experienced. Let not his grace bestowed on you be in vain. Here a question may be proposed, How may a person know whether he had communion with God or not? ANSW. Communion with God consists in the Lord's vouchsafing the influences of his grace to the soul, and the soul's returning them again in the exercise of grace. There are many marks of grace. I offer you two distinguishing ones from the text. MARK 1. The soul's giving itself wholly to the Lord, without exception of any thing, and standing to it: "Whose I am." People may give their hand, tongue, many things of theirs to the Lord, but none but these who have communion with him, will honestly give themselves wholly, without exception of one lust, or one cross, to him; and being deliberate, they stand to it. This is an evidence that the Lord has given himself to them, and they have received him by faith; for man's heart will never give their all to the Lord till it receive better.

MARK 2. Has religion now become your business? "Whom I serve." Have ye truly renounced the service of the devil, and of lusts, taken on the yoke of Christ in all its parts, making religion no more a by-hand work, to serve yourselves of it, but your chief work, your continued work, to serve the Lord in it? If you have had these, you have had communion with God; if not, you have not had it. To this some may reply, But, alas! I have not had what I would wish to have been at. In answer to this, consider what is remarkable here there were others who were the Lord's, besides Paul, in this ship; Luke, at least, whom, though the Lord left not without communion with himself in that dark hour, yet Paul only had the vision of the angel. You will accordingly observe, that every saint is not admitted to the same degree of communion with God, some enjoy more than others. All the disciples were not taken up to the mount of transfiguration, but only three of them. John was the beloved disciple, though Jesus loved them all, except the son of perdition. Some may be brought farther forward at one time, others at another time. Some may be full to the brim, when the enjoyments of others are very scanty. There is no reason to complain here; for, (1.) Ordinarily God proportions his people's present lifting up to their former down-casting: Isa. xl. 4, “ Every valley shall be exalted." Some need more communion with God in the way of conviction and humiliation, others in the way of comfort; but the heaviest heart, and the most humbled spirit, needs the greatest outletting of comfortable manifestations. And if God speak most comfortably to those who most need it, it is unjust to complain.

(2.) The greatest privilege is ordinarily followed with the greatest piece of work, 1 Kings xix. 7. God has hard pieces of service to

put into some people's hands beyond others. Paul must appear before Cæsar for the defence of the gospel, and therefore stood in most need of this manifestation to comfort and fortify him.

(3.) The backs of God's people are ordinarily strengthened in proportion to their burdens: and therefore the more liberal feast that a saint gets, he may expect the greater trial. If we compare the life of Isaac and Jacob, you will observe, that the latter had the greatest enjoyments of God; but so also had he the greatest trials of the two. As a suitable improvement of what has now been observed, let us, who have had communion with God in any measure, however small, not overlook the mercy, but thankfully entertain it. There is real communion with God in these two things. (1.) In longing desires after Christ Psalm xxvi. 9, " With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early." When the soul is touched with a desire of him above all persons and things, longing for the enjoyment of him as their portion, longing for his blood to sprinkle them, and his Spirit to sanctify them, it is an evidence of the Lord's discovering himself in some measure to that soul.-There is real communion with God, (2.) In real love to him, well-pleasedness with his covenant; Matth. xi. 6, "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." There can be no true love to Christ, which is not produced by his love to the soul: 1 John iv. 19, "We love him, because he first loved us." And no heart will be truly satisfied with the covenant, with the tenor, benefits, and duties of it, but that which, by the influences of the Spirit, is framed in conformity to it: "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power," Psalm cx. 3. If this has been your attainment, then cherish the spark. Quench not the Spirit. Satan will endeavour to rob you of it; but if it be tenderly watched and preserved, the Spirit will break out into a flame: Hos. vi. 3, "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord."-Let those who have had a more than ordinary meeting with God, and have been filled with consolation, admire God's mercy towards them, and prepare themselves for trials and temptations which will try their strength. God's children are suffered to eat no idle bread. Watch, therefore, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Carefully cherish and preserve what God has done for you, and improve it to your progress in sanctification. This is the true way to keep your candle shining.-Let us attend,

III. To the posture of the angel. He stood, he did not sit down, because he was not to stay. This was an extraordinary visit to Paul, he was not to look for this as his ordinary entertainment from heaven. Extraordinary manifestations are what we cannot expect to be continued, without interruption, while we are here. God will

have a difference betwixt heaven and earth. And as two summers are not to be looked for in one year, so a lasting heaven of comfort upon earth will not be found. Though the Lord may sometimes feed his people with strong sensible manifestations in this world, this is not their ordinary. They must for the most part live by faith, without extraordinary manifestations: 2 Cor. v. 7, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." Let Christians then lay their account with a struggling and wrestling life, with the clouds returning after the rain. For we are as those who travel by night, with the light of the moon, which sometimes shines clear, at other times hides her head under a cloud: Psalm xxx. 7, "Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled."-We are,

