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as patterns of a strict, uncomplying uprightness, to all succeeding ages, Further,

VI. Sixthly, it is no slight token of our sincerity in religion, if we are apt to suspect it, on the account of little things; which is often the case of very devout Christians, and who have really the least occasion to mistrust themselves of any men. Persons of a nice and

tender conscience, very careful to please God, and very fearful of offending him, are, for that very reason, prone to imagine that they fall infinitely short of their duty, if they do not, in every respect, exactly discharge it; and to disquiet themselves on this account, with many groundless scruples and terrors. Sometimes the principle, from whence their repentance sprang, gives them great uneasiness; for they remember that the reformation of heart and life, in which they are now well advanced, began at first, not from a true and ardent love of God; but from the mere dread of punishment. Sometimes their unequal performance of religious duties dejects and dispirits them; they find themselves cold, and unmoved, when they are upon their knees; in the most solemn and rising parts of the service, and even at the reception of the blessed Sacrament itself, they do not feel any holy warmth kindling in their hearts, nor their mind melting under the impressions that are then made upon it and they conclude, therefore, that there is a vein of hypocrisy running through all these performances, which makes them worthless and unacceptable. Now these, and such as these, I say, are, for the most part, the doubts and misgivings of the sincerely good and pious; for they are such as seldom trouble the consciences of men of a different character: and therefore those very scruples, which disturb good Christians so much, would, if rightly understood, give them matter of sound comfort and encouragement; their very doubts concerning the goodness of their state, are, if they had but the heart to think so, a sure reason why they should

not doubt of it. Let not then the true saints and servants of God perplex and afflict themselves with such difficulties; let them not give up religion, by their means, to the laughter and scorn of profane men, who, from a few such instances as these, take pleasure to represent it, as residing only in weak brains, as the employment of melancholy and diseased minds; and who stick not, in the gaiety of their hearts, to say, that a strict piety is good for nothing, but to make the owners of it troublesome to themselves, and useless to the rest of the world. O! let not any one, who wishes well to goodness, disserve the interest of it more, by his unreasonable scruples, than he promotes it by his exemplary practice! But let him resolve to summon up all his reasoning powers, and to set them in array against these insignificant phantasms and illusions, which would certainly retire before this single reflection (had a man but the courage to make and to believe it) that such niceties dwell usually there, where there is least need of them, and are a real sign of that sincere piety, the want of which those, who thus unhappily suffer under them, deplore.

VII. Seventhly, another sure token of our sincerity in religion, is, when we delight to read the holy Scriptures, and have a savoury taste and relish of them; when we find somewhat more in them than in mere human writings, and are apt to settle into a pious composure of mind while we are perusing them. When we come to them with satisfaction and eagerness, and are uneasy under any long discontinuance of our conversation with them. This is the token and character by which the experienced psalmist teaches us to know a good man: His delight (saith he) is in the law of the Lord, and in that law doth he meditate day and night, Psal. i. 2. 'Tis true, it may sometimes happen, that a person of a sound and sincere piety shall read the holy Scriptures, without being much warmed or affected with them. He may be under an indisposition and languor of mind; the business or pleasures of life and worldly objects may

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now and then take possession of his heart, and shut the door against spiritual impressions; but then this is not a common and every day's case; he is for the most part well-disposed and affected towards this divine employment; his appetite is generally awakened, and his taste very good; and he rejoiceth in God's word, as one that findeth great spoils, Psal. cxix. 162. Did not our hearts burn within us (said the good disciples) while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? Luke xxiv. 32. But if a man can frequently peruse those sacred pages, without any degree of sensible emotion and concern, without being touched any ways by the matter of them, or awed by the majestic manner of expression, which distinguishes them from all other writings; this is as sure an indication of a sick soul, as a palate which does not relish the most savoury meats, is of a diseased body: the fining-pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but the word of God trieth the hearts, Prov. xvii. 3. And it is quick and powerful (saith the author to the Hebrews) and sharper than any two-edged sword; piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, Heb. iv. 12. And needs must that heart be very hard and callous, and almost past feeling, upon which so pungent and searching a medicine doth not operate.

These are the several marks or tests by which we may examine ourselves whether we are in the faith, whether we are possessed of that truly christian sincerity which God above all things requires. Let us do it honestly and impartially; let us apply the rules which have been given, and take an estimate of the true state and condition of our souls by the means of them. If, upon a strict inquiry, we find that our hearts are right with God, let us give him the praise, and resolve, by his grace and blessing, to keep them so, all the while our breath is in us, and the Spirit of God is in our nostrils, Job xxvii. 3; and endeavour to grow in this faith, and to increase in this grace more and more, till we come, in the unity of the

faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, Ephes. iv. 13. But if, after a serious review of our lives and consciences, it appears that they are not such as will strictly bear the test; let us form immediate resolutions of working ourselves up into those degrees of sincerity which we want, and of being as holy and blameless, as we ought to be, in all manner of conversation, 1 Pet. i. 5.

May we every one of us so resolve, and be blessed, in God's good time, with an happy and comfortable effect of our resolutions, through the mighty assistances of his Holy Spirit, purchased for us by the blood of his dear Son! To which eternal Three be for ever ascribed all honour, adoration, and praise. Amen.

A

SERMON

ON THE MARTYRDOM OF KING CHARLES 1.

Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.-LUKE Xxiii. 28. THIS is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and blasphemy; distinguished in the annals of our nation, and the calendar of our church, by the sad suffering of an excellent prince, who fell a sacrifice to the rage of his rebellious subjects; and, by his fall, derived infamy, misery, and guilt on them and their sinful posterity.

We are met here to acknowledge our sin, to express our public detestation of it, and to deprecate the vengeance, which hath pursued, and doth still, I fear, pursue us on the account of it. In order to raise and improve these good thoughts and dispositions, I have pitched on the words spoken by our blessed Saviour, in his sad procession towards Calvary, as the ground of our present meditations,-Daughters of Jerusalem, &c.

Since Providence so ordered it, that one of the lessons for that day, whereon the royal martyr suffered, and which was read to him just before his ascending the scaffold, should contain an account of the passion of our Lord; and the same lesson is still, by authority, appointed to be read in these annual assemblies; I may be allowed, I hope, from the history of that passion, written by St. Luke, to take the words you have heard, and apply them to the subject I am now about to handle, without incurring the imputation of drawing unseemly parallels, and without giving offence to any, but those who are offended with the anniversary itself, and with our solemn and devout manner of observing it.

As Jesus went to his crucifixion, St. Luke tells us, that

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