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strain you, by a sweet force, to show your love to him in the very way he requires of you; if you are not willing to obey him, and come unto God by him, a willing, devoted people, you must not pretend to believe in him.

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You will say, Must we know and believe all this to be in a state of grace, that is, of salvation? Yes, undoubtedly; unless you can give a reason why you should choose to know and do less, or how you can be Christians without the very thing which makes you so, Christian faith and practice. St. Peter says of those to whom he wrote, without any distinction of high or low, learned or unlearned, that they were a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, to show forth the praises of him who had called them out of darkness into his marvellous light." Have these words no meaning? or can they possibly belong to any who are ignorant, unawakened, or unconverted, and set no value upon the high and holy state signified by them? Is it a marvellous light which teaches nothing, discovers nothing? and can those be said to be called and come out of darkness, who love it, and plead for it, and are so infatuated as to think well of their condition though they continue in it all their lives? Remember that the Catechism teaches every one to say, "I heartily thank our heavenly Father that he hath called me to this state of salvation, and I pray unto God to give me his grace to continue in the same unto my life's end." But how can this be? How can any thank God for calling them to a state of salvation which they know nothing of? or how can they pray, to him for grace to continue in it, when they make so little account of it as not to think it worth the understanding? Christ, I told you before, is to the soul what the sun is to the world, and wherever he comes, light comes with him; though not in the same degree to all, yet in such a work to every man as he cannot but be

sensible what it is, that he values and desires it, and is in Christ's hands for it. I say again, in answer to all such ignorance, let it proceed from what cause it will, wickedness or worldliness, sloth, or a proud conceit which will not be taught of God, that it is not a Christian state; and that those who are in a state of grace do and must know what it is, and what they have been seeking after. Their own sin has been discovered to them, together with the guilt and damnableness of all sin; they know that, by the just judgment of God, they are under a sentence of death, and that none could deliver them from it but Christ; to him, therefore, they have come sorrowing and repenting; in him they trust for pardon and acceptance with God; they can find rest for their souls no where but in God's peace through him, know the great mercy of it, and how dearly it was purchased for them, and fear nothing so much as to lose it; and therefore they keep their eyes steadily fixed upon the holiness as well as forgiveness of the covenant, and have but one great wish for themselves, that they may " grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Tell me that you are in such a work as this, though it be yet only in a lower degree, and I can tell you, for your comfort, that you are in a state of salvation, and in Christ's way of life. On the other hand, think, I beseech you, what horrible mockery it is to say 'to God, "Grant that we, being-regenerate and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy holy Spirit," when you have no knowledge or belief of your undone state by nature, of your danger and misery in sin, and of the necessity of being brought into a new condition with God by forgiveness, and enabled to live to him in holiness; or to say, "you believe in the Holy Ghost the Comforter," when, in the bottom of your hearts, you desire none of his comforts, choose to live

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only to and for the world, and have not the least experience in yourselves of his work of power in "turning you from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that you may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ;" Acts, xxvi. 18. My brethren, would you have me tell you that this is being in a state of grace and salvation? I dare not. It is my office to hold up the truth to you; to tell you, as I am able, what God is, what Christ is, what sin is, what a work of the Spirit is; to call, to awaken, to persuade you; to convince you, if it pleases God, of the blindness and certain ruin of a natural or unconverted state, on the one hand, and of the light, peace, and blessed hope of a state of grace, on the other; but if you will not hear me, I have nothing else to preach or deliver to you, and your blood must be upon your heads.

Let me therefore exhort you, from what has been said at this time, to look into yourselves, and consider what your state is; whether it is a state of nature, in the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, or a state of grace, in what the apostle here calls a marvellous light. Heaven opened to us as our hope and inheritance, and the light of heaven shining in our souls to conduct us to it; the light of truth and holiness, light in the head, light in the heart; the Spirit's light, to see God, to see Christ, to see ourselves, to see our sin, death in it, and salvation from it: is not this indeed a marvellous light, and a mighty change for poor sinners, lying in darkness and the shadow of death? You might have some faint conception of it, if you would think of a man who had lain many years in a deep dungeon, and was brought out all at once into full daylight. And what else can St. Peter mean, by saying, that Christians are " a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people?" It is not

easy to raise our thoughts to the height of these expressions, but you must needs think it a glorious, happy thing, to be persuaded on good grounds that they belong to us. They do, as sure as we are believers; and if Christ is precious to you, you may go home rejoicing in the comfort of them. I say, think it worth your pains to bring the matter under examination. What do your thoughts run much upon? what is uppermost in your hearts, and the great design you are carrying on in the world? And if you do pray, what is the burden of your prayers? Is it for mercy, and strength to keep it? Is it to hate sin, and love holiness more? Is it to be kept by the mighty power of God unto salvation? Do your wills, do your hearts pray for this? And do you "desire the sincere milk of the word, as new-born babes, that ye may grow thereby?" Then you have faith, then you have "tasted that the Lord is gracious," then you are called out of darkness into the marvellous light of Christ. You' know him to be the pearl of great price; you see the difference between Christ and sin, between Christ and the world, between Christ and your own works, between life and death, time and eternity, and have the grace given you to choose what God chooses for you. On the other hand, if you know or think little of Christ; if he has not opened your eyes to see sin, and the necessity of his death for it; if he has no right in you, nor power over you, to set you in the way of God's commandments, and keep you to your vow in baptism; if you do not greatly esteem his salvation, and thank God for him, and dread above all things to lose your portion in him; I beseech you, know your state, and pray to God to make you sensible of it. Do not deny it, nor frame excuses for continuing as you are, but make haste and escape for your lives; for notwithstanding your Christian name and appearance in this place, you are in a state of darkness,

without God, without Christ, without faith, and the life of faith; though not without hope, if you will turn to the light which is offered you. And if it pleases God that you should find all is wrong with you, and come before him with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart, as you have often said you did, without knowledge or meaning; let me advise you not to think of making your peace with him, by any humblings or repentings of your own without Christ; for "there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," Acts, iv. 12; no way or means for sinful man to be reconciled to God but by faith in Christ, taking away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Repent you must sincerely, and do works meet for repentance; but if you think that nothing else is to be done, or that any thing you can do will atone for your sins, and make satisfaction to the justice of God, you are still unbelievers, and as much out of the way of salvation as ever. It is true, we would fain have it so, from a vain conceit of our own doings, and our low, false notions of the purity of God, the strictness of his law, and the sinfulness of sin; and the only thing which can help us, Christ's blood, is the last we often fly to, and many never. But I have spoken in vain, if you do not understand that no outward form of religion, no beneficence, or exercise of humanity, no kind of behaviour or character, how decent and respectable soever, can be substituted in the room of the one sole remedy of God's providing, and which is alike wanted by every son and daughter of Adam. Let all such know, that if they do not look for justification by Christ, and make him the foundation of their acceptance with God, he will disdain all their works and services, find sin in the very best things they do, and reject them as they do Christ. Let this then be done; let Jesus be to you what he came into the world for, and his name imports, your Saviour, " made

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