ples will be removed, and all falfe Judgments and wrong Opinions of our felves and our Spiritual State taken away and prevented by this undoubted Mark and Criterion of our being in a good State or a State of Grace, which is the fureft Touchftone by which every Chriftian may fafely try himself, and every Sinner know whether he is in a Pardoned and good State, namely, that they do not live in any known and wilful Sin whatever. I fhall,

I. Shew the Truth of this.

II. Confider what other Sins are confiftent with a good State.

III. Represent the Benefits and Effects of Repentance, or the Happiness of being in fuch a good State.

SECT. I.

Not committing Sin the only fure Mark of a good State.

O fhew this Mark given by the Apo

ftle to be the true Teft and Criterion by which we may make Judgment of our Spiritual Condition, and know we are in a good State, I shall offer these following Confiderations to prove the Truth of it.

1. Then; Thofe other Marks which come fhort of this, by which too many art apt to deceive themfelves, are not fafe and fuf ficient.

ficient. Many are apt to make fome inward and fecret things wrought upon their Minds, the Marks of Grace to them, and the figns and evidences of their good State, whereby they may be fadly cheated and deluded, unless these inward Marks are made more certain and evident by outward and visible Actions. None can know they have any inward Principle of Spiritual Life in their Souls, or the root of the matter in them, as fome love to fpeak, but by fuch vital operation and visible effects of it in their Lives; as we cannot know the Tree is alive at the root but by the sprouts and branches that fhoot from it and fhew it to be io, but we conclude it to be dead without thofe in their proper time, and fo we may our felves in a Spiritual fenfe without the Fruits of Repentance and Holinefs in our Lives. A Chriftian cannot know he hath Faith but by his Works, nor be fure of Grace in the Heart but by the efficacy of it in reftraining him from Sin, and the visible effects of it in a Holy Converfation. We cannot fo perfectly feel and difcern this fecret and inward principle in our felves fo as to be any way af fured of it unless the force and power of it appear in our Actions, and in reforming and bettering our Lives, and to judge of our being in a state of Grace any otherwife from any voice or teftimony within, is very precarious and ungrounded, and very liable to error and delufion, for the Spirit bears witness to none but those whofe Con

fciences at the fame time bear witnefs that they are the children of God by not committing fin, and it fealeth none but those who have this Mark, and bear the Marks of Vertue and Holinefs upon their Souls and in their Lives. The prefumptuous and conceited Enthufiaft is very confident and affured of himself and his good state, though he is evidently guilty of very great and notorious Sins, and therefore he is forced to that lewd Principle, that God fees no Sin in his Children, and that he may be a Child of God not withstanding thofe, whereas this according to St. John is the only Mark of a Child of God, that he doth not commit Sin. To pretend to inward Marks of Grace when we are guilty of finful Actions, is as if a Man fhould judge himfelf to be found at Heart and healthful within when the Plague is broke out upon him, and the Spots appear and his Sores run; to talk then of the goodnefs of his Pulfe and other fecret and uncertain figns within himfelf, whereby he feels himfelf to be well, is evident cheat and wretched delufion; and fo it is to judge of our Spiritual good State by any inward marks and tokens when our Lives are bad, and we commit Sin in the Apoftle's fenfe, i. e. live in the practice of any wilful Wickednefs. But further, there are other imperfect figns not quite fo deceitful and Enthufiaftick as thefe, by which many think they are in a good State though they are not brought off actually from every Sin,

as

as that they are troubled and concerned at their Sins, and commit them with great reluctancy and uneafinefs of Mind, fo that they do the things which they would not, and that they often wish they were better, and have a mind to leave their Sins, and fome purposes to do fo, though their Sins are fo ftrong and powerful that they still prevail upon them, and they cannot wholly get rid of them, this they take to be good figns of Grace, that they have fome good motions and ftirrings in their Souls, fome defires and wishes, and this defire of Grace they take to be Grace it felf; and though they do not the good they would, yet that they have fome mind and inclination to do it. Now all this may be in fuch as are truly Sinners and Unregenerate Perfons, that are ftill in an impenitent ftate and under the power and dominion of their Sins, but are not quite fenfless and ftupified, nor are come to what the Apostle calls a feared Confcience, without sense of their Sins, nor to a reprobate Mind void of all judgment about them, which is the utmost degree of profligate wickedness; till they are brought to thofe, their Sins will be uneafie to them, and fill them with trouble whenever they think and reflect upon them, as they cannot avoid to do fometimes, and they will feel sharp twitches and vellications of Confcience as long as they have any Confcience remaining, and have not quite wafted and destroyed it, and worn off all the Natural fenfe of Good

Good and Evil upon their Minds; but if they will still fin notwithstanding this, and will not hearken to the fecret calls or loud clamours of their own Confciences, but will ftill follow their Lufts and Vices, and be drawn away by the strong and alluring Temptations of them, all this Regret and Trouble which they fometimes bring upon them is only a felf-conviction and felf-condemnation, and is fo far from giving any abatement to their Sins that it adds this highest aggravation to them, that they are committed all the while against Confcience and against the inward fenfe of their own Minds. And though now and then in a good mood and a melanchoy fit when they are thus troubled for their Sins they have a Mind to leave them, and come to fome faint Wishes Purposes and Refolutions to do fo, yet if thefe prove ineffectual, and the next Temptation overcomes them, and they commit the Sin again when it is offered again and the company or the charms invite again to it, 'tis certain whosoever thus committeth fin is the fervant of fin, as our Saviour fays, John 8. 34. And 'tis a fign he is fuch a flave to it and it hath got fuch power over him that it leads him captive at its will, and is fo far Mafter of him that he cannot throw it off notwithstanding his frequent Wishes and imperfect Defires that he could; but how fhort all this is of Perfect Repentance, and therefore of putting us into a good State, I have fhewn more largely before, Chap. 1. Sect. 4.