more generally and then more particularly in the several branches of it THirdly I come to fall upon that Vse 3 where I must make a longer stay than I have done in what goes before I would most earnestly and O that I might do it effectually exhort perswade urge men entirely heartily sincerely to devote and dedicate themselves to God this I would press upon all be they high or low rich or poor noble or ignoble learned or unlearned young or old for God requires it of all and none are exempted from this self-dedication Shall I not prevail with some amongst these many to come in to God and to give up themselves to him Shall the net be cast in the midst of so many and shall none be caught â—s the duty which I am to press in it self so reasonable so unquestionable so attractive and yet shall I not succeed in the pressing of it May I gain but one soul to God in the discharge of this duty that one soul would be a sufficient recompence for my pains in this discourse but surely I shall gain more I would promise to my self that many will be wrought upon did I not remember that the old Adam was too hard for young Melancthon The old Adam and the old Serpent are great opposers of self-dedication Rev. 12 9. Satan sets himself with all his might to hinder it if he might have his will not a soul should come up to it 2 Cor. 4.4 he is the God of this world and therefore would have all dedications made unto himself he knows the sinners dedication to God is his dethroning and therefore no wonder he is so much against it And besides this opposition ab extra there is also abundance of opposition ab intra the old Adam the corrupt nature within cannot brook or submit to this that a man should resign devote himself to God Self-dedication meets with self-opposition Men are not willing to alienate their estates to others naturally they are more averse to alienate and make over themselves to God they say in their hearts to him what Nabal said to David Who is David c. 1 Sam. 25.10 11. Shall I take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my Shearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be Thus depraved reason argues against God who is the Lord What saith the poor unconverted sinner shall I take my self my whole self my heart my estate my parts my love my life and give it all to God whom I do not know Or so far as I do know him I do not like him This is the entertainment that Gods gracious messages for self-resignation and self-dedication do find in the world And indeed was it not for that Almighty grace which it pleases the Lord sometimes to exert thereby to conquer all this opposition from Satan and self there would be no such thing as personal dedication not a man would thus do We might Preach Print urge the duty with the most rational convincing pressing considerations and yet all be in vain And therefore I must lay the stress of my hopes for success in the pursuing of this exhortation wholly upon God and the efficacy of his grace The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God 2 Cor. 10.4 5. to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ It being so before I speak to man let me with all humility and holy fervor thus speak to the divine Majesty O blessed God accompany bless make effectual that word of advice that a poor worm is now to give let thine own spirit and the power of thy grace set it home upon the Conscience and let the stubborn hardened sinner yield to it and to thee by it It is designed for thee let it be blessed by thee O let the day of thy * Psal 110.3 power dawn upon men that they may be willing to surrender up themselves to thee Give special grace to them that they may give whole self to thee Work what thou requirest and require what thou wilt Destroy all hellish idolatrous cursed Dedications to sin the flesh the world and bring the soul to the Heavenly Holy dedication of it self to thee O so work upon the wills of them that shall read these lines that they may immediately peremptorily resolve for thee and say others have had propriety in us and dominion over us but now Isa 26.13 from this day forward for ever we will be the Lords O let not me press this upon others and yet be a stranger to it my own self These are some of the inward breathings of my soul that God knows to whom I here speak I come to the exhortation Dedicate your selves to God 'T is requisite that I should open this and then enforce it upon you Self-dedication is either common and outward or special and inward The first is done in Baptism this is Baptismal dedication all that are baptized visibly profess that they have dedicated themselves to God I am not to press this upon you because 't is done already The second is either habitual or actual Habitual is that which is implanted in the soul in the work of conversion in the participation of the divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 in the New creature 2 Cor. 5.17 whereever grace is and as soon as ever grace is wrought the man doth habitually or virtually dedicate himself to God Much of the Nature of grace lies in this for what is grace but personal dedication Actual is that which results from the habit as the branch from the root or the stream from the fountain when that which was latent in the habit is drawn forth into Act this is Actual self-dedication And this further is either more implicit or more explicit implicit which lies in the more inward and imminent acts of the soul