he is in himself Infinite incomprehensible the supream and absolute being holy wise gracious merciful unchangeable just righteous c. Will you not dedicate your selves to such a God What a base thing is sin what a vain thing is the world in comparison of this God What a shame is it that men should chuse rather to give up themselves to these than to the ever blessed God! Something we must dedicate our selves to doth any object so deserve our love delight service zeal as God doth And then look upon him in what he is to you your Creator the fountain of your beings your preserver your benefactor your Lord and Soveraign your Judge he in whose hands your * Dan. 5.23 life breath and all your concerns are he that protects you from all dangers supplies you in all wants supports you under all burdens directs you in all straights rewards you in all services will you not dedicate your selves to this God He that alone can make you happy or miserable he that alone can save or damn he that alone can give you satisfaction inward peace and joy will you not be his He that is your good God your friend that desires your well-fare will you not surrender up your selves to him I am not pleading with you for dedition but for dedication the * Damus amicis dedimus Hostibus Stephan Vrbem agrum aras focos seque uti dederent Plaut in Amphitr Such as yielded upon the prevailing strength of their Enemy vvere called Dedititii Quum ex dedititiis Delgis complures Caesarem secuti Caes Comm. former is proper for an enemy the latter for a friend O 't is mens ignorance of God that keeps them from dedicating themselves to him surely did they but know him he should have their All. 4. Self-dedication to God is the Creatures advancement it puts an honour and excellency upon a person self is advanced and dignified when 't is thus dedicated as there pass'd a glory upon the first fruits by their being dedicated to God And therefore the excellency of the Saints is set forth by this allusion to the first fruits Of his own will begat he us Jam. 1.18 with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures Jer. 2.3 Israel was holiness unto the Lord the first fruits of his increase Rev. 14.4 These were redeemed from among men being the first fruits unto God I say one thing intended in these expressions is to hold forth the excellency of the people of God as they are dedicated to him Self-dedication will make you as first fruits it will put a glory and excellency upon you Psal 16.3 dedicated persons are the excellent in the earth Take the whole crop there was not much in it but the first fruits being set apart for God there was an excellency in them take mankind in the lump and mass there is no such great worth in it but take those few that are singled out of this mass and set apart for God O they are excellent persons The pride of man puts him upon the affectation of excellency and advancement would you from an holy pride be ambitious of true excellency and advancement be a people separated for God devoted to him no honour like to that 5. I will add but one Consideration more 't is this as grace so glory as Christianity here so felicity hereafter depend upon self-dedication Would you not be saved Do you not desire Heaven and blessedness Would you not be happy in the world to come Surely you would then pray take the right way and course in order to this what 's that Dedicate your selves to God no dedication no salvation self must be dedicated or self cannot be saved Non-dedication must needs end in destruction How can he expect that God will give himself in the beatifick vision to him who is not willing to give his self to God here in holy dedication Did ever any arrive at the sight of God who had not first devoted themselves to holiness without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Heb. 12.14 O what a comfortable plea is this for a dying man for Heaven Lord I am thine save me Psal 119.94 I have been a doer of thy will upon earth let me now enter into the Kingdom Matth. 7.21 I have withheld nothing from thee do not thou now withhold glory from me Psal 84.11 Thus much I have said to urge the Exhortation in general That I may yet further drive the nail to the very Head that this advice may be yet more piercing and effectual I shall go over the particular branches of self-dedication and enforce each of them upon you by those considerations which are respectively proper to them 1. First therefore Give your selves to God Self is a gift that is only fit for a God 't is indeed too little for him but 't is too much for any thing besides him 't is not good enough for God 't is too good for any thing else O whilest others give themselves to low vain undeserving evil objects let us give our selves to the Lord. I shall desire the Reader throughly to weigh a few motives to induce him unto this 1. Nothing more equitable than that the Creature should give himself to God The Apostle urges this very duty by this he calls it a reasonable service Rom. 12.1 the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word imports giving or dedicating to God see Luke 2.22 Now this self-presenting or self-giving to God 't is a thing that is most reasonable 't is that which is grounded upon the highest reason Reason it self will tell a man he ought to give himself to God this * Prov. 20.27 candle of the Lord gives a light clear enough to direct a creature to this I know depraved reason opposes it but rectifi'd reason furthers it Your reason will tell you that you are bound to give to every one what is his right and due this is one of the undoubted maximes and principles of reason In the case I am upon reason lays down the proposition Scripture-revelation sets in with it to make the assumption and then grace makes the conclusion and so the syllogism is framed betwixt them I must give to every one what is his due there 's reason my person my all is Gods due there 's partly reason and partly revelation therefore I will give my self to God there 's grace Let me speak a little to that foundation upon which the reasonableness of the duty in hand is built and that is whatever I am or have 't is all Gods due God hath a fuller better right to a man than he hath to himself he is Gods more than he is or can be his own in the fall of Adam we lost our right and title to God but he did not lose his right and title to us this is eternal alteration or any such thing If you ask
creature holiness for sin Are the things of time to be weighed in the ballance with the things of eternity What is it to secure earth and to lose Heaven Can you secure the soul future blessedness unless you keep steddy to God Why will you forsake that God Hebr. 13.5 who will never forsake you Will you find any where a better master a better friend a better portion a better God Till you can do this pray keep where you are if you be in Gods way and be fixed and resolute Resolve for God and then act resolution in your whole course Herein is your self-dedication He that is not resolved for God come what will come hath not truly dedicated himself to God when a person upon mature deliberation determines for God and then is firm and stedfast hee 's the person who hath dedicated himself in a right manner 4. Fourthly As you desire to dedicate your persons to God set your selves apart for God and carry it as a people who are separated from the world Dedication necessarily implies separation this hath been spoke to I will not actum agere let me only perswade you to live in the world as becomes those who have passed under a solemn dedication or consecration let it be seen you are no ordinary or common persons but such as have separated and set themselves apart for spiritual purposes Impropriate your selves to God self-dedicating persons they profess themselves to be Gods Impropriation they give up themselves to God to be appropriated to his use O Christians that you would do thus Do not prostitute your selves to common uses I do not speak this to take you off from your callings or your lawful affairs in the world but lay out your selves in special for God you must not be as ordinary vessels that are put to any use but you must be as the vessels of the Sanctuary 1 Chron. 