whether a man be thus meet, can be known no other way, but by a ferious inquiry into his own heart and life, to fee what evidence he can find there of his repentance and uprightnets of converfation. For which caufe the, fick man is particularly concerned to reexamine his confcience, and to perfect what that dif covers to be amifs in him, with all the zeal and industry in his power. He fhould call to mind, as far as he fhall be able, the graces that had been entrusted with him, and what improvement he has made of them; the patience that has been exercised towards him, and the temporal bleffings that have been beftowed upon him, and to what purposes he has used them; the truths that have been revealed to him, and how firmly he has believed them; the precepts of holinefs that were given him in charge, and how confcientiously he has obferved them; the promises and threatenings that have been annexed to the performance or neglect of his duty, and what influence they have had upon him; how thankful he has been to our bleffed Lord, for his infinite love in dying for him, and what care he has taken to qualify himself for the unconceivable benefit of it. Thefe feveral parts of our most holy religion, he was to attend to all his life long; and now that he fees it drawing to a conclufion, common reafon would direct him to look back, and try how far he has anfwered his obligation, and where he finds he has not done it, to fet himself, if poffible, to obtain a pardon for his difobedience, before it be too late. He is (o) to try and judge himself; (p) to prove his own work; to (q) examine whether Christ Jefus be formed in bim, or be be a reprobate. And, if upon an impartial fcrutiny he can acquit himfelf, as having fairly endeavoured to order his life in all refpects as becomes a good Chriftian, this will be a folid foundation for an expectation of thofe glories, and that incomparable reward, his bleffed Saviour has died to purchase for him or, if his carriage appears to be otherwife, it () 1 Cor. xi. 31. (p) Gal. vi. 4, (9) 2 Cor. xiii. 5. ཟླ་ will then have this effect, that it will naturally, and neceffarily, put him upon a reformation, whereinfoever he perceives himself to have been faulty; and fo will be the propereft course he can take, for obtaining an intereft in our Saviour's merits. Eufeb. Then it feems, befides the examination of ourselves, to be practifed by every one throughout the course of his life, you would have the fick overand-above to review and examine their examination, and fee what flaws they can find in it on the one hand,or what comfort and encouragement from it on the other. Theoph. Unless they do this, I cannot fee what certain ground of comfort they can have in themselves, when they come to die. This is the only method of discovering them to themfelves, and letting them fee what room is left for them to promise themselves, that our Saviour will own them for his difciples, and give them to partake of the happy fruits of his fufferings and interceffion. Eufeb. If upon fuch inquiry they find, that they have fet themselves (r) with purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord, and to obferve his commandments, and have unfeignedly repented of all their breaches of them, they need not queftion their salvation. For the scripture is very expreís, that God (s) will render to every man according to his doings; and particularly to them, who, by patient continuance in well doing, feek for glory, and honour, and immortality, eternal life; that (1) we must all appear before the judgment-feat of Chrift, that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he bath done, whether it be good or bad; that (u) the righteous fball go into life eternal; and, in a word, that (x) they are bleffed, who do the commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city, the kingdom of Heaven, reprefented in that, and the foregoing chapter, under the figure of a city. (r) A&s xi. 23. (s) Rom. ii. 6. 7. (x) Rev. xxii. 14. (t) 2 Cor. v. 10° Theoph. Theoph. All fuch, it is very plain, fhall be faved; but then it is as plain, that they fhall be faved only through the merits and mediation of our Lord Jesus Chrift. For, being, after the best of their fervices, not only unprofitable, but, in too many refpects, undutiful fervants, as upon inquiry they will find themselves to have been, they muft ftill be but in a woful condition, if they had nothing but purely their own righteoufnefs to depend upon. And it is therefore an undoubted truth, that when we have taken all the care we can to please God, we must yet fly to his mercy through Christ, and must beg, and pray, and hope, and trust, to be accepted only upon his account. Our own obedience is manifeftly an indifpenfible condition of falvation; but this is fo very lame and imperfect, and has fo many failings and defects in it, that it must be acknowledged, after all, to be far from deferving what we aim at by it. (y) Christ is the only meritorious caufe of all our hopes; and it is