felf, it shall be

my conftant prayer and endeavour to comply with a condition so very reafonable; and yet too hard for flesh and blood, without the grace of God.

And lastly, I will not forget the words of my Saviour, Sin no more, left a worse thing come. unto thee; left, by finning and repenting, and repenting and finning fo often, I provoke God at laft to deny me the grace of repentance; I will rather confider my weakness and backflidings, and be more importunate for grace for the time to come.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY is the next article of our Creed. The hour is coming, (faith our Lord) in the which all that are in the graves fhall come forth; they that have done good, unto the refurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the refurrection of damnation.

Oh, Chriftians! what an amazing truth is this, to fuch as are not careful to keep their bodies in temperance, foberness, and chastity! What a prodigious, difference will this hour make betwixt good and bad livers!

Will any man, in his right mind, perfuade himself, that this body which he now defiles with whoredom, or debauches with continual drunkenness, or pampers with luxury, that fuch a body shall rise again to be happy! O, no: fuch a perfon can have no hopes-(miferable hopes, indeed!)—no hopes, but that GOD, and his Word, and their Creed, may not be true. A Chriftian

• John v. 28.

A Chriftian will rather reafon thus with himself:-What will it profit me to enjoy the short pleasures of this life, if the end shall be damnation? I will rather follow the example of an apostle: Keep under my body, left I be a caft-away. As I hope for God's favour, I will endeavour to glorify him both in my body and my fpirit, which are both his. And whereinfoever I have dishonoured him by any

of

my members, I will ftrive to make fome amends. If my eyes have tranfgreffed, I will now make a covenant with them; I will blefs God with my tongue; I will refrain my feet from every evil way; I will open my hand to the poor and needy; and I will not make provifion for the flesh to fulfil the lufts thereof.

This is to live by faith. And he who repeats this creed, and will not be perfuaded to do fo, the belief of a refurrection will be a plague and a torment to him as long as he lives.

The concluding article of our creed is, the belief of a LIFE EVERLASTING a life that is to laft for ever, either in endless torments, or in endless happiness, both of body and foul. Let us confider this as we ought to do: for now is the time in which we are to choose where and what we are to be to all eternity. There is therefore no time to be loft to make this choice: The night cometh (faith our Lord) when no man can work; no more can be done by ourselves, or by others for us; it will then

be

be too late to repent, to refolve, to promife, to wifh, or to do any thing.

Let us therefore, every foul of us, while we have time, have our eyes and our thoughts upon eternity. This will wonderfully influence all our actions.

What fignifies it, a Chriftian will fay to himself, what my portion is in this world, fince I am so foon to leave it, and am going to an everlasting life? All the riches I treafure up here will ftand me in no ftead when I come to die; I will therefore endeavour to lay up my treasure in heaven, where I hope to be for ever. Why fhould I be apprehenfive of the evils of this life, or complain too much under them, when I verily believe and hope for a better and an eternal life, and that these very afflictions are defigned by a merciful God to make me more fit for that life? I will often remember, that the wages of fin is death, eternal death, if not repented of; I will therefore make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord, and make my peace with him by a true repentance. I am convinced, that without holinefs no man fhall fee the Lord in peace; I will therefore, from this moment, endeavour to be as holy as, by God's grace, I can be, that may be happy for ever.

I

Thus, good Chriftians, I have gone through all the articles of your Creed, or Chriftian faith. You see the reafon why we are required to repeat them fo often; it is, that we

may

1

may live like people who profefs to believe fuch important truths.

Few Chriftians, it is true, deny their creed; but too many live as if there were nothing in it which they need hope or fear.

What will this indifference end in? Thefe things are true, and will be found fo whether we mind them or not. And if a man perish eternally, what fignifies it whether he perishes as a Chriftian or an Infidel? Let us therefore not think ourselves one jot the fafer, becaufe we are Chriftians, unlefs our lives be anfwerable.

As for those who hate, and do not care to repeat the creed; the reafon of this is plain: it puts them in mind of an almighty and just God, whofe laws they have broken, and refolve to break them again; who fees all their ways; whofe mercy in fending his own Son to fave them, they have defpifed; and who has appointed a day in which he will judge them in righteoufnefs: because the very fight of it upbraids them with the highest ingratitude, in defpifing the love of God in this difpenfation, and all the means of grace and falvation, which he has ordained. Laftly; because it puts them in mind of a life everlasting, which they are not willing to prepare for; and of eternal death and torments, which they have too much reafon to fear.

But happy are they who think much of these truths; and who, by doing fo, come to

be

be fully perfuaded of them, and close with them, and are thankful to God who has made himself and these things known to us, and who has done fo much for us, in order to make us eternally happy.

And be affured of it, good Chriftians, that a time is coming, (that is, when we come to die) that we fhall fee the importance of a true faith; when we fhall fet a true value upon Jefus Chrift, and what he has done for us; when no earthly thing can help or comfort us, but a firm faith in his merits. But then, let us confider, that we can have no affurance of this, but by living as if we did indeed believe the truths we profefs to believe., Let us therefore put these questions every one to himself, and have a direct anfwer from our own heart:

Is my life answerable to my faith? Does my faith purify my heart? Does it produce obedience to the commands of God? Does it make me fenfible of my fin and mifery? Does it make me feek for in earneft, and value a Redeemer? Do I find myself governed by the Holy Spirit of God? Do I labour to secure the forgiveness of my fins by a true repentance and amendment, where I have done amifs? Do these amazing truths, everlasting life and everlasting mifery, awaken in me a concern answerable to what I am to gain or lose?

I may then judge, whether my faith be faving, or whether it be only the faith of hypo

crites.