22.19 that were dedicated to the service of God You are taken out of the common of the world and are as Gods inclosure and therefore he expects some singular fruit and service from you But I run out upon a truth which is not so much in my eye that which I aim at is the notion of separation to press that upon you And I shall only speak to one branch of it and that is this separation from the sinful course and practises of evil men Self-dedication calls upon you for this If you would indeed dedicate your selves then you must separate your selves from the ordinary ways and courses of graceless men you must not live as they do act as they do be as they are but you must carry it as a separated people I meddle not with separation from Church-communion far be it from me to urge that upon any 't is only separation from mens vices and sins that I am furthering and surely the Scripture will bear me out in this 2 Cor. 6.17 Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Eph. 4.17 This I say therefore that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind c. Rom. 12.2 Be not conformed to this world c. Christians must not walk according to the course of this world Eph. 2.2 Tertullian tells us of a souldier that was a Christian when his fellow souldiers who were Heathens wore Lawrel upon their Heads he would not do so Being asked why O says he I am a Christian and therefore I must in habit in every thing differ from others O Christians where is your zeal for God in holy singularity Would you dedicate your selves to God and yet do as others do O that cannot be Be singular therefore and let there be a real difference betwixt you and others They are swearers drunkards Sabbath-profaners deriders of godliness despisers of holy duties c. you must be quite other men of a different constitution and conversation Especially you who have really dedicated your selves you must set your selves apart Eadè nos faciemus quae caeteri Nihilinter nos illos intererit Plurimum Senec. Ep. 5. and differ from the course of the world Shall there be no difference betwixt Saints and sinners Shall the two seeds be confounded Shall the children of God live just as the children of Satan God forbid You have another spirit as 't is said of Caleb Numb 14.24 and therefore you must live another life you have differing principles profess to walk by a differing rule are invested with differing priviledges and all these call for differing practices You are children of light and must walk as the children of light Eph. 5.8 You must be as the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye should shine as lights in the world Phil. 2.15 When others mind earthly things your conversation must be in Heaven Phil. 3.19 20. when others work all uncleanness with greediness you have not so learned Christ Eph. 4.19 20. O let it appear to the world that you are persons of another make and constitution that those that know not God You are to convince the world 1 Pet. 3.16 to condemn the world Heb. 11.7 how shall you do this but by the holiness and singularity of your conversations Do not do the same which others do in that which is evil do more than others do in that which is good for Christ expects a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something more from you than he doth from others Matth. 5.47 Christians dedicate your selves to God and make good your dedication evidence the reality of it by your being separated from the course of wicked men he that lives the common life is but a common person an unconsecrated person Whereever there is dedication there must be impropriation and separation 5. Fifthly Enter into Covenant with God Give the hand to the Lord as Hezekiah expresses it This is a very weighty point making of covenant and keeping of covenant with God are the summe of all the two poles upon which all religion moves You have many excellent Treatises written by our own Divines upon these two Heads I shall refer you to them for the full and large handling of them for I must contract How shall I speak to men to make them willing to covenant with God to enter into the Bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.37 and so to bind themselves to the Lord for ever This is the work that I have now before me the Lord prosper me in it O that some poor souls might be wrought upon by what I shall say not only to give up themselves to God but to do this in a federal way that there might be binding as well as giving and stipulation as well as resignation Let me allude to that in the 2 Kings 9.5 you read there
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
me whether House-dedication as so stated be a Jewish antiquated thing or whether it be not rather a moral duty and that all persons whatsoever are now under the obligation of it Honoured Citizens I hope no objections nor discouragements neither from without or from within shall ever be able to keep you off from a due performance of this blessed dutie of House-dedication You are now very busie in joyning house to house but not in the Prophets sense Isa 5.8 in the repairing of your breaches in the re-edifying of your wast and desolate Habitations which for some time have been forsaken and left like a wilderness and cut off through the fierce anger of the Lord Isa 27.10 Jer. 25.37 and herein I pray the God of Heaven to prosper you Now to present you with some thing that might be suitable and seasonable for this enterprise this is my principal aim and design As to the late terrible Fire the saddest Tragedy that Providence hath acted or permitted to be acted upon the Stage of the world in these latter Ages as to that Fire I say which in four days by four large swarths mowed down so many thousands of your dwellings this I meddle not with farther than as the matter insisted upon in this Treatise doth here and there lead me to it you have had the pious labours of several persons already upon that sad and dismal Argument to which I shall add nothing 'T is the bright side of the cloud that my eye is upon 't is the building not the burning of your Houses which I treat of and what is it in reference to this which I urge but that they may be consecrated and dedicated to God whenever they shall be built And under this Head I reduce all that I have to say and doth not the duty speak for it self Doth it not carry its own light and conviction along with it Doth not the late tremendous hand of God call upon you for this After such conflagrations will you not enter upon your Houses and live in them with a due sense of God When God hath been so contending with you shall things be just as they were before Shall not the voice of such a rod be heard in some notable reformation Hath God overthrown many of you as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as brands pluckt out of the burning and will ye not yet return to the Lord Amos 4.11 Do ye not yet perceive that 't is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Will you again provoke God to return with the same judgment I beseech you consider what God hath done what you have done what you are now to do and carry it so that breaches betwixt God and you may be healed that his anger the worst of Fires may be quenched that all differences may be comprimised that you may be secured from all evils and live in the enjoyment of all blessings And the most compendious way to this is first to dedicate your persons and then your houses to God O let God dwell where you dwell let God be entertained in your Habitations O keep up his worship promote his interest devote all to his service and glory live under a continual dependance upon him and an universal devotedness to him and let not sin find any harbour or have any reception in your Houses thus do and fear not all will be well be you faithful in your dedication and God will be faithful in his protection and benediction Persons and places dedicated are under a special providence God will not have them to be touched There are very many things which your present affairs and actings might lead me to speak to by way of advice You are much taken up with building O that spiritual building may not be neglected by you Pray mind the building of your Ark and do as Noah did Heb. 11.7 In such threatning times as these are it concerns every man to have his Ark ready made 't is better now to be without an house than without an Ark we have seen several deluges of judgments what will be next we know not Prov. 22.3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished You are erecting fair and beautiful Houses but are you your selves the House Building Temple of God that he may dwell and inhabit in you Heb. 3.6 1 Pet. 2.5 1 Cor. 3.9 16. 