Deuteronomy 26:17-19 –

¹⁷ “You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.

¹⁸ “The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments;

¹⁹ and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.”

Of this passage Thomas Brooks writes –

“God will resign himself up to them who resign themselves up to him; he will give up himself to them that have given up their names and their hearts to him; he will bestow himself as the greatest pearl of price upon them that shall make a surrender of themselves to him.¹ There is no way to be higher than others, happier than others, more noble and honourable than others, than by making a dedi-gift² of ourselves to God. He that dedicates himself to God, dedicates all; he that doth not dedicate himself, dedicates nothing at all.”

Brooks, Thomas. The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks. Edited by Alexander Balloch Grosart. Vol. 4. Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1867.

 

 

¹ That is an apt saying of Tertullian, Negotiatio est aliquid amittere ut majora lucreris: That is right merchandise when something is parted with to gain more.

² ‘dedication-gift’?