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"Hosannas languish on their lips,
"And their devotion dies:"

Till, roused by reflection, they cry,

"Dear Lord, and shall we ever live

"At this poor dying rate?

"Our love so faint, so cold to Thee,
"And thine to us so great!"-

- My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken thou me according to thy word.

For there are remains of this evil even in the

subjects of divine grace. None of them are free. In many things, says James, we offend all. In all our doings, says the Church, our sins do appear. My tears, says Beveridge, require to be washed in the blood of Christ; and my repentance needs to be repented of. Those who could die for the Saviour have used the most humbling language with regard to themselves. Sometimes, says Bradford, O my God, there seems to be no difference between me and the wicked; my understanding seems as dark as theirs, and my will as perverse as theirs, and my heart as hard as theirs. Yea, says Paul, at the end of so many years of advancement, I have not attained, I am not already perfect. After this, "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?"

But observe the distress this remaining corruption occasions them. It is their chief burden and grief-O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Paul never said any thing like this of any of his sufferings: yet he was a great sufferer-he suffered the loss of all things; he was once stoned, thrice he suffered shipwreck, he was twice beaten with rods, five times he received forty stripes save one; he was in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft-Yet, so far from groaning

and complaining, he tells us he took pleasure in all, this, because it was for Christ's sake. And it is a sad evidence against us, if we are more affected with our calamities than with our corruptions. We are not required to be Stoics: we may feel our sufferings; but there is something we shall feel more if we are in a right state of mind, viz. an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

But

The people of the world judge of Christians by their own views and feelings; and because they love sin, and would deem the liberty to indulge in it a privilege, they think Christians are disposed to take every advantage for the same purpose. how shall they who are dead to sin live any longer therein? Sin is their abhorrence; and at the foot of the Cross they have sworn to have indignation against it for ever. They have a new nature; and as far as they are sanctified, there is as perfect a contrariety between them and sin, as between darkness and light. Hence the contest within. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these being contrary the one to the other, they cannot do the things that they would. And will not this be painful? If a mechanic longed to excel in his workmanship, and an enemy stood by and marred every thing before he put it out of his hand, would not this be vexatious? Would not a man, in a journey of importance, and anxious above all things to speed his way, feel a hindrance, that would impede him for an hour, more than an idler would the loss of a day? He that delights in neatness, will suffer more from a single stain, than another would from wearing a filthy garment. Because their sentiments are evangelical, their enemies seem to think their feelings must be Antinomian: but though this may not be made plain to others, their doctrinal views befriend holiness; and with their mind

they serve the law of God-yea, they delight in the law of God after the inward man. The goodness of God leadeth them to repentance. His love is shed abroad in their hearts, and they love him in return. They grieve to think they serve him so defectively, and have still in them so much of that which he

infinitely hates. How painful to think that while they repose upon his bosom, they should often pierce it too!

In a word, while many would represent the Christian, if not an enemy to holiness and good works, yet too indifferent to their claims, he is abasing himself before God for the hidden evils of his heart; and is more affected with his sins of infirmity than his revilers are with sins of presumption. Thus you may drive a sword through the body of a dead man, and no muscle moves. While the puncture of a thorn will pain a living one all over.

JULY 8.-"But ye are washed; but ye are sanctified; but ye are justified." 1 Cor. vi. 11.

WE consider the word, "washed," as a general term, comprehending a two-fold cleansingtwo-fold cleansing a cleansing from the guilt, and a cleansing from the pollution of sin. It would be easy to shew that in the Scripture it is used in both these senses. The two added articles, therefore, are explanatory of its meaning here-- Ye are washed, that is, ye are sanctified and justified.

What we wish to observe, is-that both these are found in the same subjects. Justification and sanctification should be always discriminated; but they must never be disunited. Where they are not distinguished, a religious system cannot be clear;

and where they are divided, it can never be safe. Where they are not distinguished, Law and Gospel, free-will and free-grace, the merit of man and the righteousness of Christ, run into a mass of confusion and disorder. And where they are divided, Pharisaic pride, or Antinomian presumption, will be sure to follow.

Be it remembered, then-That the one regards something done for us; the other, something done in us-The one is a relative, the other a personal change-The one a change in our state, the other in our nature-The one is perfect at once, the other is gradual-The one is derived from the obedience of the Saviour, the other from his Spirit-The one gives us a title to heaven, the other a meetness for it.

But let us not forget their union. It is supposed that this was typified in the dying of the Lord Jesus, when from his pierced side there came forth blood and water-the one to atone, the other to purify. But not to lay too much stress on an historical incident, and which can be physically accounted for, the truth to which we allude is most expressly asserted in the Word of God. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."-We need one, as well as the other. And if we were not sanctified, as well as justified, we could neither serve God properly, or enjoy him. Suppose an unrenewed man pardoned: he would be no more able to see the kingdom of God than before; but would feel the company, the pleasures, and employments, of the state, uncongenial and irksome, Or suppose you had a son; and you forbad him to enter a place of contagion, on pain of losing all you could leave him. He goes, and is seized with the infection-He thus is not only guilty, by transgressing your com

mand; but he is also diseased. And do you not perceive, that your forgiving him does not heal him? He wants not only the father's pardon, but the physician's aid; and in vain is he freed from the forfeiture of his estate, if he be left under the power of his disorder.

Let us therefore judge of the one, by the other; and make our election, by making our calling sure. To be justified freely from all things; to have passed from death unto life; and never to come into condemnation again, is a privilege of infinite valueand there is a possibility of knowing that it belongs to us. But how is it to be known? Not by an audible voice from heaven, as the woman heard"Thy sins are forgiven thee." forgiven thee." Not by a sudden impulse, or working the mind into a persuasion which we are unable to justify. For the very thing to be determined is, whether this confidence be a good hope through grace, or a mere presumption. If the confidence itself were sufficient, the Antinomian would be surer than the Christian; but he has a lie in his right hand. The Sacred Writers do not consider this certainty of mind as self-proved; nor regard all apprehensions of its wavering, as unbelief. They tell us to "fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it." They call upon us to "examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith; and to prove our own selves." "We know," says

John, "that we have passed from death unto lifebecause we love the brethren." "Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." This is the way, walk ye in it-What is the Spirit which he hath given you? Does it convince of sin? Does it cause you to hunger and thirst after righteousness? Does it glorify Christ?

It is true that we are justified by faith; but faith is justified by works. Has this promise been fulfilled in us? "Then will I sprinkle clean water

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