as a man in the secret acts of his heart devotes himself to God explicit when a man in a more open and discernible manner doth thus do either by writing or word of mouth or some such open way he dedicates himself to the Lord. Now 't is this Actual dedication that I mainly drive at in order to which there must be habitual dedication for we cannot suppose the act without a previous habit the act flowing from the habit And I might too by several weighty Arguments put you upon Actual explicit self-dedication but because I would not set things too high at first I shall go no higher than Actual implicit heart-dedication I call it implicit only in contra-distinction to what is done by writing or word of mouth for otherwise 't is explicit too This necessarily must be the truth of grace requires it the grown Christian may be perswaded to the former but whoever will be a
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
seldom read the Scriptures nay many live in a total neglect and omission of the service of God they are swallowed up in a sensual brutish worldly life for religious exercises they seldom or never mind them nay O that there were not too many that did deride and scoff at these what shall I say to these Is this to be Christians Surely these are flat Atheists not Christians have these dedicated themselves to God that live as though they believed there was no God Have these resigned up themselves to his will who act in such an open contradiction to it How will Heathens and Turks rise up in judgment against these The Heathens when they had dedicated themselves to their Gods they would worship them according to their light The * See Mr. Rycauts History of the Ottoman c. B. 2. Chap. 1. p. 98. Chap. 23. p. 158. Turks pray five times every 24 hours Mahomet that villanous Impostor in his Alchoran speaks honourably of prayer he calls it the key of Paradise the pillar of religion and many such Elogiums he gives to it And he strictly enjoyned all his disciples to pray five times a day and the Turks are very careful in the observing of this injunction they have five great fundamentals in their religion and this is one to pray so often as I have said every day Lord what a sort of men are we Christians who have so many strict peremptory commands from our blessed Saviour for prayer and other holy exercises and yet we make no conscience of them O that men would either alter their course or abandon their Title they are a shame a reproach to Christianity what a Christian and not pray not read the Bible c. 't is a contradiction Well let these go I beseech you whoever you are that shall cast your eyes upon these lines to enter upon a constant course of duty comply with Gods will be religious pray without ceasing 1 Thes 5.17 come up to all acts of worship no time so well spent as time thus spent you will never repent of time thus spent you may and you will of that which is wasted in idleness drunkenness immoderate pleasures worldly pursuits but your praying-time hearing-time meditating-time Scripture-reading-time you will never repent of that or wish you had spent it otherwise And let me tell you there is that sweetness delight complacency refreshment in holy duties duly managed that if you did but experimentally feel it you would never be averse from them you would prefer duty before all carnal delights O let such especially who profess God be much in these let your hearts readily Eccho to Gods command as Davids did Psal 27.8 When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart said unto thee presently immediately as soon as ever the word was out of Gods mouth Thy face O Lord I will seek Do you not only yield a bare subjection to this will but let it be a willing chearful affectionate subjection pray and love prayer hear and love hearing receive the Sacrament and love receiving Let holy duties be naturalized to you so that you cannot live without them let them be to you more necessary than your daily food as the word was to Job Job 23.12 or than any thing that sustains the natural life let nothing part you duty be not diverted or taken off from it Daniel would rather cease to live than cease to pray Dan. 6.10 2. Surrender up your selves to the will of God as this refers to the life and the whole life so as to live in an obediential conformity to it especially where it refers to things moral that do eternally and indispensably oblige the creature This is holiness Complying with the will of God under the former Head is Religion under this 't is holiness for the nature of holiness consists in conformity to the will of God the standard measure rule of all righteousness O that you would act in an universal compliance with this will 'T is a great piece of Gods goodness that he hath given us so full so plain a revelation of his will in the word how we are to think speak live what we are to do what we are to shun how to trade converse eat drink how we are to order the whole conversation we have clear express discoveries of Gods will for all these now if you would resign up your selves to this will to order thoughts words actions the whole conversation conformably to it this would be self-dedication indeed real holiness And what a blessed thing is holiness let the world take heed how they disparage or deride holiness 't is Gods own glory he is glorious in holiness Exod. 15.11 and holiness is his glory Joh. 12.41 These things said Esaias when he saw his glory when was this when he heard the Seraphims crying one unto another Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole earth is full of his glory Isa 6.3 'T is a beautiful thing 't is called the beauty of holiness Psal 110.3 Nothing puts such a beauty and glory upon the creature as holiness 'T is that which is necessary to the future glory without holiness no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 But I must not lanch out into so vast an Ocean the summ of all is this in your whole course consult the will of God and give obedience to it walk by this rule square all your actions by it and mercy and peace shall be upon you Gal 6.16 live not according to the * Eph. 2.