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is true; and we are in him, even in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. "This is the true God and eternal life," 1 John v. 20. It is a knowledge that blasts and withers sin at the very root, and so efficaciously transforms the soul into the image of God's own holiness. "He that sinneth, hath not seen God nor known him," 3 John 11. The same word there rendered seen signifies known; Ye have not heard his voice nor seen his shape, John v. 37. You have never had a true notion of God yet truly inwrought into your souls. 'Awake to righteousness and sin not! I speak it to your shame, some have not the knowledge of God," 1 Cor. xv. 34. Labour then thus to know God in earnest, by such a kind of knowledge as shall influence the practice, and in the event bring about and accomplish the blessed union betwixt him and you.

3. Ponder well on the dignity and sacredness of this profession. Oh what a mighty thing is this! that whereas the world has been lost in the ignorance of God, through many successive ages, we should take upon us to profess to know him. It is too big a word for the mouth of a profane and irreligious world. That description of Balaam which he gives of himself, is grand and very solemn; "The man whose eyes are opened, that heard the word of God, that knew the knowledge of the Most High, and saw the vision of the Almighty," Numb. xxiv. 3, 4, 15, 16. And yet the knowledge he alludes to, and which this prophet seems to glory in, was only such as he derived from the spirit of prophecy, and not the spirit of saving, holy illumination. However, it was a great thing to come out of such a profane mouth as that of Balaam, when he came to curse the armies of Israel.

of the mystery of God and of Christ, Col. ii. 2. Yea, and not only such, but also duties towards man too; which religion ought to influence, and wherein we are to be governed by our knowledge of God.

6. Labour thoroughly to understand the grounds on which you take upon you the obligation to every Christian duty. It is very plain that the agenda of religion, that is, the things to be performed by us, are grounded upon the credenda, or things to be believed. "I believe so and so, and therefore conceive myself as obliged to do so and so. And the common foundation of both I must reckon to be the divine authority, revealing certain principles and truths as necessary to be believed; and enjoining certain duties as consequences from thence, and equally necessary to be done." Thus go to the bottom and ground of the religion you profess, and then you have it in its original, and truly divine. But if we look upon our religion as merely human, handed down from father to son, and the like, no wonder then if we trifle with it; but no man would be adventurous, with relation to what he apprehended to be divine. Therefore is men's religion usually weak, impotent, and ineffectual; and has not its proper influence in commanding the heart, and governing the life, because the divine original of it is not apprehended. My own things, I am ready to think, may be used as I please, but I may not do so with those which are divine. In a word, When once the authority of God is apprehended, particularly of his truth in revealing such and such things, and of his power in commanding others, with what weight do they come in upon the Spirit of a man! What a pressing question was that of our Lord to the Jews! baptism of John," his solemn manner of initiating men into religion, "whence was it? from heaven or of men?" Matt. xxi. 25. They were sensible of the pungency of this question, and were afraid to answer him. They knew not what to say, and could not but confess themselves guilty of a profane neglect, if they owned it to be of divine original. The image that was apprehended to fall down from Jupiter, what a sacred esteem and veneration had those heathens for it, who worshipped that idol! because the priests had deluded them with such an idle fancy. So the Christian religion becomes an operative lively thing, when the divinity of it once comes to be understood, and really believed. "We think ourselves bound," says the apostle, to the Thessalonians, thanks to God for you without ceasing, that when ye received the word of truth from us, you received it not as the word of man, but as the word of God, which effectually works in all them that believe," 1 Thess. ii. 13.

