to permit all thy works to be contaminated with fin, to the end that thou mightest be humbled in his prefence, and conftantly flee to the blood of Chrift for pardon.

b. When thou findeft that PRIDE begins to rise, confider thy depravity, the wickedness, and deceitfulnefs of thy heart. This will greatly tend to keep thee little in thine own eyes.

c. Humble thyself, with Hezekiah, before the Lord, and bewail the pride of thine heart, than which nothing is more unbecoming worms of the duft.

d. In the mean time, comfort thyself with this confideration, that the complaints which thou makest concerning thy pride, prove that thou art fincere in thy profeffion; for, to fee the corruptions which lie lurking within, requires fpiritual light; and to mourn over them, and to oppose them, is a fure fign that their dominion is broken.

Thus, in as concise a manner as poffible, have we attempted to remove the fears and doubts which arife in the minds of true Chriftians.

We now proceed to the FOURTH and LAST THING proposed, which was to adminifter counsel and direction to distressed and doubting fouls, as to the manner in which they ought to conduct themselves, fo as to approach, with profit and advantage, the holy fupper of our Lord.

1. SEEK TO HAVE THY HEART BROUGHT TO A CALM AND COMPOSED FRAME, in order that thou mayeft be able rightly to apprehend

a. THE TRUE NATURE OF CONVICTIONS. Thou thinkeft perhaps that no convictions can be genuine, but those which are accompanied with much distress, and the most alarming fears, and which exhibit fin in all its horrid and aggravated forms;

but this is an improper and erroneous idea: always believe it to be a truth, as has already been hinted, that convictions are only defigned to make the finner confide no more in his own righteousness, and to excite him, as a creature most vile and miserable, to fly to Chrift, and to seek refuge beneath the fhadow of his wings.

Never then, Chriftian, wish to have a greater, or more awful view of fin, than will be inftrumental in effecting this. O! if God were to set fin before thine eyes in its true colours, the fight would overcome thee: it is infupportable by mortals.

b. Learn rightly to apprehend the nature of faith. This will prove of peculiar advantage to thee, in approaching the holy table of the Lord.

Faith appears to thee a grace which it is more arduous to exercise, than in fact it is. Thou canst not conceive that to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to run, to fly to Jefus, to receive him, to venture thy foul upon him, are acts by which perfons become really united to Chrift, and are made partakers of falvation. For in thy conception, these are things which thou art enabled eafily to perform; thefe are exercifes in which thou art every day engaged.

But we folicit thee to examine the whole word of God, and fee for thyfelf whether it be not fact, that the everlasting salvation of a finner is connected with an hungering and thirsting after Chrift, with a cordial reception of him in all his offices, and with looking folely, and steadfastly unto Jefus.

Perhaps thou thinkeft that faith must be a work which is meritorious, and equivalent to falvation.To embrace a fentiment of this kind, would be to hold that for truth, which lies directly out of the line of truth. Faith is no where reprefented as a

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finners. If to him alone thou flieft, he will receive

thee in mercy.

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5. Yes, go one step farther, cordially receive the Lord Jefus, and fay, "PRECIOUS JESUS, if never "previous to this time I have taken thee for my Sa"viour, my all, I now do it. THOU art precious "to me, and thou alone; and I will alfo haften to thy table, to evidence that I am fincere. Let it please thee, in the eating of bread, and in the drinking of wine, to reveal thyfelf to my foul." Who knows, if thou didft act on this wife, but the Lord would grant an answer to thy requeft, lift upon thee the light of his countenance, make a love vifit to thy foul, and fay to thee, I am thy falvation; At least, thou wouldst act a better part, than through unbelief to be kept fo far from his fellowship, and fo far from peace and joy in believing, which muft always be the cafe, whilft doubts and fears continue.

But before we conclude this lecture, a few things must be faid by way of application.

And FIRST, THOU who art ftill in thy NATURAL STATE, doft thou fay to thyfelf, "If men are "to be faved only in the way which has now been

pointed out, then the way to heaven is a narrow

way, and the road leading thither extremely diffi"cult!"-And this circumftance ought to awaken thee to ferious reflections, for thou haft never gone one ftep in that way. No troubles, no fears, no doubts have oppreffed thy mind. Therefore thou art yet in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Is it not infinitely preferable to travel for a fhort feafon, a narrow and arduous path, and in the end be eternally faved,-than with the multitude to run in the broad road of fin, amufements, and fen

gratifications, and at laft be for ever damned?

work; though as an inftrument it be the hand that receives Chrift for falvation, yet it is a benefit of the covenant of grace. Acknowledge then, Chriftian, that thy falvation flows altogether from the rich, free and fovereign grace of God. If thou couldft only be brought fo far as to believe that fincere, ardent, and conftant defires after Chrift; that the laying of ourfelves at his feet, as creatures most unworthy to obtain falvation at his hands, was true and genuine faith, then thou wouldst readily grant that thou waft in reality a believer, seeing these are more or lefs thine exercises, by day and by night, at home and abroad, in fecret and in public; and we affure thee, that there are many now in glory, who never knew in their experience any other kind of faith.

c. Seek alfo rightly to understand the nature of affurance, and especially that a diftinction must be obferved always between that which is ORDINARY, and that which is EXTRAORDINARY. Perhaps thou haft thought that then perfons only are affured of their faith, when the Eternal embraces them in the arms of his love, careffes them, and addresses their hearts, in language the most tender and expreffive of his complacency in them. But this is extraordinary, or immediate affurance.

But ordinary affurance is fomething quite different from that just described. It may be obtained by the Christian, on examining whether the marks of grace, laid down in the word of God, have been found in him. If, for inftance, he finds that he is poor in fpirit, diftreffed on account of fin; that he hungers and thirsts after the Lord Jefus, and earnestly defires to be holy in heart and life, he may conclude that his falvation is fure. The word of God pronounces