belong to it are only such as tend to promote its essential tempers and duties. Now where is the cost of justice, mercy, humility and piety? All the cost lies in the denial of the lusts and passions which oppose them. Where is the cost of prayer and praise, of attending on God's worship, and convers ing with his word? The cost chiefly lies in conflicting with the reluctance of the heart to these duties. In all this there is nothing more than men will do, or seem to do, for their own worldly ends. The Pharisees could make a show of justice, charity, devotion, abstemiousness and mortification, in order to gain the world and exalt their character. And they carried the external show much beyond the mark of sincerity. It would have been cheaper and easier to be really pious, just and charitable, than to make all their hypocritical parade by praying in the streets, sounding a trumpet when they gave alms, fasting two or three times in a week, and disfiguring their faces, when they fasted.

Some people complain of the expense of main taining public worship: But without any complaint they can incur much greater expense to gratify their inordinate appetites and ungodly lusts.

Besides: A virtuous and wise man, in regard to the peace and happiness of society, will cheerful

encourage the morality of the gospel. To this end he knows public worship to be important, because it tends to promote knowledge, piety and virtue, without which society cannot be free and happy. If mankind can be governed by a sense of right and wrong, by a love of virtue and abhorrence of vice, by a hope of the favor, and a fear of the displeasure of God, this method will certainly be much better and much cheaper, than to rule them by the force and terror of bodily pains. In reality, then, the gospel, as a religious institution, costs us nothing; VOL. IV.

Z

for nothing more is required for its support, than what good citizens would cheerfully contribute for the benefit of civil society.

Now since God has made his service so plain and simple, so cheap and easy, surely we may perform it without complaining of cost and difficulty. We may apply the expostulation made with Naaman by his servants. "If the prophet had bidden thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much more, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean ?"

4. We ought not to grudge the cost, which God's service requires of us, for it requires only his own.

We are his creatures, and all that we have is his gift. When we yield to him all our possessions, and serve him with all our powers, we render to him what we have received. "Ye are not your own ;" says the apostle," for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and spirit, which are God's." When David had richly provided for building the house of God, instead of making a merit of his liberality, he thanked God for his ability. "Now, O God, we thank and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. O Lord, all this store, which we have prepared for thy holy name, cometh of thine hand; it is all thine own. But thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness."

5. When we offer to God that which costs us nothing, we are dissatisfied with it ourselves; we distrust its goodness, and fear its rejection.

There is a pleasure of mind, which attends religion; but then it must be a pure, entire and uniform, not a hypocritical, partial and superficial religion. Where the heart is not engaged, the work, if done

at all, is done with reluctance, and consequently can yield no pleasure. "What a weariness is it?" says the hypocrite. He dares not wholly neglect relig ion: But he does as little as his conscience will al low, and excuses himself as far as he can. He makes much of the little which he does, substitutes the form for the power of godliness, a few ceremonies for real good works, and external performances for inward virtues. And after all that he has done, he cannot be fully satisfied; for he feels a strong suspicion, that his religion is vain, his heart corrupt and his service unacceptable. The good man has this for his rejoicing, the testimony of his conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity he has his conversation in the world. He feels his heart consenting to the gospel; he perceives its steady influence in governing his life; he is conscious of an aim to approve himself to God; and he enjoys sweet peace in his soul. "Great peace have they who love God's law, and nothing shall offend them." Hope and comfort spring spontaneously from sincerity of heart. "If our heart condemn us not, we have confidence toward God." But the hypocrite's hopes and comforts are forced and artificial: They are accompanied with distrust: "His heart condemns him; and God is greater than his heart, and know. eth all things."

6. God has not been sparing in his bounty to us; we should not be grudging in our service to him. He gives us liberally without upbraiding; we should serve him cheerfully without complaining.

He daily loads us with benefits. He affords us a thousand enjoyments in this world; and has provided for our eternal happiness in the next. He has given his word to instruct us in our duty, sent forth his Son to redeem us from guilt, and shed down his Spirit to sanctify us from sin, and make us meet for sanctify

heaven. By the mercies of God, let us be persuaded to present ourselves holy and acceptable to him, which is our reasonable service. When we con template the bounties of his providence, and the wonders of his grace; the riches of the heavenly inheritance, and the price with which it was purchased, can we think of offering unto God in return that which costs us nothing a merely external, superficial, heartless religion-or only some future service to be paid in the time of sickness or old age? Is this all that we have to give in acknowledgment of the riches of his goodness? Will he accept the torn and lame for sacrifice? Surely we would not think of making such a return to a human benefactor.

7. We should be willing to offer to our Lord and Savior, that which costs us something, for he offers to us that which cost him much. He offers us the pardon of sin and an inheritance in heaven, which he has purchased by his own blood. "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from iniquity, and purify to himself a people zealous of good works." "This love of Christ should constrain us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all, that we who live should not henceforth live to ourselves, but to him that died and rose again." "Forasmuch as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, let us arm ourselves with the same mind-and no longer live, the rest of our time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." The sufferings of Christ for the sins of men are, with sincere Christians, a powerful argument to holiness of life. Paul felt this argument in himself, and he pressed it on others. "I am crucified with Christ," says he, "nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life, which I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself

for me.' 29

He says to the Roman converts,

"Our

old man is crucified with Christ, that henceforth we should not serve sin. As he died unto sin once, and liveth unto God, so reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof, but being made free from sin, have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life."

We have seen, this day, some of the many ways, in which men offer to God a religion, which costs them nothing—an empty unsubstantial religion without spirit and life: We have seen also the folly and injustice of thinking to satisfy God with such an unmeaning service.

The result of our meditations should be a full resolution, that we will devote ourselves wholly to God; will consecrate to his glory all that we have, and all that we can do; will serve him with an undivided heart; will embrace all his commands without exception; will bow to his pleasure, when it contradicts our own; will trust his promises in our greatest darkness; will be contented with our condition, however perplexed; will follow the call of his providence, though we know not whither it may lead us; will pursue the path of known duty, whatever difficulties may embarrass us; will secure the happiness of the world to come, whatever we may hazard in this world; reckoning, that all the sufferings and all the enjoyments of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, that shall be revealed.

Let us well understand what religion is in its temper and practice, what assistances accompany it, and what rewards await it; and then say, whether it can cost us so much in this world, as will justify us in renouncing its prospects in another. We are to