2. Labour to improve them for their destined end —
[Sanctification, as you have heard, is that for which both the word and ordinances are to be improved. Ex- amine then yourselves by what you hear, that you may find out every defect in your obedience; and keep in remem- brance both the precepts and examples that are set before you, that so you may attain to the highest degrees of holiness, and " stand perfect and cozuplete in all the will of GodV You know, that to appropriate any of the first-fruits to a common use would have been sacrilege: beware then lest the world rob God of any measure of those services which are due to him alone. You are to be his wholly and altogether: " your bodies are to be his," and " your members instruments of righteousness unto him^." Your souls, with all their fa- culties, are to be his also; his temple, wherein he is to re- side ; his throne, whereon he is to reign : " your whole body, soul, and spirit are to be sanctified wholly unto him ^:" you are to be altogether " a living sacrifice unto him :" and this is no other than "your reasonable service*." And, as it is by this only that you can make a due improvement of or- dinances, so it is by this only that you can have in your own souls any evidence that you are born of God. As for others, they can form no judgment at all of you, but by your works. The rule for them to judge by, is this: "He that commit- teth sin is of the devil: whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin: for his seed, namely, the word of God, abideth in him; and he cannot sin: because ha is born of God''.'* Press forward then for the highest attainments, that, "being blameless and harmless and without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, ye may shine as lights in the world, and approve yourselves indeed to be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty V]
^Col. iv. 12. » Rom. vi. 13.
^ 1 Thess. V. 23. ' Rom. xii. 1.
^ I John iii. 8, 9. " The seed" in this passage means the word: see 1 Pet. i. 23. & iJohn ii. 14. ' Phil. ii. 15, 16,