the word of God? Have you paid attention to the hearing and the reading of that word, and by comparing one passage with another, and diligently considering the whole, have you been able to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, that you have received the right doctrine, even the very truth of God? Without such a diligent search, so much are deceit, ignorance, and prejudice found among men, you will be more likely to walk in the way of error, than in the way of truth. Therefore in this particular examine and prove yourselves whether ye be in the faith, and see,

2. Whether you have that faith, which worketh by love. The Devils believe, as well as you, and probably understand the nature of the Christian salvation better than you; but, wanting love, they remain Devils still. See, then, that you love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. Love him for your creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but, more especially, let your love be fixed on him for the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. If you have attentively read your Bibles, and compared all your thoughts, words, and actions with the purity and perfection which the holy God demands, you cannot fail of being sensi

ble, that you have in many instances done those things, which you ought not to have done, so that there is no spiritual health in you, and that, should justice take its course, you would come under condemnation. Thus, conscious of your sinfulness, you will gladly embrace the method of salvation offered to you in the Gos pel. "But for this," you will say, "God would not have favourably regarded me; but for this, I must have endured his frown, and borne the weight of his indignation; but for this, I must even now have been in torments.' Can you then think of what God has done for you, and not love him? Indeed, if you love him not, it is because you know him not, and not knowing him, you will entertain strange notions concerning him, and feel no desire to keep his commandments. But if you know God, as he is in himself altogether lovely; if you are sensible of his kindness towards the children of men, and are convinced that you yourselves are the objects of his pity and compassion, you will then perceive a sacred fame of love kindled in your souls, or, as Saint Paul expresses it," the love of God shed abroad in your hearts,** which must excite you, in the first place, to shew forth your gratitude towards him, and which must next overflow in

the desire of doing good to men. Thus influenced, you will love your neighbour as yourself, and desire to do unto all men as you would they should do unto you. And is this really your wish, or, to put the question closer, is it really your practice? Can your 'friends, your acquaintance, the poor and afflicted, come forward and say, "We see in this man the genuine fruits of Christianity. He is faithful, kind, compassionate, and, upon all occasions, ready to do us every service that lies in his power." Here we are all placed in a world full of wretchedness and misery, and if we do not find in ourselves an active disposition to mend the condition of our suffering fellow creatures, but are wrapt up in selfishness, then, however orthodox our notions, however regular our attendance on sacred ordinances, and however exact our conformity to all the ceremonies of religion, we may justly suspect, that we have not the faith of the Gospel; and that we are not those Christians, to whom the Lord will say at the last day—" Well done, good and faithful servants." Surely, St. Paul leads us to form this conclusion, from what he has written in the 13th chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity," which is nothing else but the prin

ciple of divine love, of which I have been speaking, “I am become as sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal; and though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have no charity, I am nothing; and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." Examine, then, and prove yourselves, and see that ye have that faith of which I have been speaking.

3rd. If you are in the faith, you will be found in the exercise of all good works, and be endeavouring daily to cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, that you may perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. You will have considered, whether the ways of the world are such as God would have his children to walk in, and when you have reflected, that wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and that many go in thereat, you will beware how you follow a multitude to do evil, be searching the scriptures diligently, and be praying earnestly, that you may be kept in the narrow way which leadeth to everlasting life. Such a conduct inay, indeed, subject you to the scorn and derision of the profane, the careless, and the formal, who will say,

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you are too strict, and too scrupulous, and perhaps apply to you some opprobrious name, but, let men say what they will, nothing should abate your diligence to be found walking in the truth, and to abound in all godliness and virtue; for in so doing, you are complying with the admonition and advice of Jesus Christ, and his apostles, who bid you ask, seek, knock, run, strive, and fight; yea, and to carry on the contest at every hazard, that so you may at length obtain the prize of glory, which is promised to every one that overcometh.

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Now, examine and prove yourselves, Brethren, whether be in the faith. Ye say, ye believe in God the Father, who hath made you, in God the Son, who hath redeemed you, and in God the Holy Ghost, who hath sanctified you, and all the elect people of God. And hath He really sanctified you? Do your consciences bear witness, while I am speaking, that you are holy persons? Are you so holy, that you have given up your hearts to God, that they may become the temples in which he will condescend to take up his sacred residence? I thus propose the question, because I wish you to remember, that, while it is your duty to strive to be complete in all the will of God, you must depend upon him to work in you to will and to do of his good pleasure. As there are some