And likewise he is able ' to speak a word in due season,' 2 Tim. iv. 2, to reprove, to admonish, to comfort. Every member in the communion of saints hath some qualification in regard of knowledge, when he is put to it.
But especially he hath received this anointing as a priest and a king.
2, As a 2^riest, to stand before God, and to offer up prayers for himself and others. Every Christian is a favourite in heaven. He hath much credit there. He hath God's ear open at all times, and he improves it for the good of the church, for the good of others as well as for his own. And as to pray for ourselves and others, so to bless ourselves and others, that was one part of the priest's office, and so, as the Scripture saith, we are called unto blessing ; and therefore those that are given unto cursing are not priests.
And again, a Christian that hath received this anointing as a priest, he keeps himself ' unspotted of the world,' James i. 27. You know, the priests were to touch no unclean thing, nor to defile themselves with any manner of pollution. So every Christian in some measure is enabled to abstain from the common pollutions of the times, to hate ' even the garment spotted with the flesh,' Jude 23. He is not carried with the stream of the times ;
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ho will not converse amiably with those that may staiu him, but as his callint^' loads him, hist ho contaminate his spirit.
And likewise a Christian hath his heart always as the ' holy of holies,' that so ho may oli'er up thanks and praise to God. There is a disposition in him always to praise God. As th(! fire in the sanctuary must never go out, so the tire that is kindled by the Spirit of God in the heart of a Chris- tian, it never goes out. The Holy Ghost maintains it continually. He is ready to praise God upon all occasions ; ready to offer up himself unto God as a sacrifice. The sacrifices of a Christian arc a broken heart ; and as in the law, the sacrifices for sin must first be killed, and then offered, so now in the gospel, it is the work of every Christian, to mortify, to kill, and slay those beasts, those corruptions that are in him contrary to God. A Chris- tian must not offer himself to God as a sinner, but ho must fu'st slay his corruptions. He must mortify his sins, and then offer up himself slain to God.
Therefore our care must be to mortify every corruption, eveiy faculty of the soul, and every part of the body. We must circumcise our eyes, that they behold not vanity ; and our ears, that they hear not, and delight not in unchaste things ; and our thoughts and every part, our wills and affec- tions, and then offer up soul and body as a living sacrifice unto God, that all may be dedicated and sanctified unto him : and then it is a sweet sacri- fice. Then, when a Christian hath dedicated himself to God, it is an easy matter to give him his goods when he calls for them, then he will be ready to let all go, as the apostle saith of the Corinthians,* ' they first gave them- selves to God, and then to others,' 2 Cor. viii. 5. Other sacrifices will follow when we have first given ourselves to God. Therefore the first sacri- fice is to kill our corruptions, to offer ourselves to God, and then we shall be ready to offer our estates, and to have nothing but at God's disposing,
0 Lord ! of thy hand I have my bod}^ and my life, and my goods and all,
1 give them unto thee ; if thou wilt have me to cnjoj them, I do ; but if thou wilt have them sacrificed, I am a priest, I am willing to offer myself as a burnt-sacrifice to thee even to the death, and all other things when thou shalt be pleased to call for them ; and, indeed, all other sacrifices of our goods, and thankfulness in words, they will easily come off' when we have offered ourselves, as I said before.
What is the reason that men will not part with a penny for good uses ? They have not given themselves as sacrifices unto God ; therefore in the Scripture we are pressed to give ourselves unto God first ; and it useth arguments to that purpose ; as that ' we are not our own, but bought with a price,' &c., 1 Cor. vi. 20.
And so for the kingly office.
3. Every Christian by this anointing is made a Icing, Rev. i. 6, ' He hath loved us, and washed us, and made us kings,' &c.
But how are we kings ? To take away an objection that ariseth in the hearts of carnal men. Oh, say they, they talk that they are kings, when perhaps they have not a penny in their purse ; they talk they are kings, when in the mean time they are underlings in the world. Here are kings indeed, think profane, conceited persons.
Indeed, all other things are but shadows ; these be realities. This is a king- dom to purpose. Thou livest by sense and by fancy, or else, if thou hadst the spiritual eye -salve, if thoix hadst thine ej^es open to see the dignity of a Christian, thou wouldst judge him to be the only king in the world ; and, * The ' MacedDnians,' not Corinthians. — G.