2 Cor. 6.16 Eph. 2.22 You are building for Earth but what do you do for Heaven Do ye lay a good foundation against the time to come that ye may lay hold on eternal life as 't is 1 Tim. 6.19 Are you by a saving Faith built upon Christ that great and only foundation 1 Cor. 3.11 What assurance have ye of a building of God of an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 Thus from your external and material buildings I might take occasion to suggest divers things which refer to inward spiritual and mystical Building for by this allusion the spirit of God in Scripture doth much delight to set forth the state and duty of Christians As also I might much enlarge in the exhorting of you to several duties upon another account suitable to your present posture and concern viz. That ye would for ever humble your selves under that mighty hand of God which hath been so severely lifted up against you that the late judicial amazing Providences of the most High may never be forgotten by you but that they may frequently be thought of and duly improved that you would take heed of security pride vanity of spirit in slighting what is past and in promising great things to your selves for the time to come so as not to say with them The bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen stones the Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Isa 9.10 That you would be sure in Building-work to take God along with you and to keep down all carnal confidence That place is remarkable Mal. 1.4 Whereas Edom saith O that this may never be the language of London We are impoverished but we will return and build the desolate places thus saith the Lord of Hosts they shall build but I will throw down and they shall call them The border of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever A terrible word this is the Lord grant you may never speak so sinfully against God and that he may never speak so terribly against you That you would enter into your New houses with New hearts that as your houses are like to be better than before so your hearts and lives may be better also that your old sins may never be admitted into your New habitations I say I might be verie large in the urging of these things upon you but I chuse only to name them some of them fall in under House-dedication to which I limit my self
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
subjection to his holy will this is the vital act of grace the proper and genuine effect of it No unsanctified unregenerate man can do this before conversion the sinner is all for his own will he will not be subject to the law of God he will have none upon the throne but himself O what a proud stubborn rebellious creature is man in his natural state He says with Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Exod. 5.2 And with them Our lips are our own who is Lord over us Psal 12.4 But after saving grace hath fastned upon him he is another man then 't is the language of Paul Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts. 9.6 now his will is melted into the will of God now the law is written in the heart Psal 40.8 and there is a principle within him which suits with and inclines him to the good will of God Observe me further the sanctification of our will lies in the subjection of it to Gods will That great work of sanctification extends to all the faculties but principally 't is terminated upon the will that 's the faculty which renewing grace doth most with for of all the faculties that is the most depraved and vitiated there is the very nest seat of sins venome and poison 't is that which makes the greatest opposition to God there is Satans strongest hold when that is once taken all do yield the sinner is gained when the will is gained when that is once made pliable flexible obedient the work is done That which I infer from all that hath been spoken is this would you act as becomes you as you are creatures would you have an evidence of sanctification as to your persons and wills Then surrender and resign up your selves to the supream absolute holy will of God If you will but dwell upon this in your Thoughts a little and urge it home upon your selves it will be enough the spirit of God setting it on to prevail with you to do what I am urging upon you The work would be endless If I should enlarge upon every Head according to what the matter would bear otherwise I might further enforce this self-resignation and subjection from these particulars Rom. 12.3 Rom. 7.12 Deut. 10.13 1. Gods will is an excellent will 2. 'T is the creatures advantage to correspond with this will Psal 81.11 12. 3. Many are the mischiefs that rise from non-subjection 4. God will have his will Rom. 2 25. one way or another for volunt as Dei semper impletur aut à nobis aut de nobis Aug. It shall either be done by us or upon us 5. External profession without this is a meer vanity Matth. 7.21 6. This is absolutely necessary to salvation Heb. 10 36. Here is full weight measure pressed down put all together these considerations must needs preponderate and weigh down all objections that the carnal heart of man can make against subjection to Gods will But I shall pass by these things and rather insist upon something by way of direction as to the matter or the extent of the duty it self And this I will reduce to two general Heads 1. Surrender up your selves to the will of God as this refers to acts of worship or to holy duties I mean prayer hearing receiving the Sacrament c. The will of God reaches to these and it calls for our subjection and obedience in our constant performance of all those holy duties which the great Law-giver hath stamped his command and institution upon This is to be religious Religion in its primary notion points to the worship of God in the matter and manner of it what is religion Take it strictly 't is this to worship God upon the consideration of his glorious excellencies and will and to do this according to his will If you desire to be religious as surely you either do or ought to do religion being both the duty and also the advancement of the creature then you must comply with Gods will in attending upon the several parts of sacred worship doing all according to the mind of God there 's no religion without this That which I shall press upon you therefore is this surrender up your selves to God yield obedience to him in frequent constant attendance upon and performance of holy duties whether they be publick or private You have very strong reasons for this O that mens corruptions were not stronger than all the reasons that can be alledged God wills them 't is his will that you should pray hear read c. Is not that reason enough Holy duties are that homage which God requires and which the creature doth indispensably owe to his Creator and besides this they are the means in and by which God doth work in them the Lord vouchsafes his presence Exod. 20 24. Jam 4.8 passim gives the soul communion with him in his love and blessedness displays his grace dispenses his blessings and what not By them God carries on the great designs of his mercy for he sets in with them and doth great things by them here 't is that he quickens the dead softens the hard tames the stubborn humbles the proud enlightens the blind cleanses the filthy comforts the sad fills the empty heals the wounded here the sinner is converted the Saint edified here the thirsty soul finds peace joy delight satisfaction Isa 56.7 Psal 63.1.5 Cant. 2 2 3. Assurance c. These are the pools where the Angel of the Covenant moves Joh. 9.4 the wells of salvation out of which the soul draws the water of life Isa 12.3 the breasts of heavenly consolation the keys which unlock the treasuries of mercy the golden pipes through which mercy flows Zech. 4.12 the ladder by which we ascend to God and he descends to us Gen. 28.12 the vehicula coeli the waggons which carry Earth to Heaven and Heaven to Earth Gen. 45.27 the galleries in which Christ delights to walk Cant. 7.5 O the blessed effects of holy duties by them corruption is mortified grace wrought and strengthened comfort increased doubts resolved evidences cleared c. As duty goes up grace goes up and sin goes down the more in duty the more of grace Is not here enough to engage every man to fall in with the will of God in the performing of holy duties David said it was good for him to draw near to God Psal 73.28 O that we did look upon duty as good that it was good to hear good to read good to pray good to meditate good to be at the Lords Table 'T is greatly to be lamented that there are so few who do conform to the will of God herein look upon the practices of the most of men God hath but little worship from them they seldom pray seldom come to the word
