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self less than the least of all saints, and forget the things that are behind his attainments dwindled away, as it were, to nothing, when he compared himself with God's holy law, and thought what he ought to be, and what obligations he was under; and he did, therefore, as it were, set down all that he had hitherto attained for nothing, and feel and act as if he was but just now beginning to live to God. Rom. vii. 14.... The Law is spiritual, but I am carnal,sold under sin-verse 24....Owretched man that I am!-Phil. iii. 13, 14....I forget the things which are be hind....I reach forth towards those things which are before....I press towards the mark: and, O believer, go you,and do likewise.

Besides, remember that it is no thanks to you that you are not to this day secure in sin; yea, that you are not one of the vilest and most profane creatures in the world: Your nature was bad enough ;-the seeds of every sin were in your heart; --but for restraining or sanctifying grace, you might have been as bad as any in Sodom. And what was it moved God to awaken you, and stop you in your career in sin, and turn you to God?— Was it for your righteousness?...Oh, be ashamed and confound. ed forever!-For his own sake he has done it, when you was a stubborn, stiff-necked, rebellious creature. And truly, what has been your carriage towards the Lord, compared with the exact rule of duty, the holy law of God, since the day you have known him?...O, remember Massah, and Tabera, and Kibroth-hataavah, and how you have been rebellious against the Lord, ever since he has taken you in hand to subdue you to himself(Read Deut. ix. and see how much your temper has been like theirs :)-And this notwithstanding all the signs and wonders God has wrought before your eyes ;-I mean, notwithstanding all the sweet and awful methods God has taken with you, to make you know him, and love him, and fear him, and live to him. There are thousands and thousands whom God never took any such special pains with: Their sins are not like yours: Come down, therefore...sit in the dust...mourn and weep, and loathe and abhor yourself, as long as you live; and ascribe all praise to God, through whose grace alone it is that you are what you are.

Let me here address you in the words of the famous Mr. HOOKER:-"That thou mayest forever, each day that passeth "over thy head, remember it to the Lord, and leave it upon "record in thine own conscience, say-Hadst thou (blessed "Lord) given me the desires of my heart, and left me to my "own will, it is certain I had been in hell long before this day, "when, in the days of my folly and times of my ignorance"when, out of the desperate wretchedness of my rebellious dis"position, I was running riot in the ways of wickedness-when "I said to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not"to Christians...to acquaintance...to governors, admonish not, "counsel not, reprove not, stop me not in the pursuit of sin. "The time was, I took hold of deceit, and refused to return; nay, "resolved in the secret purpose of my heart, I would none of thee "I would not have that word of thine reveal or remove my "corruptions-I would none of thy grace that might humble me “and purge me...none of that mercy of thine that might pardon "me...none of that redemption of thine that might save me: "Hadst thou then taken me at my word, and given me what I wish❝ed, and sealed my destruction, saying, 'Be thou forever filthy, "forever stubborn, and forever miserable; thou wouldst nei"ther be holy nor happy-thou shalt have thy will-sin with "devils, and take thy portion with devils'....Lord, it had been "just with thee, and I justly miserable: But to bear with all my "baseness...to put up with all those wrongs and provocations... "to strive with me for my good, when I took up arms against "thee, and strove against my own good-nay, when I resisted "mercy; and then to take away that resistance, and to cause "me to take mercy, and make it mine, when I used all the "skill I could to hinder my own salvation-Oh! the height.... "the depth....the length....the breadth of this mercy! When "we feel our hearts to be puffed up with the vain apprehension "of our own worth, parts, or performances....what we are and "what we do, look we back to our first beginnings, and judge "aright of our own wretchedness and nothingness, yea, worse ❝than nothing, in that we not only wanted all good, but we had