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7. Settle it in your minds as an important truth, that the design of that religion of which you are professors, that is, of the whole Christian institution and frame of things, is to have a people distinguished by peculiar excellencies from all other men, who are not of that profession. They must be supposed to be very slight readers and considerers of the Bible, who have not seen this to have been God's design ever since he made the world. "You shall

Let us then consider, I pray, what we say and do, when we take upon us to profess to know God. As I intimated before, it is an appropriative knowledge that is here pretended to. To know him is to acknowledge him as our God, as his knowing us is to acknowledge and own us as his people. This was the pretence of Israel, but connected with horrid contempt of him, as we learn from the prophets. To know God then is, I say, to acknowledge him as our Lord; our Owner, our Proprietor, to whom we belong upon a peculiar account. And consider what that account is, and under what notion we must own him to be our Lord; namely, as we are his property, and his peculiar treasure. For so are all those who are his people, by virtue of the relation which results from their mutual contract and agreement. I entered into covenant with thee, says the Almighty to the Jews, and thou becamest mine, Ezek. xvi. 8. And again, " You shall be to me a peculiar treasure before all people, for all the earth is mine." Exod. xix. 5. They who are his people he reckons them as his crown and his diadem, Isa. lxii. 3. Who, says God, shall be mine in the day that I make up my jewels, Mal. iii. 17. Those therefore who know God, and are known of him. are as the jewels of his crown, the jewels which adorn his diadem. And who would be so insolent, as to presume to place there a lump of dirt, or a clod of filthy clay! It is then very awful to think what professing to know God does import, if we only reflect on the dignity and sacred-be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation," ness of this profession. (Exod. xix. 6.) says the Almighty to Israel, whose whole business was as it were religion, worship, and immediate attendance on God; being, "a royal priesthood," (1 Pet. ii. 9.) as the apostle paraphrases that expression. Lord gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14. And therefore he thus expostulates with his disciples, "If you do only so and so, what do you do more than others?" Matt. v. 47. Do you think I would have a people among men, professing my religion and belonging unto me, who shall be only as other men are, in whom there is nothing of peculiar ex5. Comprehend as distinctly as you can in your own cellence to be found? And therefore the apostle exhorts thoughts, the sum of that duty unto which this profession the Christians of Thessalonica, to aim at superior piety does oblige you. Learn and encompass in your own mind, and virtue, saying, “Let us not sleep as do others;" for, the whole circle of all those duties, which a professing to as it follows, "God has not appointed us to wrath, but to know God does engage you to. Run through the ency- obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thess. clopædia, or the whole system of practical religion; to v. 6. What! to live in the same drowsy security as others wit, the duties, to the practice of which you are obliged by do, or as if you were still under the dominion of the same virtue of your profession, both internal and external. Du- spirit of slumber, or as if the same death had prevailed ties towards God the Father, and his Son, your Creator over you which has spread itself over the rest of the and Redeemer; such as agree with your acknowledgment | world, what an incongruous thing is this! It is true, God

4. Look upon your profession as an obligation upon you to a correspondent practice. Every profession is so understood among men; and what an ignominy were it for a man, to wear the name, when there were none of the thing to which the name corresponds! Do we look upon professing to know God only as an idle profession? as a thing which no business goes along with, nor is attended with any suitable employment? Theology was well described by him, who reckoned it was not mere knowing for knowing sake, but was the doctrine of living unto God. Moreover,

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And when, on one hand, we compare the internal living religion, suitable to the import of these devout expressions, with a mere external profession, joined with disobedience, and abominable practices, on the other hand; I would fain know, which of these two does best agree with the Gospel? which is most agreeable to the sacred records, in which these and other such like passages are to be found? And if you believe that there was really such a thing as a living religion in such persons as we are speaking of in ancient times, I would fain know why you, or any one else, should have such a bad opinion of the world as to think it is quite banished now from among us. For, to what end should the Gospel be continued in the world, if not to accomplish its own design? which is to work such a realizing apprehension of divine things in the minds of men, as to influence their practice and behaviour. Or does any one think, that religion is so altered in its nature and essence, as that what was religion in former ages, is not so now? Have we then, since those times, had a new way and method of attaining felicity prescribed to us? have we any later Gospel of divine authority, that teaches us that mere formalities will serve the turn? Where is that Gospel to be found?

