Fourth, Christ thus loved us, without any expectation of ever being requited by us for his love. He did not stand in need of anything we could do for him, and well knew that we should never be able to requite him for his kindness to us, or even to do anything toward it. He knew that we were poor, miserable, and empty-handed outcasts, who might receive from him, but could render nothing to him in return. He knew that we had no money or price with which to purchase anything, and that he must freely give us all things that we needed, or else we should be eternally without them. And shall not we be far from a selfish spirit and utterly contrary to it, if we love one another after such a manner as this, or if we have the same spirit of love toward others that was in Christ toward ourselves? If this is our spirit, our love to others will not depend on their love to us, but we shall do as Christ did to us, love them even though they are enemies. We shall not only seek our own things, but we shall in our hearts be so united to others, that we shall look on their things as our own. We shall endeavor to be interested in their good, as Christ was in ours; and shall be ready to forego and part with our own

things, in many cases, for the things of others, as Christ did toward us. And these things we shall be willing and ready to do for others, without any expectation of being repaid by them, as Christ did such great things for us without any expectation of requital or return. If such be our spirit, we shall not be under the influence of a selfish spirit, but shall be unselfish in principle, and heart, and life.

In the application of this subject, the great use I would make of it, is, to dissuade all from a selfish spirit and practice, and to exhort all to seek that spirit, and live that life, which shall be contrary to it. Seek, that by divine love, your heart may be devoted to God and to his glory, and to loving your neighbor as yourself, or rather as Christ has loved you. Do not seek, every one your own things, but every one, also, the things of others. And that you may be stirred up to this, in addition to the motives already presented, consider three things,

First, That you are not your own.-As you have not made yourself, so you were not made for yourself. You are neither the author, nor the end of your own being. Nor is it you that uphold yourself in being; or that provide

for yourself; or that are dependent on yourself. There is another that hath made you, and preserves you, and provides for you, and on whom you are dependent: and He hath made you for himself, and for the good of your fellow-creatures, and not only for yourself. He has placed before you higher and nobler ends than self, even the welfare of your fellow-men, and of society, and the interests of his kingdom; and for these you ought to labor and live, not only in time, but for eternity.

And if you are Christians, as many of you profess to be, then, in a peculiar sense, “ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price," even "with the precious blood of Christ," 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; and 1 Peter i. 19. And this is urged as an argument why Christians should not seek themselves, but the glory of God; for the apostle adds, "Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." By nature you were in a miserable, lost condition, a captive in the hands of divine justice, and a miserable slave in the bondage of sin and Satan. And Christ has redeemed you, and so you are his by purchase. By a most just title you belong to

him, and not to yourself. And, therefore, you must not, henceforth, treat yourself as your own, by seeking your own interests or pleasure, only, or even chiefly; for if you do so, you will be guilty of robbing Christ. And as you are not your own, so nothing that you have is your own. Your abilities of body and mind, your outward possessions, your time, talents, influence, comforts, none of them are your own; nor have you any right to use them as if you had an absolute property in them, as will be likely to do if you imagine them only for your own private benefit, and not for the honor of Christ, and for the good of your fellow-men. Consider,

you

Second, How you, by your very profession as a Christian, are united to Christ, and to your fellow-Christians.—Christ, and all Christians, are so united together, that they all make but one body; and of this body, Christ is the head, and Christians are the members. "We being many," says the apostle," are one body in Christ, and every one members, one of another," Rom. xii. 5; and again, "By one spirit, are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free," 1 Cor. xii. 13. How un

becoming, then, is it in Christians to be selfish, and concerned only for their own private interests. In the natural body, the hand is ready to serve the head, and all the members are ready to serve one another. Is what the hands do, done only for their own advantage? Are they not continually employed as much for the other parts of the body, as for themselves? Is not the work they are doing from day to day, for the common good of the whole body? And so it may be said as to the eye, the teeth, the feet, that they are all employed, not for themselves, or for their own limited and partial welfare, but for the common comfort and good of the whole body. And if the head be dishonored, are not all the members of the body at once employed and active to remove the dishonor, and to put honor upon the head? And if any members of the body are wounded, and languishing, and in pain, are not all the members of the body at once engaged to screen that weak or suffering member? Are not the eyes employed in looking about for it, and the ears in attending to the directions of physicians, and the feet in going where relief is to be sought, and the hands in applying the remedies provided? So it should