USE I. Reproof. 1. To fuch as ferve Satan. 3. Themfelves. 4. Their Sins and Lusts, pixñdovai. Tit. iii. 3. USE II. Serve God. DOCTRINE II. We fhould will and chufe the Service of God before all other things. 1. What is it to ferve God? It implies our Employment, 1. Of Soul. 2. Of Body to his Glory. 1. By admiring. 2. Fearing. 3. Defiring. 4. Loving. 5. Trufting on him. 2. Our Bodies. 1. In praifing. 2. Acting for him. 2. How fhould we will this Service? 1. So as to prefer it. 2. Defire it. 3. Endeavour after it more than all things. 3. Why should we will the Service of GOD USE. Serve GOD above all things. DOCTRINE III. We fhould endeavour that our Families fhould alfo ferve GOD. 1. By giving them a good Example. USE. Look to your Families. Confider GOD will call you to an account. I SAM. ii. 30. And they that defpife me, shall be lightly efteemed. "Hey that despise GOD are despicable in themselves. TH I. What is it to despise GOD? 1. To extol any thing above him in our Judgments. 2. To prefer any thing before him in our Affections. II. How are they despicable or contemptible? If you confider, 1. What contemptible Names they are called by? 1. Fools, Prov. xiv. 9. and xxviii. 26. Eccl. v. 4. 2. Slaves. 21 1. To Sin, Rom. vi. 17. 2 Pet. ii. 19. 2. Satan, 2 Tim. ii. 26. 3. Sons of Belial, 1 Sam.ii. 12. Targ. N'YW¬ 4. 4945, abfque utilitate, nibili, inu- Children of the Devil, 1 John iii. 8. 2. What contemptible things they are compared to. Reprobate Silver, Jer. vi. 30. Smoke, Pfa. xxxvii. 20. Stubble, fa. lxxxiii. 13. a barren Heath, Jer. xvii. 6. Duft, Pfa. i. 4. Dogs, Pfa. xxii. 16. Hogs, Matth. vii. 6. 3. What contemptible Bufineffes they are employed about; in Sin, the Devil's Drudgery. 4. What contemptible Pleasures they are delighted in: No other than the Pleafures of Senfe, which the Beasts enjoy as well as Man, Nos aper auditu præcellit aranea tatu, 5. What contemptible things they are put off with; the things of this World, P xvii. 14. USE. 1. Examinat. It behoves us to try, and know whether we be Despisers of GOD or no. They defpife GOD who 1. Defpife his Son, Luke x. 16. 1. His Commands, Lev. xxvi. 15. Amos 2. His Promises. 3. His Threatnings. 3. His Works, Ifa. v. 12. Pfa. xxviii. 5. 4. His Ordinances. 5. His Minifters, Luke x. 16. 6. His Magiftrates, 2 Pet, ii. 10. Jud. 8. 8. His Judgments, Job. v. 17. Heb. xii. 5. 10. His Favour. 11. His Spirit. 12. His Vicegerent, Confcience. 2 SA M. XXIV. 14. Let us fall now into the Hand of the TH Lord. HE Hand of the Lord is in a peculiar manner seen in the Sickness: Or, It is the Hand of the Lord, and the Sword of the Lord, 1 Chron. xxi. 12. and Hand, Exod. ix. 3. I. Neg. Not as if it always came immediately from God, for he useth fecundary. 1. Supernatural Causes. 1. Good Angels, v. 15, 16. 2 Paral. xxxii. 21. 2. Bad, Fob ii. 7,8. 2. Natural. II. Pof. But ftill it is in a peculiar manner from God. Ecce digitus Dei. As appears, 1. In the beginning from fuch various or no 2. The Poyfonous Qualities of all forts. 4. Effects, it takes away fo many. 2. Why does God fend it? for Sin. The Pride of Superiors, 2 Sam. 24. 2. Injustice and Oppreffion, as in Egypt. 3. Contempt of the Word, Ezek. v. 11, 12. USE. What muft we do? 1. Prefervatives. I. Common. Repentance. 2. Faith. 3. A Refignation of our Wills to God's. 4. A ferious Confideration of the Mercy in God in all Judgments. 5. Live above the Fear of Death. 2. Special. 1. In the Morning. 1. Prayer. 2. Reading the Word, Pf. xci. Pf xxxi. 19. 3. Renewed Acts of Faith in Chrift. 2. All Day. 1. Trust in God's Promifes, Pf. xi. Rom. viii. 2. Frequent Ejaculations. 2. Cure of infected. 1. Look up to the Author. 2. Acknowledge his Juftice, and thy Sins. 5. Submit to his Will and Pleasure, 6. Strengthen your felves with the Thoughts of the Sting of Death taken out by Chrift |