provoked to imitate the good, their light shines truly before men, because there beams forth from them the light of charity; others receive benefit, and God is glorified.

If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand!— Psalm cxxx. 3.

AMONG all the virtues which are necessary to offer up our prayers with acceptance, none ascend with a greater velocity, and rise higher, than that very humility which causes them, as it were, to descend the deepest of all; nor is there any more indubitable argument of humility, than a conscience which groans under the burden of its own sin and guilt amid all the abyss of calamities, crying especially from this depth. And thus we see the Psalmist, while he involves all other evils, how great soever they might be, under one common title, fixed upon this, to expatiate upon it at large. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities. Thus, if any one desires to mount more readily and more favorably from the depth of calamity, let him cry from this depth of profound humility, and plead a penitent sense of sin. For though of all imaginable depths, that of sin be the most remote from the most high and most holy God, yet, the depths of the humble soul, depressed under the weight of sin, is nearest of all to the deep bowels of Divine mercy; so that the words of the Psalmist, may not improperly be accommodated to this, though in a sense something different from that which in their connection they bear, Deep calls unto deep, and by an harmonious kind of antiphony, if I may be allowed the expression, they do most musically answer to each other.

One might have been ready, perhaps, to imagine, from the vehemence with which he begins his address, and from his groanings as it were so thick and so short, that he was somewhat a bold petitioner, and that he had some confidence in himself, seeing that he presumed to knock so often and so loud at the door of Divine mercy. But what he here adds plainly shows that this was far from being the case: Hear me, O Lord, hear me and I urge the request because necessity presses urgently upon me. Not that I am, or judge myself to be one who can merit thine

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assistance, but that I stand in such need of it, that if it be not So far am I from being or appeargranted me, I must perish.

of cry

my

ing to myself worthy of thy help, that behold I am overwhelmed It is free mercy that I invoke, with sin more than with sorrows. and I beseech thee, that in order to thy hearing the voice of my sins. Wash prayer, thou wouldst not hearken to the away the one, that thou mayst graciously smile upon the other. For, if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, who shall stand? Intimating that if he were drawn out of the other depths, yet if his sins continued unremitted, he could find no place on which to stand; yea, if it were possible for him in that case to flee away and hide himself, yet he would rather plunge himself into those depths again, and would rather be buried and lost in floods of the greatest calamities, than meet the more dreadful flame of the Divine anger and indignation.

But this humble acknowledgment of his own unworthiness and pollution, is so far from being inconsistent with the pious confidence of prayer, that it is not only congruous, but even congenial to it, and inseparable from it, so as to be most agreeable to that great king whom it addresses. Humility and contrition of heart are often thought by men to be the mark of a low and abject mind, and as such are often despised by them; but noth"He," says Augusing is more honorable in the sight of God. tine," will bow down his ear, if thou dost not lift up thy neck." There is certainly no more efficacious method of supplicating and obtaining grace, than to do it, if I may so speak, sub forma pauperis, confessing and pleading our poverty. He finds the most easy access in the court of heaven, who meets the most frequent repulses on earth. Nay, if I may so express myself, the heavenly court sits and resides in him. The two chief palaces and temples of the great king are that thrice holy place in the third heaven and the humble and contrite heart upon earth. The best manner of praying, therefore, is that which is made up of faith, fear, and humility. By the equal libration of these wings, the soul mounts on high, while that of fear does not sink too low, nor that of confidence rise too high. By these, we are daily and early to soar to God; and care must be taken that these wings of the soul be not dragged down by excess, nor scorched by lust, nor clogged and glued together, as it were, by covetousness, or any other terrene and viscid affection.

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.-Rom. viii. 4.

WHAT meaneth this word righteousness? Why the end, the scope, the well-doing. For what was the design of the law, and what did it enjoin? To be without sin. This then is made good to us now through Christ. And the making a stand against it, and the getting the better of it, came from him. But it is for us to enjoy the victory. Henceforth then we shall never sin, never shall we unless we have become exceedingly relaxed and supine. And this is why he added, to them that walk not after the flesh. For lest, after hearing that Christ hath delivered thee from the war of sin, and that the requisition of the law is fulfilled in thee, by sin having been condemned in the flesh, thou shouldst break up all thy defenses; therefore, in that place also, after saying, there is therefore no condemnation, he added, to them that walk not after the flesh; and here also, that the requisition of the law might be fulfilled in us, he proceeds with the very same thing. For after saying, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us that walk not after the flesh, he proceeds, but after the Spirit.

