crease your hope in God, by further degrees of sanctification, by zeal and diligence in doing his will. The more the image of God in you is perfected, it will be the more easily discerned. If you are at any time ready to doubt, whether such or such corruptions are consistent with real religion; if you find this a hard question to resolve, go another way to work, and strive by vigilance and prayer to mortify these corruptions, and then the difficulty is removed. If, in a time of affliction and distress, you find it hard to determine whether it ought to be considered as the correction of a father, or the severity of a judge, endeavour through divine grace to bear it with the patience of a child, and you will soon see its merciful original by its salutary effect. What should be the daily study of a Christian, but to mortify sin in heart and conversation? and his comfort should arise from his apparent success in this important strife. When grain of different kinds is but springing from the ground, it is not easy to distinguish between one and another; but their growth ascertains their quality, which is still more fully discerned as they approach nearer to maturity. Imitate in this the great apostle of the Gentiles: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect ; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus!"

Before closing this section, I must observe, that though the account I have given of the great mark of real religion may still leave some in the dark, yet surely it carries in it the clearest and plainest condemnation of many hearers of the gospel. O that it were possible to fasten a conviction of it upon their minds! Are there not many who appear from Sabbath to Sabbath in the house of God, who dare not affirm seriously to their own hearts, that God and his service has more of their habitual settled affection than the world or any of its enjoyments? I do not here understand gross sinners, whose crimes open, going before unto judgment;" but I mean the more sober and regular professors of religion, who may have "a form of godliness, and deny the power thereof." I am persuaded this is a more proper trial of their state, than any particular rule of duty. Many such persons know so little of the extent and spirituality of the law of God, that it is not impossible they may be ready to affirm they do not allow themselves in any known sin, as the young man in the gospel seems to have answered sincerely when he said to our Saviour, "Master, all these have I observed from my youth."

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But I would further ask them, Whether hath God or the world most of your love, most of your thoughts, and most of your care? Can such of you pretend this, whose eager, ardent, nightly thought and daily pleasure, is only to increase your substance? who would not go to market without reexamining your transactions and computing your gain, but can daily go to the house of God without observing, inquiring after, or desiring to see its pro

per fruits? Can such of you pretend this, to whom all serious conversation is tedious and disgustful, and the society of good men a painful restraint? to whom the Sabbath is a dull, melancholy, and burdensome season? Oh, my brethren, let me beseech you to be faithful to your own souls. Your precious time is daily hastening on; the day of your merciful visitation is wearing fast away. Hear while there is yet peace, and entreat, that God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all your sins; would renew you in the spirit of your minds; would fit you for his service on earth, and for his presence and enjoyment in heaven.

Thus I have explained at considerable length, and with all the care and accuracy in my power, the great and general evidence of regeneration, namely, the superiority of the interest of God and the Redeemer in the heart, above the interest of inferior good. This, I hope, will be of use in itself, to distinguish the precious from the vile, to preserve you from sin, and excite you to diligence in every part of your duty, that it may be more and more manifest. the same time it will be of the greatest service, in the use and application of other signs of real religion, by showing when they are conclusive, and when they are not.

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CHAPTER III.

Of the steps by which this change is accomplished.

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WE proceed now to consider by what steps, and by what means this change is brought about. deeply sensible how difficult a part of the subject this is, and how hard it will be to treat of it in a distinct and precise, and, at the same time, in a cautious and guarded manner. It is often complained of in those who write on this subject, that they confine and limit the HOLY ONE, and that they give unnecessary alarms to those who have not had experience of every particular which they think proper to mention. There is no doubt but God acts in an absolute* and sovereign manner in the 'dispensation of his grace, as in every other part of his will. As he cannot be limited as to persons, so neither as to the time and manner of their reformation. To this purpose, and

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in this precise meaning, our Saviour says, wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh,

It will be proper to inform the reader, that the word absolute used here, and in some other places of this Discourse, is by no means to be understood as signifying the same thing with arbitrary. He who acts arbitrarily, acts without any reason at all. To say this of the divine procedure, would be little less than blasphemy. When we say that God acts "in an absolute and sovereign manner," the meaning is, that he acts upon the best and strongest reasons, and for the noblest and most excellent ends; but which are, many or most of them, beyond our reach and comprehension; and, particularly, that there is not the least foundation for supposing that the reasons of preference are taken from comparative human merit.

and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

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Sometimes it pleaseth God to snatch sinners from the very brink of the pit, to raise up some of the most abandoned profligates as trophies of his victorious grace and mercy; while he suffers others, far more moderate and decent, who are not far from the kingdom of God," finally to fall short of it. He sometimes glorifies his power and mercy at once, by converting his most inveterate enemies, and making them the most zealous, active, and successful advocates for his cause. Such an instance was the apostle Paul, who from a persecutor became a preacher. Sometimes conversion is speedily and suddenly brought about, and the times and circumstances of the change may be easily ascertained. This was

the case with the jailer, recorded in the history of the Acts of the Apostles. The same may be said of the apostle Paul; and there have been particular ex

amples of it in every age. Sometimes, on the other hand, the reception of the truth, and renovation of the heart, goes on by slow and insensible degrees; nor is it easy to say by what means the change was begun, or at what time it was completed. This was perhaps the case with most, if not all the disciples of our Lord, during his personal ministry.

Sometimes the change is very signal and sensible, the growth and improvement of the spiritual life speedy and remarkable, the greatest sinners becoming the most eminent saints; like the woman mentioned in the gospel, to whom many sins were forgiven, and who loved her Redeemer much. Sometimes, on the other hand, the change is very doubtful, and the