But, whilst you thus endeavour to know the very worst of your condition, beware, at the same time, of giving way to gloomy and desponding thoughts. Let none of you say, “Because I am ungodly, I shall die so; because I am an hypocrite, I shall continue so;" for such despondence is no less unwarranted than your former presumption. You have another work to do, which is to flee speedily to Christ, and to break off your hypocrisy and wickedness by repentance. If you find that you have been hitherto out of the way, do not sit down and despair, but make the more haste to turn into it. Christ is still in your offer, and you cannot be more willing to receive him than he is to accept of you.

But, on the other hand, if you find reason to conclude, after a strict and impartial examination, that you have been sincere in the practice of your duty, that your inward dispositions have corresponded to your outward actions, and that both have been according to the rule of Scripture, take the comfort of so happy a discovery. This is a good evidence that you are sanctified and renewed by the Spirit of God: This is a proof that you are united to Christ, who is "the true vine;" for none but those who are united to him can bring forth such good fruit. Consider into what a blessed state the Lord hath brought you; to be his children and his friends; to be pardoned, and sanctified, and sure of being saved. What more can you desire? Doth not the assurance of such a blessed condition deserve all the labour and pains which the inquiry can cost you? One caution, however, I must give you. Do not trust so much to one discovery of this kind as to give up all further trial. No. "To prove your own works" must be your daily employment. Renew the inquiry often; make frequent proof of yourselves; compare the result of your obser

vations at different times, and let them serve to rectify one another.

Thus, my brethren, I have given you the best directions which I could think of, with regard to the method of conducting this important inquiry. And here it might be proper to subjoin some of those Scriptural marks or characters by which "every man ought to prove his own works." But this would lead me beyond the limits of one discourse. I mean therefore at present to confine myself to the circumstances or marks by which you ought to try the important duty in which you have been this day employed.

Allow me then, in the conclusion of this solemn service, to put a few plain, but necessary questions to you, and to call on you to answer them, as you hope to speed at the bar of God's judgment.

1st. By what motives were you determined to come here this day? Was it by a sense of duty, and in obedience to the command of a crucified Saviour? Was it from a mind “hungering and thirsting" after Christ and his righteousness? Or was it only in compliance with the custom of the country, and from a desire of appearing religious in the eyes of men? Would to God there were less cause than there is for this question, gross and reproachful as it may appear!

2dly. What pains were you at in preparing yourselves for this near approach to God? Were you careful to stir up in yourselves those holy and humble dispositions which constitute the "wedding garment" of those who are bidden to the feast? Or, have you, without any previous examination, or any regard to the awful fence which surrounds this table, fearlessly taken your seat among faithful disciples, without asking the Master's welcome, or dreading his displeasure?

3dly. What benefit did you propose to reap from your attendance upon this solemn ordinance? Did you only wish to pacify your natural conscience, by doing what you apprehended to be an acceptable duty? Or did you mean to offer an outward compliment to the Almighty, in order to induce him to pardon what is past, that you might sin, as it were, on a new score? Or, on the other hand, did you come here in the hope of meeting him whom your soul loves, to take upon you "his yoke which is easy, and his burden which is light?"-to implore, over the pledges of your Saviour's love, his mercy to pardon, his Spirit to sanctify, and his grace to strengthen you? Did you come that this holy service might have some influence to assist you in crucifying "the old man with his deeds," and to confirm the image of God on your souls? Once more,

4thly. How were you employed while you sat at this holy table? Did you seek the Lord with your whole hearts? Did your "souls follow hard after him ?" And if any vain intruding thought arose within you, did you instantly check it with abhorrence, and renew your repentance for that mixture of infirmity in your holy service? When you heard these affecting words, "This is my body broken for you, this is my blood shed for the remission of your sins," were your hearts wrung with grief for the sins which were the cause of the Redeemer's sufferings? Did you give yourselves entirely up to him who gave himself for you an offering and a sacrifice to God? Did you accept of him as your only peace. maker with the Father, and resolve to build all your hopes of happiness upon the merits of his sufferings and obedience? Did you renounce all his enemies, and devote yourselves entirely to his service, to be governed by his laws, as your only Lord and King?

Finally. Was all this done from a deliberate and confirmed choice, and not from a mere transient flash of devotion? Then, indeed, you have been well employed; and we desire to give glory to God on your account.

But if, on the contrary, your hearts have been cold and insensible, and your thoughts have been wandering without controul upon the mountains of vanity; if you have felt no grief for sin, no love to the Redeemer, or only such a grief and love as a moving tale might have occasioned; if what you have felt hath not led you to bind yourselves irrevocably to the service of that Redeemer who encountered the wrath of God for youthis was not to eat the Lord's Supper. Alas! my heart bleeds for you. Ye have been mocking him who hath declared that he will not be mocked with impunity; and who, unless you repent, will certainly convince you of this in another world.

These are all the questions which I shall put to you at this time; and in whatever way you may find reason to answer them, the inquiry must turn out to your advantage. If, upon search, you discover the unsoundness of your hearts, even in that very sad discovery you have the greatest advantage for salvation that you have ever had in the course of your lives. For now, your vain confidence being overthrown, you lie open to a deep and effectual conviction, which is the mercy introductive of all other mercies to your souls. Your chief danger lies in judging too favourably, or in judging falsely, of yourselves. But if you do so, how severely will you suffer for the short-lived deceit, when God shall himself prove your works, or when he shall say to you as he said to the carousing king, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting!" How confounded will you be if this sentence shall be pronounced? and

how passionately will you then wish for such an opportunity of "proving your own works" as you now enjoy?

But if, on the other hand, you can, upon good grounds, conclude, that notwithstanding many imperfections in your holy service, you have been sincere and upright on the whole, how great may your comfort be? For God will not cast off the upright man. That which is the terror of the wicked will be your joy. As the son of a king rejoiceth in his father's power and magnificence, so may you rejoice in those displays of the divine Majesty, which scare a guilty world. How comfortable will the thoughts of a Saviour be, when you can say, "My beloved is mine;" when by faith you can, like Thomas, "put your hand into his side, and your finger into the print of the nails, and say unto him, My Lord, and my God?" With what joy will you read the Holy Scriptures, as the charter of your future inheritance, and ponder that "exceeding and eternal weight of glory," which you shall one day possess? With what holy boldness may you approach the throne of Grace, when you can address God as your reconciled Father in Jesus Christ? How cheerfully may you endure affliction? How calmly may you leave this world?

If then any of these comforts are dear to you; if you would enjoy them in a sound state, or would have a clear and lively impression of them, let me beseech you to comply with the Apostle's exhortation, and to "prove your own works." So shall ye have your rejoicing in yourselves, and never be ashamed. Amen.