man.

10. Lastly, When all these things concur, you may with the greater confidence rest upon his judgment. And though still he is but an imperfect man, and no absolute certainty of your estate can be had from his bare judgment (though from his doctrine, and the effects and signs there may), yet such a judgment should weigh very much with you, to the raising of fear, and care in the ungodly, and for the quieting of a troubled soul.

Let us a little now apply this direction to both parties. Beloved hearers, if any of you can look before you to eternity, and do not with awakened thoughts conclude, that all probable means should be used in time, to make sure of your final justification at the dreadful day of God, that man wants either the faith of a Christian, or the feeling of a considerate

Are you all desirous to be sure beforehand, what sentence shall pass upon you then, or are you not? If you are, come on, and let me make a motion that you cannot reasonably refuse: the business is of unspeakable.consequence: to be deceived, may be to be undone for ever. Will you

advise with those that God hath appointed to give you advice in so great a case? Well then! will you go and

! faithfully open your state (supposing you have the need before expressed,) to some able, faithful minister of Christ? Not to an ignorant, or a carnal, unexperienced man, but unto one that is skilled in spiritual affairs, and that will be faithful to you, and deal with that serious gravity and reverence as beseems him that is helping to prepare a soul for the bar of Christ. Will you (if you never did it) tell him, whether ever you were convinced of your sin and misery? And whether ever you saw the need of Christ? And whether you have loathed yourselves for your iniquities, and fled to Christ as your only refuge from the wrath of God, and have turned away with resolution from your former ungodly, careless life, and have changed your company, your business, and your delights? Whether you make it your chief business to please God, and to save your souls ? and resolve to take up with the hopes of heaven as your only portion, and not to hazard it for any worldly interest, or fleshly pleasure whatsoever? “ Whether in your eyes a vile person

be contemned, but you love and honour them that fear the Lord ?" Tell these and other such particulars of your state to your faithful pastors : answer them to these, and such

like questions, and then take their judgment (with the cautions before expressed) of your spiritual state. Hear what they will tell you of it. Might not this course convince thee of thy miserable state, that never hadst any such evidences as these lo shew! and might it not awaken thee in time, to bethink thee of a safer course? Go to any faithful minister in the world, and tell him the plain truth, that yet thou art a secret fornicator, or drunkard, or pot-companion, or flesh-pleaser in some sensual way; or if thou sinnest not so grossly, that yet thou art a formal hypocrite, and hast a secret enmity to those that are most seriously religious, and live the most heavenly lives, and that thou art thyself a stranger to all the aforesaid passages of sanctification: and I dare assure thee that he will tell thee, if thou art thus indeed, thou art in the "gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity,” and must be speedily renewed, and sanctified, and justified, or thou art undone for ever. I tell thee, there is not a man that is worthy the name of a' minister in all the world, but will pass this judgment on the condition of thy soul. . And yet wilt thou bear it out with a senseless heart, a seared conscience, and a brazen face; and still live as carelessly as if all were well with thee! What is thy soul of no more worth? Is it so small a matter with thee, what becometh of thee? Or is the judgment of able, faithful ministers, in the way of their own office, of no more regard with thee? What not when all the aforesaid requisites concur! They shew thee the plain word of God against thee; and that his threatening contains the virtual sentence of thy condemnation: they are by office the interpreters of the law of God to you; it hath been the study of their lives: the matters in question are such as they have had experience of in themselves, and others: they have judged as hardly of themselves, and of their own case, as now they do of yours, when theirs was the same as yours is now. Do they pronounce you miserable, as being strangers to the Spirit of Christ? So they did by themselves, when they saw their sin ; and therefore they are impartial : they have had before them multitudes, (alas too many) in your case : and you will regard the judgment of a physician, that hath had many hundreds in band that had the same disease as you. They are men that are not willing to deceive you. They deny themselves, in telling you of your danger: they know that smoother words would please you better; and they have natures that desire men's

