The assembly was large: it consisted of the people in general, with their elders, heads, governors, and officers. They all felt the obligations they owed this great and good man, as their captain and leader, their ruler and judge; and were in a disposition, as the event shewed, to receive the instructions he should give them. He puts them in mind, therefore, what God had done for their forefathers and for them, the signal miracles he had wrought in their favour, the glorious victories which through his interposition they had obtained, and the happy fruits they had reaped from them. And he then with great earnestness and affection entreats them to fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth, totally renouncing the idolatrous practices of the heathens. So he adds, in the verse of which our text is a part, If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.

The manner of his address is at once authoritative and persuasive. It is as if he had said, "If after you have duly weighed the facts which have been laid before you, and those of which you have been yourselves eye-witnesses, it should seem unreasonable, or any way prejudicial to your interest, to serve the Lord, Jehovah—the God that rescued you from the cruel yoke of Pharaoh, led you through the wilderness, and put you in possession of this fair and fruitful country; choose you this day whom ye will serve. Consider under whose protection ye will put yourselves, and whom it is most eligible to worship, whether the gods of your ancestors, Terah, Nahor, and others from whom your father Abraham sprung, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell, and who were utterly unable to defend their worshippers, or themselves, against the vengeance of Jehovah, the only living and true God." In such terms does he expose the great sin and folly of their becoming again idolaters, and at the same time teach them the infinite reasonableness and importance, not only of their professing the true religion, but of their acting therein upon the grounds of the most deliberate consideration and choice.

He then adds in the text, But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. As if he had said, "Whatever effect these my

reasonings and persuasions may have upon your minds, whether ye adhere to the true religion or renounce it, I am come to a point with myself upon the matter: it is my free, deliberate and firm resolution to serve the Lord, to avow Jehovah for my God in the face of the whole world, to tender him the worship he has required, to aim at universal obedience to his commands, and to endeavour, to the utmost of my ability, to promote his interests among mankind. This was the resolution I formed in early life, to this resolution I have hitherto adhered, and, by the grace of God, I am determined to abide by it to the end of my days. Nor am I singular in this resolution: my family agree with me in it. They are all convinced it is both their duty and interest to serve the Lord. There is not a dissenting voice among them. And as to those of them who are not yet capable of discerning good and evil, I will train them up in the fear of God. By my authority I will restrain them from vice and sin, and oblige them to comply with the external forms of religion. By my counsels and instructions I will endeavour to fix salutary impressions upon their young and tender minds. By my example I will allure them to the practice of virtue and piety. And my incessant cries shall ascend to heaven for the blessing of God on these my well-meant exertions for their good. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

What a noble resolution was this, and how happily expressed! Never did Joshua appear to the eyes of the pious Israelites in a more venerable point of light than upon this occasion. His attitude, voice, countenance, and manner of address, we may be sure, all strongly marked his ardent zeal for the glory of God, and the tender feelings of his heart for their real good. Nor was the effect inconsiderable, which this last sermon of his produced on the minds of this large and solemn audience. The people answered and said, God forbid, that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods. We will serve the Lord, for he is our God a.

And now the object we have in view, is to persuade you, Sirs, and ourselves, with great sincerity and cheerfulness to adopt the language of the text. And should we succeed, how glorious will be the consequence! You will be happy and a Ver. 16, 18.

honourable in life, in death, and to all eternity. Yea, I will add,—a thought which cannot fail of inspiring every ingenuous mind with ardour-you will be the instruments of making multitudes around you happy also. Let us then consider more particularly,

FIRST, The import of this resolution which every good man, who is master of a family, forms in regard of himself—As for me, I will serve the Lord. And,

SECONDLY, The influence which this resolution, rightly formed, will and ought to have upon his temper and conduct towards those under his care. I will use my endeavours that, my house also may serve the Lord.

FIRST, Let us consider the import of this resolution in regard of the master of a family himself.

What we here mean is, to give a clear and compendious account of Personal-religion; and the rather as this is the true and proper ground of Family-religion. For if he who presides over a house is himself an utter stranger to the fear of God, it is much to be apprehended that there will be little of it among those under his care. Our ideas we will class under two heads -What it is to serve the Lord-and the principles upon which every Christian man is disposed so to do.

I. As to serving the Lord, it is a phrase that comprehends in it the whole of our duty; the main branches of which are-the worship of God-the living a holy life-and the using our influence to promote the cause of religion in the world.

