a right thereunto, but all he can say, is, he dreamed the last night that your house and land were his, and therefore now he demands it ; would you not think the man insane, and had more right to a madhouse than to your estate ? And yet there are many who hope to be saved, that can give no better reason for the same ; and such are all grossly ignorant and profane sinners. As it is enough for a saint, to end the trouble which his fears put him into, to ask his soul why he is disquieted within him, and observe how little reason his heart can give for the same : so it would be sufficient to dismount the bold sinner from his lofty liope, if he could be prevailed upon to call himself to an account, and thus to accost his soul, and resolve not to stir without a satisfactory answer, — Tell me, O my soul, what reason lindcst thou in the whole Bible for thee to hope for salvation, who livest in ignorance of God, and sin against him ? Cer- tainly he would find his soul as mute as the man without the wedding garment was at Christ's question. This is the reason wliy men are such strangers to themselves, and dare not enter into any discourse upon this subject with their own hearts, because they know they shall soon make an uproar in their consci- ences, that would not be stilled in haste ; they flatter their false hearts as much as David did Adonijah, who in all his life never displeased him so much as to ask him, Why dost thou so? nor they their souls to the day of their death, by asking them. Soul, why hopest thou so? Or if they have, it hath been as Pilate, who asked Christ, what was truth, John xviii. 38, but had no mind to stay for an answer. May be thou art an ignorant soul, who knowest neither who Clirist is, nor what, in Christ, hope is to fasten its hold upon ; but only with a blind sur- mise, thou hopest that God will be better to thee than to damn thee at last : but why thou dost thus hope, thou canst give no reason. If he will save thee, as now thou art, he must make a new gospel for thy sake ; for this Bible damns thee without hope or help. The gospel is hid to them that perish, 2 Cor. iv. 3. But if knowledge will do it, thou haply canst shew good store of that ; this is the breastwork under which thou liest, and keepest off' those shots which are made at thee from the word, for those lusts thou livest and liest in, as a beast in his dung, defiling thyself with them daily. And is this all thou hast to pi-ove thjf hopes for salvation true ? Indeed many make no better use of their knowledge of the Scrip- tures, than thieves do of the knowledge thej^ have of the law of the land, who study it, not that they mean to keep it, but to make them more cunning to evade the charge of it. So many acquaint themselves with the word, especially those passages in it that display the mercy of God to sinners, that with these they may stuff a pillow to lay their wretched heads on, when the cry of their abominations, in which they live, begins to break their rest. God deliver you from such hope as this! Surely you mean to provide a better answer to give to Christ at the great day than this, why ye hope to be saved by him ! Will thy knowledge, thinkest thou, be as strong a plea for salvation, as thy sins which thou wallow- est in against that knowledge will be for thy damnation ? If there be hope for such as thee, then come Judas and Jezebel, yea, devils, and all the infernal spirits, and strike in with this good company for a part with them, for some of you can plead more of this tlian any of them all. But may be thou hast more yet to say for thyself than this. Tliou art not only improved in knowledge, but reformed also ; the pollutions in which once thou layest, now thou hast escaped, yea, thy reformation is embellished and set forth with a very gaudy profession of religion, both of which have gained thee a very liigh opinion in the thoughts of all thy neighbours, so that if heaven might be carried by recommendation, thou couldst haply have a testimonial for thy unblamable and saint-like behaviour among them ; yet let me tell thee, if thou meanest to be faithful to thy own soul, thou must not rest in their charitable opinion of thee ; not judge of thy hopes for heaven by what comes under their cognizance : but look into thy own bosom, and inquire what spring thou canst find there to have been the cause of this change and new motion that hath appeared in thy exter- nal conversation. This alone nnist decide the controversy, and bring thy thoughts to an issue what to judge of thy hope. It is not a new face, that colours our outward behavioiu", but a new principle, which changeth the frame of the heart within, will evince thy hope to be good and geninne. ' Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope,' 1 Pet. i. 3. The new birth entitles to tlie new hojie;
AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 539