"not well acquainted with what his manner of life has been ?"-But, my brethren, what are all these charges to the purpose? What do they prove, except the ignorance of those who bring them, and the secret enmity which they indulge against religion? Allow that the man has been as bad as you describe him to have been (probably if asked, he will acknowledge himself to have been far worse) yet the question is, not what he was, but what he is; not what you remember him to have been, but what you now see him to be. Do you not now see him leading a new life? Do you not now see him leaving off those practices, which he once followed; forsaking those companions, which he once loved; denying and subduing those tempers, which he once indulged? While While you have these proofs of the sincerity of his religious profession, cease to expose your own folly and wickedness, by reproaching him with sins, which he committed before he had taken up that profession. True Christian charity would lead you to hope, to believe the best of every one; would lead you even to make great allowances, wherever circumstances will admit; and to adopt on every occasion, the most favourable opinion.

But while we apply this truth for cor

recting our wrong judgment of others, let us also use it for forming a right judgment of ourselves. What we were by nature, the Scriptures plainly tell us, and experience as plainly proves. We were born in sin, and were children of wrath. If by the grace of GOD we have been kept from running into many of those excesses, of which the Corinthians were guilty, yet still, in some shape or other we have served sin, and have obeyed it in some of the lusts thereof. By nature we were far off from God: we followed the devices and desires of our own evil heart; and had pleasure in unrighteousness. This was our state: for it is naturally the state of all. But the question, which we are concerned to answer is this, Is it still our state? Are we still children of wrath? Are we still, "foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures ?" Are we still the servants of sin? Or have we been made free from sin? Have we experienced that real inward change, which true religion will certainly produce? Let us remember, that there may be much seeming outward alteration where there is no real inward change. There may be a seeming forsaking of sin, when, in fact, there is only a turning from one sin to another. There may be a much

more diligent attendance on religious duties, especially public ones, than formerly, while the heart remains uninoved. Let us beware then of concluding on slight grounds, that we are washed, that we are justified, that we are sanctified. Is there such a clear, an abiding, an entire change wrought in our hearts, and influencing our lives, that the apostle could say of us, as he said of the Romans, "God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin,"* that is "God be thanked, that though ye were such, ye are such no longer;""but," as he adds, "ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you?" My brethren, never think yourselves safe till it be thus with you. Never conclude that you are "justified in the name of the Lord Jesus," till you have good reason to hope from the increasing experience of your own hearts, that you are "sanctified also by the Spirit of our God."

Are you arrived at this hope? Let it be your great concern to shew forth in your lives the reality and greatness of the change which you have undergone. Recollect the Apostle's admonition to the Ephesians; "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children

* Rom. vi. 17.

of light."* "Let your profiting appear unto all men.' Whatever may have been the irregularities and sins of your former life, in the days of your ignorance, so labour now to adorn your Christian profession, "that they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ: and having no evil thing to say of you,"+ may be forced to own that you are indeed "washed, justified, sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

SERMON XIII..

SANCTIFICATION THROUGH THE WORD.

JOHN, xvii. 17.

Sanctify them through thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth.

SANCTIFICATION, in its first and plain meaning, signifies a separation from common and ordinary uses to higher and sacred purposes. Thus, under the law of Moses, the sabbath, the temple, the vessels employed in the sacrifices, were said to be sanctified, that is, they were set apart for holy purposes. Thus the priests under the old dispensation, and the ministers of the Gospel under the new, are by their office sanctified, or peculiarly appointed and separated to the worship of Gop. And thus christians also, being by baptism dedicated to the service of God, and by profession his people, are sanctified. But this sanctification is, after all, only outward. There is another sanctification which is inward, the sanctification of the heart, which consists in a separation