Ram IN ITA I'm new and moreani vita pola and lare need of watang A bir tate I vema a lesse sattiin. Ste vita Minglas hay sintironte to her ret pears and repudio: the a or odor and ammerva, und fursaing: mães 1 år profesicc 22 vel vin So the bellene is the zerora of herself; xkereta there a a secret zedecting as 40 orders won the despisetid: “ Les them dit as they list. I un fins as I my." But was ** wish her test? vw that her the aplica vierei de wis * pervaded va to profess la casa? Let Jeans Chmat be heard *c max in 14 came, et sonse and judge "Ilk.” with her verse 14, * To a eft the Ansen, the fudhéti and the Wiese Coming to gre verrence in a case of this importance, be gives bin wif this site, that we may kux lis viri is to be acquiesced in. * Esery man," with be "sa lar; their testimony is of no raize, let tuero pronounce what they will of themselves or of one another, 'I am the Amen, and I will see whose work tal stand, mine or What then, saith he of Laodicea? Taon art wretched, Oh, wiful and sad

and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" disappointment! On, dreadful surprisal! Ah! Low many Laodicean churches nave me in the world! how many professors are members of these churches! not to mention the generality of men that live under the means of grace; all which have good hopes of their eternal condition, whilst they are despised and abhorred by the only Judge. Among profesors themselves, it is dreadful to think how many will be found light when they come to be weighed in this balance.

2. Again: he judgeth some to be in a good condition, be they themselves never so diffident. Rev. il 9, saith he to the church of Smyma," I know thy poverty." Smyrna was complaining that she was a poor, contemptible congregation, not fit for him to take any notice of "Well," saith he, "fear not. I know thy poverty,' whereof thou complainest; but thou art rich.' That is my judgment, testimony, and sentence, concerning thee and thy condition." Such will be his judgment at the last day, when both those on the one hand and on the other shall be surprised with his sentence,—the one with joy at the riches of his grace, the other with terror at the severity of his justice, Matt. xxv. 37-40, 44, 45. This case is directly stated in both the places mentioned in the entrance of this discourse; as in that, for instance, Isa. xlix. 14, "Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me." That is Zion's judgment of herself, and her state and condition; a sad report and conclusion. But doth Christ agree with Zion in this sentence? The next verse gives us his resolution of this matter: "Can," saith he, "a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." The state of things, in

truth, is as much otherwise as can possibly be thought or imagined.

To what purpose is it for men to be passing a judgment upon themselves, when there is no manner of certainty in their determinations, and when their proceeding thereon will probably lead them to farther entanglements, if not to eternal ruin? The judging of souls, as to their spiritual state and condition, is the work of Jesus Christ, especially as to the end now under inquiry. Men may, men do, take many ways to make a judgment of themselves. Some do it on slight and trivial conjectures; some on bold and wicked presumptions; some on desperate atheistical notions, as Deut. xxix. 19; some, with more sobriety and sense of eternity, lay down principles that may be good and true in themselves, from them they draw conclusions, arguing from one thing unto another, and in the end ofttimes either deceive themselves, or sit down no less in the dark than they were at the entrance of their self-debate and examination. A man's judgment upon his own reasonings is seldom true, more seldom permanent. I speak not of self-examination, with a due discussion of graces and actions, but of the final sentence as to state and condition, wherein the soul is to acquiesce. This belongs unto Christ.

Now, there are two ways whereby the Lord Jesus Christ gives forth his decretory sentence in this matter:

(1.) By his word. He determines, in the word of the gospel, of the state and condition of all men indefinitely. Each individual coming to that word receives his own sentence and doom. He told the Jews that Moses accused them, John v. 45. His law accused and condemned the transgressors of it. And so doth he acquit every one that is discharged by the word of the gospel. And our self-judging is but our receiving by faith his sentence in the word. His process herein we have recorded: Job xxxiii. 22, 23, "His soul" (that is, of the sinner) "draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers." This seems to be his state; it is so indeed: he is at the very brink of the grave and hell., What then? Why, if there be with him or stand over him, the angel interpreting, or the angel of the covenant, who alone is TN, the "one of a a thousand," what shall he do?" He shall shew unto him his uprightness." He shall give unto him a right determination of his interest in God, and of the state and frame of his heart towards God; whereupon God shall speak peace unto his soul, and deliver him from his entanglements, verse 24. Jesus Christ hath, in the word of the gospel, stated the condition of every man. He tells us that sinners, of what sort soever they are, that believe, are accepted with him, and shall receive forgiveness from God,-that none shall be refused or cast off that

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Many and weight; vnjections I marh in and against heif why it should act sime, why it all aut be accepted Our Lorijena the wisdom of God, foresaw all mese ci jections, le frèknew what e ull he said in the case, and yet ne nath determined the matter as hath been denar In general, men's armings against themselves arse 'min and the law. Christ karwa what is n them bom Hfried them to the utte most, as to their penalties, and yet he hath so determined as we have shoved Their particnlar Ajections are fr partic,.ar considuo rationa of sin.—their greatness, their number, their aquarations Christ knows all these alan, andi vet stan is to his former determination. Upon the vh lie matter, then, it is meet his word shoud dan I know, when a soul brings itself to be judged by the word of the gospel, it doth not always in a like manner receive and rest in the sentence given. But when Christ is pleased to speak the word with power to men, they shall hear the vice of the Son of God," and be concin led by it. Let the soul, then that is rising out of depths and pressing towards a sense of forgiveness, lay itself down before the word of Christ in the gospel Let him attend to what he speaks; and if for a while it hath not power upon him to quiet his heart, let him wait a season, and light shall arise unto him. out of darkness Christ will give in his sentence into his conscience with that power and efficacy as he shall find rest and peace in it.