I have respect to all thy Commandments But that I may be more particular in this Head let me say two things to you and I pray that God will make them effectual Cherish no sin Baulk no duty Do nothing I mean willingly allowedly designedly that God forbids Do every thing to the utmost of your strength that God enjoyns 1. Let no sin be cherished by you 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity The indefinite is equipollent to the universal he that names the name of Christ and says he hath dedicated himself to Christ he must not allow himself in any one sin he must depart from all iniquity The word is full of prohibitions against every sin and of commands to part with every sin but I need not quote them in so known a thing O if you would indeed dedicate your selves mortifie every corruption put away every sin let not one Agag live not one Dalilah or Herodias lie in your bosoms especially let the right eye be pulled out and the right hand be cut off Matth. 5 29. the Delictum dilectum as Aug. calls it let that go Thou hast not given thy self to God so long as thou hast a Peccatum in deliciis entertained and cherished by thee O what subtile insinuations and pleadings are there in our hearts for sin pray answer them with abhorrence and detestation Their great plea is the smalness of the sin Gen. 19 20. they say as Lot of Zoar Is it not a little one O beloved do not hearken to your naughty hearts can any sin be little that is the violation of an holy Law and committed against a great God Though it be but petty Treason will you make nothing of it will not little sins leave much guilt and so do you much mischief Many little sums make the account swell to a great sum little sands make the great mountains and little drops make the great Ocean Do not little sins make way for great sins Si curare parva negligimus insensibiliter seducti audenter etiam major a perpetramur Gregor Mor. l. 10. c. 14. He that allows himself in a little sin will not long stay there he 'l go on to greater sins If the little Thief get into the house the great ones will not be out long Little sippings end in drunkenness if they be often reiterated as well as full draughts the cloud that is very small at the first in a little time over-spreads the whole Heaven The * See Dr. Taylor of Repent p. 127. less the sin the higher the contempt for this shews that the soul can break with God for a very trifle O do not stand mincing of the matter if it be a sin have nothing to do with it 2. Let no duty be baulked To do all that God commands and therefore because God commands it this is a most certain evidence of a gracious heart And shall it be so with you O the time is hastening when one good evidence of sincerity will be more to you than all your Writings Deeds Evidences for your worldly possessions you cannot have a better than this to conform to the whole will of God in doing all that he requires and therefore labour after it Saul did something but he did not all that was commanded and that lost him his Kingdom How many lose Heaven by their being partial in the law of God As for duties that are easie and safe they can submit to them but as to those that have much of difficulty and danger in them here they shrink and beg Gods excuse As you love your souls take heed of this let the duty be never so painful let flesh and blood never so much oppose it be it never so contrary to your carnal interests and inclinations doth it expose you to never so many hazards losses crosses in the world yet if it hath Gods stamp and impress upon it yield obedience to it O this is dedication indeed Suppose it should be the offering up of an only son suppose it should be pray and die or own a reproached scorned persecuted Christ or taking up the cross of Christ and forsaking all for him I say suppose it should be this or that will you say Lord let it be what it will I will do it according to my strength this is to be a Christian O consider there 's the same authority for all duties that God who enjoyns the one enjoyns the other also There is such a connexion betwixt them that if you leave out one you leave out all * He that customarily c. breaks any one Commandment ventures to violate that Authority which by one and the same ordination made the whole Law equally binding and by consequence is habitually and in praeparatione Animi a transgressâ—r of the whole Law Reyn. Life of Christ p. 507. one allowed omission or commission is a violation of the whole law so you have it expresly Jam. 2.10 11. 'T is a good speech of * De Provid L. 3. Salvian Non est justa causatio cur praeferantur aliqua ubi facienda sunt omnia There can be no just reason of preferring some duties before others when all is to be done And again Quando servus ex Domini sui jussis ea facit tantummodo quae velit jam non Dominicam implet voluntatem sed suam When the servant picks and chuses in his masters commands and only doth what he himself hath a mind to he doth not do his masters will but his own Many such considerations might be alledged but I must contract O fulfil after God let the duty be what it will 't is good the assistance of God shall make it easie and the recompence of God shall make it gainful This is the first thing your dedication must be entire and I have shewn wherein the entireness of it consists 2. Secondly Let your dedication be constant and perpetual or let it be for constancy and perpetuity As it must be entire without reserves so it must be constant or for constancy without limitation of time This is further requisite to the truth and reality of Personal Dedication * Perpetua ac solida sunt quae vera sunt simulata non perseverant Ambros Officior l. 2. c. 22. what is true is lasting what is feigned is not so Paint soon washes off but the colour that is natural abides and is permanent 'T is perseverance and constancy which makes the difference betwixt professor and professor and so betwixt Dedication and Dedication Do you desire to dedicate your selves to the blessed God and to do this to purpose Then do it for for ever let it be for all the days of your life Luke 1.75 Thus David did Psal 119.112 I have enclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end And verse 117. I will have respect unto thy statutes continually O blessed David not so much because a
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
the spirit Galat. 3.3 will you end in the flesh Will you draw back from God to the perdition of your precious souls Hebr. 10.39 I trust you will not 'T is observed both by Papists and Turks also for the latter have their religious Orders as well as the former that persons who have once entred themselves into such Orders and so dedicated themselves to God if they leave these they never prosper O Christians have you dedicated your selves in a regular scriptural way If you relinquish your dedication do you think to prosper Farewel peace joy Heaven farewel all when you forsake God and Apostatize from him That you may be thus faithful and constant and in every thing make good your dedication be much in begging of God the special assistance of his grace Praevenient grace made you true in your dedication Subsequent grace must make you true to your dedication O let none relye upon their own strength we may give resolve covenant but if we be left to our selves we shall soon leave God and undo as much as in us lies all that we have done The heart is deceitful grace is weak corruption strong Voluntate suâ cadit qui cadit voluntate Dei stat qui stat Angust temptations impetuous you need assisting and stablishing grace very much David joyned prayer with his resolution I will keep thy statutes O forsake me not utterly Psal 119.8 You have given the hands to God in stipulation lift up the hands to God in supplication for fidelity for perseverance The God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glory by Jesus Christ after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you 1 Pet. 5.10 Self-dependance doth much endanger self-dedication 3. Thirdly Often renew your dedication though the first sufficiently obliges you yet all obligations are little enough to bind these treacherous hearts of ours the oftner this is renewed the greater awe it leaves upon conscience And though the command of God and the nature of duty are highly obligatory yet fresh and renewed dedications lay a farther superadded obligation upon the person O tye the knot as fast as may be many knots are not so easily loosened After repeated reiterated dedications you 'l be ashamed to be false to God There are some special cases and seasons wherein 't is good for you to renew your dedication Do you fall into some great sin Recover your selves by speedy repentance and renew your dedication These make great wounds and gashes in the soul get them healed presently These endanger the very vitals and strike at the foundation there 's no dallying in this case Great breaches must immediately be made up great sins make a great breach upon conscience upon your dedication and therefore make it up speedily Doubtless David that would renew the dedication of his house after Absaloms sins would also renew the dedication of his person after his own gross and scandalous sins Are you afflicted reduced into great straits Renew your dedication give all again to God at such a time for then you need him most to give to you When Jacob was in great straits and knew not what to do then he said If God will be with me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my