So then they that are in the flesh, cannot please GodFor if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if by the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” (Rom. viii. 1-14.) "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts." (Gal. v. 18—25.)

7. Lastly, That person is certainly unregenerate, that so far valueth and loveth the world, or any of the carnal accommodations therein, as practically to prefer them before the love of God, and the hopes of everlasting glory: seeking it first, with highest estimation, and holding it fastest; so as that he will rather venture his soul upon the threatened wrath of God, than his body upon the wrath of man; and will be religious no further than may consist with his prosperity or safety in the world, and hath something that he cannot part with for Christ and heaven, because it is dearer to him than they: Let this man go never so far in religion, as long as he goeth further for the world, and setteth it nearest to his heart, and holds it fastest, and will do most for it, and consequently loveth it better than Christ, he is no true Christian, nor in a state of grace.

The Scriptures put this also out of doubt, as you may see Matt. x. 37, 38; Luke xiv. 25, 27.33; "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me, &c. Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Whoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." (James iv. 4.) No wonder then if the world must be renounced in our baptism. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world: if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John ii. 15.)

You see by this time, what it is to be regenerate, and to

be a Christian indeed, by what is contained even in our baptism and consequently how you may know yourselves, whether you are sanctified, and the heirs of heaven, or not.

Again therefore I summon you to appear before your consciences: And if indeed these evidences of regeneration are not in you, stop not the sentence, but confess your sinful, miserable state, and condemn yourselves,' and say no longer, I hope yet that my present condition may serve turn, and that God will forgive me, though I should die without any further change: Those hopes that you may be saved without regeneration, or that you are regenerate when you are not, are the pillars of Satan's fortress in your hearts, and keep you from the saving hopes of the regenerate, that will never make you ashamed. Uphold not that which Christ is engaged against: down it must, either by grace or judgment: and therefore abuse not your souls by under-propping such an ill-grounded, false, deceitful hope. You have now time to take it down so orderly and safely, as that it fall not on your heads, and overwhelm you not for ever. But if you stay till death shall undermine it, the fall will be great, and your ruin irreparable. If you are wise, therefore know yourselves in time.

II. I have done with that part of my special exhortation which concerned the unregenerate: I am next to speak to those of you that by grace are brought into a better state: and to tell you, that it very much concerneth you also, even the best of you, to labour to be well acquainted with yourselves and that both in respect of, 1. Your sins and wants; and, 2. Your graces and your duties.

I. Be acquainted with the root and remnant of your sins: with your particular inclinations and corrupt affections; with their quality, their degree and strength: with the weaknesses of every grace: with your disability to duty; and with the omissions or sinful practices of your lives. Search diligently and deeply; frequently and accurately peruse your hearts and ways, till you certainly and thoroughly know yourselves.

And I beseech you, let it not suffice you that you know your states, and have found yourselves in the love of God, in the faith of Christ, and possessed by his Spirit. Though this be a mercy worth many worlds, yet this is not all con

cerning yourselves that you have to know. If yet you say that you have no sin, you deceive yourselves. If yet you think you are past all danger, your danger is the greater for this mistake. As much as you have been humbled for sin; as much as you have loathed it; as often as you have confessed it, lamented it, and complained and prayed against it, yet it is alive: though it be mortified, it is alive. It is said to be mortified as to the prevalency and reign, but the relics of it yet survive: were it perfectly dead, you were perfectly delivered from it, and might say, you have no sin: but it is not yet so happy with you. It will find work for the blood and Spirit of Christ, and for yourselves, as long as you are in the flesh. And, alas, too many that know themselves to be upright in the main, are yet so much unacquainted with their hearts and lives, as to the degrees of grace and sin, as that it much disadvantageth them in their Christian progress. Go along with me in the careful observation of these following evils, that may befal even the regenerate by the remnants of self-ignorance.

1. The work of mortification is very much hindered, because you know yourselves no better, as may appear in all these following discoveries.

