norant of that commodity which doth both enrich and crown ? What is it to be versed in music, and to be ignorant of Christ, whose blood makes atonement in heaven, and music in the conscience ? What is it to know all the stratagems of war, and to be ignorant of ' the Prince of peace ?' .0 make Christ all; be willing to know nothing but Christ; though you may know other things in their due place, yet know Christ in the first place ; let the knowledge of Jesus Christ have the pre-eminence ; as the sun among the lesser ])lancts. This is the crowning knowledge, Prov. xiv. 18., " The prudent are crowned with knowledge." We cannot know ourselves unless we know Christ, he it is who lights us into our hearts and shews us the spots of our souls, where- by we abhor ourselves in dust and ashes. Christ shews us our own vacuity and indi- gency ; and until we see our own emptiness, we are not fit to be filled with the golden
oil of mercy. We cannot know God, but through Christ, 2 Cor. iv. 6. (2.) Make Christ all in your affections. Desire nothing but Christ; he is the accumulation of all good things. " Ye are complete in him," Col. ii. 10. Christ is the Christian's ])erfec- tion ; what should the soul desire less? What can it desire more ? Love nothinir bu* Christ ; love is the choicest affection, — it is the richest jewel the creature hath to be- stow,— O if Christ be all, love him better than all ! Consider \st, If you love other things, when they die, your love is lost ; but Christ lives for ever to requite your love. 2d, You may love other things in the excess, but you cannot love Christ in the excess. Zd, When you love other things, you love that which is worse than your- selves ; if you love a fair house, a pleasant garden, a curious picture, these things are worse than yourselves ; if I would love any thing more intensely and ardently, it should be something which is better than myself, and that is Jesus Christ. He who is all, let him have all : give him your love who desires it most, and deserves it best.
(3.) Make Christ all in your abilities, do all in his strength, Eph. vi. 10., " Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." When you are to resist a tontation, to mor- tify a corruption, do not go out in your own strength, but in the strength of Christ: " Be strong in the Lord." Some go out to duty in the strength of parts, and go out against sin in the strength of resolution, and they came home foiled. Alas ! \\\v.\i are our resolutions, but like the green witlis which did hind Samson ! A sinful heart u ill soon break these ; do as David when he was to go up against Goliah ; saith he, " I come to thee in the name of the Lord." So say to thy Goliah lust, I come to tliee in the name of Christ. Then we conquer, when the Lion of the tribe of Judah marches be- fore us.
(4.) Make Christ all in your aims ; do all to his glory, 1 Pet. iv. II.
(5.) Make Christ all in your affiance; trust to none but Christ for salvation ; the Paj)ists make Christ something but not all. And is there not naturally a f;j)ice of po- pery in our hearts? We would be grafting happiness upon the stock of our own righ-
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SELECT SERMONS.
teousness. " Every man," saith Luther, " is born with a pope in his Ijeart." O make Christ all in regard of recumbency ; let him be your city of refuge to flee to, and your ark.
(6.) Make Christ all in your joy. Gal. vi. 14., " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," Luke i. 47. O Christian, hast thou seen the Lord Jesus ? hath this morning-star shined into thy lieart with its enlightening, quickening beams? Then rejoice and be exceeding glad. Shall others rejoice in the world ; and will not you rejoice in Christ ? How much better is he than all other things? It reflects disparagement upon Christ when his saints are sad and droop- ing. Is not Christ yours, what would you have more?
Ob J. \st, But, saith one, " I am low in the world, and that takes off the chariot- wheels of my joy, and makes me drive hea- vily."
Ans. But hast thou not Christ ? And is Christ all ? Ps. xvi. 5, 6.
Qbj. 2d, If indeed I knew Christ were mine, tlien I could rejoice ; but how shall I know that?
Jns. 1. Is thy soul filled with pantings after Christ ? Dost thou desire as well wa- ter out of Christ's side to cleanse thee, as blood out of his side to save thee ? These sighs and groans are stirred up by the Spirit of God ; by the beating of this pulse, judge of the life of faith in thee.
A. 2. Hast thou given up thyself by an universal subjection to Christ ? this is a good sign that Christ is thine.
A. 3. Be thankful for Christ; God hath done more for you in giving you Christ, than if he had set you with the princes of the earth, Ps. cxiii. 8., or had made you angels ; or had given you the whole world. In short, God cannot give a greater gift than Christ ; for in giving Christ he gives himself to us; and all this calls aloud for thankfulness.