that set thee on work. Jehu faithfully destroyed Baal and Jezebel, but his zeal for the Lord covered the secret desire of a crown. Take care also, not to mistake gifts for graces; fluency of speech for converting power; the warmth of natural affection for divine love; or an impulse of God's spirit, on some particular occasion, for an evidence of spiritual regeneration. Balaam spoke and prophesied like a child of God; and many will one day say to Christ, Lord. have we not prophesied, spoke all mysteries, cast out devils, and done many wondrous works in thy name? to whom he will answer, Depart from me, I

know you not."

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Avoid the self-conceit of many, who feed on the corrupted manna of their past experiences, and confidently appeal to the wasted streams of those consolations, which once refreshed their hearts; when, alas! it is evident, they have now forsaken the fountain of living water, and hewn to themselves broken cisterns that hold no water; unless the mire of evil tempers, selfish views, and heartless professions of faith, may pass for the streams which gladden the city of God.

Neither do thou heal thyself by touches of sorrow, by tears, good desires, or outward marks of humiliation for sin, as king Ahab. Nor by excessive fasting, retiring from business, or hard usage of the body, as many Roman Catholics: nor yet by misapplying the doctrine of predestination, and setting down notions of election for evidences of salvation, as many Protestants: no, nor by doating about questions, strifes of words, and perverse disputings, which eat as a canker, as some in St. Paul's days, and too many in eurs, 1 Tim. vi. 4.

To conclude; think not thou art absolutely made whole when the power of outward sin is weakened or suspended, when thou hast learned the language of Canaan, canst speak or write well on spiritual subjects, art intimately acquainted with the best ministers of Christ, and hast cast thy lot among the despised children of God, taken their part, shared in their reproach,

and secured their esteem and prayers. Judas did so for years: Saul was once also among the prophets Ananias and Sapphira were supposed to be good believers for a time: the foolish virgins joined in society with the wise, and were perhaps unsuspected to the last: and Peter himself stood in need of conversion, long after he had outwardly left all to follow Christ, Luke xxii. 32. So important is that charge of our Lord, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."

To these cautions against the various ways by which the generality of penitents skin over the wound of sin in their conscience, permit me to add an

IV. EVANGELICAL EXHORTATION, pointing out the divine method of a sound cure, which, though least regarded, and last tried, by most sinners, is not only effectual in some, but infallible in all cases.Wouldst thou, serious Reader, be made whole in an evangelical manner? To thy convictions of original and actual sin must be added, a conviction of unbelief. Feel then, that thou hast neglected Christ's great salvation: own thou didst never ask, or never persevere in asking, the unfeigned, saving, powerful faith, by which the atonement is received and enjoyed, Rom. v. 11. Acknowledge, that the faith thou hast hitherto rested in, was not the gift of God, that grace of his own operation, wrought in thee according to the working of his mighty power, and mentioned Eph. ii. 8. Col. ii. 12. Eph. i. 9. And confess it was not the right Christian faith; because it chiefly grew from the seed of prejudice and education, as the faith of Jews and Turks; and not from the seed of divine grace and power, as the faith of St. Paul, Gal. i. 14. and because it never yielded the heavenly fruits which gospel faith infallibly produces: such as a vital union with Christ, Gal. ii. 20.—the pardon of sins, Col. i. 14. Acts xiii. 30.-peace with God, Rom. v. 1.-dominion over sin, Rom. vi. 14.-victory over the world, 1 John v. 4.-the crucifixion of the flesh, Gal. v.-power to quench the fiery darts of

the wicked, Eph. vi. 15.-joy unspeakable, 1 Pet. i. 8.-and the salvation of the soul, 1 Pet. i. 9. Heb. x. 39.

Be not afraid of this conviction of unbelief, for it generally goes before divine faith, as the fermentation of a grain of corn in the earth is previous to its shooting its stalk towards heaven. God concludes, shuts up in unbelief, says St. Paul, that he may have mercy upon us, Rom. xi. 32. When the Comforter is come, says our Lord, he will convince the world of sin, because they believe not in me. This is the transgression, which peculiarly deserves the name of sin, as being the damning sin, according to the gospel, Mark xvi. 16. the sin that binds upon us the guilt of all our other iniquities, and keeps up the power of all our corruptions. Its immediate effect is to harden the heart, Mark xvi. 14. and make it depart from the living God, Heb. iii. 12. and this hardness and departure are the genuine parents of all our actual sins, the number and blackness of which increases and decreases, as the strength of unbelief grows or decays.

