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Heart, and the Bounty of the Hand; it lies not in Com pliments, or in the outward Flourish of Words, but in Aċtions, and the visible Performance of good Works, without which all is no better than Hypocrify and Diffimulation. Judas could fay, Hail Mafter, and kifs our Saviour, when he was just about to betray him; and much like this are the Friendships of the World, who are never more forward to fay, Your humble Servant, than when they defign most Evil, and are juft ready to over-reach or undermine their Neighbour. St. James puts the Cafe, If a Brother or Sifter be naked, or deftitute of daily Food, and one of you say unto him, Depart in Peace, be you warmed and filled, and notwithfanding give him not what is needful for the Body, what doth it profit? Jam. 2. 15, 16. Such good words afford no Profit to them to whom they are given, nor will they afford any more to him that gives them; and therefore our Love must sink deeper than the Tongue, it must be rooted in the Heart, and from thence fpring up and appear in the good Fruits of Beneficence and Charity: for hereby (faith our Apostle) we shall know, that we are of the Truth, and hall affure our Hearts before him; meaning, that we fhall hereby approve our felves to be true and fincere Chriftians, fuch as we profefs our felves to be, and no Hypocrites, who are wont to give good Words and fair Speeches, but falfify in their Deeds and Actions: whereas when our Words and Deeds go together, we fhall fhew the Truth of our Profesfion, and approve our felves not only unto Men, who can judg only by the outward Appearance, but unto God, who knoweth the Heart, and will judg us by the inward Inclinations and Intentions of it.

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Now from hence our Apostle takes occafion to fet forth,

First, The great Evil and Danger of an accufing Confcience in this Matter, in thefe words; If our Hearts condemn us, God is greater than our Hearts, and knoweth all things. And,

Secondly, The great Benefit and Comfort of an abfolving Confcience, in the following words; Beloved, if our Hearts condemn us not, then have we Confidence towards God. Both which being of great Ufe and Importance to us, will deferve to be particularly confider'd. And,

First, Of the Evil and Danger of an accufing Conscience; If our Heart condemn us, God is greater than our Heart, and

knoweth

knoweth all things: where 'tis fuppos'd that the Heart or Confcience of a Man may and often does accuse him for the lack of that Love to God and his Neighbour, which he ought to bear and fhew to both. Thus, for Example, when a Man wilfully omits his Duty to God, by neglecting his Prayers, or turning his back upon his Word and Sacraments, or when he wilfully commits what God hath forbidden him, by profaning his Name, or polluting his Sabbath; Confcience muft and will take him afide, and rate him foundly by himself.

Again, When a Man violates his Duty to his Neighbour by Acts of Fraud, Rapine, Oppreffion or Uncharitableness, his Heart will fecretly fmite and reprehend him for these things; and tho he may efcape any earthly Tribunal, yet Confcience, as God's Deputy, will arraign and fit in Judgment upon him, yea and condemn and pafs Sentence upon him for fuch Enormities, how fecretly or cunningly foever they have been acted or conceal'd by him. This is fo well known and felt too by the vileft and boldest Offenders, that it needs no other Proof than the retiring into their own Breasts, and confulting their own Experience in these Matters. Judas found it to his own Ruin for betraying his Saviour, and others have found the fame for fhedding innocent Blood; yea, the most profligate Sinners have not been able to escape thefe fharp Girds and Twitches of a gall'd and guilty Mind.

But the prefent Anguish of a guilty Confcience is nothing to the future Vengeance that attends it; for if our Heart condemn us, God is greater than our Heart, and knoweth all things He is greater in Knowledg, and knows more by us than we do by our felves; he is greater in Power, and can do more to punish than we can; he is greater in Justice, and will be more impartial than our Hearts will be to us. There are many Failures of Duty both to God and Man, that often escape our own Obfervation, and fo give us little or no trouble, which yet are recorded in the Book of God's Remembrance, and must be accounted for, there are many vain Thoughts, rafh Words, and unadvis'd Actions that pafs away unregarded, which yet are perfectly known to God, and will come into the Reckoning of the last Day. So that if our own Hearts condemn us for that which we know by our felves, God will furely condemn us, who knoweth much more; our Hearts may condemn us for things that fall not under the Cognizance of any earthly Tribunal;

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Tribunal; for who knoweth the things of a Man, fave the Spirit of Man that is in him? 1 Cor. 2. 11. But God will condemn us for things that flip the Cenfure and Condemnation of our own Hearts, and will arraign us at his Tribunal, for Matters that escape not only earthly Courts, but the Bar of our own Confcience.

Indeed, where Confcience condemns, there God will condemn alfo, because God and Confcience judg by the fame Rule; and Confcience being God's Vicegerent, to judg for and under him, he will approve the Proceedings, and confirm the Sentence of our own Hearts.

But tho God always condemns where Confcience does, yet he fometimes goes farther, and condemns where that doth not for his is a higher Court, that fearches deeper into Matters than any earthly Powers can; yea, to this all Principalities and Powers muft fubmit, and from this there lies no Appeal.

