mentioned in my text would produce an | portunity of showing my regard to my universal obedience to the laws of God, Lord, as by serving him now that I am because they are but various ways of com- brought to the test? He is now saying passing the important end at which it aims. to me, as once he said to Peter, "Lovest The man who is truly animated with it, thou me more than these?" Awake then, will, like David, have a respect to all O my soul, and answer with that apostle, God's commandments; " and instead of "Thou, Lord, who knowest all things, complaining that they are grievous, will knowest that I love thee;" and I adore rather rejoice at being furnished with such thy goodness in granting me this oppora variety of opportunities for promoting tunity of testifying the strength and sinthe glory of his heavenly Father. This cerity of my love, to thy glory and my divine principle will have influence upon unspeakable comfort. Such will be the him in the most secret retirement, as well sentiments of the man whose single aim as when he acts in the open view of the is to obtain the approbation of God. He world. The hypocrite, who courts the ap- will continue firm and unshaken amidst probation of men, may be very exact and the greatest sufferings; whilst the hypopunctual in the outward exercises of reli- crite, like the base multitude who followed gion; but he who seeks to please God will Christ only for the loaves, will be offended, not rest in these. He knows that his Fa- and fall off, when a day of trouble comes. ther seeth him in secret; he rejoiceth in I shall only add, in the the thought of it, and therefore omits no 5th and last place, That this divine duty that bears the stamp of his author- principle will make a man easy and satisity: Yea, his heart is as much engaged fied, whatever be his outward condition in in the severest acts of self-denial, as in the world. He knows that his lot is apthose instances of obedience which are ac-pointed by God, and his only anxiety is companied with the most immediate plea- to perform that part which hath been assure and advantage. And this leads me signed to him; being fully assured that to observe, in the God, who is no respecter of persons, will

please him, whether his station be high or low, whether his circumstances be rich or poor. His only concern is, that Christ may be magnified in his body. Like a determined traveller, he takes the road as he finds it, and makes no complaints, provided it lead him to the end of his journey.

These are some of the advantages which would flow from a sincere and steady desire of pleasing God, and him only. But to set these advantages in a more striking light, let us a little examine the opposite principle, and take a view of the man whose great aim is to obtain the approbation of his fellow-creatures. Consider, then,

4th place, That a sincere desire of pleas-graciously accept his sincere endeavors to ing God would likewise lessen the difficulties of obedience, and support us under all the sufferings to which our duty may at any time expose us. Perhaps our duty may be accompanied with much pain and trouble in the world; perhaps, like Paul, we may be shamefully entreated, and, like the rest of the apostles, looked upon as the filth and offscouring of all things. But still the Christian reasons thus: "What are these things to me? Is it not better to please God, than to indulge this corrupt flesh, or to seek the approbation of man, "whose breath is in his nostrils ?" Should I please men, I could not be the servant of Christ. Those hardships and difficulties which I now suffer will soon be at an end; and though my good things are not in this life, yet hereafter I shall be comforted in that state, "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." Was I not forewarned by my blessed. Saviour, that the way to his kingdom lay through many tribulations; and shall I now faint because I find it to be so? Where can I enjoy so good an op

1st. To what a drudgery he subjects himself, and what a strange and inconsistent part he must act. He makes himself the servant of every man, whose censure he fears, or whose praise he covets. He renounceth his own will and reason and to whom? Not to God, who requires nothing but what is holy, just, and good; but to creatures like himself, ignorant, perverse, and capricious. He who is re

Be

solved to please men, must follow them end; but if he attempts to manage so as through all their jarring inconsistent hu- to please them, he will be miserably dismors. He must undo to-morrow what appointed. For though the few that shared he does to-day; he must assume a different appearance in every company; he must be the servant of servants, contemptible in the sight of God, and often despised by those very men whose approbation he courts. For it is to be observed, that respect and esteem are sooner found by an honest indifference about them, than by an anxious pursuit of them. They who are satisfied with the approbation of their heavenly Father, who seeth them in secret, are for the most part rewarded by him openly, according to what the wise man saith, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Whereas it holds almost universally true, that men lose respect in proportion as they are observed to court it with anxiety, and sink thereby into greater contempt than otherwise they would have done. But,