Fathers house in peace then shall the Lord be my God Gen. 28.20 21. O be so wise as to renew your gift and your bond in a day of trouble and so ingenious as to make all good in a day of comfort Do you receive some eminent mercy from God Renew your dedication Say Lord thou hast renewed thy mercy and therefore I here renew my duty thou hast given me a very choice and seasonable mercy here I give thee my self for it Do you attend upon the Sacrament before and at and after that ordinance solemnly renew your dedication that 's a duty very proper at this time Indeed in every prayer we virtually do this but in sacramental work we must do it in a more solemn and explicit manner Are you cast upon times wherein there is much Apostacy professors fall off from God like leaves from the trees in Autumn Now renew your dedication that you may bind your selves the faster to God now take up new and stronger resolutions for God saying Though all forsake God you will never forsake him Other cases and seasons might be mentioned but I pass them by 4. Fourthly Adore and admire the infinite goodness of God In your giving your selves to God you do not oblige him but he obliges you when you give most you receive most first grace is given to you and then you are given to God you could not give if first you did not receive O have you devoted your selves to the Lord 'T was he that framed your hearts to this and wrought you up to it Time was when you were just as others are but God who is rich in mercy Eph. 2.4 7. for his great love wherewith he loved you even when you wholly gave up your selves to sin effectually drew you to himself That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards you through Christ Jesus O admire that distinguishing love of God which hath so freely taken hold of you And let this heighten your admiration that the great God is so willing to accept of that poor pitiful self which you tender to him 't is but the paying of a debt and yet God accepts of it as a gift Were you Angels it would be a condescension in God to accept of you but Lord What is man Psal 144.3 that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou so regardest him And that which is highest of all and which may put the soul into extatick admiration that for such a poor self given such a glorious self should be received you give your self to God and in lieu of this God gives his self to you O Saints what have you to do but to lose your selves in the admiring of God 5. Fifthly Further Personal Dedication in others You have done it your selves do what in you lies that others may do so too Do not you rejoyce in your own act Would you have it to do again for millions of worlds Where then is your zeal to further it in others who have not yet dedicated themselves to God Do you not pity such in their state and will you not endeavour to bring them out of it Can you be content to go to Heaven alone Shall the Devils factors be more diligent for him to the ruin of souls than you for God to the salvation of souls O do not let sinners alone till you have been instrumental for conversion and Personal Dedication to them So live that you may win them to God So instruct exhort perswade convince that they may
resolve we also will give up our selves to God as you have done Bernard hath an expression Major est in amore Dei qui plures traxerit ad amorem Dei He is highest in the love of God you may understand it both of active and also of passive or objective love who hath drawn most to the love of God You cannot in an higher way manifest your love to God or procure Gods love to you than by promoting this blessed self-dedication in others O lay out your selves in order to this and let your endeavours extend to all but especially to your near and dear relations do not suffer a child a servant to continue in a state of alienation from God But this I shall have occasion more to dwell upon under the next Head of Domestick dedication Let me conclude this with the words of that Divine Poet Mr. Herbert Pag 96 97. which are very apposite to my purpose My God if writings may Convey a Lordship any way Whither the buyer and the seller please Let it not thee displease If this poor paper do as much as they On it my Heart doth bleed As many Lines as there doth need To pass it self and all it hath to thee To which I do agree And here present it as my special deed If that hereafter Pleasure Cavil and claim her part and measure As if this passed with a reservation Or some such words in fashion I here exclude the wrangler from thy treasure Wherefore I all forego To one word only I say No. Where in the deed there was an intimation Of a gift or donation Lord let it now by way of purchase go He that will pass his land As I have mine may set his hand And heart unto this deed when he hath read And make the purchase spread To both our goods if he to it will stand How happy were my part If some kind man would thrust his heart Into these lines till in Heavens Court of rolls They were by winged souls Entred for both far above their desert 6. Sixthly I have but this farther to say Let Saints take the comfort of their Dedication O what a rich mine of heavenly consolation am I fallen upon if I could but go to the bottom of it but that I cannot do Have you entirely dedicated your selves to God Can you go over all the branches of it and say you find them all in your selves What shall I say what may I not say for the comforting of you You have Grace and Grace indeed for as hath been said what is grace but Personal Dedication You are sometimes much in the dark about your spiritual state you know not what to think of your selves because of the many discouragements which you meet with in the power and prevalency of corruption c. Can you say this of your selves You have entirely unreservedly fixedly heartily devoted and dedicated your selves to God if so you may take the comfort of a saving work in you when other evidences are blotted and blurr'd if this be legible 't is enough this is an abiding discovery of sincerity and the truth of grace How dear and precious are you in the sight of God! The Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 His as by his own Election so by their own dedication The Lord knoweth such not with a bare simple intuitive knowledge but with a knowledge of delight and special approbation God hath your heart and you have his You say to God we are thine there 's the sum of duty and God says to you I am yours there 's the sum of mercy God hath your drop and you have his Ocean You think nothing enough for him he thinks nothing too much for you his Self his Son his Spirit his Heaven his own glory he gives it all to you Surely God intends you nothing but good because he hath so graciously accepted of your offering which is your selves I allude to that of Manoah to his wife Judg. 13.23 You may take this and plead it with God upon all occasions Psal 119.94 I am thine save me Are you in dangers plead from this for protection Are you in wants plead from this for provision Lord I have given my self to thee wilt thou not give me food and raiment I desire no more Lord here 's the Covenant on my part I desire to make it good here 's the Covenant on thy part shall not that be made good then give me bread Psal 111.5 And so for higher mercies O it 's a blessed thing ingerere Deo suam syngrapham as Aug. says his mother Monica used to do to in-mind God and to argue with him from his Covenant Are you in straits you may plead from this for direction But alas I cannot speak out half of that blessedness which belongs to you upon this act Let me conclude with that which is the Zenith of all Personal Dedication shall most certainly end in Eternal Salvation That self which is here dedicated shall be hereafter saved and that which is a poor self here shall be a glorious self hereafter If this be not enough for comfort I know not what is And so let me end this first part of my Discourse with that which shall never end The End of the First Part. Domestick Dedication The Second Part. CHAP. I. Of Domestick Dedication in general Some things premised about it I Have at last got over the Dedication of the Person now the Dedication of the House comes next to be spoken to which I must be the shorter upon because I have been so long in coming to it This is that which was chiefly nay only in my eye when I first engaged my thoughts in this work The Text directed me to this for it speaks of House-Dedication only and the present posture business concern of you the Citizens of London directed me to the Text. You are very busie in re-building your Houses which for some considerable time have lay'n in ashes and I pray God to prosper and encourage you therein But my heart's desire is also that you may dedicate as well as build that as your Houses shall be finished for your use and service they may also be devoted to the use and service of God I could not when I have walked in the Streets indeed since the dismal Fire they may rather be called Roads than Streets and saw here and there a few Houses going up but wish and pray Oh that these Houses whenever they are built whosoevers they are might be dedicated to God! My thoughts and desires working much this way I resolved by God's assistance to do something that might further a thing so excellent and so desirable and thereupon I entred upon this Work though with much discouragement partly from the sense of my inward unfitness for such an undertaking and partly from those bodily Infirmities which a late have been upon me and have very much indisposed and disabled me for study To come then to that
