"That we who were far off might be made nigh by the blood of Christ?" and shall we frustrate all by our refusing to go to him? Shall Christ come and offer us his help and direction to come to the Father, and shall we abide still strangers? Shall the King's Son come into our cottages to invite us to dwell with his Father at court, and shall we shut the door upon him, esteeming our cottages better than his palace?

Secondly, It is the duty of man to acquaint himself with God, because therein is the improvement of his highest excellency. Every one acknowledgeth an excellency in man, above all the rest of this lower world. Now what is this excellency of man? Is it not that he is made in a capacity of knowing God, and enjoying God, and having communion with God? This is the height of his glory. "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor the rich man in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord that exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord,” Jer. ix. 23, 24. Ye see here wherein man is to glory, for which he may value himself as truly glorious. In his understanding and knowing of God, man standeth above the rest of the creatures, in that he is a rational intellectual agent. This is part of the image of God, even knowledge, "which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him," Col. iii. 10. The nigher anything resembleth God, the greater is the excellency of that thing: now in this we resemble God more than any other creature, in that we are knowing understanding agents; and the highest improvement of this excellency of man is in the knowledge of God and acquaintance with God: "The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord," Prov. xx. 27; that is, it is a light set up in the soul, to direct the soul to a discovery of God. This is the highest improvement of our greatest excellency, and this is the excellency of man above other creatures: this is that whereby one man excels another. Who are those whose names are as precious ointment poured forth?

who are those which have obtained a good report? Are they those who were most acquainted with God? Enoc said to walk with God; an expression which signifies i mate acquaintance with God; and therefore was "transla that he should not see death." And Noah, whose fan alone was preserved when God destroyed the old world water, he was said to walk with God, Gen. vi. 9. Am all the sons of men he kept close to God; and God took of him alone. Abraham, who was the father of the faith he was called the friend of God. Moses, who was the m ator of the old covenant, he was said to "speak with face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend." I mi make mention of many more, who were the excellent o of the earth; because they did delight in God, and ( delighted in them. “They that feared the Lord spake of one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard: and book of remembrance was written for them that fear Lord, and that thought upon his name: And they shall mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in the day when I make my jewels," Mal. iii. 16, 17. Ye see how God accounts those that are of his acquaintance, that met together a spake of God, and that thought upon his name; he reck them amongst his jewels, his peculiar treasure. Such h our have all those that are acquainted with God. Ye then the excellency of man above all the rest of the ot creatures. Now if man fail in this which is his highest cellency, he will become the vilest of creatures. Everythi if it fail in its chiefest end and purpose, and highest ex lency, becomes base and of no account. "If salt lose its vour," saith our Saviour, "it is good for nothing." If m have lost his acquaintance with God, he is henceforth g for nothing. The mind of man is his eye, by which he is behold God; now if this eye be blind, if the light be da ness, how great is that darkness! The Jews, in Ezek. xv

worthless thing, without acquaintance with God. None are less esteemed among men than they that want wisdom to converse among men. None are less esteemed before God than they that know him not, that have not acquaintance with him, to converse with him. Ye see wherein the excellency and worth of man consisteth, and that if there be a deformity where ought to be our chiefest beauty, the whole is accounted as a deformed piece. It concerns us then to look that we keep our glory unspotted, our excellency in its due value; that we do not degrade ourselves below what God hath placed us in. If we are not acquainted with God, our souls serve us to little purpose: it is causing the soul [the prince] to go on foot, and to serve the body, which should be as servant; it is to let the candle of the Lord burn out in waste..

Thirdly, Another enforcement of this duty of acquaintance with God, is this: If we refuse acquaintance with God, it is a slighting the greatest of all the mercies that God bestows. Favours are to be valued, either by their proper excellencies, or according to the good will of him that bestows them; both these ways this is to be accounted the greatest of mercies. In God's giving us leave to be acquainted with him, he gives out himself to be known, to be loved, to be conversed with, to be enjoyed. What greater gift can God give than himself? God is the portion of his people, he is the greatest portion, the surest, the most suitable, and the only durable portion. Thus they that know him esteem him. "My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever," Ps. ixxiii. 26; "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance: the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage," Ps. xvi. 5, 6. "Blessed are the people that are in such a case; yea, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord." No greater mercy can be bestowed upon any people, family, or person, than this, for God to dwell among them. If we value this mercy according to the excellency and worth of that which is bestowed, it is the greatest; if we value it according to the good will of him that gives it, it will appear likewise to be the greatest favour. The greatness of the good

will of God in giving himself to be our acquaintance evident in the nature of the gift. A man may give his es to them to whom his love is not very large, but he ne gives himself but upon strong affection. God gives ab dantly to all the works of his hands; he causeth the su shine upon the evil and upon the good, and the rain descend upon the just and the unjust; but it cannot be ceived that he should give himself to be a portion, a frie father, husband, but in abundance of love. Whosoe therefore shall refuse acquaintance with God, slighteth greatest favour that ever God did bestow upon man. N consider what a high charge this is; to abuse such a kindr from God is an act of the greatest vileness. David never so provoked as when the King of Ammon abused kindness in his ambassadors, after his father's death. - A God is highly provoked when his greatest mercies, bestov in the greatest love, are rejected and cast away. What co God give more and better than himself? And how hea will this imputation be! These are those that look up God as not worth being acquainted with. Let us theref consider how we shall be able to stand to these accusatio Shall we not be speechless when these things shall charged upon us? Shall we not be confounded when stand to the trial of Him to whom we had offered th great indignities? How shall we escape if we neglect great salvation, so great a mercy.

Fourthly, It concerns us to acquaint ourselves with G for without it we are in a necessity of sin and misery.

1. The soul unacquainted with God is in a necessity sinning: “Having their understanding darkened, aliena from the life of God through the ignorance that is in the because of the blindness of their hearts," Eph. iv. 18. E want of acquaintance with God, every thought and ima pation of their heart is evil continually. "There is no righteous, no not one. There is none that understan there is none that seeketh after God," Rom. iii. 10,

motion to God and in God, it will be in motion from God. Hence it is that the prayer of the wicked is an abomination: that which goes for prayer, God abhors, because they are not acquainted with him: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know me," Isa, i. 3. To this, saith he, "your incense is abomination unto me, the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even your solemn meetings." ver. 13, 14. Now the reason why there is a necessity of sin without acquaintance with God, is, because whatsoever is not done with a good heart is not good: "A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good fruit; and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth evil fruit: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh," Luke vi. 45. As an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so an evil heart cannot bring forth a good action. Now without knowledge the heart is not good. "That the soul be without knowledge, it is not good," Prov. xix. 2. And there is no knowledge like the knowledge of God, and acquaintance with him, to make the heart good: "Because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land; therefore by swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out," Hosea iv. 1, 2. Thus, want of knowledge of God and acquaintance with God, we may plainly see, is the necessary cause of sin. Now there is no greater evil on this side hell, than that of a necessity of sinning. Those of whom it is said "they cannot cease from sinning," are called "cursed children," 2 Pet. ii. 14. He that chooseth any sin rather than affliction, doth it through the blindness of his mind. This is laid as a heavy accusation: "For this hast thou chosen rather than affliction," Job xxxvi. 21. To choose iniquity rather than affliction is the greatest folly imaginable. It is one great part of the misery of hell, that they never cease from sinning; and this is the greatest misery on earth, qur being so much under the power of sin. I appeal to any gracious soul that hath the feeling of the burden of sin; what is its great trouble and sorrow? Is it not because of sin? What are his secret moans to God? Is it not the sense of