the subject of confidence or trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without faith, and before its exercise, men may know that Christ is able to save all believers; in the very act of believing, you trust that he will save you; and, after having committed your souls to him, by reflecting upon your faith, you attain to a certainty, that you are now in a state of grace. These are three distinct exercises of the human mind. The first is mere knowledge: the second is the confidence of faith: the third is assurance of grace and salvation.

You will permit me to specify, in several instances, plain to every capacity, the difference between doubting of one's personal religion, and an unbelieving rejection of divine mercy.

1. Doubting, respects ourselves; and calls in question our having already become subjects of divine grace: but unbelief respects the Lord, and calls in question, either the reality of divine things, or Christ's willingness and power to save them that believe.

2. Doubting of our safety does no more than reject the evidence which is furnished by our own minds; an evidence which is often very imperfectly delivered and received: but, unbelief always rejects the testimony which God has given us of his own Son, and so, by contradicting God, make him a liar, so far as the sinner has it in his power.

3. Doubting of one's piety, may be at times both reasonable and profitable; for when a man has but a small measure of grace, it may lead him to seek for more: but unbelief, always against the word and the attributes of the God of our salvation, is unreasonable, uprofitable, and impious.

4. Doubting of one's personal piety, often includes, not only anxiety to be saved by divine grace, but also a sincere desire to attain to an assured interest in the everlasting covenant: but unbelief excludes the idea of love to the true God, rejects the covenant of grace, and distinctly relinquishes the mercy which is offered in the Lord Jesus Christ.

5. Doubts are consistent, not only with sincere piety, but also with progress in sanctification: but unbelief is the exercise of a carnal mind-of an unregenerate heart.

6. Doubting of one's holiness, humbles under a sense of sin, and produces penitence and sorrow: but, unbelief hardens the heart into negligence or despair; or exasperates the sinner more and more against divine things.

Be careful, then, my brethren, if it should be your lot to

weep through the night, or to walk without the light of gospel consolation, to distinguish doubts and jealousies in relation to subjective grace, from doubts relative to what God has declared in his word, and placed objectively before you as worthy of all acceptation. Let no man be so far a self-deceiver as to call his hardness of heart; his negligence of experimental religion; his contempt for the free offer of salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ; his aversion to the doctrines of the grace of God, and to holiness in life and conversation-let no man deceive himself by calling this obdurate and malevolent disposition of the soul towards God and godliness, by the soft and delusive name of doubting a man's own piety. There is here no room for doubting. You are certainly an unrenewed sinner. You may be certain of your unbelief: and I say unto you unhesitatingly, Except ye repent, ye shall perish. On the other hand, let no child of God, while he loves his Father, and trembles for fear of offending him; while he assents to the truths of the gospel; approves of its evangelical exhibitions; and desires an interest in the covenant of grace, deprive himself, foolishly or peevishly, of the high and holy hopes, of the abundant consolations of the gospel, by confounding his own want of assurance, with the unbelief of the sinner, and the despair of the damned.

II. Ascertain, with all diligence, the Cause of your own doubts and uneasiness: for it is by understanding your disease, you will be qualified to apply the remedy provided in the gospel of God.

It is very difficult, my dear hearers, to speak upon this subject, or, indeed, upon any subject belonging to experimental religion, without considering those whom we address as having some concern in the matter. Unbelievers rarely attend to such discussions with any other interest than what arises from their regard to decency, or their respect for the person and talents of the minister. Should they attend to self-examination at all, it would only tend to disquiet their consciences. It is not usual for the ungodly to be long or frequently uneasy about the question, Am I in a state of grace or not? They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Pride compasseth them about as a chain. Their fears and pains respect rather the natural evil of sin, and the danger of final punishment, than the loss of communion with God in the present life, or the want of that spiritual-mindedness which indicates the renovation of the