God is to be worshipped. This is the main idea meant to be conveyed in the text, as is evident from the occasion on which the words were spoken, namely, the propensity of the Israelites to idolatry. Joshua wished therefore to dissuade them from this great evil, and to engage them to the worship of the only living and true God. The modes of worship indeed under the present dispensation are different from those of the former, not tedious and expensive, but plain and simple. We are to offer prayer and praise to God, in his house, in our own houses, and in our retirements. We are to profess our faith in Christ, through whose mediation we look for pardon and eternal life, by a submission to the two institutions of baptism and the Lord's supper. And we are devoutly to attend the preaching of the

word on the stated seasons appointed for that purpose, and other opportunites that offer. This is serving God, in the first and direct sense of the phrase. But we are serving him also, when we are conforming to the dictates of reason and conscience in the general course of our lives. Every act of justice, humanity, and benevolence we perform, in obedience to the will of God, is a service rendered to our Creator; and he mercifully acknowledges it as such. And every endeavour to subdue our irregular passions, and to cultivate the opposite virtues, 'comes under the same denomination. So that as the real Christian habitually aims to please God, he is continually serving him.—In a word, we are on some occasions more especially to use extraordinary efforts, for the noble purpose of promoting the cause of religion in the world. Eminent service some men have rendered their generation, by their faithful instructions, prudent counsels, vigorous defence of the truth, right application of their substance, and exemplary lives. By their spirited exertions, with the blessing of God, the kingdom of Satan hath been shaken to its very foundations, and the church of Christ acquired new splendour and glory. Vice hath fled before their sharp and unremitting rebukes into corners, and civil society itself received a large accession of honour, wealth, and happiness, through their services and sufferings.-This it is to serve the Lord. But what,

II. Are the principles upon which every real Christian serves God?

Here we are led into a view of all those reasonings and affections of the heart, which constitute what we call experimental religion. Deeply sensible of his past sins, and the miserable depravity of his nature, and well persuaded upon the divine testimony of the abounding mercy and love of God through Christ, the Christian feels himself disposed to all that service which has just been described. His reasonings on the great truths of religion are calm, sober, and deliberate his approbation of the things that are excellent, free, cordial, and unreserved and his resolution to adhere to God and his duty, in a dependance on superior assistance, firm and steady. Many a doubt has arisen in his mind upon the most interesting points of religion: many a struggle he has endured with pride, passion,

:

and unbelief; many a tear he has poured over his own frailty and weakness; many a fervent cry he has addressed to Heaven for the enlightening, renewing, and quickening influence of the blessed Spirit. And the result of the whole is, As for me I will serve the Lord. Let us listen a moment to the pious effusions of his heart upon the two grand principles which give existence to this resolution in his breast, Duty and Interest.

"It is my Duty," says he, "to serve God. He has an uncontrouled authority over me, and every imaginable claim of gratitude upon me. Can I hesitate a moment, whether he who made me, upholds me in life, and pours his providential bounty all around me, has a title to my reverence, confidence, love, and obedience? Can I view him pitying me amidst my aggravated guilt and misery, and sending his own Son, by his bloody passion and death, to redeem and save me? Can I recollect the measures he has taken to bring back a poor, lost, wandering sheep to his fold, the loud calls of his providence to my sleepy conscience, the earnest strivings of his Spirit with my perverse heart, the seasonable restraints of his grace, and the soothing consolations of his love? Can I traverse the paths through which he has led me, call up to view the dangers from which his hand has rescued me, and realize the glorious hopes his never-failing promises set before me? And not feel in my bosom the warmest emotions of love, gratitude, and obedience? O no! My God, at an expence which angels cannot compute, has served my interest; the foulest infamy therefore would fall on me, could I be so disingenuous as to decline his service.

But it is the idea of Advantage, as well as duty, that determines the Christian to adopt the resolution in the text. These two motives are here happily combined. No service has God required of us but it is our interest to render him. We are not obliged, therefore, in order to become Christians, to eradicate from our breasts a principle which is connatural to us. We may cherish it, and, provided it is held under the direction of a sound judgment, it will add force to obedience. Through the depravity of their hearts men do, indeed, form a mistaken notion of their interest. The pleasure they feel in the gratification of their inordinate desires, and the pain which they must consequently endure in the mortification of them, fix a deep prejudice