocalia as the Father speaks concerning the conversation of Ministers Teach at the Table by your Temperance teach in the Shop by your Honest dealing teach in your closet by your performance of Secret duties c. This is the way to win upon Relations The Magistrates Laws are not so prevalent as the Magistrates Life according to that of Claudian Nec sic inflectere sensus Humanos edict a valent quà m vita regentis And so 't is here as to Parents and Masters of Families You pray in your Families 't is well but do you set a good example after Prayer 'T is sad to spoil good duties with a bad Conversation Religious Orders in the House and a disorderly Conversation do not well agree saith one O if you pray in your Houses and do not walk suitably in other things you will bring Duty into contempt and harden the hearts of Children and Servants against it Would you feign have a good Family He that lives a bad life can never expect a good Family his bad example will spoil all Every thing in you is doubled if you do evil you sin twice for there 's the sin of the act and then the sin of bad example if you do well you do good twice for then there 's the goodness of the act and the goodness of the example O
with what face will you be able to reprove what is amiss in others when your own guilt shall fly in your faces Let these things be thought of and let the Duty of setting a good example to yours be done by you Seventhly To sum up all in one general Direction Let it be your great design and endeavour in Education to promote and further the conversion and salvation of them that belong to you When the heart is set upon this and all things are carried on in subserviency to this this is Religious Education You have Children what 's the great thing that you must pursue after in the educating of them 't is this that they may be Gods Children as well as yours that as they are near to you they may be near to God that Gods Image may be where your Image is that where the First birth is the Second birth may be also In a word that they may have grace This I say must be the main thing which in your Education you must desire and pursue And so for Servants also To move you to mind this and to lay out your selves with the greatest diligence and ardency to attain this very much might be spoken O consider the misery of your Children till they be converted Are they born believers Do they bring grace with them into the world Fiunt non nascuntur Christiant Hieron surely no! Are they not Children of wrath by Nature Heirs of Hell lying in their blood Ephes 2.3 Will you not make it your first and principal endeavour to get them out of this condition especially considering how accessary you have been to the bringing of them into it Have you convey'd sin and filth and defilement to them and will you not do something that you may convey Grace Sanctification Renovation to them Have you done so much for their hurt will you do nothing for their good you that know what the misery of the Natural state is how can you be quiet till you have got all yours out of it You are to further the Conversion of others 't is a blessed thing to be the Instrument of Coversion Dan. 12 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars forever and ever Jam. 5.20 He which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death Ezek. 18.32 wherefore turn others so some read it and live ye Grace is of a spreading diffusive nature 't is set forth by Light Leaven Oyl and such other resemblances because of this He that is converted himself he will be converting others The Woman of Samaria being wrought upon she would feign bring in all the City to Christ Joh. 4.28 29. The Lepers would not keep the good tidings of the Enemies flight to themselves but they must publish it 2 King 7.9 A gracious heart is for the Conversion of All it comes near to but in an especial manner 't is for the Conversion of near and dear Relations Andrew having found Christ O he runs to his Brother Peter and tells him of it Joh. 1.41 Cornelius calls together his Kinsmen and his near Friends Act. 10.24 The Apostle tells us He that provides not for his own hath deny'd the Faith c. 1 Tim. 5.8 What a monster in Religion he is that doth not especially look after the souls of Relations and endeavour to bring them in to God! will not you then do this for your Children they are near to you they are a part of your self they are your self The Children are but the Father in fractions or the Father multiply'd Shall they be near to you and afar off from God Will you suffer any part of you to be in a state of dis-union from Christ 'T is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Polit. l. 1. c. 1 Natural to all Creatures to desire other things to be like to them you are gracious your selves do you not desire that all yours should be so too you have Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xenoph. and you know the worth and excellency of it you would not exchange it for the world Do you know so much of it and will you let your Children be without it When Zacheus closed with Christ Christ told him This day Salvation is come to thine House Luk. 19.9 Why so why is it not to his Person but to his House Ans Not only because Christ and the Gospel bring Salvation to Families where they are entertain'd but also because Zacheus now would make it his business to further the conversion and so consequently the salvation of all in his House Christ is come and Salvation is come to your selves but are they come to your Houses too Are your Children and Servants in a state of Grace and so consequently of Salvation Can you better express your love to them than by helping on Grace in them You are sollicitous about other things alas they are all of them meer Trifles in comparison of this The greatest estate is not to be compared with the least Grace If your Children may fear God here and enjoy God hereafter they are happy Though you can leave them but slender portions if you can leave them in a Covenant state 't is enough How unspeakably will this rejoice your souls at the great day if you can take your Children by the hand and say Lord here am I Hebr. 2.13 and the Children which thou hast given me Whereas if Conversion-work be not done Will it not be a sad parting if that state will admit of sadness when the gracious Parent shall go to Heaven and the graceless child shall go to Hell O dreadful parting indeed I have told you the souls of your Children will be required at your hands O if through your neglect they be found unconverted your * Dt salute eorum qui in domo tuâ sunt sollicitus ac pervigil existas quia pro omnibus tibi subject is rationem Domino reddes August account will be very sad Pray do not think that this Conversion-work is only to be done by Ministers it lies upon you as well as upon them and in some respects you may * See this more fully made out in Dr. Gouge Dom. Duties Tract 6. p. 546. Mr. Baxters Saint ' everl Rest part 3. p. 350. c. better do it than they you better know your Childrens Temper you can speak more particularly to them you have a greater share in their love they have a further dependance upon you and so they will be the more attentive to what you urge upon them I know not how to get off from this Argument Do not think me tedious when I am pleading with you to secure and save the souls of your poor Children If you ask me how this may be done I answer by that which hath been spoken to Instruct them admonish them watch over them win them by a