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"it within us to oppose all good; and that will cause us to sit "down in silence, abased forever. When empty bladders are 66 grown unto too great bulk and bigness, to prick them is the "readiest way to lessen them: when our empty and vain "minds swell with high thoughts, and high, over-weening con"ceit of our own worth, learn we to stab and pierce our hearts "with the righteous judgment of our own natural vileness, which "will (or at least may) let out that frothy haughtiness that lifts us up beyond our measure: Tell thy heart, and commune "with thy conscience, and say, It is not my good nature, that "I am not roaring amongst the wretches of the world, in the "road and broad way of ruin and destruction-that I am not "wallowing in all manner of sin with the worst of men. It is "not my good nature....no thank to any thing that I have, that "I am not upon the chain with malefactors, or in a dungeon "with witches; for whatever hell hath, it is in this heart of "mine naturally-a Cain here, a Judas here, nay, a devil here. "The time was, (O that, with an abased heart, I may ever think "of that time) I never looked after the spiritual good of my soul, "or whether I had a soul or no: what would become of me and "it, was the least of my care....the furthest end of my thoughts; "nay, loth was I to hear of, or know these things-when they "were revealed, unwilling to receive them, or give way to them "when they were offered: How did I stop mine ears, shut mine "eyes, and harden my heart? What ways, means, and devices "did I use and invent, to shut out the light of truth....to stop the "passage and power of the word, that it might not convince me "that it might not reform me....might not recall me from my "evil ways? How often have I secretly wished that either the "word was taken out of the place, or I from it, that it might not "trouble me in my sinful distempers; and when I had least "good, I had most ease, and took the greatest content. Oh, "that such a wretch should thus live, and yet live! To be thus "sinful! O that I might be forever abased for it."*

* Mr. HOOKER'S Application of Redemption-Vol. I. page 97-100.

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Thus the law, as a rule of life, may be improved to the humiliation of the people of God, in that it may serve to keep fresh in their minds their native universal depravity.... their former wickedness-and to discover their remaining sinfulness: And I may here observe, that it is believers' peculiar acquaintance with the law, in its true meaning, strictness, and purity, that is the occasion of their peculiar acquaintance with their own hearts : And while the law daily shows them what they are, it learns then more and more their need of a redeemer and sanctifier, and daily puts them upon going to God, through Jesus Christ, for pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace. The law makes way for the gospel; and a sense of sin, weakness, and unworthiness, makes Christ and gospel-grace precious, and stirs up a man to repentance, faith, and prayer. Deluded, therefore, are those poor souls that say, "We must not look into our hearts, nor labor after a sense of our sins and sinfulness; for that is "legal, and tends to discouragement: but we must look only to "Christ and free grace, and believe and rejoice, and a sense of "the love of Christ will humble us :" Just as if the great business of Christ was, to keep men from a sight and sense of their sins; and just as if a man could be truly humbled, without seeing what he is, compared with God and his holy law: But, poor souls, they feel a legal, discouraged frame always, when they have any sight and sense of their sinfulness, and it damps their faith (and if they were but thoroughly sensible of their sinfulness, it would kill their faith) and joy: and, therefore, they conclude it is not a good way to look into their hearts; no good can be got by it. But when they do not mind their hearts, but look steadily to Christ and free grace, (a fancied Christ!) firmly believing that all he has done and suffered is for them, and realizing the matter to themselves, now they feel sweetly and joyfully; and therefore conclude that this is the way, the only way, to get good for our souls; and hence grow mighty enemies to the law....to self-examination....to sense of sin, &c. This is the door by which, if any man enters in, he will soon become an Antinomian and an Enthusiast. But, to proceed, Нн

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USE IV. Of thankfulness. While the law shews us what we are, it does, at the same time, make us sensible what we de serve; while it discovers to us our sinfulness, it makes us feel our unworthiness of any good, and desert of all evil: and while we feel our unworthiness and ill deserts, our afflictions appear far less than we deserve, and our mercies appear more in number than the sands, and the kindness and bounty of our God ap pears exceedingly great, and we wonder at his goodness, and bless his holy name: And thus the law is of use to promote thankfulness.

God, the great Governor of the world, in testimony of his high displeasure against mankind for their apostacy from him, has spread miseries and calamities all round the earth: from the king upon the throne to the beggar on the dung-hill, there is not one but has a greater or lesser share in the troubles of life; and many have their days filled up with sorrows. And now murmurings arise all round this guilty world, and the general cry is, "Nobody meets with such troubles as I do....I am very

hardly dealt with." But the law teaches us that God is holy in all these his ways, and righteous in all these his works; and that we are all punished far less than we deserve; and so our complaints are silenced, and our hearts quieted into humble submis sion, and it appears infinitely fit, a rebellious world should be full of woe, that we might learn that it is an evil and bitter thing to forsake the Lord.

But, at the same time, God, the great Lord of all, out of his boundless goodness through Jesus Christ, reprieves mankind from the threatened ruin....strews common mercies with a libe ral hand all round the earth....sends rain and fruitful seasons, and fills the hearts of all, more or less, with food and gladness and to some he grants his special grace, makes them his children, and entitles them to eternal life: And thus he is the Savior of all men, but especially of those that believe....I. Tim. iv. 10. Yet this goodness of God is but little taken notice of in the world. But the law, while it discovers what we are, and how unworthy and hell-deserving we are, makes us sensible of the freeness

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