(1.) You confess not sin to God or man so penitently and sensibly as you ought, because you know yourselves no better. Did you see your inside with a fuller view, how deeply would you aggravate your sin! how heavily would you charge yourselves! repentance would be more intense and more effectual; and when you were more contrite, you would be more meet for the sense of pardon, and for God's delight. (Isa. li. 15; lxvi. 2.) It would fill you more with godly shame and self-abhorrence, if you better knew yourselves. It would make you more sensibly say with Paul, "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. I am, who shall deliver me from the (Rom. vii. 23, 24.) And with David, iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. the hairs of my head. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." (Psal. xxxviii. 18; xl. 12; xxxii. 5.) Repen

O wretched man that body of this death!" "I will declare my They are more than

tance is the death of sin: and the knowledge of ourselves, and the sight of our sins is the life of repentance.

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(2.) You pray not against sin, for grace and pardon, so earnestly as you should, because you know yourselves no better. O that God would but open these too-close hearts unto us, and anatomize the relics of the old man, and show us all the recesses of our self-deceit, and the filth of worldliness, and carnal inclinations that lurk within us, and read us a lecture upon every part; what prayers would it teach us to indite! That you may not be proud of your holiness, let me tell you, Christians, that a full display of the corruptions that the best of you carry about you, would not only take down self-exalting thoughts, that you be not lifted up above measure, but would teach you to pray with fervour and importunity, and waken you out of your sleepy indifference, and make you cry, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me!" If the sight of a lazar, or cripple, or naked person, move you to compassion, though they use no words: if the sight of a man that is gasping for want of your relief, will affect you: surely the sight of your own deformities, wants and dangers, would affect you if you saw them as they are. How many a sin do you forget in your confessions that should have a particular repentance! And how many wants do you overlook in prayers, that should have particular petitions for a merciful supply! And how many are lightly touched, and run over with words of course, that would be earnestly insisted on, if you did but better know yourselves! O that God would persuade you better to study your hearts, and pray out of that book whenever you draw nigh to him, that you might not be so like the hypocrites, that draw near to him with the lips, when their hearts are far from him. To my shame I must confess, that my soul is too dry and barren in holy supplications to God, and too little affected with my confessed sins and wants: but I am forced to lay all in a very great measure upon the imperfect acquaintance that I have at home: I cannot think I should want matter to pour out before the Lord in confession and petition, nor so much want fervour and earnestness with God, if my heart and life lay open to my view, while I am upon my knees.

(3.) It is for want of a fuller knowledge of yourselves that you are so negligent in your Christian watch, that you do

no better guard your senses; that you make no stricter a covenant with your eyes, your appetites, your tongues: that you no more examine what you think, affect and say: what passeth in your heart and out of it: that you call not yourselves more frequently to account; but days run on, and duties are carelessly performed as of course, and no daily or weekly reckoning made to conscience of all. The knowledge of your weaknesses, and readiness to yield, and of your treacherous corruptions that comply with the enemy, would make you more suspicious of yourselves, and to walk more "circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise," (Eph. v. 15,) and to look under your feet, and consider your ways before you were too bold and venturous. It was the consciousness of their own infirmity, that should have moved the disciples to watch and pray. "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt. xxvi, 41.) And all have the same charge, because all have the same infirmity and danger. "What I say to you, I say unto all, Watch." (Mark xiii. 37.) Did we better know how many advantages our own corruptions give the tempter, that charge of the Holy Ghost would awake us all to stand to our arms and look about us: "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith: quit you like men, be strong." (1 Cor. xvi. 13.) "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil: for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,' &c. (Eph. vi. 11-14.) When men know not whose legs they stand upon, they grow heedless of their way, and quickly slide.

The knowledge of ourselves doth show us all the advantages of the tempter: what he hath to work upon, and what in us to take his part, and consequently where he is most likely to assault us: and so puts us into so prepared a posture for defence, as very much hindereth his success. But so far as we do not know ourselves, we are like blind men in fencing, that the adversary may hit in what part he please: we have so many hidden enemies in our houses, as will quickly open the door to more. What sin may not Satan tempt a man into, that is not acquainted with the corruptions and frailties of his own heart!

(4.) It is for want of self-acquaintance that we make not