bring forth for trouble The good Lord accomplish this word to you in this City 5. Life is very uncertain He that was to go out to fight with the enemy he especially was to dedicate his House because of the uncertainty of his Life Deut. 20.5 I hope this will not be be your case but however your Life is very uncertain you live to day Can you say that you shall live to morrow who knows how soon this poor thred of Life may break in pieces Every man at his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 Life and all the Comforts of it are fluid transitory uncertain Here we have no abiding City Hebr. 13.14 Nihil in hac vitâ possidemus quod di cere possumus futurum diu nostrum Quae uolis videmur firmissimè tenere ea quoties Deo libuit temporis momento nobis è manibus offluunt Omnia nos relinquunt vel à nobis relinquuntur J. Capel in Hebr. 13.14 Linquenda Tellus Domus placens Vxor Horat but we seek one to come O enter upon your Houses as those who have death in your eye They are built of Brick and firm materials and may stand long but you your selves are made but of brittle things you are but earthly Tabernacles a little breathing clay you would fall every moment if God did not underprop you Suppose it should please God to send such a plague as we had a few years ago we have had a strange unusual Winter what it may produce I know not would you be impenetrable against the arrows that fly and wast at noon-day Psal 91.5 6. Can you build your new Houses so that the destroying Angel shall not be able to get into them If you can secure them from Fire cannot God kindle a fire in your Bodies send a Fever upon you that shall consume you presently O what an uncertain thing is Life how many ways hath God to put a period to it Surely therefore it lies upon us to dedicate our selves our Houses to God to advance him in our Hearts and Families to improve all we have to his glory to be faithful in the matters of Religion for we know not how soon Death will come and what shall we do in a dying hour if we have liv'd in the neglect of these things Thou that hast not given thy House to God and set it apart for him Canst thou expect that he will give thee that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that House which is not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 6. House-dedication is the best Housesecurity Would you have your Houses safe dedicate them to God thereby you prevent God's Anger and entitle what is yours to God's Protection You have liv'd to see dreadful things God of his infinite mercy grant you may never see the like again A City burnt this City burnt this City burnt with such Circumstances Many Thousands of Houses in the space of three days utterly consum'd O What was it that kindled this fierce anger of God against us What shall we do that the like may never again befall us Surely these are two Questions which with the greatest seriousness we are often to propound to our selves I shall go no further than that which I am upon for an Answer to them One cause I fear I dare not be peremptory in assigning the causes of a judgment so unsearchable was our not-dedicating of our Houses to God Non-dedication brings desolation Had Religion the power of Godliness been set up and kept up in your Houses they might have stood to this day for ought I know This as to the first Question As to the second I say only this If you would not drink of this bitter cup again dedicate your Houses to God Do not think your walls and bricks will secure you if sin be harboured and God kept out of doors If there should be no malicious men or rather incarnate Devils here upon earth there is a just and jealous God in Heaven This duty will be your best security Do you dedicate and God will protect I always submit to God's Soveraignty and to his secret Reserves which are best known to Himself and how much there was of these as to the dealings of God with many Families in this City in the late judgment I cannot determine But as to the ordinary methods of God and as to his revealed will we have great encouragement to hope for Protection and Preservation whilst we sincerely desire to come up to House-dedicating duty O my Brethren be not offended either at my largeness or plainness in this my advice you have not my Pen but my heart in what I write And I shall think though I am sensible of many defects that I have wrote well if I may but see you to do well All that I aim at is success in bringing you to Dedication-work Lib. 6. c. 31. * Vt se diceret quasi hominem tandem habitare coepisse Suetonius tells us a passage of Nero which I shall make use of When he had built him a brave Palace and had dedicated it he said Now he began to live like a man I allude not to his sense for that was naught but to his words You are now preparing new Houses and e're long you hope to dwell in them Oh when ever it shall be so dedicate them to God then you 'l live and act like true Christians 'T is better to be without an House than without an Heart to dedicate it to God 'T is never right ordered and managed till it be dedicated * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cognationem habet cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rectus nam initiare aliquid est illud recté disponere Aven This in General but I must not leave the Exhortation thus I will go over the Particulars that make up this House-dedication and press them upon you distinctly CHAP. V. The Particular Branches of House-Dedication urged 1. FIrst therefore Enter upon your Houses by solemn Prayer and Praise These two are as it were the staple Duties of Religion In the One we acknowledg what we want in the other what we have In the one we testifie our own emptiness in the other God's goodness In the one we take from God in the other we give to God But 't is not for me to run out upon these in the general nature or notion of them I am only to speak to them according to the present consideration That which I have to do is this to exhort you as the good Providence of God shall fix you in New Habitations that you would make your Entrance by Solemn Prayer and Praise You know what I mean by Solemn Prayer and Praise that hath been already opened You must have the foundations of your Houses twice laid they are first laid by your workmen in a common and literal sense then they must be laid by your selves again in a spiritual and religious sense
behave myself wisely in a perfect way O when wilt thou come unto me I will walk within my House with a perfect heart And then he sets down his Resolution as to the Member◠of his House he would have such about him as were godly and as for wicked and irreligious persons he would have nothing to do with them they should not dwell in his House nor tarry in his sight v. 7. O that we had more of David's spirit to be for House-dedication and thus to pursue and make it good But how few are there that write after this Copy The most are altogether regardless of this they take in any into their Houses the precious and the vile are all alike to them let them be Swearers Sabbath-profaners enemies to God and his ways that 's all one to them if some poor worldly Interest may be but served if their work and business may be but done they are satisfy'd and look no farther whether the person have any sense or savour of Religion that they never regard Nay O that there were not some who are only shy of taking in such into their Houses who make profession of God the worser the Servant is the fitter he is for their turn These are perfect Antipodes to holy David And as their sin here is very great so their account hereafter will be very sad I hope better things of the most of you in this City yet I think it necessary to stir you up to the greatest zeal and care and circumspection that is possible in this matter Assuredly it will never go well as to private Houses and this Dedication-work will be altogether insignificant till men be more conscientious and careful about the several Branches and Members of their Families Let me be earnest with you to fill up your Houses with such as are religious Let not your Houses be like Noah's Ark wherein the clean and the unclean were strangely jumbled together but let them be like little Churches wherein there is no such mixture O what a blessed thing would it be if every Family was as a little Church It hath been thus and might be so again if men would but do their duty There was a Church in the House of Aquila and Priscilla Rom. 16.5 1 Cor. 16.19 Salute the Brethren which are in Laodicea and Nymphas and the Church which is in his House Col. 4.15 So Philem. 