IV. To consider the time of this manifestation: "This night.” It was a sad night in that ship, all hopes of being saved were lost, and then the Lord appeared to help.-This may lead us to observe, that when things are brought to an extremity, this is a special opportunity which the Lord takes to appear for those that are his. This is the promise: Deut. xxxii. 36, "For the Lord will judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left." And agreeable to this has been the experience of the saints in many cases. Thus, as to the church of God in Egypt, their bondage was most hard, before the Lord delivered them. The reasons why the Lord does this are many. Among others,

1. By this the hand of God appears most eminent in the deliverance. The more desperate that the case be, the love of God in thinking upon his people, his wisdom in contriving their deliverance, his power in bringing it to pass, appear the more conspicuous: Isa. xxxiii. 10, "Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself." He has the greater revenue of glory, by curing the disease when past all hope.-Another reason is,

2. That it brings the greater advantage to the saints: John xi. 15, " And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent you may believe." For hereby their eyes are opened to see their own weakness more, their patience is tried, their faith in God confirmed and strengthened, and their high thoughts of God and his perfections raised to a higher pitch. As an improvement of this, I observe, that this affords ground of hope and comfort to the Lord's people, when matters are come to the lowest ebb with them, Zech. xiv. 7. Faith has ground to stand upon, when all things fail to sense. It is God's special time of beginning to work, when men can do no more. Thus Hagar at the well. Many a time the Lord makes the wheel of providence drive downward and downward, till we are almost at its extrimity; and then is the turning point.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

SERMON XLI.

ACTS xxviii. 23,

For there stood by me this night the angel of the Lord, whose I am, and whom I serve.

HAVING explained and improved the first branch of the text, I now come to the

ven :

Second branch, namely, Paul's special relation to the God of hea"Whose I am, and whom I serve." And this is the chief thing I would insist upon. And here Paul declares two things. 1. To whom he belonged: "I am God's, I own no other Father, Lord, Master, or Proprietor." The centurion might say, "I am Cæsar's ;" but Paul avows a more honourable Proprietor. 2. What was his business: "Whom I serve." He was on the service of that God to whom he belonged.

This word, "the Lord, whose I am," is very important. There were four things implied in it.

1. A comfortable view of God's special interest in him. He was convinced, that whoever others belonged to, he belonged to God, that there was a saving relation betwixt God and him.-There is,

2. A recognizing God's special interest in him. He had said it before at his first accepting of the covenant, "I am the Lord's ;" and he did not repent the bargain, but repeated it over again, “I am his."—There is,

3. An open profession of his special relation to God. He was not ashamed of his proprietor, his Lord and Master; but he gloried in it, accounting himself happy in the relation.-There is,

4. A rejoicing in it, particularly with respect to this season of distress. As if he had said, The sea rages, the waves threaten us with death; but this is my happiness, I am the Lord's, in whose hands all these are. From this subject I would take the following Doctrines :

DOCT. I. That it is the duty and interest of those who have truly given themselves away to the Lord, to look on themselves as his. DOCT. II. That those who are the Lord's ought to make, and will make, God's service their business.-We begin with

DOCT. I. That it is the duty and interest of those who have truly given themselves away to the Lord, to look on themselves as his. In treating this point, I shall,

I. Confirm this doctrine.

1

II. Shew in what respects those who have given themselves away to the Lord in his covenant are to look upon themselves as his.

III. Assign reasons why it is the duty of those who have truly given themselves away to the Lord in his covenant, thus to look on themselves as his.

IV Shew how it is their interest to look on themselves as the Lord's.

V. Conclude with some practical improvement.-We are, then,

I. To confirm the doctrine, That it is the duty and interest of those who have truly given themselves away to the Lord, to look on themselves as his. This is evident, if you consider,

1. The laudable practice of the saints, who had given themselves away to the Lord. They go over the bargain again, hold by it, and look upon themselves as the Lord's: Psalm cxvi. 16, "O Lord, truly I am thy servant, I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid, thou hast loosed my bonds." And Psalm cxix. 94, "I am thine, save me." The spouse, Song ii. 16, "My beloved is mine, and I am his."

2. The Spirit of God instructs them so to do. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God? And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." There is great weight in it, whose we look on ourselves to be. It is the sin of many, that they say, Psalm xii. 4, "Our lips are our own who is Lord over us?" This proceeds from Satan, and the corrupt heart. The Spirit of the Lord teaches his own to look on themselves as his.

3. The Lord looks on such to be his, by a special relation: John xvii. 9, 10, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them." Yea, he takes a pleasure to assert his interest in them; he calls them, and pleads with them, to own the mutual relation betwixt him and them Jer. iii. 4, " Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?"

Lastly, The nature of the thing requires it, for they are his indeed. Honest covenanters with God, give themselves to the Lord: 2 Cor. viii. 5, "But first gave their ownselves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God." They yield themselves to him, so that they are his, and therefore should look upon themselves as such.— Let us now,

II. Shew in what respects those who have given themselves away to the Lord in his covenant, are to look upon themselves as his.