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wills of the flesh or the wills of men but live according to the will of God 1 Pet. 4.1 c. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us c. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the wil of the Gentiles c. In all your ways ask this question what would God have me to do And when you know this O see that you act accordingly Ah and like this will of God say just thus I would have it I would not have it otherwise I do not desire a better will or a better law only I desire a better heart Do thus and you are a people dedicated to God so much for self-surrender to the Preceptive will of God 2. There 's the Providential will of God you must resign up your selves to this will also A Christian carries it like himself when in every condition and in all occurrences he says with Pauls friends The will of the Lord be done Acts 21.14 when he is heartily willing that God should have his will and there is a kind of annihilation or exinanition of his own will when he speaks to God as once the Martyr Lord there shall be but one will betwixt thee and me and that shall be thy will And the truth is
is not kept straight at the first grows crooked till it be incurable young ones when let alone how soon doth sin get strength in them how naturally do they fall into the way of wickedness and then in time they are so hardened that there 's no reclaiming of them Would it not grieve you to see your Children to prove Drunkards Swearers Vnclean persons every way naught What can you expect better if you do not at the first principle them aright for God and duty O this is the bane of youth that root upon which much evil grows the omitting of serious early pious Education Daily experience is too sad a proof of what I say Fourthly Motive 4 your Care and Fidelity in Pious Education will be highly pleasing to God you cannot do a thing which he will take more kindly and more graciously accept of A clear proof of this you have in Abraham Gen. 18.17 c. And the Lord said Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty Nation and all the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him Why will God do all this for Abraham and give out such eminent acts of Grace to him you have the reason of it v. 19. For I know him saith God that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him All the great favours designed and promised by God to Abraham were laid upon his zeal and religious care as to those who were under him God would not hide Secrets from him because he would not hide the ways of God from them God will make him great in the world because he would make God great in his Family O how doth it please God when he sees Masters and Parents treading in the steps of Abraham and what blessings doth he heap upon such Holy Education will be a singular discovery of your love to God and if you discover your love to him he will discover and act his love to you That I may shorten as much as may be let me put things together Will you neglect the main what are the things of the world in comparison of Grace You are industrious about worldly things for yours to get wealth for them to leave them Estates Portions ample Possessions you spare no costs no pains for their Preferment the heightening of their parts the enriching of them with Natural knowledg and the like and will you do nothing for them as to that which is infinitely better than all this Is not the fear of God saving grace better than all this should not your love run out after the best things for them you love Will not Christ be better to your Children than the world Will the trial at the great day be this whether you have made them rich and knowing and great or whether you have made them religious gracious holy Did not the Heathen cry-out of the folly of Parents in this O saith Crates that I could so speak as to be heard by all men this I would then say to them * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charron 3. B. Ch. 14. p. 437. of VVisd What do you mean in laying out all your endeavours and industry to get wealth and in the mean time neglecting the education of those to whom all is to be left This is saith Charron as if a man should take care of his shoo but not of his Foot or as an a Dr. Reyn. Sermon upon Human Learning p 7. eminent Writer of our own hath it this is as great folly as to be curious for an handsome shoo and then to put it upon a gouty foot O Parents are not your Children dear to you Are not your souls knit to them by the strongest bonds and ligaments of Love and will you look on and let them perish for ever Can you be content to see your own Image upon them without God's Image Shall they lye as the Devils fallow Shall nothing but weeds and