Now, I say, believers are dedicated, consecrated to God, and be- come his portion by all these several ways: —
First. They are so by calling, — which was the first way ; God calls
A CHRISTIAN, GODS TEMPLE. 291
them out of the world to be a peculiar portion unto himself, Rom. i. 7. They are " called to be saints," and separated unto God. So likewise, 1 Cor. i. 2. Now, though this calling doth also imply effectual in- ternal vocation, whereby the heart and nature is really sanctified • yet it also includes an external separation and dedication unto God. Christ redeems us out of the world, and he calls us out of the world. An obediential compliance with that call of God for separation from the world makes us to be God's dedicated portion. " Come out from among them, and be separate," saith God. If we live in the world after the manner of the world, — if we are like the world in our ways and walk, in our affections and conversation, — we have no reason to look upon ourselves as the dedicated portion of God. He that is so, brethren, that is thus called to be God's, he endures the world, and doth his own duty in it ; and that is all his concern ; — I say, he endures the world. That which is the world, and properly so, hath nothing pleasing to him ; only, he doth his own duty in it. If we intend to be at all interested in this great privilege here, let us secure ourselves that we are God's portion by calling, — that we have complied with his call to separate ourselves from the world. The people of God dwelt alone of old, and were not reckoned amongst the nations. Our mix- tures in the world, our conformity to the world, our touching of the unclean thing, is the sin of professors at this day ; whereby they are concerned in procuring all the judgments that God is pouring out upon the land.
Secondly. Believers are made God's peculiar portion, and are dedi- cated to him by unction. I will first show that they are anointed, and then how they are anointed :—
1. The apostle says, 2 Cor. i. 21, " He which stablisheth us with you hi Christ, and hath anointed us, is God." And you know that place, 1 John ii. 20, 27, " Ye have an unction from the Holy One; and the anointing which ye received of him abideth in you." It is plain, therefore, that believers are anointed. God in his providence did suffer that name to go upon us, that we should be called Chris- tians ; which is in English, " Anointed ones." That is the name of God's people in the world. How well we answer that name, many of us may do well to consider.
2. We cannot know how we were anointed, how we became Chris- tians, but by considering how our Head was anointed, — how Jesus be- came Christ. Christ was anointed, Isa. lxi. 1, " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord hath anointed me." Heb. i. 9, " God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Wherein consisted the unction of the Messiah, the anointing of the Most Holy? which was prophesied of, Dan. ix. 24. How did Jesus become Christ? Truly, I have elsewhere so largely
292 A CHRISTIAN, GOD'S TEMPLE.
insisted upon the communication of the Spirit of God to the human nature of Christ, — how, and for what end, — that I shall not here speak to it again. In a word, it was the gift of the Spirit of God, with his gifts and graces, in an immeasurable manner, to the human nature of Christ: " For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him/' John iii. 34. So he is, therefore, said to be " anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows." How to his fellows? Eph. iv. 7, "To every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." All believers have their measure. He had no measure. This anointing consists in the communication of the graces and gifts of the Holy Ghost to all believers. This is our unction, — thence we are called Christians. And those who despise the Spirit of God, and his graces and gifts, will find little relief in calling themselves Chris- tians another day.
But how doth this anointing dedicate believers unto God? It doth it two ways : —
(1.) It gives a peculiar interest unto God in them, which is not in any others. Where there are the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, there God hath something that is not in any part of the world beside. It is, indeed, the way whereby God takes possession of any soul; he comes and deposits this treasure there. " There is my trea- sure," saith God: " I lay it up there; and thereby I take possession of this soul to be mine."
(2.) Every thing dedicated to God was to be employed in the ser- vice of God. And this anointing makes us able to serve God accord- ing to his mind and will, when we can do so no otherwise. There is no serving of God without the graces and gifts of the Holy Ghost. God abhors all service proceeding from any thing else.