ing to the very design of the Gospel itself. For the Gospel | or enthusiasts? that there was nothing in all this but fiction? is appointed for this purpose, to work this divine frame in the souls of men. "The exceeding great and precious promises thereof are given us, that by them we might partake of the Divine nature;" (2 Pet. i. 4.) of a certain divine and godly nature, as those words may be read. The operations of nature, though they are silent, yet they are strong and powerful. There is no greater difficulty in the world than to withstand the course of nature. Now whether such a power is working in ourselves, is the point to be considered. Let me then ask my soul, "Do I find myself powerfully withheld from evil, as a thing against my nature? Do I find myself powerfully engaged to that which is good, as if it was connatural to me? most agreeable to my nature? Who is there that cannot tell what his nature is for and against? Do such and such acts flow from me, as the acts of nature do; from their proper and congenial principles? Had I ever such a kind of new nature, withholding me from evil, as a thing I hate; and carrying me to what is good, as a thing I love? There are a sort of living men, in respect of the life of God and religion; and there are a sort of men, who are dead: shall I be always ignorant to which party I belong? What an absurdity were it, if one should always be in doubt what sort of creature he is! that he does not know whether to call himself a man or a brute! what an absurdity, I say, is this! But certainly it is a much more important question, and of greater concernment, to have it decided whether we are the offspring of God or the devil. Whence then am I inspirited? is it from above, or is it from beneath? It is indeed most shameful to think that such multitudes of persons, that go under the name of Christians, should be contented to live all their days, like an amphibious sort of creatures, that they cannot tell themselves what sort of beings they are. Certainly he would be looked upon as a great wonder among men, who should be always ignorant of his own name; that is, not know the name which rightfully belongs to him. So in like manner it is wonderful, if persons who are destitute of the divine principle, which makes men real Christians, do not discern this to be the case. But where it is in fact discerned, it must be freely owned by all, who desire to obtain it.

2. If you apprehend this to be the case, that you have not this principle, acknowledge it however to be a real thing; and that some persons have it, though you have it not. It is too common, when the clearness and force of the matter constrain an acknowledgment, that such a divine power does exist in the souls of men, for persons to satisfy themselves with this, that they are but as other men are; and to reckon theirs to be no worse, than that which is the common case of mankind. All that lies without their compass, or above and beyond their own perceptions, they take to be mere fancy and fiction; and every body is a hypocrite, or an enthusiast, that pretends to more than they find in themselves. But for what reason is all this? Or why must the experience of any such person be thought the standard of reality? that is, that nothing can be real but what they experience to be so, or exceeds the limits of their own perceptions. What! is it not apparent to every man, that there are far more considerable realities which we know not, than those which we do know? and is there no danger of coming under the character of speaking evil of those things which we know nothing of, which some were stigmatized with by the apostle Jude with so much severity? And I would fain have such consider with themselves, what expressions they find scattered up and down in the Holy Scriptures, of such a real thing as lively affections towards God, and a principle of living religion. Particularly I would recommend to their consideration such passages as these, "The Lord is my portion, the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage," Psalm xvi. 5, 6. "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God!" Psal. xlii. 1, 2. And again, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever," Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26. When you meet with such expressions as these, I would ask you; Do you believe that the persons who used them were hypocrites

3. Being then convinced of the reality of such a divine principle, endeavour to understand and seriously consider the necessity of it. Consider it as a thing that does not serve barely for convenience and ornament, but to answer the most absolute necessity of our souls, and the exigence of your own case.

4. Apprehend also the impossibility of attaining it your own selves; I mean this inward principle and power of religion; or by any unassisted endeavours of your own. For I pray consider, would you have a religion that should be your own or God's creature? A religion indeed that shall be of my own forming and contrivance, I can easily make myself accord to; but why should I ever hope that this should serve my turn, or do the work? or why should I think against plain experience and my Bible, that the most excellent part of religion should be within the compass of my own power to effect, and produce? Let us think how it is with us in other cases. It is you know within the compass of human power to shape a statue, or paint in colours the picture of a man; but when the artist has done all this, can he infuse a soul into that statue, or make that picture fit to reason and discourse? No: when he has done his utmost, it will be only a mere piece of ingenious contrivance, that looks specious to the eye, but has in itself nothing of sense, life, or motion; can do nothing like what it imitates, for still something within will be necessary. So in like manner I can externally shape myself like a Christian, but can I infuse the divine life into this external form? can I make myself to live, choose and delight, love and joy in God, as a Christian? It is therefore good for us to know the bounds of our own power; what it can, and what it cannot, do in this regard. And hereupon to prevent an objection, I add another direction: to wit,