briars grow upon them for want of your mature cultivating of them Will you be cruel to the souls of these who are so near to you the not giving of good Education to them is unnaturalness nay the highest cruelty Will you be worse than Dives in Hell he would feign have had the damnation of his Relations prevented Luk. 16.27 c. and will you do nothing to prevent this as to your Children shall there be more of bowels in Pharoahs daughter towards the child of another when she saw the poor babe floating upon the waters than in you towards your own Children Shall the Heathens who had nothing but moral light and yet were very careful and solicitous about the Education of their Children rise up in judgment against you who have an higher light and condemn you O quanta damnatio à damnatis damnari as one says How great a condemnation is that to be condemned by the Condemned Will you like it when the wickedness of your Children will break your very hearts and you will not know how to help your selves nay your own Consciences will tell you that all this is the fruit of your Neglect Will it not be sad when your Children shall curse the day that ever they knew you and say as 't is in Cyprian Parentes sensimus Parricidas our Parents have been little better to us than Murderers and they that were the Instruments of our being have also been the occasions and means of our everlasting undoing Aetas Parentum pejoravis c. Horat. * Ista diligentius c. hoc tempore ubi videmus quantopere vires Diaboli in valuerint ut homines ad tanta flagitia grandia scelera pertrabat Fabric in Psal 30. Titu Are not the times you live in very evil Will you make them worse and worse Ah Lord what will become of Religion in England in a little time if Professors now do not mind the Education of Children 'T was promis'd Isa 58.12 They that shall be of thee shall build the old wast places O the sad wasts and ruins of Religion that are now amongst us and therefore O that your Children might be so brought up that they who are of you might build the wasts thereof I beseech you if you have any love to God to your own souls to your children to this poor Nation to Posterity make more Conscience of this duty than hitherto you have done Believe it Good Education is better than a great Portion Dr. Gouge of Family Duties p. 537. Do but cast into your Children the seeds of Virtue and Piety for other things you may trust God I do too well know that after the very best Education some may and do prove very bad as some ground let it be never so well dress'd till'd manur'd yet after all this nothing but
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
dedication make it the term and object of your dedication instead of the dedicating of it to God you dedicate all to it Have you dedicated your selves to God To you that readily prostitute your selves to a course of sin to all vicious and unholy practices 1 King 21.20 you that sell your selves to wickedness Eph. 4.19 that give your selves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness you that do in effect say to sin we are thine you that are drunkards swearers cursers Adulterers Sabbath-profaners c. Have you dedicated your selves to God To you who are immers'd in the world you that steep your selves in pleasures and sensual delights who mind nothing but eating drinking gaming c. and with-hold not your heart from any joy let it be what it will Eccles 2.10 you that mind earthly things Phil. 3.19 that let the fervor of your spirits the torrent of your desires the strength of your endeavours run out after riches profits honors preferments worldly accomodations you that instead of forsaking the world for God can forsake God for the world as Demas did 2 Tim. 4.10 you that place your happiness in these sublunary things Have you dedicated your selves to God To you who give up your selves to Satan may be you are not by the Church given up to Satan which is usually interpreted of excommunication 1 Cor. 5.5 1 Tim. 1. ult But which is much worse as the disease is worse than the remedy you give up your selves to him you readily obey this Prince of the power of the air Ephes 2.2 that ruleth in the chidren of disobedience 2 Tim. 2.26 you are taken captive by him at his will he bids you go and you go come and you come no sooner doth he tempt but you fall in with the temptation all the day long you are doing his work and promoting his interest in the world Have you dedicated your selves to God To you who go to the Church on the Lords day and attend upon the worship of God on the Lords day Non est vera Religio quae cum Templo relinquitur Lactant. and all the week after neglect God scarce a word of God unless it be in taking his name in vain scarce a secret prayer scarce the reading of one Chapter in the Bible all the week after Have you dedicated your selves to God Away away for shame do not pretend to this high and holy Dedication your case is so evident that you scarce are within the verge or compass of self-examination 't is notorious you have not dedicated your selves pray never pretend to it But there are others who are spun of a finer thread who bid fairer for Heaven they are free from those works of the flesh which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manifest Gal. 5.19 and which proclaim to all the world Non-dedication they make a fair profession are unblamable in their conversation make Conscience of performing holy duties and many good