through him alone, that we can expect to attain the accomplishment of them. And on him therefore must the Chrif tian be fure to rely, as his only stay, he, and none but he, being able to fecure the falvation of all that come to God by him. (z) Eternal life is the gift of God through him; and our only way of coming at it is, by a diligent obfervance of the Divine Will in all respects, and then a serious and devout application to the throne of grace for reconciliation and favour, thro' his all-fufficient merits and interceffion, that, by his intereft and kindness, our past fins may be forgiven, our present and future fervices accepted, and our fouls eternally faved. But never is this application more seasonable, or more highly neceffary, than at the close of our lives, when the day wears away apace, and the night draws on, wherein no man can work. Then (y) Si noftris benefactis confidimus, exultabit adverfarius: fin in Domino Jefu figamus facram ancoram fpei, conciderit hoftis nofter, &c. Erasm. de præparat. ad Mortem. (z) Rom. vi. 23. is a more especial opportunity for trying to engage our Saviour on our fide, to plead for us with the Father, to represent his own fufferings in our behalf, and to gain us an admiffion into those blissful regions, whither he is gone before to prepare a place for us. And by how much the better hope any have in this respect, by fo much the easier will they find the remainder of their days here, and fo much the more comfortable will be their departure hence. And confequently this is to be one confiderable part of the fick man's care, to fee how the cafe ftands betwixt God and his foul, and what ground he can find to comfort and encourge himself in a steady dependance upon our Saviour, and how he may best promote his interest in him. Anchith. It is a most inestimable blessing to a poor penitent ûinner, that, when he is about to end his days, he can hope for the remiffion of his fins, and an entrance into Heaven, upon fo favourable terms as are propounded by the Gofpel to those who embrace them as there tendered to all true believers. And I most humbly befeech Almighty God, that this may continue my cafe to the laft, that, as I have this hope at prefent, it may ftill fupport and never fail me. A Prayer for a truly Chriftian and Saving Faith in Chrift, and his Mediation. Moft gracious and merciful Lord God, whofe immenfe compaffion prevailed with thee to take pity upon fallen man, and in thy appointed time to give thine only-begotten and dearly beloved Son, to become a price of redemption for him, to rescue him from the intolerable tortures whereto be lay obnoxious, and to capacitate him for an eternal enjoyment of thee, and of all thine ineftimable rewards, in Heaven; grant that, by his mediation, I may obtain the forgiveness of all my fins, the affiftance of thy grace, and whatever is necessary for leading me into the way of righteousness, and conducting me at length to thine everlasting kingdom. Let thy Holy Spirit not only produce, but daily increase in me fuch a dependance upon the merits of my blessed Saviour, and fuch a thorough conviction of the all-fufficient efficacy of his paffion, as that I may firmly, and at all times, place my trust in him, hoping for falvation through him alone. And yet fuffer me not in any wife fo to rely upon him, as to neglel the duty required on my part, and without which, I am fufficiently affured, that I never can be Javed. Permit me not to content myself with a dead inoperative faith, and fo to deceive myself to my own deftruction; but make me duly mindful both of thy promifes, and of thy commandments, that I may neither flight the one, nor allow myself in the known violation of any of the other. Give me fuch a fenfe of what my Saviour has done and suffered for me, and the great need I ftand in of mercy thro' him, as that I may neither caft away my confidence in him, nor place it any where, but in bim. Plant in me fuch a faith as may conform me to bis example, may work by love, may overcome the world, and may crucify the flefb, with its affections and lufts. And though I cannot reflect upon my manifold fins and iniquities, without a hearty and deep bumiliation for them; yet let not the greatest of them ever tempt me to defpair of thy goodness. All my hope is in thine infinite mercy, and my Redeemer's invaluable merits; O do thou confirm and establish this hope in me evermore. And vouchsafe to reckon me amongst thy children, and the beirs of that eternal glory, which thou hast promised to all that love and fear thee, through our Lord and Saviour Jefus Chrift. Amen. Theoph. VI. In the next place, the fick man fhould be put in mind, To pray earnestly to God for mercy, that by this means he may leave this world in a fafe condition, and be delivered from all that guilt, which muft otherwife have funk him into the bottomlefs pit. He is not only to rely upon our Saviour's fatisfaction as a fufficient price paid for him, but to beg of God likewife to accept of it as fuch, in rela |