Holy Ghost. Such of them as profess to have become the subjects of conversion to God, are too well satisfied with their own exercises and attainments, to suffer much despondence on account of their sins, or to have their false confidence shaken or destroyed. For there are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm. It is true, that God may honour his own doctrine and ordinances, by accompanying discourses on experimental religion with his Holy Spirit, for the conversion of sinners, as well as for the comfort of weak believers, though we have no ground to expect that his grace shall be conferred in concurrence with unsanctified endeavours. It is to believers, therefore, that we more immediately address the remarks made under this head. They are the persons described in the text. "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?" Let him ascertain the cause of his doubts. To every one who is sinking into despondence, I address the words of our Lord, to his servant Peter, when sinking in the sea of Tiberias, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Pious minds are liable to be affected by the common afflictions of life; and such is their infirmity, notwithstanding their piety, that they call in question their own state of grace. How feelingly does an inspired man, Asaph, in the 77th Psalm, describe this case: "My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. I commune with mine own heart; and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? Will he be favourable no more? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? And I said, This is my infirmity." In such a case as this, it is important for you to know the cause of your own doubts; because confidence in God alone can preserve from despondence in the midst of afflictions. ERROR, INDOLENCE, PASSIONS, SATAN, -these are the principal causes of the believer's doubts and fears. When you have discovered the immediate cause of your own distress, the remedy is of more easy application.

1. Error causes darkness and doubt. Clear views of divine truth is the preventive and the cure.

The opinion, however prevalent, that articles of faith have little influence over the religion of the heart, is very incorrect. In a philosophical point of view, nothing is more absurd than to suppose that good affections can be exercised to as good a purpose under the influence of ignorance and prejudice, as under the guidance of intelligence and discernment. In the light of Christianity, it is not only unreasonable, but impious, to undervalue the doctrinal truths, which the Lord our Redeemer declared with his own lips, exemplified in his own life, and sealed with his own blood. It is no less than absolute contempt of the very work of the Holy Ghost, who inspired the prophets, and still enlightens the minds of redeemed men, to place error, the work of Satan, upon the same footing with the truths of God. The scriptures are profitable for doctrine; and religious knowledge is necessary to our faith and our hopes, to our duties and our joys. It has been lamented by the most judicious observers of Christian character, in the present day, that too little attention is paid to objective religion: and yet, subjective religion cannot be sound or comfortable, if the word of truth be neglected or misunderstood in its cultivation. Many have been misled by a partiality for great excitement in the worship of God, to make a righteousness within them of their own religious feelings, instead of looking out of themselves to the Lord, who is made of God unto us, both righteousness and redemption. Perhaps sincere Christians, too, in consequence of indistinct views of the economy of grace, are occasionally elevated with unscriptural, and of course delusory, enjoyment, and then cast down into perplexity and fear. Alas! there is in our own city, as well as in other parts of the world, a great expenditure of feeling and exertion unprofitable, because unaccompanied with correct discoveries of evangelical doctrine. Few seem to be aware of this precious truth "that the first scriptural consolation received by the believer arises from the gospel, and not from reflecting on the feelings of his own mind towards it." The public instruction given by inspired men, and the conversation, in which the saints according to the scriptures indulged, respected more the sacred objects which excited sensibility, than the good qualities of the emotions themselves which were thus excited: and while these saints felt powerfully the influences of the Holy Spirit, and expressed those feelings, the doctrines and ordinances of evangelical religion principally commanded their attention, and always formed the beloved subject of their discourse.

No mere man is, notwithstanding, in this life, arrived at perfection of Christian knowledge. The inspired writers themselves, saw but in part, and prophesied but in part: we all see as through a glass darkly: and very eminent saints fell at times into despondence. Asaph was remark

So

able for that sensibility which renders some men susceptible alike of high delight, and of exquisite anguish. He frequently doubted; he ascertained the cause; and from the doctrines of divine revelation he derived the cure. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. foolish was I and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

HEMAN, the Ezrahite, in his doubts and fears, had recourse to the God of all consolation for light and direction. "O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee-My soul is full of trouble-Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me-Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me?"

Whatever, therefore, Christians, may be the kind of despondence that overwhelms your spirits, examine whether it be a mistake respecting the principles of objective religion, that subjects you to sorrow. There is one class of mistaken ideas, which I shall take the liberty of specifying-The tendency in the human mind, imperfectly enlightened, to confound the doctrines of justification and sanctification, is the source of many errors. It is obvious to every man that there is a distinction between them; but when that distinction is not clearly perceived and applied, there is a confusion of ideas, which, if it does not lead to an abandonment of sound doctrine, must unhappily affect Christian experience. Justification is an act of grace, wherein God pardons our sins, and accepts our persons, for Christ's sake; but sanctification is a work of God's Spirit on the whole man, restoring us to the image of God. Should any awakened sinner be directed for peace of conscience to his own feelings, instead of being led directly to the finished righteousness of the Lord Jesus, it is evident, that in such a case, he must either remain comfortless, or derive hope from an unscriptural source, which cannot yield permanent support.*

I shall only add, in confirmation of these remarks, that the