ye the Lord," says Deborah, " for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves." That which will be an acceptable work to God should be so to us; that which will be profitable should also be pleasant; and nothing can be more so than that to which we are directed in my text.

3. We should do so thankfully and without murmuring. It is not enough to be willing, but we must be thankful;— thankful that we have any thing to give to God, that we are inclined and enabled thus to dispose of it, and that he will graciously accept it. It should be our grief that we are ever alienated from him; our joy to bring back his revolted creature to him. Thus it is said, that "The people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly." The thing here commanded should be considered as a privilege, and not merely as a duty.

4. Humbly, and without ostentation. We should consider the meanness of what we bring, how long we have unrighteously withheld it, and that the present change in our temper and conduct is entirely owing to omnipotent grace. We run because we are drawn; and are willing because we are made so in the day of God's power. He is not our debtor for what we do, but we are his debtor for enabling us to do it. "Who am I," says David, "and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly?" In a word, our giving is only restoring; for so the word "render," in my text, signifies. It is returning to God that which was his property, and not ours.

5. Wholly, and without reserve. Not as Ananias, who kept back a part. All our powers, comforts, and enjoyments, all over which we have an influence or of which we are in possession, should be devoted to God: nothing - should be withheld from him who withholds not his mercy, his grace, his Son, his heaven, from us. The devil and the world say, like the harlot concerning the child, "Let it be neither thine nor mine;" but God will not have? if he cannot have the whole; a partial refusal

attended with the same bad consequences as one that is total.

6. For perpetuity, and without drawback. It is not a lending, but giving, that God requires; and such a giving as implies fixed resolution and determination of mind. "I have opened my mouth unto the Lord," says Jephthah, " and I cannot go back." What we do must be an act of judgment, and the fruit of conviction; and having done it, we should never recede from it: God's gifts are without repentance, and so should ours be.

7. In the whole of this transaction we should have an eye to Christ; Christ is the medium of all communication from God, and conveyance to him; our persons, services, and oblations, must all be accepted in the beloved. "Our God is a consuming fire," and there is no access to him without a mediator; and as his merit, so his strength should be regarded by us; for without it we can neither engage ourselves to God, nor stand firm to our engagements. "Let thine hand," says David, "be upon the Son of thy right hand," &c. "So will we not depart from thee."

In conclusion, I remark,

1. If all things before-mentioned are the Lord's, and that before we render them to him, then we have nothing that we can call our own.

2. How little have we conformed to the direction here given! What hath been done for God? Why, truly, little or nothing hath been done. How gracious was he; how ungrateful we have been!

3. If we refuse to comply with this direction, consider the consequences of such a refusal. God will punish it, nd we shall repent it too.

ye

the Lord," says Deborah, "for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves." That which will be an acceptable work to God should be so to us; that which will be profitable should also be pleasant; and nothing can be more so than that to which we are directed in my text.

3. We should do so thankfully and without murmuring. It is not enough to be willing, but we must be thankful;— thankful that we have any thing to give to God, that we are inclined and enabled thus to dispose of it, and that he will graciously accept it. It should be our grief that we are ever alienated from him; our joy to bring back his revolted creature to him. Thus it is said, that "The people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly." The thing here commanded should be considered as a privilege, and not merely as a duty.

4. Humbly, and without ostentation. We should consider the meanness of what we bring, how long we have unrighteously withheld it, and that the present change in our temper and conduct is entirely owing to omnipotent grace. We run because we are drawn; and are willing because we are made so in the day of God's power. He is not our debtor for what we do, but we are his debtor for enabling us to do it. "Who am I," says David, " and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly?" In a word, our giving is only restoring; for so the word "render," in my text, signifies. It is returning to God that which was his property, and not ours.

5. Wholly, and without reserve. Not as Ananias, who kept back a part. All our powers, comforts, and enjoyments, all over which we have an influence or of which we are in possession, should be devoted to God: nothing should be withheld from him who withholds not his mercy, his grace, his Son, his heaven, from us. The devil and the world say, like the harlot concerning the child, “Let it be neither thine nor mine;" but God will not have a part if he cannot have the whole; a partial refusal will be

attended with the same bad consequences as one that is total.

6. For perpetuity, and without drawback. It is not a lending, but giving, that God requires; and such a giving as implies fixed resolution and determination of mind. "I have opened my mouth unto the Lord," says Jephthah, "and I cannot go back." What we do must be an act of judgment, and the fruit of conviction; and having done it, we should never recede from it: God's gifts are without repentance, and so should ours be.

7. In the whole of this transaction we should have an eye to Christ; Christ is the medium of all communication from God, and conveyance to him; our persons, services, and oblations, must all be accepted in the beloved. “Our God is a consuming fire," and there is no access to him without a mediator; and as his merit, so his strength should be regarded by us; for without it we can neither engage ourselves to God, nor stand firm to our engagements. "Let thine hand," says David, "be upon the Son of thy right hand," &c. "So will we not depart from thee."

In conclusion, I remark,

1. If all things before-mentioned are the Lord's, and that before we render them to him, then we have nothing that we can call our own.

2. How little have we conformed to the direction here given! What hath been done for God? Why, truly, little or nothing hath been done. How gracious was he; how ungrateful we have been!

3. If we refuse to comply with this direction, consider the consequences of such a refusal. God will punish it, nd we shall repent it too.

SERMON XXXVIII.

ON THE SOURCES OF MINISTERIAL DELIGHT.

1 THESSALONIANS II. 20.

Ye are our glory and joy.

GLORY is one of the greatest, and joy one of the sweetest, words in any language; and both are here joined to signify the delight and satisfaction the apostle felt toward the church at Thessalonica.

I. To understand and improve these words, we may observe, 1. This must not be understood in a sense derogatory from the glory of Christ. He is the head of the church. He builds the temple, and he must bear the glory. He is the ocean from which all glory proceeds, and to which it ought to return; nor would faithful ministers rob him of it; they are willing to decrease, that he might increase. To him they ascribe both their abilities and success; and the crown that he puts upon their heads, they humbly cast at his feet. "Not I," says the great apostle, "but the grace of God that was with me;" and again, "Who is Paul? and who is Apollos?" Ministers are not the glory of the people, nor the people the glory of ministers, so as to eclipse or lessen the glory of Christ.

2. The apostle must here be supposed to speak in the judgment of charity, and generally, not of every individual; for though he was endowed with the gift of discerning spirits, yet he did not, and perhaps could not, always exercise it, but formed his opinion of others from what he saw in