things are done by them surely these have dedicated themselves to God O that it was so indeed O that all who carry it fairly in the sight of men were sincere in their self-dedication to God! But are there not thousands that come up to this and are professors and live under Church-priviledges and are well thought of by the people of God and yet for all this their dedication is not hearty and thorough and upon this defect they shall miscarry to all eternity How should this awaken all plausible out-side-Christians with the utmost diligence to search how things stand betwixt God and them as to this matter As to evidences for the help of such as shall desire to fall upon examination I shall not need to expatiate upon that Argument having shown what self-dedication is by that every man may know whether he be come up to it yea or no. Read over the particulars in which it lies and as you go along make such reflexions as these are O my soul tell me have I given my self to God Have I ever by a deed of gift signed and sealed made over my self to God Have I given him my heart my love joy delight desires ah and my life too Is my will melted into his will Is there an obediential submissive frame of spirit in me Am I upon serious deliberation come to an issue to resolve for God Is my resolution like the Laws of the Medes and Persians Esth 1.19 never to be altered Do I carry it as a person who is impropriated set apart for God and his service Have I entred into covenant with God and bound my self to the performance of all the conditions thereof Is the glory of God dear to me â—s this the great end of my life that the great God may be honoured by such a worm as I am O my soul farther I ask thee do I value God more than all and set an higher rate upon him than upon all the world besides Is his favour more to me than life do I dread his anger more than death Is this my greatest ambition to live in the fruition of God and in constant communion with him And for other things can I be content to have them or to want them as God shall see best Do I fear every sin be it never so little Do I baulk no duty be it never so hard Do I shun no cross be it never so heavy when God calls me to it Is it the will of God that hath the regency and superiority in me Will I suffer nothing to stand in competition with my Lord and Master Have I got victory over all my spiritual enemies Is sin mortified self dethroned the world laid low in my heart Can I be do suffer any thing for God and my dear Redeemer Do I like salvation in Gods way and upon his terms Do I cleave to God with full purpose of heart Do I love whatever I see of God and all that belong to God Have I been savingly convinced of the excellency of God and of his ways Have I made over my self to him personally considered to the Father to be commanded governed by him to the Son to be redeemed justified saved by him in the way of faith and obedience to the Holy Ghost to be renewed sanctified guided led acted by him I say thus deal with your souls upon these interrogatories and by the answer of Conscience you will be able to say something 1 Pet. 3.21 as to the thing enquired after whether you have indeed dedicated your selves to God I beg pardon that I pass over these things thus briefly and may be too I have not spoke so distinctly to them as I should have done as to the first I would fain shorten this works as much as I can and I shall have occasion more to enlarge in some other Heads as to the second the enquiring serious awakened Christian minds matter more than Method CHAP. 4. Personal Dedication pressed first
in Marc. 12.33 de Holocaustis burnt-offering was to be offered up wholly Head and Body and Legs and Entrals all were to be burnt on the Altar therefore it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in this it differed from the peace-offering and thank-offering where part was Gods and part the Priests and part the offerers We must be as the burnt-offering all without us within us all that we are or have must be dedicated to God nothing must be kept for our selves but only in subordination to God The Apostle in that Scripture so often cited bids us to present our selves a living sacrifice Now as Grotius observes this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the general word sacrifice per excellentiam dicitur de Holocausto so 't is often taken so that we must not only offer up our selves to God but we must offer our selves as an Holocaust And this is that which I am driving at our giving of our selves to God must be entire As for example we are made up of body and spirit both are Gods and both must be given to him 1 Cor. 6.20 We have an heart that must be given too that God in special calls for Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy * My God what is a Heart That thou shouldst it so eye and woo c. Herb. Poem p. 54. Heart All we give is nothing without this God values not your estates your external services if you withhold your heart from him where 's your love to God if you do not give him the heart As Dalilah said to her Husband Judg. 16.15 How canst thou say I love thee when thine heart is not with me Ah and God will have the whole heart too He loves a broken heart but not a divided heart 'T is said of Josiah He turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul 2 Kings 23.25 O if you dedicate your selves to God let him have all the heart and all the soul The heart is the seat