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"which refult from the fervice of God;" that, by

thefe means, unhappy infidels may be allured, and constrained to say, "we will go with you, for we

"have heard that the Lord is with you."

6. Is a joyful glorying in God, in tribulations, and in the hope of glory, a fruit of faith? evidence that ye are elevated to this exalted state, by not seeking the things which are on earth, and by setting your affections on those which are above: by faith, keep heaven constantly in your view, till you obtain the end of your faith, the salvation of your fouls.

And, Christians, is it fo delightful here to have a prelibation of the bleffings of the promised land? Are the first fruits fo grateful to the foul? O! what will be the full fruition! Can the joy which ye here experience in God, and which is fo frequently interrupted, animate you to meet with courage every oppofition, and afford you fo much comfort? what will be your confolations, when ye shall poffefs that fulness of joy which is in the presence of God, and drink of thofe pleafures which are at his right hand for evermore, when everlasting joy fhall be upon your head, and all forrow and fighing fhall flee away! Can you now triumph in the glorious ftate to which you are raised, how poor or despised foever you may be in the world? in what will you not · triumph, when ye fhall enter into the palace of the King, and fit with Chrift upon his throne, having obtained the end of your faith, the falvation of your fouls.

AMEN AND AMEN.

THE

PIOUS COMMUNICANT.

Lecture VII.

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ON THE BACKSLIDINGS AND DECLENSIONS
OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD, IN THE
EXERCISE OF THE DIVINE LIFE.

HAVING, in the preceding lectures, exhibited

the exercises of believers, and the bleffed fruits which proceed from faith, we conceive it not to be improper, but highly expedient, in the prefent declining ftate of religion, to fhew," that a real child of God, "who once had made great advances in the divine life, and lived near to God, may fall, and fo much "decline in grace, that the luftre with which he once

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fhone, and which rendered him an ornament to "his profeffion, may become greatly obfcured, and

disappear." The end which we propose, in treating on this fubject, is, both the recovery of fuch as may have gone back in religion; the quickening of thofe who are making no progrefs in it, to be on the watch, left they recede farther from God; and the preservation of those who are truly walking with God, by fetting them on their guard against the danger of falling into a ftate of declenfion.

In order to treat the fubject before us with perfpicuity, we fhall fhew,

I. That believers are liable to DECLINE in the ways of religion; and that this is a cafe which often

OCCURS.

II. In what it CONSISTS, and how it discovers itself.

III. The CAUSES and steps which lead to it.

IV. The MEANS of recovery from this unhappy ftate; and,

V. The ufes which each of us ought to make of this fubject.

First, then, we are to fhew, that believers are liable to DECLINE in religion; and that this is a case which often OCCURS.

1. The word of God teaches us this in a variety of places thus, the spouse in the Canticles, is reprefented as fuffering her beloved to knock without admittance, whilft fhe indulged herself in floth and ease, saying, "I have put off my coat, how shall I put "it on? I have washed my feet, how fhall I defile them? Cant. v. 3. Whilft the bridegroom tarried, the wise as well as the foolish virgins had fallen afleep, Matt. xxv. 5. The church of Ephefus is charged with having left her first love, Rev. ii. 4. The converted Jews in the last days, are introduced as complaining, "Lord, why haft thou made us to err "from thy ways, and hardened our hearts from thy "fear?" Ifai. Ixiii. 17. The precious fons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, are esteemed as earthen pitchers, Lam. iv. 2. And the Lord, to make his people reflect with fhame on their backflidings, tells them, Jer. ii. 2, "I remember thee, the kindness of thy "youth, the love of thine efpoufals, when thou "wenteft after me in the wildernefs."

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2. It was to guard the people of God against deelenfion in religion, that all thofe pointed EXHORTATIONS and faithful warnings are given by Christ and his apostles. How often does the Lord Jefus ery out, Watch! and the apoftles, after his example, did the fame. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, addresses them thus: "Watch ye, ftand faft in the faith, quit you like men; be firong," 1 Cor. xvi. 13. And again, 2 Cor. vi. 1, "We befeech you alfo, that ye "receive not the grace of God in vain." Writing to the Romans, he exhorts them, not to be conformed to this world; and to the Hebrews, he adds, "Looking "diligently, left any man fail of the grace of God, Heb. xii. 15. Now all these excitations and admonitions would have been to no purpose, if the people of God might not, through the remains of indwelling fin, fall into a state of declenfion.

3. The EXAMPLES of the most eminent faints mentioned in scripture, CONFIRM this truth. D^VID, a man after God's own heart, not only fell into the fins of murder and adultery, but he remained unaffected with his guilt, till Nathan, with a meffage from God, pointedly told him, "Thou art the "man," 2 Sam. 12. And SOLOMON, whom the Lord loved, went fo far aftray, that he offered religious worship to Afhtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites, 1 Kings, xi. 4, 5. The experience of every day gives us but too much reason to fay to many, as Paul to the Galatians, "Ye did run well, who hath hindered you?" Of too many, alas! it may be faid, as of Demas; "Demas hath forfaken us, having loved this prefent "world." The truth of what has been faid above will more fully appear, when we come to the fecond

head, "To fhew more particularly, in what backfliding, or declenfion in religion, confifts.

But, before we proceed to this, it must be remarked, "That as all is not grace that is taken for it, fo all is not to be viewed as backfliding that men may esteem fuch." We affert,

1. That ALL is not GRACE which is taken for it. It is often found, that perfons, by means of a pious education, or by a faithful reprefentation of divine truths to their minds, by the common illuminations of the Holy Ghoft, may go fo far as externally to efcape the pollutions of the world; to affociate with believers. and apparently have a defire to walk in the way of life. It is indeed hard to tell to what lengths they may go, under the influence of an awakened confcience; but though they appear to begin with the Spirit, yet, becaufe their hearts have never been purified from the love of fin, they end in the flesh. Now, when men of this defcription return to the world, and engage again in its pleasures and amusements, this is no backfliding; for they never were partakers of true grace; all their religious exercises were but external; their hearts were never changed; their wills were never made fubfervient to God; and therefore they did not perfevere to the end; they were branches which did not bear fruit in Christ, the living vine; and hence are taken away.

When

2. It is also a truth, that all that which may be confidered by believers themselves as backfliding, or declenfion in grace, is not in reality fuch. perfons, efpecially those who had been greatly under the dominion of fin, and lived much after the course of this world, have been, by the power of divine grace, brought home to God, the change is often fo great, that they IMMEDIATELY break afunder all

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