2. And to the Church in thy House It may be asked What were these Churches in these Houses Some make them to be the Saints who in those times of Persecution did there privately meet Vid. Engl. Annot upon Gen. 18.19 for the Worship of their God Others make them to be the Body of the Families of these persons which were called Churches partly for those holy Duties that were there performed and partly for the religiousness and holiness of the members thereof Surely this latter sense is not to be rejected though I will not say that it is primarily and mainly intended in these expressions Now will you endeavour in this respect to have your Houses to be little Churches Will you fill up your Families with such as fear God Will you in taking persons into your Houses steer your course by Religion and religious considerations Let me draw this out plainly in particular Instances Are you to Marry to take an Husband or a Wife Make your choice and fix your resolution by Religion let piety have the decisive and casting voice in this grand Affair Other things may be ey'd and considered in their proper place and bounds as Birth Parentage comeliness of person sweetness of Nature suitableness But the great thing that must weigh down the ballance is this Doth he or she fear the Lord This is that which must preponderate and which must chiefly be in your eye Beauty and Portion and Honour are poor things to go by 't is Religion Grace Piety that must regulate and determine the Choice This is to marry in the Lord as the Apostle exhorts 1 Cor. 7.39 When we do it not upon any by-respects or external motives as preponderating or being considered apart from the main but the great inducement is something that is spiritual this is Marrying in the Lord. O that this might be the rule which you would go by If Religion be any other than a Cypher how dare we not regard it in our most important choice says that * Bishop Hall Contempl. p. 1020. excellent Bishop Without this all Matches are miserable though they should be made up with hoards of wealth and heaps of Gold as high as Heaven crowned with Honours transcendent to the Stars Prepar before Death p. 47. says eminent Mr. Bolton Let me a little argue with you will you make those the objects of your dearest Love who have no share in the Love of God will you take those into intimate union and conjunction with your selves who have no union with Christ will you lay those in your bosome whom God will cast out of his sight for ever what agreement can there be 'twixt light and darkness 2 Cor. 6.14 In tantâ morum discordiâ Hieron ad Nepot quae potest esse concordia The one is for Holiness the other for Sin the one draws one way the other another this is the bane of that oneness and harmony that should be betwixt persons in this relation O the mischiefs that follow upon being unequally yoked how doth this imbitter all To have a religious David and a scoffing Michal a blessing Job and a cursing Wife a good Sampson and a treacherous Dalilah this must needs be very sad 'T is possible the unbelieving Husband may be sanctified by the believing Wife 1 Cor. 7.14 and so the unbelieving Wife by the believing Husband but we must not run our selves upon so great a snare upon presumption of a possibility See the Answer in Just. Mart. to the 90 Quest p. 447. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They need much grace who will not rather in this case receive hurt than do good the latter is but possible but the former is too probable Near Relations have a great influence upon men No wonder that Ahab sold himself to work wickedness when Jezabel his Wife stirred him up thereunto 1 King 21.25 And this is rendred as the reason why Jehoram did as the House of Ahab for the daughter of Ahab was his Wife 2 King 8.18 And for the most part it so falls out that the good are rather prejudic'd by the bad than the bad advantag'd by the good O you that are yet to dispose of your selves in Marriage look to your choice as near as you can pitch where the fear of God is Are not such to be found Judg. 14 3. Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy Brethren or among all my people that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistins 'T is sad so to marry in one day as to repent of
pray They that do make conscience of these if they sin other-ways God will punish them also though they pray I would not put you upon this duty as if this would secure you do what you will in other respects but do you pray walk in all things answerably to your prayers and see if God doth not even visibly bless you in this world 5ly Though praying Houses are not always preserved from external and common judgments yet often they are Polanus tells us of a Town in the Territory of Bern Out of Mr. Gurnal 3d. Par. ch 37 p. 413. consisting of ninty Houses which was in the year 1584 destroyed by an Earthquake all of it except the half of one House where the Master of the Family was earnestly praying with his Wife and Children upon their bended knees to God this was preserved And I question not but that many such Instances might be found out if I had time to make search O pray in your Houses peradventure God will secure them from outward evils but however if this be not done you shall not lose by what you do you your selves shall be secured from Hell intitled to spiritual and eternal blessings you may lose your Houses but your Souls are safe And why now should any say What Profit is there in serving God and in setting up Prayer in our Houses This objection though I have often had it in my thoughts yet here it came in suddenly and unexpectedly upon me and taking me when I was in haste I could not speak so fully to it as the nature of the thing requires Truly I fear the late Judgment instead of being improved to further Holiness and the fear and worship of God it hardens many in Atheism and Irreligion 4. Obj. I come to a fourth objection Say Some We would with all our hearts pray in our Families but our businesses are so many we have no time for it Ans No Time a most pitiful pretence I can scarce hear it with patience what no time to serve your God who gives you all your time to save your own and the souls of all the rest in your Families what no leisure for this Do you say no time that 's a meer pretence indeed it is No heart if you had but an heart for the duty you would find time enough for it O I beseech you set up Prayer in your Families morning and evening you have time enough for it Men * Non exiguum Temporis habemus sed multum perdimus Senec. V Non inopes ejus sed prodigi sumus Id. prodigally throw away their time and then they complain they have too little of it They can spend so much in dressing eating recreation sitting at an Alehouse or a Tavern and yet they want time for holy attendance upon God As if the Miller should pretend want of Water to make his Mill go when he lets it run wast O will this excuse you at the great day Lord we would have pray'd in our Families but we had no time for it you will be ashamed to make use of this excuse then and yet how is Conscience baffled with it here O that I might prevail with you to lay aside this objection and presently to set upon the duty what hath the world so many Hours from you every day and do you grudg God one hath God given you such a liberal proportion for the minding your affairs and will you not spare him a little morning and night what so much taken up with your Trade on Earth as to neglect your Trade with Heaven Shall the particular calling swallow up all and the general calling have nothing Shall the Servant shut the Master out of doors Luk. 10.41 42. Martha-like will you be cumbred with many things and neglect the one thing needful that which is of so great importance Is there any business to be compared with the Salvation of Souls and you have many Souls to mind Will that ever profit either you or yours which is gained by the neglect of God and duty 'T is not an hinderance but an help to you to begin the day with Prayer Melch. Adam in Vitâ Luth. Luther us'd to say Benè orasse est bene studuisse To have pray'd well it is