for our whole selves) a living sacrifice unto the Lord ;" that is, we should, with the full concurrence of our inmost souls, devote ourselves to God,
1. To fulfil his will—
[We must not strain a metaphor too far. The sacrifices under the law were intended to make atonement for sin : but this is no part of our office ; Christ, our great sacrifice, having, by his own body once offered, made a full, perfect, and suffi- cient satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. It is only as far as the victim was surrendered entirely to God, that the metaphor is applicable to us : and in this view it is frequently used ; the whole body of believers being themselves an offer- ing to the Lorda, and " a spiritual priesthood also, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ b."
Hear then to what an extent we are to be given up to God : May " the very God of peace," says the Apostle, " sanctify you wholly : and I pray God, your whole spirit, and soul, and body, may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ0." No part of us should be under the dominion of any other lord : but " as we have formerly yielded both the members of our bodies and the faculties of our souls, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, we must henceforth yield them wholly unto God, as those that are alive unto Godd." Every sin, of whatever kind, must be mortified ; and every grace, however difficult and self-denying, be brought into habitual exercise ]
2. To be disposed of for his glory —
[If God call for our whole persons, as it were, to be con- sumed by fire upon his altar, we must not draw back ; but must say with the Apostle, " I am ready, not only to be bound, but also to die, for the Lord's sake." So far from regarding such an event with dread, we should rather consider it as our highest honour. Thus it was that Paul viewed it: " If," says he, " I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all : do ye also joy and rejoice with mee:" for, so far am I from regarding such an event as a matter of condolence, that I look upon it as a fit subject for mutual congratulations. I mean not that such an end is to be sought for by us ; but it is cheerfully to be submitted to, if God in his providence should call us to it. We should regard sufferings for Christ's sake with a holy indifference, " desiring only that Christ should be magnified in our bodies, whether by life or death f." Of course, all minor sacrifices of property,
a Rom. xv. 1<>. b 1 Pet. ii. 5. c 1 Thess. v. 23.
d Rom. vi. 12, 13, 19. e Phil. ii. 17, IS. ' Phil. i. 20.