5. Seek this principle and divine power were it is to be had, even of him who alone can give it. For it may be said perhaps, "If it be not within my compass to help myself, what have I to do but to sit still?" The case itself tells you what you must do. If you cannot help yourself in that which is absolutely necessary to your welfare, you are to go to God, from whom this assistance is to be had by fervent prayer. It is the common dictate of nature to all mankind, when once they apprehend a distress, to fly to heaven for help. Finally,

6. Use all the other means of obtaining this power, which are appointed for this purpose, designedly with a view to this great and important end. To read the Holy Scriptures, to hear sermons, to meditate upon what we read and hear, to confer with living Christians, such as evidently appear to have the power of religion, are the means I speak of; but we must regard them only as means, otherwise they may be used long, and the end of all be never brought about. It is one thing how other creatures attain their end, and how a reasonable creature reaches his. An arrow reaches its mark, without considering whither it goes; but do you think a reasonable being is to attain his end so?

No; his duty is to take that course, and use those means, | kept; you will lose it; it will be blown away from you in that lead to his end, designedly, and on purpose to secure an evil time: it is too short while you have it, and very it. As for instance: there are many that join in the ordi- soon you will cease to have it, when a time of difficulty nance of Christian worship; but if I put the inquiry to comes, which you have reason to expect. myself, What do I do this for? and cannot answer, "I use such and such means on purpose for such ends, that I may have my soul furnished with internal religion, or the life of God;" I may call these the means of grace, but it is plain I do not understand the end thereof; nor use the means designedly for the attainment of this end. When a man finds his soul empty, and destitute of the power of godliness, or the internal living principle of religion, though he does the things which God hath appointed to be means for begetting such a principle, yet it is plain he never uses them as the means to this end. But if you purposely design, by attending upon God's solemn worship, to get this vital and internal principle of real piety, this may come to something in time; and in this way you are to wait, which is of divine appointment, till the desired end is effectually obtained. For always remember this; you are bound to God, but he is not bound to you. And now for the enforcement of all this, I shall add two or three motives, and so conclude.

(1.) If you come not to this, whatever you do, with relation to matters of a religious nature, you do under a force. There are many things, it may be, you abstain from, or practise; but it is all owing to a force put upon vou, if this divine principle is wanting; which must needs make religion an uncomfortable service.

(2.) Religion is nothing in itself, when it is nothing else but mere profession. Alas! how inconsiderable a thing is it a mere show! a vain shadow! And what can be expected from what has no more of substance in it, than such an empty profession? It will be of no avail. We read that, "Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk and they see his shame," Rev. xvi. 15. Truly such a profession that has no bottom, nothing internal to correspond to it, is a garment that will not be

(3.) And lastly; to go on with such a profession without ever looking after the power of godliness, will not only come to nothing, but will most highly provoke Almighty God. For I pray consider, professing religion is assuming to yourselves the name of God; therefore to profess vainly, is to profane his sacred name. And do we not know, that the God whose name we assume is a jealous God? and that he will not hold them guiltless that take his name in vain? Oh, how dreadful will the controversy be about this in the day of final account! But really there is reason to believe, that God has a controversy to manage with the Christian world before that day come: partly with those who corrupt and deprave the whole frame of the Christian institution itself; and partly with those who contradict the very design of it, in their lives and practice. And, oh! when God shall come to plead with such in this manner, "Why have you profaned such a divine religion as this? Why have you made the religion of Jesus seem to the world an impotent or ignominious thing? inasmuch, as you have formed it, it has made men no better than Turkism or paganism would have done!" how, I say, will this be answered in the great day? And in like manner, when God comes to plead his own cause against a hypocritical generation, who contented themselves with external forms and shadows, though they never so openly contradicted all that they pretended to in their behaviour; how will they be able to answer for themselves, or to justify their conduct?

Now that this may not be the case of any of us, God of his infinite mercy grant for the sake of our blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be given and ascribed all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.