; love and favour, rather than displeasure and ill-will. They are more impartial than you are, and have not your selfinterest and passion to blind them : they are not abused in their judgment by the temptations of evil company, òr of worldly, fleshly things, as you are; for these temptations more hinder us from judging ourselves than other men: They are the messengers of Christ, appointed to give to each their portion; and should not their judgment be regarded, in the business committed to their trust? And it is not one man or two, or a hundred only, that are of this mind. Open thy case to all the judicious, faithful ministers in the land, or in the world, and open it truly, and they will all tell thee, that “If thon die without converting, sanctifying grace, thou art lost for ever;' and that all the world cannot save thee from the everlasting wrath of God. Try as many of them as you will, and see if all of them tell you not the same thing. And is all this nothing to thee, presumptuous sinner, that in the judgment of all the most able, faithful ministers of Christ, thy soul should be in a state of death? Art thou wiser than all the best and wisest, in the matters of their own profession? If all the physicians in the country should tell thee, that “Thou hast a disease that will certainly be thy death, unless thou take some one effectual medicine in time,' I think thou wouldst not slight their judgment, and say, they are too censorious, that thou knowest thy condition better than they? I think it would affright thee to seek after the remedy. And why should not the judgment of the faithful ministers, about the state of thy soul, be so far regarded, as to awaken thee to a more careful inquiry, and stir up a preventing and remedying fear? If the judgment of Christ's officers be not regardable, then there is no matter of terror in excommunication ; nor no matter of comfort in ministerial absolution.

O the madness of a hardened sinner! that when he sheweth by the fruits of an ungodly life, that he is a stranger to sanctification, and liveth in the sins which the Scripture threateneth damnation to, and hath no evidence of true conversion to shew, will yet be confident of pardon and salvation, let God and all his ministers say what they will against it! and will rather be offended with his spiritual physicians, for telling him of the danger of his state, and rail at thein

a

as if they did him wrong, than he will see his danger and prevent his misery! Let such a one hear the word of God, if he have ears to hear, “Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood, and it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord, and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him unto evil,” &c. (Deut. xxix. 18—21.)

And on the other side, is there any soul among you, that in doubts and troubles, hath opened his case to the faithful ministers of Christ, and their judgment is, that your state is safe? Is this the judgment, not only of the weakest, but the wisest; not only of strangers, but of those that know you best; not only of one or two, but of all, or most of the judicious ministers that ever you opened your case to; even of the most honest and impartial, that would not flatter you nor deceive you? Yea, and perhaps, when desertions, or melancholy, or passion, or ignorance, do make you unmeet to judge of yourselves. And doth all this seem nothing to you; or a small matter? It is not nothing; it is not small. I confess it is no ground of certainty: they are but men: it is a human testimony; but yet it is a testimony that may weigh down many of your own surmises, and take off much of your distressing fears, and may give much ease to troubled souls, while they are seeking after surer knowledge. It is a ground of comfort, not to be despised, or made light of. Till you can come to see your evidences yourselves, and to be acquainted with the indwelling Spirit as your witness, you may much quiet your minds, and take much comfort, in this judgment and witness of the servants of the Lord, that have a spirit of discerning, and have that grace which acquainteth them with the nature of grace in others, and that have been long exercised in the discerning of men's states. It is possible an hypocrite (especially one that wil.

. fully giveth them a false relation of himself) may deceive them ; but it is probable that it is not one of many they are deceived in, when they know or have a good description of the person. If in a lawsuit, all the ablest lawyers tell you that your cause is good, it is possible they may be deceived, but it is not likely. If in a fever, all the ablest physicians tell you the danger is past, it is possible yet that they may be all deceived: but yet I think you would take some comfort in such a testimony; so should you here. Though the judgment of ministers be not infallible, it may be much better than your own, though about yourselves; and it may be set against the jealousies and fears of a disquiet soul, and against abundance of the molesting suggestions of the accuser.

I do not by all this draw you to lay too much on man; I advance them not too high, and make them not lords of your faith, but helpers of your joy. I draw you not to any deceitful course, nor into any way of danger to your souls. I bid you not fully and finally rest in the judgment of man; I bid you not neglect any means to come to fuller knowledge, and certainty of your own sincerity. I bid you not forbear any means that tend to the getting of true grace.

have it, and know it not, the same means (for the most part) may increase it, which you use to get it: and if you have it not, when it is thought you have it, the means may work it, that are intended to increase it. Do all that you can to repent, believe, and love God, and live to him, whether you ever did these before or not. But yet let the judgment of your faithful pastors, the officers and experienced servants of the Lord, keep off despondency and despair, that would disable you from the use of the means, and would weaken your hands, and make you sit down in unprofitable complaints, and give up all as hopeless. Let their judgment quiet you in the way of duty ; lean on them in the dark, till you come into the light. Yea, be glad that you have so much encouragement and hope, from those that are by Christ appointed to subserve the Spirit, in the com. forting as well as the sanctifying work, and to shew to man his uprightness, and to say to the righteous, “ It shall be well with him.” (Isa. iii. 10.) I tell you, all the wealth of the world is not worth even this much ground of comfort: Live upon this much, till by diligent attendance, and waiting on the Spirit of grace and comfort, you can get higher.

If you

2. The second extrinsic hindrance of Self-knowledge is