2., Christ also julgeth by his Spirit, not only in making this sentence of the gospel to be received effectually in the soul, but in and by peculiar actings of his upon the heart and soul of a believer: 1 Cor. ii. 12, “We have received the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." The Spirit of Christ acquaints the soul that this and that grace is from him, that this or that duty was performed in his strength. He brings to mind what at such and such times was wrought in men by himself, to give them supportment and relief in the times of depths and darkness. And when it hath been clearly discovered unto the soul at any time by the Holy Ghost, that any thing wrought in it or done by it hath been truly saving, the comfort of it will abide in the midst of many shakings and temptations.

3. He also by his Spirit bears witness with our spirits as to our state and condition. Of this I have spoken largely elsewhere, and therefore shall now pass it by.

This, then, is our first general rule and direction:-Self-determinations concerning men's spiritual state and condition, because their minds are usually influenced by their distempers, are seldom right and according to rule; mistakes in such determinations are exceed

ingly prejudicial to a soul seeking out after relief and sense of forgiveness: let Christ, then, be the judge in this case by his word and Spirit, as hath been directed.

RULE II.

Self-condemnation and abhorrency for sin consistent with gospel justification and peace-The nature of gospel assurance-What is consistent with it-What are the effects of it.

Self-condemnation and abhorrency do very well consist with gospel justification and peace. Some men have no peace, because they have that without which it is impossible they should have peace. Because they cannot but condemn themselves, they cannot entertain a sense that God doth acquit them. But this is the mystery of the gospel, which unbelief is a stranger unto; nothing but faith can give a real subsistence unto these things in the same soul, at the same time. It is easy to learn the notion of it, but it is not easy to experience the power of it. For a man to have a sight of that within him which would condemn him, for which he is troubled, and at the same time to have a discovery of that without him which will justify him, and to rejoice therein, is that which he is not led unto but by faith in the mystery of the gospel. We are now under a law for justification which excludes all boasting, Rom. iii. 27; so that though we have joy enough in another, yet we may have, we always have, sufficient cause of humiliation in ourselves. The gospel will teach a man to feel sin and believe righteousness at the same time. Faith will carry heaven in one hand and hell in the other; showing the one deserved, the other purchased. A man may see enough of his own sin and folly to bring "gehennam è cœlo,"-a hell of wrath out of heaven; and yet see Christ bring "cœlum ex inferno,”—a heaven of blessedness out of a hell of punishment. And these must needs produce very divers, yea, contrary effects and operations in the soul; and he who knows not how to assign them their proper duties and seasons must needs be perplexed. The work of self-condemnation, then, which men in these depths cannot but abound with, is, in the disposition of the covenant of grace, no way inconsistent with nor unsuited unto justification and the enjoyment of peace in the sense of it. There may be a deep sense of sin on other considerations besides hell. David was never more humbled for sin than when Nathan told him it was forgiven. And there may be a view of hell as deserved, which yet the soul may know itself freed from as to the issue.

To evidence our intendment in this discourse, I shall briefly consider what we intend by gospel assurance of forgiveness, that the soul may not be solicitous and perplexed about the utter want of that which, perhaps, it is already in some enjoyment of.

Some men seem to place gospel assurance in a high, unassaulted confidence of acceptance with God. They think it is in none but such as, if a man should go to them and ask them, "Are you certain you shall be saved?" have boldness, and confidence, and ostentation to answer presently, "Yea, they are certain they shall be saved." But as the blessed truth of assurance hath been reproached in the world under such a notion of it, so such expressions become not them who know what it is to have to do with the holy God, who is "a consuming fire." Hence some conclude that there are very few believers who have any assurance, because they have not this confidence, or are more free to mention the opposition they meet with than the supportment they enjoy. And thus it is rendered a matter not greatly to be desired, because it is so rarely to be obtained, most of the saints serving God and going to heaven well enough without it. But the matter is otherwise. The importance of it, not only as it is our life of comfort and joy, but also as it is the principal means of the flourishing of our life of holiness, hath been declared before, and might be farther manifested, were that our present business; yea, and in times of trial, which are the proper seasons for the effectual working and manifestation of assurance, it will and doth appear that many, yea, that most of the saints of God are made partakers of this grace and privilege.

I shall, then, in the pursuit of the rule laid down, do these two things:-1. Show what things they are which are not only consistent with assurance, but are even necessary concomitants of it; which yet, if not duly weighed and considered, may seem so far to impeach a man's comfortable persuasion of his condition before God as to leave him beneath the assurance sought after. And,-2. I shall speak somewhat of its nature, especially as manifesting itself by its effects.

1. (1.) A deep sense of the evil of sin, of the guilt of man's own sin, is no way inconsistent with gospel assurance of acceptance with God through Christ, and of forgiveness in him. By a sense of the guilt of sin I understand two things:-First, A clear conviction of sin, by the Holy Ghost saying unto the soul, "Thou art the man;" and, Secondly, A sense of the displeasure of God, or the wrath due to sin, according to the sentence of the law. Both these David expresseth in that complaint, Ps. xxxi. 10, "My life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed." His iniquity was before him, and a sense of it pressed him sore. But yet, notwithstanding all this, he