to God but not yet doth in effect say he will never do it delays in this case are little better than absolute denials Gods delays to us are not denials but ours to him are so O delay no longer you say to morrow Quamdiu cras quamdiu cras quare non modd quare non hâc horâ finis turpitudinis meae Aug. Conf. l. 8. c. 12. hereafter why not now why not to day why not presently Have you not put off God and made him wait too long already Do not delays make the dedication to be more difficult * Poenitenti veniam spospondit sed vivendi in crastinum non spospondit Id. Are you sure of to morrow can you assure your selves of the gales of Grace to blow to morrow O let it be to day while it is called to day Heb. 3.13 Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 David made haste and delayed not Psal 119.60 Possibly some in the reading of these Papers may resolve to dedicate themselves let such fall upon the duty presently 't is good striking whilst the Iron is hot 't is good to hoist up the sails whilst the wind serves Ego à multis annis crastinum non novi 'T was a good speech of one As to matters of duty for many years he had known no to morrow meaning he always presently set upon duty let it be so with you as to dedication Seneca speaks of some Malè vivunt qui semper vivere incipiunt Senec. who are always beginning to live these he says live ill so there are some who are always beginning to dedicate themselves To day they say it shall be done to morrow Caveamus hunc scopulum differre Quot hominum millia vel hanc unam ob causam malè finierunt quia distulerunt minimè differrenda Quid crastinum saluti tuae destinas Crastinus dies tuus non est Hodiernus est Hodiè quaeso hûc horâ jam age quod agendum est Gras aut perendie ubi tu eris and then they put it off to another morrow and so the conviction is smothered and the work is not done O what you find in your hearts to do do it speedily without all further delays or procrastination Thus I have directed you as to the manner how you are to dedicate your selves to God you must be entire in your Dedication without all reserves constant in your Dedication without all limitation as to time free and willing in your Dedication without constraint and backwardness and speedy and present in your Dedication without all delays CHAP. 6. Helps to further Personal Dedication THe second thing in which I propounded to give you some direction was to shew you what are those means or helps which are proper for the furtherance of this self-dedication O that some soul might be brought to an earnest desire of some faithful advice about this that some poor Creature might say well I see what my duty is I am convinced by what hath been said that I am bound to dedicate and thus to dedicate my self to God But what shall I do in order to the bringing of my heart to the real performance of it In hopes that some may herein desire satisfaction I will lay down a few directions And because I intend to be very short upon this Head I will only name three great helps towards it 1. The first is consideration the first step to sincere dedication is serious consideration the reason why so few come up to this is the want of serious weighing and considering of things 't is inconsideracy that keeps the most in their non-dedicated estate if men would but bethink themselves as 't is 1 Kings 8.47 and dwell upon things in their most fixed and retired thoughts surely they would close with God and give up themselves to him This is the foundation upon which all is built 'T was the Prodigals consideration that brought him home to his father Luke 15.17 when he came to himself he said How many hired c. first he came to himself and seriously considered what his state was and how it might be bettered and then he came to his father Parallel to this is that Hos 2.7 She shall follow after her lovers and shall not overtake them c. then shall she say I will go and return to my first Husband for then was it better with me than now Here is Penitential resolution grounded upon serious consideration So David Psal 119.59 I thought on my ways and turned my feet to thy testimonies O what a powerful influence hath this upon an holy course and indeed upon all the duties of Religion And therefore this I would urge upon you in order to Personal Dedication Do but consider what God is what a right he hath to you how you cannot be happy but in him what an excellency there is in his ways what a great nothing the world is in comparison of him how sin debases you whilst holiness is your advancement how necessary self-dedication is to the future glory Were these and other things duly weighed certainly you would not withhold your selves from God or stand off from him a moment longer Do but fix your thoughts upon what hath been laid down to press the duty upon you and by Gods blessing I trust something will be done in this great work Some sudden and transient thoughts will be ineffective the bare reading of what I have wrote will signifie but little but if the Lord will give you an heart to dwell upon things and to be seriously considerative then there will be some good success 2. Secondly Another great help is self-denial This this is the main self-denial must go before self-dedication self must be deny'd before self will be dedicated O how readily how easily doth self-dedication go on upon self-denial 'T is this self that keeps us from God and sets us against God till that be dethroned God will never be exalted Self-dedication as it furthers self-denial so 't is furthered by it Our Saviour tells us if any man will come after him he must deny himself Luke 9.23 this is not only the condition of the person or laid upon the person that comes to Christ but 't is the condition of the act or that which is requisite to the act of coming to Christ for without self-denial no man will come to Christ And so 't is in the dedicating of our selves to God As any man desires to do this first he must deny himself and this is that which makes self-dedication so difficult it depends upon that which is one of the hardest duties in the Gospel he that can deny self can do any thing Now there is a double self which must be deny'd in order to Personal Dedication that which we call sinful self and that which we call worldly self I make use of it as a common distinction but I know 't is not a good and accurate