mitive Christians, that " they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance." They knew it in themselves; by looking inwards, they discovered such traces of the divine image, they felt such a supernatural life begun in their souls, as could be produced by no other agent than the Spirit of God, and might therefore be looked upon as a sure presage of their future glory. You see then how this assurance is commonly obtained. The Scriptures describe the persons who shall infallibly be saved. The Christian compares himself with this unerring rule; and finding that the essential characters agree to him, from thence he concludes the certainty of his own salvation.-He proceeds after this manner: God, who cannot lie, hath said, "He that believeth shall be saved;"-after the most serious and impartial examination, I find reason to conclude that by grace I have been enabled to believe, therefore I am persuaded that I shall be saved.

The first of these propositions is absolutely sure, having the truth and faithfulness of God for its foundation; the second, as it is a judgment or sentence of our own minds, must in its own nature be fallible, and hence it is that believers have not all of them an equal assurance of their salvation. Though they are all persuaded, that he who believeth shall be saved, yet every one

cannot say for himself, I am persuaded that I believe, and therefore I shall be saved. Before a person can say this there must be a farther work of the Spirit of God, even a divine light shining upon our faith and other graces, and making them visible to ourselves. We may derive good ground of hope from a strict and careful examination of our own temper and practice, but cannot arrive at a full assurance, till, as the apostle expresses it, Rom. viii. 16. " the Spirit himself bear witness with our spirits, that we are the sons of God." But when this divine Witness concurs with his testimony, irradiating his own workmanship within us, and discovering to our own minds such lineaments of the new creature, as plain evidence that we are born of God, then our assurance is full and complete; and we can joyfully say, with the apostle in the text, "We know, that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." I now come to the practical improvement of the subject.

And, 1st, I must speak a few words to those who call themselves Deists. I know if you could you would stop our mouths, and bury the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; and yet I shall not cease to seek your good, and say from time to time what I can for your conviction. I seldom read the threatenings of the word, but I think of you with trembling; and I never read the com

forts of it, but I think of you with pity. Pray, what assurance have you got of a happy eternity? In what house are you to take up your everlasting abode? Alas, every thing beyond the grave must be dark and fearful to you. You have no promise to build upon-no Mediator to take hold of-no atonement to plead-no covenant to depend upon. You know that God is just, and you know that you are sinners-thus far you can proceed in your own scheme with certainty; but I defy you to move one step farther upon sure ground. You cannot prove that God is reconcileable, far less can you tell upon what terms he will be reconciled to you; so that your causes of fear are real and certain, whereas your hopes are mere guess-work, having no other foundation than the doubtful conjectures of your own darkened minds. What will you do when you come to die? A Christian can say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth; and because he lives, I shall live also." But what will you be able to say, who have no Redeemer, no intercessor, into whose hands you can commit your departing spirits? who have nothing in your view but a tribunal of justice, a tribunal from which there is no appeal. Be entreated, my dear friends, to think of this in time. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way." If once his wrath begin to burn, then shall you find that they, and they only, are blessed who put their trust in him. But,

2dly, This comfortable subject doth principally direct me to speak to Christians; and I shall address my exhortation to you in the words of the apostle Peter," Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure." That this assurance is attainable you have already heard. Let me then press you, by some motives, to seek after it. Consider how much it is for your present interest. O the joy to be assured of the favour of God! this is heart ease, this is the very rest and sabbath of the soul. How sweet and comfortable will the thoughts of a Saviour be to you, when once you can say, "My beloved is mine, and I am his." Then will it do thee good to view his wounds by the eye of faith, and to put, as it were, thy hand into his side, when thou canst call him, with Tho. mas, my Lord and my God. The holy Scriptures will then have a double relish. With what delight will you turn over this charter of your future inheritance, and ponder that exceeding and eternal weight of glory which you shall one day possess. With what holy boldness may you approach the throne of grace, when you can call God your reconciled Father! What would a despairing sinner, who feels the burden of guilt, and the foretastes of everlasting misery, give for such a privilege, especially in a dying hour. How will this sweeten the difficulties of obedience. It was this that kept the apostle from fainting, as we read in the close of the preceding chapter. What

can quicken us more than to know, that after we have gone through a short life in this world, everlasting happiness shall be our portion in the next? Who would not mend his pace, who is assured that every step brings him nearer to heaven?

What a mighty cordial will this be, under the sharpest afflictions, to consider that God meaneth us no hurt, but, on the contrary, hath pledged his faithfulness, to make them all work together for our good? One who hath eternal life in the eye of his faith and hope, can look through tribulation, and see sunshine at the back of the darkest cloud.

And then, what comfort does it give in the hour of death? How miserable is the soul, that must be turned out of doors shiftless and harbourless, and is not provided of an everlasting habitation, or a better place to go to; but assurance makes the soul to triumph over the grave, and take death cheerfully by the cold hand, and even long to be gone, and to be with Christ. Dark and doubting Christians may indeed shrink back, and be afraid of the exchange; but the assured soul desires to depart, and needs as much patience to live as other men do to die.-Let us then, my brethren, press after this attainment, and not only seek to be in safety, but to know that we are so. And as it is a gift of God, let us, by humble and importunate prayer, ask it of him who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. And,