In fhort, God Almighty, the great Judg of all the Earth, will ratify the Sentence of his Deputy; and where our Hearts condemn us for any known Breaches of his Laws, there he will do the fame; but he being greater than our Hearts, and knowing more, where Confcience is either ignorant or filent, he will add to and carry the Condemnation higher which fhews the Mifery of a mif-giving and selfcondemning Heart, and may teach us with St. Paul to exercife our felves herein, to keep a Confcience void of Offence both towards God and Man. And this will lead me, in the next place, to confider,

Secondly, The Comfort and Happiness of a clear and abfolving Confcience, from thefe words; Beloved, if our Hearts condemn us not, then have we Confidence towards God: where a good Confcience is defcrib'd by the Heart's not condemning us; which can only be from a Consciousness of our own Innocence, or a Freedom from any Guilt. When we cannot charge our felves with the wilful Violation of God's Laws, but can reflect upon our Ways without Remorfe, and our Minds approve and acquit us for what we have done; then are we faid to have an abfolving, clear and good Confcience.

But who can fay, His Heart is clean, I am free from Sin? Does not the righteous Man fall feveral times a day? And if we think or fay that we have no Sin, we deceive our felves, and the Truth is not in us: How then can our Hearts forbear to condemn us for fuch frequent and daily Mifcarriages?

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In answer to this, it is true, that no Man liveth and fin neth not; and fhould Confcience proceed upon the strict Rules of Juftice, and pronounce Sentence accordingly, there is no Man's Heart but muft condemn him: for the beft of Men have reafon to confefs daily (as the Church directs) "That they have left undone things which they "ought to have done; and have done things which they

ought not to have done:" and if our Judg fhould be extreme to mark all that is done amifs, who could abide it? None could ftand the Trial of Confcience here, or abide the feverer Trial of God hereafter. But for our Comfort, we may know,

That neither God nor Confcience do or will judg us by the ftrict Rules of Juftice, but proceed herein by the Meafures of Mercy, and the milder Terms of the Gospel, by which no involuntary Failings can ever hurt us, and greater Offences, if repented of and amended, fhall never be laid to our Charge; for there is no Condemnation to them that are in Chrift Jefus, who walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. If we avoid the Sollicitation of fenfual Lufts, and give up our felves to the Conduct of God's Holy Spirit, our Hearts will not condemn us, and much lefs will God, the Searcher of Hearts, fuffer us to come into Condemnation. Holy Fob declares, that by holding faft his Integrity, his Heart hould not reproach him as long as he lived; Job 27. 5,6. Neither will our Hearts condemn us whilft we faithfully discharge our Duty to the utmoft of our power. And this, our Apoftle here tells us, will give us Confidence towards God; that is, it gives us reafonable Grounds of Hope or Affurance, that God will not lay any thing to our Charge, but will acquit us at the laft and great Day: which may abundantly convince us of the vast Benefit and Comfort of a good Confcience,

The Word here render'd Confidence towards God, is in the Original wagenoia, which fignifies Freedom of Access, or Boldness of Speech; and gives us to understand, that a Heart fet right towards God, and that cannot lay any great Matter to our Charge, may encourage us to draw nigh to him with the Confidence of Children to their heavenly Father, and to come boldly to the Throne of Grace, for Grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4. 16.

Being well affur'd (as St. John here tells us) that whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his Commandments, and do thofe things that are pleafing in his fight; mean

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ing,

ing, that God will certainly hear our Prayers, and give us whatever we ask agreeable to his Will, and fuitable to our Neceffities for by keeping his Commandments we please him, and while we do fo, he hath oblig'd himself by Promife to hear and help us. So that if we are confcious of the Sincerity and Singleness of our Heart, whatever Failings we may have, we may draw nigh to God in full Af furance of Faith, having this Confidence, that in whatsoever we ask, he will hear us.

And the Commandments he requires us to keep to this end, are believing in Chrift, and loving one another; so the next words declare, And this is his Commandment, that we Should believe on the Name of his Son Jefus Chrift, and love one another, as he gave us Commandment. These are the principal Acts of Obedience that he exacts from us, namely, to hold faft our Profeffion of Faith in Chrift, and to perform the Duties we owe to our Brethren, as Chrift hath taught and commanded us.

And to confirm us in this Confidence towards God, he adds what he had before often told us, that he that keepeth his Commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him; that is, he is in a manner ingrafted and incorporated into Christ, as the Branches are in the Vine, and receives the Influences of Grace from him, as the Members do from the Head, being united to him by the Bond of Love and Charity. And that we may not want a Mark to try our felves by, the Apostle adds in the Clofe, Hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit, which he hath given us : This is the Seal whereby the Lord knoweth who are his; 'tis the Touchstone to try our Sincerity, and to difcern whether we belong to him. God refideth with his Holy Spirit, and if we feel the Blef fed Fruits and Graces of it within us, we may fafely conclude, that God abideth in us, and we in him.

This is the Subftance of this Day's Epistle; from which we may learn,

ift, Not to be furpriz'd or dejected at the Hatred or Malice of the World. Our Apoftle bids us not to marvel, or be troubled at it; for the Hatred of the World is rather a Sign of the Love of God, than any Mark of his Displeafure: The Friendship of the World is Enmity with God, and if we love the World, or have the Love of it, the Love of the Father is not in us. Our best Wisdom is to fecure as much as poffible the Love of God, and then to overlook and de

spise

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