So showing, that it is not only binding upon us to keep ourselves from evil deeds, but also to be adorned with good. For to give thee the crown is his; but it is thine to hold fast what has been given. For the righteousness of the law, that one should not become liable to its curse, Christ has accomplished for thee. Be not a traitor then to so great a gift, but keep guarding this goodly treasure. For in this passage he shows that the grace received will not suffice to save us, unless, afterwards, we display a life worthy of the gift. And so he again advocates the law in saying what he does. For when we have once become obedient to Christ, we must use all ways and plans, so that its righteousness, which Christ fulfilled, may abide in us, and not come to naught.

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.—1 John v. 10.

THERE are two claimants to the soul of man, sin and Christ. Sin truly claims dominion over all men in their natural and unregenerate state. Such are carnal, sold under sin. But all who believe on the Son of God, are redeemed from the servitude of sin and Satan. And those who are thus redeemed need not be in difficulty to determine to whom they belong. For John says, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." And in the language of strong assurance, again he says, "We know that we are of God." By what evidences is the soul assured that it belongs to Christ?

The evidences which determine the state of a Christian,—that he is Christ's,—are his name, his seal, and his witnesses. His name is a new name,—a name better than of sons and daughters, even Christ formed in the heart, and his law engraven in the inner man. As it is fabled of Ignatius, that there was found the name of Jesus written in his heart; so must every one of God's house be named by him with his new name; of him are all the families in heaven and in earth named. The seal of Christ in his Spirit, witnessing unto, and securing our spirits that we belong to him; for he that hath not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his; and by this we know that he dwelleth in us, and we in him, because he hath given us of his Spirit. The witnesses of Christ are three, the Spirit, the water, and blood. The testimony of adoption, seeing the fatherly care of God to our souls, saying to our souls, That he is our salvation and inheritance: the testimony of justification, our faith in the blood and ransom of Christ and the testimony of sanctification, in our being cleansed from dead works; for he came to destroy the works of the devil; he came with "refiners' fire, and with fullers' soap, and with healing under his wings;" and this as I conceive, under the preaching of his gospel, which as the beams of the sun, make "manifest the savor of him in every place," and by which he cometh and goeth abroad," to those that are afar off, and to those that are near." It was the office of Christ, as well to purify as to redeem, as well to sanctify as to justify us: so that if a man say that he belongs to Christ, and yet brings not forth fruit unto God, but lives still

married to his former lusts, and is not cleansed from his filthiness, he makes God a liar, because he believeth not the record which he gives of his Son: yea, he puts Christ to shame, as if he had undertaken more than he were able to perform.

Besides, Christ being light, a star, a sun, never comes to the heart without self-manifestation, such evidence as can not be gainsaid unto him belongs the royal prerogative, to be himself the witness to his own grace. And when Papists demand of us, "How can we be sure that this testimony of Christ's grace and spirit is not a false witness and delusion of Satan ; we demand of them again, If the flesh can have this advantage to make such objections against the invaluable comforts of Christ's grace, and the heart have nothing to reply; if Christ witness, and no man can understand it; if the Spirit of Christ be a comforter, and the Devil can comfort every jot as well, and counterfeit his comforts to the quick, and so cozen and delude a man ;—what is any man the better for any such assertions of Scripture, where the Spirit is called the Spirit of comfort, the strengthener of the inner man, and the heart said to be established by grace? Certainly, the comforts of the Spirit must fall to the ground, if they bring not along a proper and distinct lustre into the soul with them.

Now, sin is of a quarrelling and contentious disposition; it will not easily part from that which was once its own, but will ever be raising suits, disputing, arguing, wrangling with the conscience for its own right. Here then is the trial of the title. If a man can not show the evidences of his redemption, the Spirit, the blood, the water, the sonship, the righteousness, the holiness, conversation, and grace of Christ; if he be not in arms against the remnants of sin in himself, but live in peace and good contentment, under the vigor and life of sin, that man is yet under the dominion of sin. For if a man be Christ's, he will wear his new regalia, extremely opposite to those of sin. "A new heart for the throne of the spirit,-new members to be the servants of righteousness,-new counsellors, namely, the laws of God,a new panoply, the whole armor of God,-new laws, the law of the mind, and of the heart,-a new judicature, even the government of the Spirit: thoughts, words, actions, conversations-all things new." With all these evidences, where is there any room for doubt?" He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself."