enough to them that follow the Lord fully. They will make the word of the Lord overcome their prejudices. Ifa. xi. 6. «The wolf alfo fhall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard fhall lie down with the kid: And the calf, and the young lion, and the fattling together: And a little child fhall lead them."

They must follow the providential will of the Lord: "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. "If we have faid, I am the Lord's, then we muft have faid, Our will is the Lord's. It remains that our will fhould follow the Lord's, as the fhadow doth the body. If it be God's will that we fhould be poor, fick, croffed, &c. that should also be our will; if not, we do not follow the Lord fully. It is a fad matter we should give up ourfelves to be fervants, and yet ftill aim at being masters, to cut and carve for ourfelves. There will be a crook in every lot of ours under the fun. Ecclef. i. 15. "That which is crooked cannot be made straight." That which is crooked, in refpect of our will, is ftraight enough with God's, which is the true rule, so that if we follow the Lord fully, our will fhould be bended to the crook, and not the crook straighted to our will.

Again, we must follow the cause and intereft of the Lord in the world. There is always war in the heaven of the church, between Michael and the dragon, though it does not always come to blood. The armies are always in the field, though they are not always actually engaged in a serious battle. Ye must be on the Lord's fide, whether it be the higheft, or the loweft in the world. There is no lying neutral here; if we be not for God and his caufe, then we are against him. This is a day wherein the enemy has difplayed his banners; and we alfo have a banner to be difplayed

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difplayed because of truth: "Who is on the Lord's fide? Who?" It is time God's people were taking courage to them, and cleaving to the Lord, his way and work in this covenanted land, in fpite of all oppofition.

In the next place, we must follow the ordinances. and inftitutions of the Lord, that doctrine, wor ship, difcipline, and government, which has the Lord's ftamp on it, the preaching of his word, and the facraments, &c. It is lamentable to think how that spirit is gone, which fome time ago was: among people, for following the ordinances of the Lord. We are even glutted and furfeited with them. Opportunities of communion with God are undervalued. People will deprive themselves of them, from reasons which, if they were to lose a fixpence by, they would quickly come over. It was the commendation of the Levites, and godly people through the ten tribes in Jeroboam's time, that "they followed the ordinances of the Lord." All these came to Jerufalem, to facrifice to the Lord God of their fathers.

We must also follow the worship of the Lord. -The fecret worship of the Lord by ourselves alone: Matth. vi. 6. “But thou, when thou prayeft, enter into thy closet, and when thou haft fhut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in fecret; and thy Father, which feeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Secret prayer is a duty which they who are exercised unto godliness cannot live without, a duty in which communion with God is as readily to be had as in any other; and though there may be prayers in your family, yet, if you know your duty, you will alfo pray in your closet. -Family-prayer: "Pour out," fays the prophet, "thy fury upon the heathen, and upon the families that call not upon thy name." What do prayerless VOL. II.

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families but expose themselves to the wrath of God? Every house should be a church. We receive family-mercies, and are chargeable with many familyfins; why not then family-worfhip? And do they follow the Lord fully that halve their family-worship? They will worship God at night, but not in the morning. Complain not of want of time, others in your circumstances get time when they have a heart to it. Next, internal worship, without which all your external worship will be to no purpofe. There is no following of the Lord fully, if that be wanting: Phil. xiii. 3. "We are the circumcificn, that worship God in the spirit ;" that is, in the exercife of grace with external worship; fear, reverence, faith, hope, love, and other holy affections, which are the life and foul of worship.

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Finally, they must follow the Lord fo as that one thing be not wanting: Mark x. 21. "One thing thou lackeft." There is one thing usually that is the great thing which ftands betwixt every one and heaven: It is as it were the Shibboleth they cannot frame to pronounce. They can comply with any duty, part with every fin, bear any crofs, but fuch a duty, such a fin, such a cross. therein they say, as Naaman, 2 Kings, v. 18. « In shis thing the Lord pardon thy fervant. When I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy fervant in this thing." But this is not to follow the Lord fully. People muft either come over that alfo, or they cannot prove their fincerity. The only course to take here is that, in Matth. v. 29. 30. "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and caft it from thee; for it is profitable for thee, that one of thy members fhould perish, and not that thy whole body should be caft into hell. And if thy right-hand offend thee, cut it off, and caft it from thee." Herein lies the great

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evidence of fincerity; and the victory over predominant lufts is like that over the Anakims, which will cost many a fevere struggle.

3. To follow the Lord fully, is to follow him uprightly. A hypocrite does but walk in a vain fhow. His feet only, not his heart, do follow the Lord. God, who is the maker and the fearcher of the heart, will never reckon himself followed fully in a carcase of duties; but notices the manner, motive, principle, and end of actions, which, if they be not right, all is wrong.-Then, to follow the Lord fully, is to follow him honestly in respect of our principle, not with a carnal selfish principle, which can only fet us a-going, but with a fpiritual, Hal principle; not as a mercenary foldier follows his captain, but as a child follows his father: John, vi. 26. « Ye follow me," said Jefus, "not because ye faw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled." There is a selfish religion, where self is the chief wheel that fets all a-going. We must follow him fingly, in refpect of our end; following the Lord with a defign and defire to please him, and not for carnal selfish ends. What is not done for the Lord, as the chief end, he will never reward. Want of singleness in the end, maims the action; as when a wife adorns herself to please an adulterer, her aim would make her action abominable.-We muft follow the Lord evangelically, in refpect of the manner; following the Lord, leaning on his, and not on our own ftrength. This is the life of faith in obedience, by which the foul goes out of itself to the Lord for all strength, faying, as in Pfal. lxxi. 16. "I will go in the ftrength of the Lord."

4. To follow the Lord fully, is to follow him conftantly: John, viii. 31. "Then faid Jefus to thofe Jews which believed on him, If ye continue

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in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.” It is a small matter to begin well, but it is the continuing to follow the Lord which is true following of him. It is a following the Lord habitually and evenly, fo that our fouls are fixed on this as their ordinary bend. It is not to take up our religion by fits and starts. We muft delight ourselves in the Lord, and call always upon our God. This must be our daily bufinefs, not our by-hand work. It was the fault of Rehoboam, 2 Chron. xii. 14. "He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to feek the Lord." And it is the fault of many, that they are unstable as water in matters of religion; many people's religion is like a tree-leg, which they can lay by and put to as their conveniency requires. We must follow the Lord, fo as to end our journey without defection and apoftacy: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” We must not follow the Lord as ordinary fervants, who have their term-day, at which they give up with their mafters. But our course of obedience muft have its perfect work; we must go through with the work of Chrift to the end. Apoftates are not fit for heaven: "No man," faid Jefus, "having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven," Luke ix. 62. But fearful is their doom, if they apoftatise: "If any man," fays God, "draw back, my foul fhall have no pleasure in him," Heb. x. 38.

Finally, it is to follow the Lord refolutely, as Ruth did Naomi, in opposition to all difcouragements and impediments in the way. There is the river of the evil example of the world, but they must strive against the stream; there are corrupt ftrong lufts of the heart, but they must cut off right hands, and pluck out right eyes; and there is the cross that will be laid on their backs, which they

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