continued to live in an avowed contempt of his ordinances : No : " he loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwell- ings of Jacob0."]
2. They are the means of perfecting his work in his people's hearts —
[God has told us that this was a very principal end for his ordaining men to preach the Gospel p ; but it is by means of the public ordinances chiefly that Ministers can address the people : and consequently the ordinances themselves are the means by which God accomplishes his end. We have said before, that God will also reveal himself to his people in secret : and it sometimes happens that their communion with him in private is more sweet and intimate than in the public assembly : but may we not ask, on the other hand, whether, when the heart has been cold and formal in the closet, it has not often been warmed and animated in the church ? And is not much of the enjoyment experienced in secret, the result of instructions administered in the public ordinances? In the one they gather the food; in the other they ruminate and chew the cud: but the pleasure and nourishment derived to their souls must be acknowledged, in part at least, as origi- nating in their public duties. To these has God promised his peculiar blessing q; and therefore we should "reverence his sanctuary," and join with one consent in a public surrender of ourselves to Godr.]
Address,
1. Those who have others under their control —
[Parents, and Masters, you are responsible to God for the exercise of your power and influence. Will you then, either by precept or example, encourage a conformity to the world, or a disregard of the worship of your God ? O " destroy not their souls, for whom Christ died ! " Employ your authority for God : and, whatever opposition you may meet with in the world, learn to say with Joshua, " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lords."]
2. Those who are acting for themselves —
[If you have " chosen the good part," be careful that it " be not taken away from you," either through the love of this world, or through the fear of man. Be steadfast, and " endure unto the end, that you may be saved at last." If you lose your life for Christ's sake, you shall find it unto life eternal. But if
0 Ps. lxxxvii. 2. p Eph. iv. 11 — 15.
1 Exod. xx. 24. Matt, xxviii. 20.
* See Zeph. hi. 9. Zech. viii. 20 — 22. s Josh. xxiv. lo.