3. Now of all these, it is certain, we are only stewards. God has intrusted us with these powers and faculties, not that we may employ them according to our own will, but according to the express orders which he has given us: (although it is true, that in doing his will, we most effectually secure our own happiness, seeing it is herein only that we can be happy, either in time, or in eternity.) Thus, we are to use our understanding, our imagination, our memory, wholly to the glory of him that gave them. Thus our will is to be wholly given up to him, and all our affections to be regulated as he directs. We are to love and hate, to rejoice and grieve, to desire and shun, to hope and fear, according to the rule which he prescribes, whose we are, and whom we are to serve in all things. Even our thoughts are not our own in this sense: they are not at our own disposal: but for every deliberate motion of our mind, we are accountable to our great Master.
4. God has, secondly, intrusted us with our _bodies_, (those exquisitely wrought machines, so _fearfully and wonderfully made_) with all the powers and members thereof. He has intrusted us with the organs of _sense_, of sight, hearing, and the rest: but none of these are given us as our own, to be employed according to our own will. None of these are _lent_ us in such a sense, as to leave us at liberty to use them as we please for a season. No: we have received them on these very terms, that as long as they abide with us, we should employ them all, in that very manner, and no other which he appoints.
5. It is on the same terms, that he imparted to us that most excellent talent of _speech. Thou hast given me a tongue_, says the antient writer, _that I may praise thee therewith_. For this purpose was it given to all the children of men, to be employed in glorifying God. Nothing therefore is more ungrateful, or more absurd, than to think or say, _our tongues are our own_. That cannot be, unless we have created ourselves, and so are independent on the Most High. Nay, but _it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves_. The manifest consequence is, that he is still _Lord over us_, in this, as in all other respects. It follows, that there is not a word of our tongue, for which we are not accountable to him.
6. To him we are equally accountable for the use of our _hands_ and _feet_, and all the _members_ of our body. These are so many talents which are committed to our trust, until the time appointed by the Father. Until then, we have the use of all these; but as stewards, not as proprietors; to the end, we should _render them not as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but as instruments of righteousness unto God_.
7. God has intrusted us, thirdly, with a portion of _worldly goods_, with food to eat, raiment to put on, and a place where to lay our head, with not only the necessaries, but the conveniencies of life. Above all, he has committed to our charge that precious talent, which contains all the rest, _money_: indeed it is unspeakably precious, if we are _wise and faithful stewards_ of it: if we employ every part of it for such purposes as our blessed Lord has commanded us to do.
8. God has intrusted us, fourthly, with several talents, which do not properly come under any of these heads: such is bodily _strength_: such are _health_, a pleasing _person_, an agreeable _address_: such are _learning_ and _knowledge_ in their various degrees, with all the other advantages of _education_. Such is the _influence_ which we have over others, whether by their _love_ and _esteem_ of us, or by _power_: power to do them good or hurt, to help or hinder them in the circumstances of life. Add to these that invaluable talent of _time_, with which God intrusts us from moment to moment. Add, lastly, that on which all the rest depend, and without which they would all be curses, not blessings: namely, the _grace_ of God, the power of his holy Spirit, which alone worketh in us all that is acceptable in his sight.
II. 1. *In so many respects are the children of men, stewards of the Lord, _the Possessor of heaven and earth_. So large a portion of his goods, of various kinds, hath he committed to their charge. But it is not for ever, nor indeed for any considerable time. We have this trust reposed in us, only during the short, uncertain space that we sojourn here below: only so long as we remain on earth, as this fleeting breath is in our nostrils. The hour is swiftly approaching, it is just at hand, when we _can be no longer stewards_. The moment the body _returns to the dust as it was, and the spirit to God that gave it_, we bear that character no more; the time of our stewardship is at an end. Part of those goods wherewith we were before intrusted, are now come to an end: at least, they are so with regard to _us_: nor are we longer intrusted with them: and that part which remains, can no longer be employed or improved as it was before.