Confcience of the Other bears Witnefs SERM. to their Uprightnefs, without Doubts, XII. or Mifgivings. Between thefe there is a Middle State of Men, who are neither notoriously Evil, nor yet remarkably Vertuous; neither Entirely given over to work Wickedness, nor yet Thoroughly confirmed in Goodnefs; but in a doubtful Uncertain Way of Living, and Thinking; fometimes ftanding firm in Vertue, and sometimes failing; fsometimesfinning, and sometimes repenting ; fometimes hoping, and sometimes defponding.

To fuch as thefe the Exhortation of the Apostle in my Text is directed: Examine yourselves, whether you be in the Faith; prove your own felves, (that is) confider your Condition impartially and throughly, try it by the Rules of the Gofpel; fatisly Yourselves once for all, whether You be true fincere Believers, fuch as God will accept. If You find that You are, refolve, by his Grace, to continue fuch to your Lives End: If you find, You are not, refolve to make YourX 4 felves

SERM. felves fuch, as foon as is poffible. For XII. nothing can be of more Moment to You, than this Knowledge, and thefe Refolutions. Examine Yourselves, whether Ye be in the Faith; prove Your own Selves.

In order to affift You in this Enquiry, it fhall be the Bufinefs of my present Discourse to propofe fome few plain Marks, or Tefts, by which every Man who entertains any Doubts of this kind, (as very Good Men fometimes do) may, if he pleases, Try his own Sincerity, and fully fatisfy himself, whether he be an hearty Believer, and a found Member of that Body, of which Christ Jefus is the Head: Whether, and how far he hath obtained the great Christian Perfection, which is to recommend all the reft, I mean, that of Sincerity.

And, Firft, The most obvious, and therefore the most fatisfying Mark of Religious Sincerity is, if a Man, upon a Review of his own Thoughts, finds, that

6.

his Refolutions of Obedience are Uni- SERM. verfal and Unlimited; without a Reserve XII. for any Favourite Sin, without excepting any particular Inftance of Duty, wherein he defires to be Excufed. Then Plal.cxix. (fays the good Pfalmift) Shall I not be aShamed,i.e.Then may I fafely confide inmy Own Innocence and Uprightness, when I have Refpect unto All thy Commandments; when I find myself equally determined to Obey every Divine Precept and refolved to allow myself in no Practice whatsoever, which the Law of God doth not allow of. And where This is not the Cafe, there can be no True Chriftian Sincerity; which confifts in a true Bent and Inclination of the Will towards God; and the Will is never Truly, but when it is Totally inclined towards him; when it is loft, and fwallowed up in the Divine Will; implicitly likes or dislikes, chooses or refuses, what God hath before-hand approved, or disapproved by his Holy Precepts, or Prohibitions. Is a Man faid to be fincere to his Friend, who be

trays

SERM. trays him in any One Important Secret, XII. committed to his Truft, though he

fhould be faithful in many others? Is a Servant faid to be fincere to his Mafter, who hath any Referved Cafes, wherein he refolves not to confult his Honour, or Intereft? No more can a Man be reckoned fincere towards God, who fets up any fingle Luft, Inclination, or Thought, against what he knows to be the Divine Will and Pleasure. And this is evidently the Reason of that DetermiJames ii. nation in S. James; Whosoever shall keep 10, 11. the whole Law, and yet Offend in One

Point, he is Guilty of All. For (as it there follows) he that faid, Do not Committ Adultery, faid alfo, Do not Kill. Now, if Thou Committ no Adultery, yet if thou Kill, thou art become a Tranfgreffor of the Law; i. e. If thou neglectcft to observe any One Divine Command, knowing it to be One, Thou art in that Instance as open, and declared a Rebel to the Authority Enacting it, as if thou fhookeft off thy Obedience to All.

If then, upon a Careful Survey of SERM. ourselves, we find, that we are, from XII. the Bottom of our Souls, difpofed, and refolved, to Comply with All the Terms of Duty (whether Grateful, or Ungrateful to Flesh and Blood) which the Gofpel propofeth to us; that it is our fixt Intent not to do, in any Cafe, what God hath forbidden, nor to neglect what he hath enjoined; and that there is no Appetite, Defire, or Defign fo dear to us, but we are ready to part with it, as foon as its Oppofition to a Divine Command fhall be made out; if this, upon Examination, prove to be our Cafe, we have great Reason to think well of Ourselves, and to Conclude, that we are in fuch a State of Mind as God will Accept, and Reward. A

Second, and fure Proof of Religious Sincerity may be drawn from a General View of the Common Courfe of our Lives, and A&tions. If there be an Even Tenor of Goodness, visible in our Con

duct,