2dly. Let us suppose that they obtain what they covet so earnestly. How trivial is the acquisition! "Verily," saith our Lord concerning men-pleasers, "they have their reward.” Åh! poor reward! to obtain the favor and friendship of dying men, instead of the approbation of God, and the testimony of a good conscience; to remember, in hell, that they were well spoken of on earth, and that the sentence of their Judge was the first thing that undeceived their fellow-creatures as to their true character. This is the whole amount of their gain, even supposing that they succeed in their pursuit. But I must now add, in the

of his bounty may possibly be satisfied
with their proportion; yet the rest, who
got nothing, will revile, and perhaps curse
him as penurious and unmerciful.
sides, the different parties and interfering
interests of men, make it impossible to
please all. If, in any case, you join with
one party, the other, of course, will be of-
fended; if you keep yourself disengaged
from either side, you will probably incur
the resentment of both; or, if you think to
keep the good-will of both by trimming,
making each believe that you are on their
side, besides the baseness of the practice,
which must set a man at irreconcilable
variance with himself, you must live in a
perpetual fear of discovery; and when you
are detected, both will hate you worse
than they do each other. Nay, in the

4th place, Should you give up the idea of obtaining universal favor, and content yourselves with pleasing a few; yet such is the mutability of men's tempers, that your success, even in this limited attempt, is very precarious. For how variable is the mind of man? ever shifting about, and alternately pleased and displeased with the same thing. When you have spent the best of your days in building upon this sand, one blast shall throw down the laborious fabric in a moment. For difficult as it is to gain the favor of men, it is still more difficult to preserve it, or to regain it when it is lost. Serve them as submissively as you can, yet some cross accident, some failure in gratifying their unreasonable expectations, may suddenly turn all your honors into disgrace, and leave you to complain, as cardinal Wolsey did, "Had I served God as faithfully as man, he would not thus have forsaken me in my old age." Nay, the perverseness of many is so great, that they require contradictions ere they will be pleased. If John come fasting, they say, "he hath a devil: " If Christ come eating and drinkWe are like a person who has but a ing, they say, "Behold a man gluttonous few pieces of money in his pocket, and a and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans crowd of beggars about him. If, accord- and sinners." If your judgment and pracing to his best judgment, he divides the tice be accommodated to your superiors, whole among the most needy, that he may some will call you supple and temporizplease God, he is sure of attaining hising: if it be otherwise, you will perhaps

3d place, That this is only a supposition; for so great is the difficulty of pleasing men, that, after all your pains, it is ten thousand to one but you shall fail in the attempt. The very number of those whom you would please, renders it almost impossible to succeed in it.

We cannot at one time observe all who observe us, and expect to be pleased by

us.

be reproached as discontented and sedi- | Christ." To him you owe all your homtious.

age; him only you are bound to please. Thus, you see, that it is impossible to And is not his favor a sufficient portion? please all men, or even any considerable Did he suffer, and bleed, and die, that number of them at one time. Nor have your hearts might be his, and will you rewe cause to wonder at this, when we con- fuse him that which he hath so dearly sider, that our blessed Saviour himself, bought? Where can you find a better notwithstanding his perfect innocence and Master, or one that you can be so certain wisdom, was more reviled than any man. of pleasing, if you apply yourselves to it? Can you do more to deserve the favor of He requires no contradictory or impracmen than Christ did? or can you expect ticable services. He hath left you in no to please those who are displeased with uncertainty about your duty. You need God himself? For is not God daily dis- not say, "Wherewith shall we come bepleasing men in the course of his Provi- fore the Lord? He hath shewed thee, O dence? and what is there that they quar-man, what is good, and what he requires of rel with more bitterly than with his word? you," even in his written word, which he In fine, how can we expect to please any hath given to be a lamp to your feet number of our fellow-creatures when we and a light unto your paths. He makes cannot even please ourselves constantly? also the most gracious allowances for your And for the truth of this, I appeal to infirmities. The willing mind is accepted your own experience. You must be sin- by him; and although through weakness gular indeed, if you never fall out with you fall short of your own good purposes, yourselves; Í mean singularly inattentive yet he will say to you as he did to David, (to give it no harsher name), for with the when he purposed to build him an house, best I am sure there is too often just "It was well that it was in thine heart.” cause for it. If then we are not able to preserve our own esteem at all times, how can we expect to preserve the approbation of other men?

