most illiterate may be sufficiently instructed in their whole duty, and made wise unto salvation.

As to the other rule, of acting in all cases according to the best of our knowledge, this is certainly the wisest and safest rule we can walk by; since this is all that we can do, and therefore all which a just and merciful God will require of us; who will no more condemn any man for not doing such things as he did not know to be his duty, than he will punish the blind for not seeing, or the lame for not walking: provided always, that a man's ignorance be unavoidable, and not owing to any fault or neglect of his own.

And now, having seen what are the best means we can use to attain salvation, Let us consider, in the next place, how we may assure ourselves, whether we are in a state of salvation or not. And this is a point of such consequence, that no man, (if I may use the expression) ought ever to close his eyes in sleep, before he is satisfied concerning it. For, since no man Y 2

can

can tell how soon, or how suddenly, he may be taken out of the world, he should before all things endeavour to attain a reasonable assurance, that such is the state and condition of his soul, that, if it should please God to call him hence the very next moment, he can depart in peace, and with a well-grounded hope of seeing the salvation of God. Happy, beyond all expression happy, is the man, who enjoys this assurance, and miserable indeed is the man, who wants it; and doubly so is he, who even does not know that he wants it!

How then is it, that this comfortable assurance is to be acquired? Not by any high conceits of our being the saints and chosen of God, of our being moved and directed by the immediate and miraculous operation of the Holy Spirit; since these, though the common boasts of enthusiasm, may be nothing but the flights and transports of an over-heated imagination; but by soberly attending to the plain words of Scripture: “He that doth righteousness "is of God," and he that committeth sin

is of the devil: And hereby know we, that we are of and in God, if we keep his commandments: The tree is known by its fruits, and he that abideth in Christ bringeth forth much fruit. The plain meaning of all which is, that if any man would be satisfied, whether he is in the love and favour of God, and consequently in a state of salvation, he has nothing more to do than coolly and impartially to examine the whole tenor of his life and conversation, and to see, whether it be such as becomes the Gospel of Christ. Has he fairly and honestly applied himself to the use of all those means, which I have just mentioned? Has he sincerely endeavoured both to know, and to practise, God's will? Doth he believe in the Lord Jesus with all his heart, and that there is no other name given unto man, by which he can be saved? Hath he no favourite lusts, no beloved vices, which he refuses to part with? Hath he thoroughly repented of, and entirely forsaken, all the gross and wilful transgressions he has formerly been guilty of, not living in a continual round of sinning and repenting,

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penting, and has nothing to answer for but the frailties and infirmities, to which the best of men will be liable on this side the grave? Such a one is ready, on the shortest warning, to meet his Lord and Master, and to deliver up his accounts with joy. But, if a man, upon such a careful and impartial review of his life and conversation, finds himself deficient of the above-mentioned particulars, he may be quite sure, that he is not in the way which leadeth unto life, and therefore should endeavour to get into it as fast as he can.

in

any

If it should still be asked, How can a man be sure, that he has not deceived himself in this inquiry, by taking himself to be a better man than he really is; I answer, by having no intention nor desire to be deceived, by dealing honestly with himself, by giving his conscience fair play and an impartial hearing; which, if it is not strangely misinformed, or very grossly corrupted, will tell him the naked truth, will lay before him a clear and exact state of the account betwixt God and

his soul, and what he has to trust to in the great business of his salvation.

I have now gone through the several points I proposed to consider, which must be owned to be the most interesting and important that can employ the mind of man. And that they are so seldom, or at least to so little purpose, the subjects of our thoughts, is a foul reproach to our reason and common sense. It has therefore been the design of this discourse to alarm and awaken your consciences, to convince and assure your understandings of the most alarming, and yet the plainest, truth in nature, the absolute necessity of your immediately and in good earnest applying yourselves to the making your calling and election sure, and of working out your salvation with fear and trembling. Rouse yourselves therefore to the consideration of these great and awful subjects, before it be too late. The hour is fast approaching, in which you will think them awful subjects indeed! Cry out with the earnestness and honest anxiety of the poor jailer in my text, "What shall Y 4 I do