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" himself believed also." Luke viii. 13. '' These are they whicli " for a Avhile believe, and in time of temptation fall away."
Doth the precious eye of faith, discovering the transcendent excel- lencies that are in Christ, enflamc the affections of the believing soul with vehement desires and longings after him ? Strange motions of heart have also been found in hypocrites towards Christ and heaven- ly things. John vi. Si. " Lord, evermore give us this bread, Matth. XXV. 8. " Gi^•e us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out." With what a rapture was Balaam transported, when he said, " Let me die " the death of the righteous, and my last end be like his !" Numb, xxiii. 10.
Doth the work of faith, in some believers, bear upon its top branch- es the full ripe fruit of a blessed assurance.^ Lo ! what strong confi- dences and high-built persuasions of an interest in God, have some- times been found even in unsanctified ones ? John viii. 54. " Of " whom you say, that he is your God ; and yet ye have not known " him." To the same height of confidence arrived those vain souls mentioned in Rom. ii. 19. Yea, so strong may this false assurance be, that they dare boldly venture to go to the judgment-seat of God, and there defend it, Mat. vii. 22. " Lord, Lord, have we not pro- " phesied in thy name .f*"
Doth the Spirit of God fill the heart of the assured believer with joy unspeakable and full of glory, giving them, thrmighjctith, a. pre- libation, or foretaste of heaven itself, in those first fruits of it.? How near to this comes that which the apostle supposes may be found even in apos'tates, Heb. vi. 8, 9. who are there said " to taste the good word " of God, and the powers of the world to come." What shall I say, if real Christians delight in ordinances, those that are none may also delight in approaching to God, Ezek. xxxiii. S2. It may be you will say, though the difference be not easily discernible in their active obedience, yet, when it shall come to suffering, there every eye may discern it ; the false heart will then flinch, and cannot brook that work. And yet even this is no infallible rule neither ; for the apos- tle supposes, that the mlama7}der of hypocrisy may live in the very flames of martyrdom, 1 Cor. xiii. 3. " If! give'my body to be burnt, " and have not charity." And it was long since determined in this case, Non posna^ sed causa fac'it martyr em ; so, that without con- troversy, the difficulty of distinguishing them is very great.
And this difference will yet be more subtile and undiscemible, if I should tell you, that as in so many things the hypocrite resembles the saint ; so there are other things in which a real Christian may act too like an hypocrite. When we find a Pharaoh confessing, an He- rod practising, as well as hearing, a Judas preaching Christ, and an Alexander venturing his life for Paul ; and, on the other side, shall find a David condemning that in another which he practised himself, an Hezekiah glorying in his riches, a Peter dissembhng, and even all the disciples forsaking Christ in an hour of trouble and danger : O
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then ! how hard is it for the eye of man to discern betwixt cliafF and wheat ? How many upright hearts are now censured, whom God will clear? How many false liearts are now approved, whom God will condemn ? Men ordinarily have no clear convictive proofs, but only probable symptoms; which, at most, can beget but a conjectural knowledge of another's state. And they that shall peremptorily judge eitlier way, may possibly wrong the generation of the upriglit ; or, on the other side, absolve and justify the wicked. And truly, con- sidering what hath been said, it is no great wonder that dangerous mistakes are so frequently made in this matter. But thougli man cannot, the Lord both can and will, perfectly discriminate them. " The Lord knoweth who are his,'' 2 Tim. ii. 19. He will have a day perfectly to sever the tares from the wheat, to melt off the varnish of the most resplendent and refined hypocrite, and to blow off the ashes of infirmities, which have covered and obscured the very sparks of sinceritv in his people: he will make such a division as was never vet made in the world, hovr many divisions soever there have been in it. " And then shall men indeed return, and discern between " the righteous and the wicked ; betwixt him that serveth God, " and him that serveth him not." jMeanwhile, my soul, thou canst not better employ thyself, whether thou be sound or unsound, than in making those reflections upon thyself.
And is this so .^ Then, Lord, pardon the rash- ness and precipitancy of my censorious spirit; for I The censorious have often boldy anticipated thy judgment, and as- souTs reflection. sumed thy prerogative, although thou hast said, "' Why dost thou judge thy brother ? And why dost thou set at *•' nought thy brother.'^ We shall all stand before the judgment-seat " of Christ. For it is written, As I live (saith the Lord) everv knee " shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Let us " not tlierefore judge one another any more," Rom. xiv. 10, 11, 15?, 13. And again ; " He that jud^eth rae is the Lord. Let us there- *" fore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both " will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make mani- " fest the counsels of the heart ; and then shall every man have « praise of God," 1 Cor. iv. 4, 5.
What if God will own some of them for his sons, to whom I refuse to give the respect of brethren ? I may pass hasty and headlong cen- sures upon others; but where is my commission for so doing ? I want not only a commission, but fit qualifications for such a work as this. Can I pierce into the heart as God ? Can I infallibly discover the hid- den motives, ends, and principles of actions ? Besides. O my soul, thou art conscious of so much falseness in thvself, that were there no other consideration, that alone might restrain thee from all unchari-
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table and hasty censures. If others knew but what I know of my- self, v/ould they not judge as severely of me as I do of others ?
2. Though I may not judge the final state
The presumptuous of another', yet I may, and ought to judge the souVs reflection, state of my own soul ; which is, doubtless, a
more necessary cind concerning work to me. For since every saving grace in a Christian hath its counterfeit in the hypocrite, how needful is it for thee, O my soul, to make a stand here, and solemnly to ponder this question. Whether those things, whereon I depend, as my best evidences for the life to come, be the real, or only the common works of the Spirit ? Whether they may be such as can now endure the test of the word, and abide a fair trial at the bar of my own conscience ?