shall be saved." And his own experience confirms the truth of Scripture to him in this point beyond all doubt. He now sees a world of sin in himself which before was hidden from him; and if he could think but for a moment that he has no sin, his conscience would rise up against him, his heart would condemn him. And, therefore, he does not expect to be saved as a saint, but as a sinner; taking the Lord Jesus Christ for his righteousness and whole salvation, and trusting only in mercy from first to last. But though he is not discouraged with the sight of himself, so as to fall into despair, or refuse the remedy of God's providing for him, and the comfort he offers him, yet his hope will not suffer him to be wicked and slothful, or at peace with his most deadly enemy; and, therefore,

2. He desires to avoid all sin, and to be found in all duty. Though he confesseth, with the utmost sincerity, and from a true knowledge of himself, that there is no health in him, with respect to God's most righteous and perfect law ; yet he is convinced of his obligations to avoid whatever is contrary to it, and to fashion his heart and life by the rule of God's commandments. To live in

known sin, would be the death of his hope.

And here I must warn you against a mistake which you may be apt to fall into, when you hear me speak of the humiliation of God's children, and unfeigned acknowledgments they make both to God and man of their utter worthlessness. I have told you before, they may well do it, considering the excellence and purity of God's law, which they are enabled to see in its whole spiritual extent, how much less they love him than they ought; how hard it is to govern all the motions of a deceitful heart, and bring every thought into subjection to the obedience of Christ; all which they are taught of God to account to themselves for sin, and dare not stand upon

their innocence before him, though men like themselves can lay nothing to their charge. But nevertheless they wage continual war against sin, and do not live in the open breach of any of the commandments; not in lewdness, drunkenness, swearing, sabbath-breaking, or stealing, not lying for gain, not murdering with the tongue; if they did, they could not keep their hope, and durst not lift up their heads before God.

Do not, therefore, take advantage from what they say, and say truly, of their need of Christ's blood to wash them clean from all spot of sin every moment of their lives, to encourage yourselves in wickedness; supposing that as all are sinners, you may find mercy as well as they, though you still continue to harden yourselves against the fear of God; for you quite mistake the matter; they are not sinners in this sense; they know it would disprove their claim to an interest in Christ: and if at any time they are so unhappy as to fall into sin, they can have no ease in their minds till they rise again from it by repentance. They have seen the great evil and curse of all sin in the death of Christ, felt something of the bitterness of it in themselves, have come trembling before God for pardon in the blood of his Son; and dread above all things to take upon themselves the guilt of their former transgressions by returning to a state of open rebellion against him. They have entered into covenant with him to fight against all sin, outward and inward, and to persevere in all duty. Their ears are unstopped. They can hear the Psalmist saying, "Ye that love the Lord, see that ye hate the thing which is evil;" and Christ saying, " If ye love me, keep my commandments;" and this they resolve to do. Christ's death and sufferings, his coming into the world by an humble birth, and going out of it by a bloody death, show them that in sin, which they did not know before, a depth of evil

which they could never have thought of; and his love is a strong bond upon their souls to forsake it, and to abound in all goodness. Holiness is a very precious part of their hope in and from him, and what they cleave to him for as well as his forgiveness. But knowing their weakness, and the difficulties they have to struggle with,

3. They use prayer, and all other means of grace, to increase their faith, enliven their hope, and keep them steadfast in it, and in all holy obedience unto their life's end. They are men of prayer, as sure as they are possessed of Christian hope; not merely to please God with an act of outward homage, and to get rid of what they are taught to think a duty, but their state drives them to it. Their thoughts run much upon their hope; and their hearts as naturally form those thoughts into a prayer, as we do any thing else which we greatly desire. They are like children at the breast, who cry for their food, have but one appetite, and can be quieted with nothing else, do what you will to them. They understand the meaning of those words, which seem so hard and unreasonable to natural men, pray always. The bent of their minds is always to prayer; they pray in secret, pray with their families, and attend constantly upon public worship; and can not more be contented with a Sunday's religion only, or to take the nourishment of their souls only once a week, than they would to feed their bodies only one day in seven; neither do they expect a full blessing in the use of only one means of grace, when they know God has appointed more. Their hope is glorious, worth all their endeavours, and has taken fast hold of their hearts; and therefore they leave nothing undone, and especially no means of God's prescribing and commanding, to confirm them in it, and put them in a way of attaining it. read the Scriptures, which bring the glad tidings of their hope to them from God, diligently, thankfully, devoutly,

They

and with prayer for a blessing. Sabbaths are welcome days to them, and well employed both at church and at home. A sermon which speaks of their hope sounds sweetly in their ears, and warms their hearts; and the blessed sacrament, which speaks it far more loudly than the tongue of man can do, which is the standing memorial of the Christian hope, and applies the blood of sprinkling to the conscience of the worthy receiver, is a feast indeed, and the delight of their souls.

III. I would now exhort you to understand and embrace this hope, as your portion from the Lord, what he sent his only begotten Son into the world to give us, and all Scripture was written to declare and confirm to us. The world is a known cheat, flatters us with false hopes, and deceives in all its promises: and if it answered all our wishes, if we never met with one cross in it, still what must relieve us from the curse of sin, give us hope toward God, prepare us for a happy death, and ensure to us the joys of eternity? I beseech you understand this: sin lies like a canker at the root of our happiness, and is the cause of all our troubles; but then the greatest crosses and sufferings of this life are no discharge from it, and if the curse of it is not removed before we die, we must lie groaning under it for ever, Now, what would you think of a man who was under a sentence of death, and might be delivered from it; but instead of using the means put into his power for that purpose, spent all his time and thoughts upon other things, was wholly bent on pleasing and enjoying himself, or amassing wealth in prison, and never awaked out of his vain dream till the day of execution? Verily, it is the case of too many of us, only with this sad difference, that if we die, we die eternally.

It is true, and blessed be God for it, we need not die.

You learn from Scripture, and are often hearing from this place, that there is hope: you know there is salvation from sin and all its cursed effects. But, alas! the sense of your condition, as fallen sons of Adam, and guilty of numberless transgressions in your own persons, is not weighty enough upon your minds, nor the evil and desert of sin so truly perceived, as to engage you to seek after the remedy of God's providing. I pray God give you this knowledge spiritually and effectually, that you may be in pain for yourselves, and cry out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And when you are thus awakened, and looking out carefully for deliverance, the Scripture is at hand with its help. It sets before you the hope of forgiveness and reconciliation with God; tells you how this redemption was purchased; offers life to your choice, and invites you, in the name of God and by all his mercies, to accept of it. Brethren, we must come to this point; we must have this hope, and without it cannot be Christians.

Observe what I say: if Christ is not our hope, our treasure, and the great wish of our souls, we can have no other proof to give of our conversion. The hope of his salvation is the very thing which brings us to him, if we know what we come to him for. And when we are grounded and settled in it, we are turned from darkness to light, renewed in the spirit of our minds, and havé that great change wrought in us which will yield us true comfort, be our best guard against sin, keep the world out of our hearts, and preserve us in patient waiting upon God: but if we are not come to a true feeling and experience of this hope, so as to rest our souls upon it, nothing that we do in religion, or in the world, no clemency or kindness of behaviour, no strictness or sanctity of manners, no course of action, or practice of devotion, will afford us any evidence of the goodness of