self-flattery, and the pride of the carnal heart, very easily substitute for vital godliness.

Others attain the confidence of their own good estate in a manner still different. This mode of attainment is purely mechanical. According to

the views of those who maintain this confidence, it seems to be "a strange kind of assurance, far "different from other ordinary kinds; we are "constrained to believe other things on the clear " evidence that they are true, and would remain "true, whether we believe them or no :-but here

our assurance is not impressed on our thoughts " by any evidence of the thing; but we must work “it out in ourselves, by the assistance of the Spirit " of God." The very existence of this persuasion seems to be evidence of the truth of it. The proposition to be believed, viz: "that God freely “giveth Christ and his salvation to us in particular, " is not true before we believe it; but becometh "a certain truth when we believe it*."

The amount of this is, that a persuasion of your own personal interest in the blessings of the great salvation, constitutes the essence of evangelical

* Marshall on Sanctification, p. 157, N. Y. edition.

faith. If you can only believe that you will be saved, you are a BELIEVER, in the Gospel sense of the word: Should you find any difficulty in doing this, you must "work it out in yourselves by the "assistance of the Spirit of God; and according to

your faith so shall it be unto you*!" The persuasion, therefore, that you are a Christian, makes you so; and the confidence that you will be saved, renders your calling and election sure.

It is hardly necessary to guard the mind against the influence of this delusion. Reflecting men will not rest the hope of immortality on so treacherous a foundation, unless they deliberately prefer the dreams of the self-deceived, to the sober expectations of the real Christian. If there were no difference between being actually interested in the covenant of grace, and the persuasion of our own minds that we are thus interested; this scheme might be plausible. Men must be Christians, before they can be rationally persuaded that they are Christians. They must be the children of God, before they can rationally cherish the confidence that they are so. It is not impossible, nor is it an unusual thing, for a man to be a Christian,

* Marshall, p. 157, N. Y. edition.

and yet not to believe that he is a Christian.

Nor

is it less impossible, and unusual, for a man to believe that he is a Christian, and yet not be a Christian. It is to be feared, that there will be many at the Last Day, who will say, Lord, Lord! unto whom the Bridegroom will say, I never knew you, depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There will be many in that day, who have confidently believed, that "God freely gave Christ "and his salvation to them in particular," who will not find, that "it became a certain truth "when they believed it." The error is too palpable to be ensnaring*.

Let not the import of these remarks be misunderstood. Far be it from me to discourage the followers of the Lord Jesus from placing the most implicit reliance on the Author and Finisher of their faith. Every attribute of His character demands confidence the most prompt and unreserv

"When we affirm," says the eloquent Saurin, "that "there is such a blessing as assurance of salvation, we do "not mean that assurance is a duty imposed on all mankind, "so that every one, in what state soever he may be, ought "to be fully persuaded of his salvation, and by this persua❝sion, to begin his christianity."-Saurin's Sermons, vol. 3. Sermon 10th.

ed. But, reader, real confidence in God is a thing widely different from a firm persuasion of your personal interest in His mercy. The former is your duty at all times. The latter is your duty, in the same proportion in which you have evidence that the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost. You have just as much evidence that you are interested in His pardoning mercy, as you have that you are the subject of His sanctifying grace. Sanctification is the only evidence of conversion. The assurance of our acceptance with God, depends on the assurance of our possessing the character of those who are accepted. The scriptural mode of obtaining assurance is that pointed out by the Apostle. GIVING ALL DILIGENCE, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. WHEREFORE, brethren, GIVE DILIGENCE to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. "The infallible assurance of faith," says our excellent Confession, " is founded upon

"the divine truth of the promises of salvation, "the inward evidence of those graces unto which "these promises are made, the testimony of the

Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits, "that we are the children of God; which Spirit "is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we "are sealed to the day of redemption*." To cherish the confidence of your own good estate when your graces are low and languishing, and while you live in the habits of sin, savours more of presumption than of humility. No man ought to live without some doubts of his own good estate, who does not cherish such an abiding sense of divine truth, and live in such prevailing exercise of divine grace, as to have the witness within him that he is born of God. It is in the exercise of grace alone, that any one ought to expect, or even desire to find evidence of his being accepted in the beloved. The evidence of our good estate rises in proportion to our love, to our repentance, to our humility, to our faith, to our self-denial, to our delight in duty. Other evidence than this, the Bible knows not; God has not given.

* Confession of faith of the Presbyterian Church, chap. 18. p. 85, 86. Vide also Larger Catechism, p. 211, 212.