of the affections to give the heart and all the heart to God it is to let all the affections in their greatest fervour run out after him How doth the Creature please God when his love delight joy desire fear are principally placed upon himself Again you have parts gifts abilities interests estates give all to God He gives to you that you may give to him whatever gifts or endowments you have you had them from God let them be imployed for God May be you are men of interest O that you would improve it for God or you have full estates honour God with your substance you shall not lose by it So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine Prov. 3.9 10. you have them for this end God doth not give men riches that they may spend and gratifie their lusts that they may live high wear rich apparel build magnificent Houses but that they may do good and serve and honour the Donor with all they have Give back your estates to God that is resign them up to his will imploy them in his service improve them for his glory be ready to part with them for his sake O that where God hath given these things he would also give an heart thus to return them to himself I beseech you consider what you have within without and let God have it all This is to be entire in your giving and so consequently in your Dedication In the Covenant of Grace God intirely gives himself and his All to us in our Dedication we must do the same to him as upon that I can say Deus meus omnia God is mine and so all is mine so upon this I must say Ego fuus omnia I am bis and all that I have is His. 2. Secondly There is subjection in reference to this your dedication must be entire According to the entireness of a mans subjection so is the entireness of his dedication the entireness of the former lies in the universality of obedience to the whole will of God when the heart is brought obedientially to close with every command of the word then its subjection is entire and full Thus then you must dedicate your selves be willing to live in an universal subjection to Gods will As there must be no reserves in giving so there must be no reserves or partiality in doing Give all and do all then the dedication is right and genuine This is in the phrase of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fulfil obedience 2 Cor. 10.6 to * Vajemalle Achari Perfecit post me Vers Syriaca fulfil after God so 't is in the Original 't is spoken of Caleb Numb 14.24 to be compleat in all the will of God Col. 4.12 to be righteous in all the commandments of God as 't is said of Zechary and Elizabeth Luke 1.6 O let it be thus with you whoever thou art that professest thy self to be a Christian and that thou hast dedicated thy self to God look to the extent of thy obedience that it be adequate and commensurate to the whole will of God where the heart is sincere it will be thus as lines that are streight put them together they will all along be contiguous so where the heart is right it suits and joyns with the whole law when you bring it thereunto Davids sincerity lay in this 't was a very high character that God gave of him when he stiled him A man after his own heart now what was this grounded upon upon his integrity in his obedience Acts 13.22 A man after my own heart which shall fulfil all my will He that is for a full compliance with Gods will he 's just such a person as God desires he hits exactly with his heart O sirs that you would come up to this be not partial in your obedience that 's to be as a cake bak'd on one-side Ephraims partiality is set forth by that allusion Hos 7.8 Let me assure you where your obedience is partial your dedication is but hypocritical Many go very far they do much and they seem to come very near the matter and yet they fall short Mr. Vines upon Numb 14.24 because here they are defective There 's a great difference betwixt obeying in part and being partial in obedience The first is from the imperfection of the state the other is from the hypocrisie of the heart He that obeys in part would do more and is troubled that he doth no more he that is partial in obedience thinks he doth enough and if he should do more he would do too much The best of Saints obey but in part but 't is your insincere professors that are partial in their obedience Take heed of this I beseech you do not pick and chuse to keep one command and to break another but carry an equal respect to all then you shall not be ashamed Psal 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when
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
to sing praises unto thy name O most High c. Psal 100.2 Serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing O the admirable mercies that you are to commemorate upon this day That ever to be adored Work of your redemption by Christ is to be fresh upon your thoughts this day should not this put you upon singing of Psalms That you enjoy the Gospel are admitted into God's presence sit under his Ordinances meet with God in them these are signal mercies do you rejoice in them and will you not by Singing manifest your thankeful resentment of them I press you upon nothing but what hath been the custome of the people of God from age to age they would not let a Sabbath pass without singing of Psalms in their Families Set up this duty I intreat you it may possibly expose you to some derision and scorn from your carnal Neighbours but who will value the scoffs of Michals in the discharge of Duty O that as persons walk in the streets they might hear in many Houses in this City praying reading the Word repetition of Sermons singing of Psalms what a comfortable hearing would that be how doth it rejoice my heart when I hear this at any time When God hath inclined you to the duty then be careful that you perform it in a right manner I do not know any part of Worship wherein men do more generally miscarry than in this which I am upon O let it be so manag'd that you may please God profit your selves and edifie one another David's Psalms must be sung with David's Spirit as 't is usually expressed See that the heart be in the duty Ephes 5.19 Making melody in your heart to the Lord. There must be the external voice but the main thing is the Heart David would have both imployed in this service Psal 57.7 My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise v. 8. Awake up my glory c. He means his Tongue and he calls it his glory because that was the member by which he praised and so glorified God So Psal 108.1 O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my glory And Psal 71.23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee and my soul which thou hast redeemed I say look to the Heart that that be in the duty without this the voice is but bodily exercise and that profits not 1 Tim. 4.8 'T is the Heart that God minds the suavity tune ableness modulation of the voice is nothing to him 't is the melody of the Heart which pleases him Let the Heart and the whole Heart be engaged in this work See Psal 103.1 Luk. 1.46 Mind what you are about attend to the matter that you sing so Chrysost opens that of the Apostle of making melody in the heart by attending with understanding Many sing but they do not mind what they sing take heed of this Cum in conspectu Dei cantas Psalmos hoc tract a in mente quod cantas in voce 〈◊〉 modo bene vivendi Serm. 52. saith Bernard And let the Heart be affected and wrought upon by this every duty should have some influence and impression upon the heart and this too as well as any other should have this effect Doth the Psalm present me with the glorious excellencies of God the glorious works of God the precious mercies of God all this should affect my heart Is it a Psalm of Prayer of Praise whatever the matter be the Heart must be duly affected with it Vnderstand what you sing I will sing with understanding saith Paul 1 Cor. 14.15 though I conceive he speaks there of understanding rather in a Passive than in an Active sense Surely we cannot be affected with that which we do not understand And in an especial manner take heed that the carnal part being taken with the external melody do not steal away the Heart from God in the duty O how apt are we to be overcome by this the flesh is pleased and gratified by melodious and musical suavities and then the heart is lost and the spiritual part of the duty is lost How fully and Pathetically doth * Ita fluctuo inter periculum voluptatis salubritatis experimentum c. Quum tamen mihi accidit ut meam ampliùs cantus quam res quae canitur moveat poenaliter me peccare consiteor tum mallem non audire cantantem Ecce ubi sum Elete me cum pro me flete c. Aug. Confess lib. 10. cap. 33. Augustine bewail this as to himself But that I may shut up this See that you sing with grace in your Hearts as the Apostle commands Col. 3.16 Though you have not the faculty or skill of ordering your voices in so tuneable a manner yet be sure you sing with Grace in your Hearts This some do open by Thanksgiving or Thankfulness so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken 1 Cor. 15.57 2 Cor. 2.14 but the most by the exercise the actual stirrings up and excitations of Grace in the Heart or by gracious and holy dispositions of Heart O when you are singing let Grace be up as well as the voice let the one be stirred up as the other is lifted up let gracious affections desire love joy godly sorrow accompany you in the work such as are proper and suitable to the matter of the Psalm which is sung These things I could not but thus briefly hint to you And so I have done with the enforcing of the Second Branch of the Exhortation If you would advance Religion in your Houses and so dedicate them to God then set up the Worship of God the performance of Holy duties in your Families viz. Prayer Reading the Scriptures Singing of Psalmes I hope none will be offended because I have stay'd so long upon so common a subject and gone over that which Hundreds wrote of before 'T is true the subject is common but withal 't is of such importance that we cannot speak too much of it And as common as 't is I think 't is very rare I mean in men's practises Let the thing be done you shall hear no more of it from me but if not I hope some other person will re-assume this work and go over it again much more effectually and convincingly than I have done We must never let you alone till we have brought you to the doing of your duty And this both fidelity to our Master and also love to your Souls calls upon us for CHAP. VIII The Third Branch of the Exhortation urged viz. Religious Education I Go on to the Third Branch of the Exhortation As you desire to advance and set up Religion in your Houses let your Education of Children and others who are under your charge be religious That House cannot be look'd upon as dedicated to God where Religious Education is neglected Now the first step in this is Baptismal