September 22

The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne.—Revelation 4:10.

SUBJECTION is the soul's real and practical acknowledgment of the supreme Majesty; its homage to its Maker; its self-dedication: than which nothing more suits the state of a creature, or the spirit of a saint. And as it is suitable, it is pleasant. It is that by which the blessed soul becomes, in its own sense, a consecrated thing, a devoted thing, sacred to God: its very life and whole being referred and made over to him. With what delightful relishes, what sweet gusts of pleasure, is this done! while the soul tastes its own act; approves it with a full ungainsaying judgment; apprehends the condignity and fitness of it; assents to itself herein; and hath the ready suffrage, the harmonious concurrence, of all its powers! When the words are no sooner spoken, "Worthy art thou, O Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created;" but they are resounded from the penetralis, the inmost bowels, the most intimate receptacles and secret chambers of the soul, O Lord, thou art worthy: worthy, that I, and all things, should be to thee: worthy to be the Omega, as thou art the Alpha, the last, as thou art the first; the end, as thou art the beginning, of all things; the ocean into which all being shall flow, as the fountain from which it sprung. My whole self, and all my powers, the excellencies now implanted in my being, the privileges of my now glorified state, are all worth nothing to me but for thee; please me only, as they make me fitter for thee. Oh the pleasure of these sentiments, the joy of such raptures! when the soul shall have no other notion of itself, than of an everlasting sacrifice, always ascending to God in its own flames.

For this devotedness and subjection speak not barely an act, but a state; a being to the praise of grace; a living to God. And it is no mean pleasure that the sincere soul finds, in the imperfect beginnings of such a spirit, its entrance into this blessed state; when it makes the first tender and present of itself to God; (as the apostle expresses it;) when it first begins to esteem itself a hallowed thing, separate and set part for God; its first act of unfeigned self-resignation; when it tells God from the very heart, "I now give up myself to thee to be thine." Never was marriage covenant made with such pleasure, with so complacential consent. This quitting claim to ourselves, parting with ourselves upon such terms, to be the Lord's for ever: O the peace, the rest, the acquiescence of spirit that attends it! When the poor soul that was weary of itself, knew not what to do with itself, hath now on the sudden found this way of disproving of itself to such an advantage; there is pleasure in this treaty. Even the previous breakings and relentings of the soul towards God are pleasant. But oh, the pleasure of consent! of yielding ourselves to God, as the apostle's expression is; when the soul is overcome and cries out, "Lord, now I resign, I yield; possess now thy own right, I give up myself to thee." That yielding is subjection, self-devoting; in order to future service and obedience, "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey." And never did any man enroll himself, as a servant to the greatest prince on earth, with such joy. What pleasure is there in the often iterated recognition of these transactions; in multiplying such bonds upon a man's own soul, though done faintly, while the fear of breaking checks its joy in taking them on! When in the uttering of these words, I am thy servant, O Lord; thy servant, the son of thine handmaid, that is, thy bond-servant, alluding to that law and custom among the Jews, thy servant devoted to thy fear; a man finds they fit his spirit, and are aptly expressive of the true sense of his soul; is it not a grateful thing? And how pleasant is a state of life consequent and agreeable to such transactions and covenants with God! When it is meat and drink to do his will! When his zeal eats a man up; and one shall find himself secretly consuming for God! and the vigor of his soul exhaled in his service! Is it not a pleasant thing so to spend and be spent? When one can in a measure find that his will is one with God's, transformed into the Divine will: that there is but one common will, and interest, and end between him and us; and so, that in serving God we reign with him; in spending ourselves for him, we are perfected in him. Is not this a pleasant life? Some heathens have spoken at such a rate of this kind of life, as might make us wonder and blush. One speaking of a virtuous person saith, "He is as a good soldier that bears wounds, and numbers scars; and at last smitten though with darts, dying, will love the emperor for whom he falls; he will, (saith he,) keep in mind that ancient precept, Follow God. But there are that complain, cry out and groan, and are compelled by force to do his commands, and hurried into them against their will; and what a madness is it (said he) to be drawn rather than follow!" And presently after subjoins, "We are born in a kingdom; to obey God is liberty." The same person writes in a letter to a friend: "If thou believe me when I most freely discover to thee the most secret fixed temper of my soul, in all things my mind is thus formed: I obey not God so properly as I assent to him. I follow him with all my heart, not because I can not avoid it." And another, "Lead me to whatsoever I am appointed, and I will follow thee cheerfully; but if I refuse, or be unwilling, I shall follow notwithstanding." When the transformation of the soul shall be completed; and the will of God shall be no sooner known than rested in with a complacential approbation; and every motion of the first and great Mover, shall be an efficacious law, to guide and determine all our motions; and the lesser wheels shall presently run at the first impulse of the great and master wheel, without the least rub or hesitation: O inconceivable blessedness of this consent, the pleasure of this joyful harmony!