Who then would not apply himself to gain the approbation of such a master? This aim, well established, would be a constant principle of holy obedience, and make us to abound in all those fruits of righteousness, which are through Christ to the praise and glory of God. Let this henceforth then be our sole ambition, to approve ourselves to him, by whose sentence our final condition must be determined. And let it be our constant request at the throne of grace, that God by his almighty Spirit may exalt our souls above every mean and sordid view, and enable us always so to speak and act,

And now what is your judgment upon the whole? Is not man-pleasing both a mean and fruitless attempt? Is it wise to have for your aim a thing so disquieting, and so very precarious? Is it not by far the wiser course to seek the approbation of God, who trieth your hearts, whom you please most effectually when you pursue your own best interest? He is not variable in his affections, like men. Whom he loves, he loves unto the end. "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor" not as pleasing men, but God who trieth principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from his love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Let me then address you in the words of this same apostle on another occasion, "Ye are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of men. "" Remember what our Lord said to his disciples while he was on earth; "One is your Master, even

our hearts."-Then the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus; and amidst all the changing scenes of life, we shall have this for our rejoicing, even the testimony of a good conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world. Amen.

SERMON XXXVII.

THE APOSTLE'S EXHORTATION.

ACTS XI. 23.—“And exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto

the LORD."

cleave

to us, supposeth that we have already chosen the ways of God; so it implies also, that our choice is the fruit of mature and solid consideration. "This purpose of heart," with which we are to unto the Lord," is not a blind and obstinate bigotry, which pusheth men headlong in a way which they know not. Persons of this character may have a fair Ir is not easy to conceive a more com- show in the time of prosperity; but when plete or amiable character than that which they are brought to the trial of adversity, is given of Barnabas in the following verse: they will relinquish against reason what "He was a good man, and full of the Holy they began without it; and will turn as Ghost, and of faith." And as a good man, violent in opposing religion, as ever they out of the good treasure of his heart, seemed zealous in promoting it. In the bringeth forth good things; so this faith- 2d place, The exhortation in my text reful minister of Christ, who had been sent quires the habitual exercise of all the graces by the church in Jerusalem to visit the of the Christian life; the constant performnew converts at Antioch, having seen ance of every commanded duty. It is not those real effects of the grace of God enough that we draw near to the Lord on among them, of which he had formerly some stated occasions, or have some tranheard the agreeable report, was filled with sient flashes of devotion, like the Israelites joy; and, like a true "son of consolation," of old, concerning whom it is said (Hosea which his name signifies, he "exhorted vi. 4.) that their goodness, like them all, that with purpose of heart they morning cloud and early dew," appeared would cleave unto the Lord."-My design for a little, and then "vanished" away. in discoursing from these words is, We must cleave to the Lord at all times; devotion must be the prevailing temper of our minds; and our habitual practice must correspond to it. | It must be our fixed design, and sincere resolution, to keep all God's commandments, at all times, and in all places and circumstances.

1st. To explain the exhortation contained in them; 2dly. To enforce it by some motives and arguments; and, 3dly. To offer some directions which, through the blessing of God, may be useful to those who are desirous of complying with it.

I BEGIN with explaining the exhortation contained in the text. And,

1st. It is obvious, that it supposeth those to whom it is directed to be already entered upon a religious course of life. Barnabas addressed his discourse to persons who were real converts to Christianity. It appears from the 21st and 22d verses, that the tidings which had come to Jerusalem concerning them, expressly affirmed, that "a great number had believed and turned unto the Lord:" and Barnabas, soon after his arrival at Antioch, received full conviction that this report was true; for "he saw the grace of God, and was glad." The form of his exhortation indeed sufficiently distinguisheth the character of those to whom it was addressed; for such as had never been joined to the Lord could not, with any propriety, be exhorted to cleave or to adhere to him. And as this exhortation, when addressed

