II. The manner or temper, which should actuate us in making the surrender of all we have and are to the glory of God. 1. This great affair should be done _solemnly_. If reciprocal acts of covenant and amity among the children of men, require deliberation, and are executed in a manner the most serious and binding, where only temporal inheritances or transitory engagements are concerned; how much more deliberate and solemn should that act be, whereby the soul maintains an intercourse with the awful Majesty of Heaven, and soul and body, with their respective functions, are surrendered to the service of the Most High for ever! in which God is chosen as the soul’s portion, and every thing is to be sacrificed to his injunctions, or given up to his care and guardianship! O with what profound reverence and self-abnegation should we make the tender of our hearts to Him, when his majesty, or our vileness, is considered. “Commune with your own heart, therefore, and in your chamber,” about this solemn act, and “pay thy vows unto the Most High.” Count the cost of surrendering your heart to him; since, without due reflection, you may be disappointed and basely retract, when you hear that unless you deny yourself, and take up your cross, you cannot be his disciple. 2. No _reserve_ must enter into any act of dedication to God; much less into that, by which we restore him his own property. He is a jealous God, and will have the _whole_ heart or none. He cannot, he will not bear a rival. He must have the pre-eminence in the affections. A divided heart is his abomination. Remember how the Lord’s anger was kindled against Saul, because, when commanded to destroy the Amalekites, “he _spared_ Agag and the _best_ of the sheep, and all that was _good_, and would not _utterly_ destroy them.” 1 Sam. xv. 9. And ponder well the case of the rich young man, in the gospel, who approached the Lord Jesus with a seeming desire to give him his heart, but “went away sorrowful,” when Jesus insisted on the sacrifice of his bosom sin, and recommended the utility of taking up the cross. It was upon that memorable occasion, that our Lord said, “A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven,” Mat. xix. 23; that is, the difficulty of entering heaven is great to all who have riches, and rises to an impossibility, where they are trusted in, and idolized. And the case is the same in every circumstance, where the heart is divided between any thing and God. So that, if there be a competitor within, that shares your affections, so as to rob Jesus of his prerogative over them, be assured you are yet in “the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity.” And the idol, whether it be the love of pleasure, or profit, or honor, or self, must be pulled down, or it will dethrone Christ, and ruin your immortal souls.