[Sanctification, as you have heard, is that for which both the word and ordinances are to be improved. Examine then yourselves by what you hear, that you may find out every de- fect in your obedience ; and keep in remembrance 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 complete in all the will of Godf." 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 himg." Your souls, with all their faculties, are to be his also; his temple, wherein he is to reside ; his throne, wherein he is to reign : " your whole body, soul, and spirit are to be sancti- fied wholly unto himh:" you are to be altogether " a living sacrifice unto him :" and this is no other than " your reason- able service5." And, as it is by this only that you can make a due improvement of ordinances, 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 committeth 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 he is born of God V 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 Almighty1."]
f Col. iv. 12. g Rom. vi. 13.
h 1 Thess. v. 23. J Rom. xii. 1 .
k 1 John iii. 8, 9. " The seed" in this passage means the word : see 1 Pet. i. 23. and 1 John ii. 14. 1 Phil. ii. 15, 16.