"the

Some there are who lay down resolutions for the performance of certain duties, with a designed exception of others: Or perhaps they purpose to perform all the branches of duty for a particular season, with a secret reserve, that when that time shall be elapsed, they will then return to their former course of life. But all such resolutions are an abomination to God, as being hypocritical and insincere; and plainly show that the first step in religion is not yet taken. For at the least, it is essential to the character of a true Christian, that there be a fixed and peremptory design to adhere to all duty at all times. Grievous failures and sins there may be, even where there are such honest and upright purposes; but if these are wanting, our profession of religion must be altogether vain. In the

2d place, The exhortation in my text requires that we make an open and honest

Second place, To enforce it by some motives and arguments. Consider then,

profession of our adherence to the Lord. | without wearying, and walk without faintAnd I mention this, not only because of ing, "pressing toward the mark, for the the importance of the thing itself, but prize of the high calling of God in Christ also on account of the shameful and per- Jesus." We must not give up religious nicious failure even of some good people exercises, either because of the frequent in this matter. Instead of confessing repetition of self-denying duties, or of the Christ boldly before men, they take as bodily decay which old age brings on, or wide steps as their consciences will allow of the increasing infirmities of the mind. them, to speak the language, and to act We must not give over our work in desthe manners, of a corrupt generation, from pondency, because of the slowness of our the dread of appearing singular, or of in-progress, the smallness of our success, or curring the charge of ostentation or hypo- the number and strength of our enemies. crisy. But this method of concealing, or For all these discouragements will soon rather indeed of giving away, a part of be over, " and in due time we shall reap, our religion, to secure the reputation if we faint not, a glorious and everlasting of the rest, is neither honest nor wise. reward." Having thus explained the exHonest it cannot be; for it is just as hortation in my text, I proceed now, in the fraudulent to impose upon men, by seeming worse than we are, as by seeming better and surely it is not wise; for if we resolve to have the appearance of no more religion than corrupt minds will allow to be sincere, I am afraid we must give it up altogether, and preserve the opinion of our honesty, by appearing to have no religion at all. Hypocrisy is a bad thing, not because it wears the form of religion, but because it wants the power of it; and the way to avoid hypocrisy, is not by doing less than the hypocrite, but by doing more and better. Our Saviour, who spent whole nights in prayer, cannot be supposed to condemn the Pharisees for praying long; but for making their prayers a cloak to cover their covetousness and oppression. He does not find fault with them for their outward beauty, but for their inward pollution and deformity. If holiness be really within us, we have no occasion to dread any harm from its appearing outwardly. It will at length overcome the malice of the world, and prove its divine original, both by its native lustre, and its powerful influence, upon those who behold it. Once more, in the

1st. That the same reasons which at first determined you to choose the ways of God, are equally forcible for inciting you to persevere in them to the end. Upon what grounds did ye embrace your religion at first? Why was it that ye ratified, when ye came to years, that profession into which ye were baptized? Was it because of the divine authority upon which your religion rests? This reason surely still holds to make you adhere to it amidst the strongest temptations; for divine authority is always to be obeyed, whatever difficulties lie in the way; nay, though the commands of the highest powers on earth should interfere with it. Was it concern for your eternal salvation, and a conviction that "there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby you can be saved, but the name of Christ ?" and does not this reason bind you as much to cleave to the Lord as to come to him at first? "The Lord is with you while ye be with him; and if you seek him he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. He that endureth to 4th place, The exhortation in my text re- the end," saith Christ, "shall be saved." quires, that we persevere in our adherence "But if any man draw back, my soul to the Lord to the end of our lives. It shall have no pleasure in him." Nay, is not sufficient that we begin well, and the case of apostates is represented continue faithful for a while; we must hold every where in Scripture as inconceivably on our way, and wax stronger and stronger more dreadful than that of any other sinas we proceed. We must not be wearied ners. Once more, did you enter upon a with the length of the way, but, "lifting religious course of life, because your the hands that hang down, and strength- consciences would not suffer you to be ening the feeble knees," we must run at peace till you had done so ? "This rea

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