The Christian must serve God with the faculties of the whole Man. of the excellence of his moral government, with a deep, a just sense of our own entire unworthiness and incapacity to please Him, who cannot behold iniquity; of our inability to procure peace to ourselves, or any thing above the low gratifications of a corrupt and fallen world. With this impression fixed and permanent on the mind, we throw ourselves with sorrow and contrition at the foot of the cross, and for the merits of our once crucified, but now glorified Redeemer, implore from the throne of grace that information, strength, and assistance, which He hath promised to those who supplicate the Father faithfully in his name. Here are our practical means of grace, of that grace to which our own efforts can any way contribute; of that grace which is attainable through the knowledge of revelation. Without this preliminary exercise in our own souls of the powers divinely given, we cannot obtain the grace efficient to salvation. Without this beginning we cannot yield and enure the faculties to righteousness. But, this being done, the Spirit of God, working with our spirits, subdues in us the influence of sin, enables us to withstand the allurements of the The Christian must serve God with the faculties of the whole Man. the world, the suggestions of the evil angel, and every enemy to our virtue, from within or without; teaches us to account all the exquisite and most valued enjoyments of the ungodly as dust in the balance against the love of Christ, the righteousness and blessing of God, the ineffable glories of eternity. What now shall we say is the course of thought requisite to obey God in works of righteousness? Added to a full and affecting conviction of our own weakness, corruption, and vileness, of our need of divine comfort and assisting grace, of the wonderful love of God in giving his only son to be a propitiation for our sins, of the dear price with which Christ hath purchased us to be to Him a peculiar people, of the shocking guilt and ingratitude, as well as the inevitable perdition, of keeping ourselves from Him; it is an habitual and delightful meditation on God, his attributes, and his works; on his power, his majesty, and perfection, on his beneficence, his manifold mercies, his gracious promises; on the fitness of obedience, the beauty of holiness; on the happiness that must be consequent to The Christian must serve God with the faculties of the whole Man. to doing the will of Him, who is the fountain of all excellence and happiness; on the wonderful scheme of the redemption in the first promise of it, in the preparation for it through so many ages of the world to its completion at the fulness of time; on the transcendent benefits of the Gospel, on the joy and glory of the everlasting kingdom therein promised to all, who believe its truths, and do its commands. This direction of thought will beget an awe of the Divine judgements, a love of the Divine goodness, a trust in the Divine promises, a submission to the Divine will, a thirst after righteousness, in contempt or abhorrence of the mean and impure enjoyments of a degenerate, although magnificent and imposing world. Hence we are awakened to seek out with diligence, and embrace with alacrity, the things acceptable to our Almighty benefactor; to exert and improve every faculty in His service; to devise every expedient for the true honour, the present peace and enjoyment, and the everlasting happiness of man; for conciliating the favour of Him, who gives, and alone can The Christian must serve God with the faculties of the whole Man. ́can give, the beneficent, holy, and happy life of the Christian in this world, to the obtaining of the crown of glory prepared in his eternal mansions. Hence the mind acquires a constant disposition, a settled temper, of worship, and resignation. With the eye of faith it ha bitually looks into eternity apprehending the things reserved for manifestation hereafter; and, in anticipation of these, its thoughts, its images are gratitude, adoration, and praise; its desires, its designs, its delights, are obedience and goodness. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; on these it is engaged constantly and sedulously, to the exclusion of all guilty cares, anxieties, and pleasures. Let us, then, my brethren, look into our own hearts, and ascertain how far we have acquired this course of thought, and conduct of mind. For, whatever be the prevailing indifference to religion; with whatever gaiety and confidence, the votaries of pleasure, and the The Christian must serve God with the faculties of the whole Man. worldly minded, may neglect the worship of God, and break his commandments; with whatever composure or self complacency, in the days of health and prosperity, the professing Christian may offend in the more benign parts of the moral law, or fall short of the spirituality of the Gospel; the promises and threatenings of God are sure; the practices of men cannot make void the word, which He hath spoken by his apostles, who laid down their lives, for a testimony of its truth. To secure the rewards of Christianity, to be partakers of the resurrection of Christ, we must yield our members as instruments of righteousness unto God; we must devote the whole man to the prosecution of his will: the works of our hands must be directed, our skill and ingenuity must be exercised, the emotions of the breast must be cherished, the understanding must be improved and regulated, all acting in unison, to please and obey Him, and contribute, with whatever capacity He has gifted them, to his unchangeable and eternal purposes of goodness. It is not enough that we avoid evil, that we do not actually resist his will. > |