A conviction of this sin is of the utmost importance, as nothing but an affecting sense of its heinousness and power, can make us entirely weary of ourselvesnothing but a sight of its destructive nature can prevent our resting without a complete cure.

But when thou art once convinced of unbelief, do not increase the difficulty of believing, by imagining true faith at an immense distance. Consider it as very near thy heart. That which convinces thee of sin and unbelief can in a moment, and with the greatest ease, convince thee of righteousness, and reveal in thee Christ the hope of glory. How quickly can the Spirit take of the things that belong to him, and show them unto thee! Say not then in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven, or descend into the deep, to get the seed of faith? But let St. Paul show thee the new

and living way. "The word is nigh thee, says he,

even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach; that if thou shalt confess

with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for we are saved by faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Hear then the word of the Lord."

Are thy sins really grievous to thee? Is the burden of them intolerable? Wouldst thou part with it at any rate? Dost thou fully renounce thy speculative and barren faith? Hast thou received the sentence of eternal death in thy conscience, acknowledging thy case (for any thing thou canst do without Christ) helpless, hopeless, desperate? And art thou truly brought to the grand inquiry, What must I do to be saved? See, feel, confess, that thou standest in absolute need of a divine Physician, an almighty Redeemer; and that the God-man, Jesus Christ, joins both these extraordinary characters in his wonderful person. Submit to be saved by grace, by free grace through his infinite merits, and not thy wretched deserts; and, instead of opposing, continually study God's wonderful method of saving sinners, the worst of sinners, by faith in his blood.

There is no name but his under heaven, whereby we must be saved; neither is there cure or salvation in any other, Acts iv. 12. As by him all things were created, so by him they subsist, and by him they must be restored. The power of his word and breath, made man a living soul; and now that we are dead to God, the same power, applying his blood and righteousness, must create in us clean hearts, and renew right spirits within us. This, and this only, heals wounded consciences, washes polluted souls, and raises the dead in trespasses and sins.

Wouldst thou then be made whole? Determine, as St. Paul, to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified: aim at believing, realizing, applicatory views of what he is, and what he has done and suffered for thee. Through all the clouds of thy guilt and unbelief, which will vanish before our Sun of Righteousness, as mists before the material sun, behold him as the Lamb

of God that taketh away the sin of the world, and thine. See the immense dignity of his person: he is God over all, blessed for ever; and yet he condescends to be Emanuel, God with us, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone.-Consider the inexpressible value, and inconceivable efficacy, of his precious, all-atoning blood. It is the blood of the sacred body, assumed by the eternal Logos, when he appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh, both as a victim and a priest, to suffer the penalty of his own righteous law for us, and to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself-the blood of the Lamb of God slain to sprinkle many nations-the blood of that mysterious Being, who fills the bosom of the Father, and the everlasting throne; at whose feet all the heavenly powers cast their crowns; and to whom, in the midst of the acclamations and adorations of innumerable companies of angels, in the midst of sounding trumpets, thunderings, lightnings, and voices, the spirits of just men made perfect ascribe salvation; free, full, immensely dear-bought salvation; and, to say all in one word, it is the blood of God made manifest in the flesh, Acts xx. 28. 1 Tim. iii. 16. For JEHOVAH our righteousness, is the Seed of the woman, and the Son of man; the Godhead and the Manhood are wonderfully joined in him: and in consequence of this mysterious union, he is not only a proper mediator between God and man, but the sole medium of reconciliation and union between the offended Majesty of Heaven and the rebellious sons of Adam. As the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness, when viewed by the wounded Israelites, was the only means by which the poison of the fiery serpents could be expelled, and health restored to their tortured, dying bodies; so Jesus, lifted up on the cross, when beheld by the eye of faith, as bleeding and dying in our stead, is the only way by which sin, the sting of death, can be extracted out of our guilty, perishing souls; the only antidote that can restore us to saving health and eternal life, John iii. 14. Apply whatever we will, besides this sovereign remedy, we