every one that fayeth unto me, Lord, Lord> -fhall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.' How awful a reflection this! How dreadful a difap pointment to discover our mifery only when there is no more hope of escaping it Is there not a poffibility of this being the cafe with many of you, my brethren and do you not tremble at the thought? I would, not with any, in general, to give way to a fpirit of bondage, or flavifh fear; but the best of the children of God have often difcovered this holy jealoufy of themselves. Who

can understand his errors? Cleanfe thou me 'from fecret faults. Keep back thy fervant also 'from prefumptuous fins ; let them not have do'minion over me, then shall I be upright, and I ⚫ shall be innocent from the great tranfgreffion." And again: Search me, O God, and know my

heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and fee if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.?

This leads me naturally to add upon this subject, that we ought to pray for prefervation from felfdeceit, as to particular branches of our character and conduct, as well as our general ftate.-Many, even upon the whole, good men, are occafionally and infenfibly brought, for a feafon, under the direction of finful paffions. They may be indulging themfelves without fufpicion, in what is, notwithstanding, really provoking to God, injurious or offenfive to others, and, in the iffue, hurtful to their own peace. They may be making an enjoy

ment, a talent, a relation, an idol, when they think they are keeping within the bounds of duty. They may be indulging a finful refentment, when they think they are promoting the glory of God. Many an excufe for neglecting commanded duty, from prudence or difficulty, fatisfies ourselves, which will not ftand in the day of trial. What reafon for the Prophet's prayer in the sense just now affigned,Remove far from me vanity and lies.'

4. In the next place, this requeft implies a defire to be preferved from pride and self-conceit, upon any subject. There is not any thing that affords a stronger evidence of our being unacquainted with ourselves and our own ftate, than that propenfity to pride and vanity, which is fo common to us all. It is thought by many, that pride was the fin of the angels, that caft them down to hell. It is plain, that pride was the main ingredient in the firft fin of man. And perhaps it is a just and proper defcription of all fin as fuch, that it is a dethroning of God, and fetting up felf to be loved, honoured and ferved in his room, This fin is by no means confined to the worst of men, in whom it hath an abfolute dominion; but retains and discovers an unhappy influence in the very best.-Every thing may be the fuel of pride; our perfons, our performances, our relations, our poffeffions; nay, fo pliable, and at the fame time fo prepofterous is this difpofition, that men are found fometimes proud of their very vices and

defects

defects. But how ill do pride and vanity fuit fuch poor mortals as we are, who feem born but to die !-Who, after paffing through a longer or fhorter feries of weakneffes, difappointments and troubles, muft at laft be laid in the filent grave, to moulder in the duft. We are dependent creatures, who have nothing, and can have nothing but what we receive from the unmerited favour of God. We are unwife and ignorant creatures, who know nothing to the bottom, and therefore are liable to continual mistakes in our conduct. Thofe among us, who have the greateft comprehenfion of mind, and know moft; as it ferves to fhew the comparative ignorance of the bulk of mankind, fo it ferves to convince themfelves how little they do know, and how little they can know after all, compared with what is to them. unfearchable.

But, above all, we are finful creatures, who have rendered ourfelves, by our guilt, the just objects of divine difpleasure. Is there any who daresto plead exemption from this character? And do pride and vanity become thofe to whom they manifeftly belong? Can any thing be more foolish than indulging fuch difpofitions? There is a very. just expreffion of one of the apocryphal writers: • Pride was not made for man, nor a high look

for him that is born of a woman.' Indeed they are fo evidently unfuitable to our ftate and circumstances, that one would think we fhould need no higher principle than our own reason and obF 3. fervation

fervation to keep us free from them. We do however, need the most earnest and affiduous addreffes to the throne of grace, to have all pride and vanity removed from us. How hateful is pride to God! We are told, he refifteth the proud.' On the contrary, no difpofition is more amiable in his fight than humility.

He giveth grace to the humble.' And again: To this C man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite fpirit, and trembleth at my word. For thus fayeth the high and lofty One, that • inhabiteth eternity, whofe name is holy; I 'dwell in the high and holy place, with him also ⚫ that is of a contrite and humble spirit ; to revive the fpirit of the humble, and to revive the heart ⚫ of the contrite ones.'

It muft, therefore, be the duty and intereft of every good man, not only to refift pride and vanity, but to make it a part of his daily fupplication to God, that he may effectually be delivered from both.

5. In the last place, this request implies a defire to be delivered from fraud and diffimulation of every kind. It is one of the glorious attributes of God, that he is a God of truth, who will not, and who cannot lie. He alfo requires of all his fervants, and is delighted with truth in the inward parts. But there feems to be fome difficulty in this part of the fubject, more than in the others. Some will fay, why pray to be delivered from fraud and diffimulation? This might be an exhor

tation to the finner, but cannot be the prayer of the penitent. If they are fincere in their prayer it feems impoffible there can be any danger of fraud. Fraud implies deliberation and defign, and though it may be concealed from others upon whom it is exercised, it can never be concealed from the perfon in whom it dwells, and by whom it is contrived. This is the very language of fome reafoners, who infer from it, that though there are many other fins to which a man may be liable without knowing it, yet this can never be the cafe with diffimulation.

But, my brethren, if we confider how apt men are, upon a fudden temptation of fear or fhame, or the profpect of fome advantage to themselves, to depart from strict veracity, and even to justify to their own minds, fome kinds and degrees of deceptions, we shall fee the abfolute neceffity of making this a part of our prayer to God. Nay, perhaps I may go further and fay, that we are as ready to deceive ourselves in this point as in any other. sale . I Upon this important fubject, there is one con fideration to which I earneftly intreat your attention. Thorough fincerity, fimplicity and truth, upon every fubject, have, in the world, fo much the appearance of weakness and on the contrary, being able to manage and over-reach others, has fo much the appearance of fuperior wisdom, that men are very liable to temptation from this quarter. It is to be lamented that our language itself,

if