to them gave he power to become the fons of God, which are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. That is, who are not children of God after the fashions, prescriptions, and traditions of men, that call themfelves his church and people, which is not after the will of flesh and blood, and the invention of carnal man, unacquainted with the regeneration and power of the Holy Ghoft, but of God; that is, according to his will, and the working and fanctification of his Spirit and word of life in them. And fuch were ever well versed in the right application of Chrift, for he was made to them indeed, propitiation, reconciliation, falvation, righteousness, redemption, and juftification.

So I fay to thee, unless thou believeft that he that stands at the door of thy heart and knocks, and fets thy fins in order before thee, and calls thee to repentance, be the Saviour of the world, thou wilt die in thy fins, and where he is gone, thou wilt never come. For if thou believeft not in him, it is impoffible that he fhould do thee good, or effect thy falvation: Christ works not against faith, but by it. It is faid of old, He did not many mighty works in fome places, because the people believed, not in him. So that if thou truly believest in him, thine ear will be attentive to his voice in thee, and the door of thine heart open to his knocks. Thou wilt yield to the discoveries of his light,

f John i. 12. 23, g • John i. 12, 13.

and the teachings of his grace will be very dear to thee.

§. V. It is the nature of true faith, to beget an holy fear of offending God, a deep reverence to his precepts, and a most tender regard to the inward teftimony of his Spirit, as that by which his children, in all ages, have been fafely led to glory. For as they that truly believe, receive Chrift in all his tenders to the foul, fo, as true it is, that thofe who receive him thus, with him receive power to become the fons of God: that is, an inward force and ability to do whatever he requires: ftrength to mortify their lufts, controul their affections, resist evil motions, deny themselves, and over come the world in its moft inticing appearances. This is the life of the bleffed Cross of Chrift, which is the fubject of the following difcourfe, and what thou, O man, muft take up, if thou intendeft to be the disciple of Jefus. Nor canft thou be faid to receive Chrift, or to believe in him, whilft thou rejecteft his crofs. For as receiving of Chrift, is the means appointed of God to falvation, fo bearing the daily cross after him, is the only true teftimony of receiving him, and therefore it is enjoined by him, as the great token of difcipleship, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his crofs, and follow me."

This, Chriftendom, is that thou hast so much wanted, and the want of which has proved the only caufe of thy miferable declension from

▲ Matt. xvi. 24.

pure Christianity. To confider which well, as it is thy duty, fo it is of great ufe to thy restoration.

For as the knowledge of the cause of any distemper, guides the physician to make a right and fafe judgment in the application of his medicine, fo it will much enlighten thee in the way of thy recovery, to know and weigh the firft cause of this fpiritual lapfe and malady that has befallen thee. To do which, a general view of thy primitive eftate, and confequently of their work that first laboured in the Chriftian vineyard, will be needful; and if therein fomething be repeated, the weight and dignity of the fubject will bear it, without the need of an apology.

S. VI. The work of apostleship, we are told by a prime labourer in it, was to turn people from darknefs to light, and from the power of fatan unto God. That is, inftead of yielding to the temptations and motions of fatan, who is the prince of darkness, or wickedness, the one being a metaphor to the other, by whose power their understandings were obfcured, and their fouls held in the service of fin, they fhould turn their minds to the appearance of Chrift, the Light and Saviour of the world; who by his light fhines in their fouls, and thereby gives them a fight of their fins, and discovers every temptation and motion in them unto evil, and reproves them when they give way thereunto; that fo they might become the children of light, and walk in the

Acts xxvi. 18.

path of righteoufnefs. And for this bleffed work of reformation did Chrift endue his apostles with his spirit and power, that fo men might not longer fleep in a fecurity of fin and ignorance of God, but awake to righteousness, that the Lord Jesus might give them life: that is, that they might leave off finning, deny themselves the pleafure of wickedness, and, by true repentance, turn their hearts to God in well doing, in which is peace. And truly, God fo bleffed the faithful labours of these poor mechanics, yet his great ambaffadors to mankind, that in a few years many thousands that had lived without God in the world, without a fenfe or fear of him, lawlefly, very strangers to the work of his Spirit in their hearts, being captivated by fleshly lufts, were inwardly ftruck. and quickened by the word of life, and made fenfible of the coming and power of the Lord Jefus Chrift, as a judge and lawgiver in their fouls, by whofe holy light and fpirit, the hidden things of darkness were brought to light and condemned, and pure repentance from thofe dead works begotten in them, that they might ferve the living God in newness of spirit. So that thence-forward they lived not to themfelves, neither were they carried away of thofe former divers lufts, by which they had been feduced from the true fear of God; but the law of the spirit of life, by which they overcame the law of fin and death, was their delight; and therein did they meditate day and night. Their regard towards God was no

k

* Rom. viii. z.

m

taught by the precepts of men any longer,' but from the knowledge they had received by his own work and impreffions in their fouls. They had quitted their old mafters, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and delivered up themselves to the holy guidance of the grace of Chrift, that taught them to deny ungodlinefs, and the world's lufts, and to live foberly, righteously, and godly in this prefent life: this is the cross of Chrift indeed: and here is the victory it gives to them that take it up: by this cross they died daily to the old life they had lived; and by holy watchfulness against the secret motions of evil in their hearts, they crushed fin in its conceptions, yea, in its temptations. So that they, as the apostle John advised them, kept themselves, that the evil one touched them rot."

n

For the light, which fatan cannot endure, and with which Chrift had enlightened them, discovered him in all his approaches and affaults upon the mind; and the power they received through their inward obedience to the manifestations of that bleffed light, enabled them to refift and vanquish him in all his ftratagems. And thus it was, that where once nothing was examined, nothing went unexamined: every thought muft come to judgment, and the rife and tendency of it be allo well approved, before they allowed it any room in their minds. There was no fear of entertaining enemies for friends, whilft this ftri&

4 Ifaiah xxix. 13. - Tit. ii. 11, 12. * 1 John v. 18.