to have study'd well And therefore 't is said of him That he spent three hours every day in Prayer and Meditation Easque studiis aptissimas Your business will go on the better for praying A whet is no let is our Proverb The Traveller doth not lose by his baiting Bishop Bromrigge Serm. 1. p. 6. In Gerson's time the Friers had a foolish opinion that no man was the older for the time he spent at hearing of Mass Nemo senescit pro tempore quo quis Missam audit 'T is true in my case though 't is false in theirs Time spent in the service and worship of God is no loss to a man You pretend business what abundance of business did lie upon the hands of Job a person so rich that had so vast an estate to manage who also was a Magistrate Job 1.5 and yet every day he rose up early in the morning and offered burnt-offerings for his Children And so Joshuah he was a General a Ruler doubtless his business was very great yet this would not take him off from Family-Worship Josh 24.15 I and my House c 'T is but rising-early as Job did and you 'l get time enough for Secret and Family-Prayer Why do we complain of the want of Time when we snort it away upon a bed of Idleness O Sluggard rise and call upon God be at thy Closet and House-devotions betimes The poor birds are chirping and singing their Mattens very early and wilt thou sleep and sleep away thy praying time O do not so I 'le shut up this Head with that advice of the old Rabbins Minue negotia ut vaces legi O whoever thou art if thy businesses be indeed unmanageable with an holy course lessen them ut vaces Deo that thou mayst have the more time and leisure to wait upon thy God 5 Obj. One Objection more and I have done Some plead inability They would pray but alas they cannot Ans Cannot pray that 's a sad word indeed But is it so Hast thou liv'd so long in the world and hast thou not learned yet to pray Canst thou govern thy Family provide for thy Family train them up in their several Arts and occupations and do all things that are proper and is this the only thing which thou canst not do thou canst not pray Canst thou tell the Physician how 't is with thy self and with thy relations and canst thou not tell God humbly and reverently how the case stands as to thy self and thine Surely if this be so 't is very sad and know that this inability is thy sin and therefore will be no excuse to thee O labour after a praying spirit for the time to
and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Parallel to which is that Col. 3.16 Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Here are three words Psalms Hymns and Songs concerning the * vid. Gatak Adver Sacra l. 1 c. 10 p 124. difference or distinct notions of which Divines do somewhat differ Hierome goes one way Beza another Grotius a third Zanchy a fourth He that pleases may look into them or peruse Bodius Davenant and other Interpreters upon the Places cited for 't is not my intention to stay upon this Clearly the Apostle alludes to the Hebrew Titles or Divisions of David's Psalms They were divided into Mizmorim Tehillim and Shirim which Titles the Septuagint render by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These are the words used here by the Apostle and therefore the inference is good that David's Psalms were in his eye and that he directs Christians under the Gospel to the singing of David's Psalms when he enjoines them to speak to themselves in Psalms and Hymns and Songs these being the Titles commonly applied to those Psalmes and by which they were usually understood You have another Precept for the Duty Jam. 5.13 Is any afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalms So that you see we have an Institution to ground our practise upon upon which the singing of Psalms becomes not only a thing lawful but also matter of duty And what the * Affirmabaâ—â— hane fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo quafi Deo dicere secum invicem Pliny in that most remarkable Epist Lib. 10. Epist Ep. 97. Tertul. speaks of Hymni antelucani Apol. c. 2. c. 39. Vt quisque de Scripturis sanctis vel de propriâ— ingenio potest provocatur in medium Deo canere This as to the manner was something extraordinary vid. Just. Mart. in Quaest. Resp ad Orthod Quaest. 107. p 462. practise of the Primitive Christians was in their Assemblies as to this is very well known out of Pliny Tertullian Justine Martyr and others I should very much swell up this Discourse should I fall upon the drawing out of the full strength of the Scriptures alledged upon the vindicating of them from all those cavils by which some would evade them upon the answering of all objections made against the duty and the explication of all difficulties about it for brevity sake I will pass by all this and only refer you for fuller satisfaction in all these things to those who have to very good purpose written upon this Argument as Mr. Cotton Ford Sydenham Dr. Manton upon James 5.13 with several others That this Singing of David's Psalms was used in the Temple-worship cannot be deny'd for 't is said 2 Chron. 29.30 Hezekiah commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the Seer That 't is now to be used in publick Worship as a part of it cannot be denied neither David in Psal 95. reckoning up the parts of publick Worship he instances in Prayer v. 6. in Hearing v. 7. in Singing v. 1. c. That it ought to be used in Family-Worship also cannot be deny'd neither Surely they that grant the duty must grant also that 't is very necessary proper useful in private as well as in publick O therefore let me desire you to setup this holy exercise in your Houses Pray there read the Scriptures there and sing Psalms too there The general omission of this is much to be lamented what through profaneness in some and groundless scruples in others how few Families are there in this City in which 't is practis'd How many Houses may a man pass by upon a Lord's day before he come to one where he hears this Heavenly Musick You that are Masters of Families be perswaded to make Conscience of this duty let the praises of the most High God be sung in your Families O what a blessed duty is this how is Heaven delighted with it how is the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And much he adds touching the excellent effects of this Ordinance Just Martyr ut suprà heart raised the affections excited and warmed by it how doth it please God to come in upon the soul in this as well as in other ordinances O the sweetness delight that the sincere Christian finds in it and the profit advantage that he reaps by it To my thinking saith one there is not a more lively resemblance of Heaven upon Earth than a company of godly Christians singing a Psalm together You rejoice in God you rejoice in those many mercies you receive from God Singing is the best expression of your rejoycing Are you merry let not your mirth run out in vain frothy things but in the singing of Psalms Paul and Silas were full of joy and they fall upon singing The Church upon the receipt of eminent Mercy vented her joy this way Psal 126.2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing Let it be thus with you The holy Spirit of God puts men upon this rejoicing That of the Apostle in the connexion is very observable He had dehorted from drunkenness with Wine Eph. 5.18 by way of opposition he exhorts to be filled with the spirit what will follow upon this He tells you ver 19. Speaking to your selves in Psalms and Hymns c. Where any are full of the Holy Ghost this will certainly put them upon holy expressions of their joy in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs Look as men that are full of Wine or Drink they 'l be singing and venting their mirth in their carnal and sinful way so they that are full of God they 'l be singing too but 't is Psalms and spiritual Songs 't is not chanting to the viol Amos 3.5 't is not Songs that God will turn into lamentation as he threatens Amos 8.10 but 't is that which is spiritual in which their holy joy doth run out It would grieve a man as he walks in your streets by your Taverns and Alehouses Lord what tearing ranting cursing singing in a scurrilous and filthy manner may he there hear from day to day 'Pray let something else be heard in your Houses you that profess God and have any sense of Religion O let men hear you singing of Psalms and therein celebrating the memorials of God's mercies to you If you be filled with the spirit you will as certainly do this as men that have drunk to excess do the other And especially upon the Lord's day let this duty be performed in your Houses this is work very proper to to the Sabbath See Psal 92. The title of it is A Psalm for the Sabbath day And how doth it begin thus It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and