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brethren; by it we know that we are paffed from SERM. death to life; and while the oppofite difpofition XIII. ruleth in the hearts of men, they abide in death; that is, in a ftate of fervitude to fin, and liable to the wrath of God as the punishment of it: By charity we imitate God, who is love; and when it is warm and vigorous in the heart, expreffing itself in acts of beneficence, we fhew a juft fense of that love which he hath fo gloriously manifested to us, in fending his Son to die for our redemption! But all this is not to be understood as if charity were the whole of religion, and our hope towards God were founded on it in exclufion of other virtues: Charity doth not bide a multitude of fins in this fenfe, that it maketh amends for them, and, by its merit in God's fight, procureth the forgiveness of them. There is an abfolute neceffity, in order to be approved of God, that we be just, and temperate, and patient, and godly, as well as charitable; and our Saviour's doctrine, which his beloved disciple did not intend to contradict is, John xiv. 23. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, not one or fome, but all of them, and they enjoin univerfal righteousness, be it is that loveth me, and he shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him; without that we cannot VOL. III. affure

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SERM. affure our hearts before God; and our XIII. knowledge of it is just the same thing as knowing we are of the truth. The plain meaning, therefore, of the text is, that if our hearts witness for us, that we are fincere in doing the will of God, or keeping his commandments, then we have confidence towards him; but if they witness the contrary, that we wilfully and wickedly break his laws, then the conclufion concerning ourfelves is also directly contrary, namely, that we have no reason to hope for his approbation, but to expect his difpleafure. This is the doctrine which I fhall endeavour in the following discourse to explain and establish ; and then I fhall draw fome inferences from it, which, I think, are of

and usefulness.

great importance

I am fenfible this doctrine needeth explication, when we apply it to the present state of human nature; a ftate of infirmity and imperfection, and to minds ignorant and weak, prejudiced and unattentive; and yet, I believe it may, notwithstanding all these disadvantages, be reduced to such a certainty, that every man who is truly disposed to do it, may be able to pafs a right judghis own ftate, his own temper and actions, whether they are approved of God

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or not; in order to which, I fhall lay down SER M. the following propofitions.

First, That the approbation and the condemnation of our own confciences, upon which our hope towards God and the fear of his displeasure depend, do not relate to abfolute innocence, and to every thing which, ftrictly speaking, may be called finful. If the question were concerning finless perfection, and concerning every kind and degree of moral evil, no man's heart could acquit him; for there is not a juft man that liveth upon the earth, and finneth not. The fame apostle in this very epistle teacheth us, that if we fay we have no fin, we deceive ourfelves, and the truth is not in us. So far from knowing that we are of the truth, and affuring our hearts before God, by pretending to an unfinning obedience, men making fuch a prefumptuous claim, fhew only their ignorance of themfelves and of the truth, not their innocence; for the very best, who are always jealous over themselves with a godly jealoufy, and look the most strictly into their own hearts and lives, are always sensible of their own frailties, and that they could not abide a trial by God's all-fearching eye, if he fhould mark every one of their infirmi

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XIII.

SER M. infirmities, and therefore are ready to fay, XIII. in the words of the Pfalmift, If thou shouldft

mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall ftand? Enter not into judgment with thy fervant, for in thy fight shall no man living be juftified. We must therefore diftinguifh, and the fcripture hath taught us to do fo, be tween finning, and committing fin or working iniquity; that is, between unallowed failings, and wilful deliberate difobedience to the laws of God against the conviction of our own minds; a confcioufnefs of the latter destroyeth our confidence towards God, and filleth our hearts with foreboding fears of his wrath; but notwitstanding the former, we affure our hearts before him.

Nor is this the peculiar doctrine of christianity, tho' more fully and folemnly ascertained by it. No man who hath worthy fentiments of the fupreme Being, as the just, and wife, and merciful ruler of his reasonable creatures, can doubt that he maketh a difference between the obftinately wicked, who do not like to retain him in their knowledge, and who, with an high hand, prefumptuously violate his laws which they know; between them, I fay, and upright perfons who are fincerely difpofed to do his will as far as they can understand it; who

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are diligent to know their duty, and heartily SER M. inclined to practise it, though they have XIII. ftill fome involuntary errors, and are chargeable with fins of infirmity. Can we fuffer ourfelves to believe that the good God, who hath written the work of his law on the hearts of all men, and given them confciences to bear witness to it, in pursuance of which, he exerciseth a constant care over them, by his goodness inviting finners to repentence, and obferving the difpofitions and behaviour of every one; can we fuffer ourselves to believe that he doth not diftinguish between them who defire to fear him, and in the general tenor of their lives, fhew a prevailing regard to virtue, though with some imperfections, and the incorrigible offenders, who are contentious and obey not the the truth made known to them, but take pleasure in unrighteousness? And that he doth not approve the former, and disapprove the other? To imagine that this merciful indulgence to the infirmities of the fincere, which they bewail, are daily striving againft, and endeavouring to amend, is a fpecial grace of the gospel to them who are under that difpenfation from which others equally fincere are excluded, is to make the gospel an inftrument of partiality,

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