[4.] Get a prepared heart. To this end —
(1.) See that there be no carnal bias : John v. 44, ' How can ye be- lieve that seek honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only ? ' Indulgence to any sensual afiection, to the honours, riches, and pleasures of the world, maketh men unfit either to believe or consider the truths of the gospel.
(2.) Let there be no wilful, heinous sin : 1 Tim. iii. 9, ' Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience.' Men are loth to believe to their torment, as malefactors cannot endure to think of the assizes. An honest and good heart doth best receive the good seed. Sin doth weaken our faith, and wilful sins breed horror in our minds, and make us wish the gospel were not true, that there were no God, no day of judgment, no hell for the wicked and ungodly , if so, then it is your interest to be an unbeliever.
[5.] Are you willing or unwilling to believe ? If willing, wait upon God, he will not fail the waiting soul ; John i. 17, ' Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ;' if unwilling, Christ will not give his grace to them that despise it, or make folks believe Avhether they will or no, or when they had rather not believe ; or if God out of his secret grace will surprise you, you cannot expect it.
Secondly, In every particular message that is brought to you in the way of an ordinance, regard God's providence in it; Christ hath a greater share in it than the teacher. Eemember now that in every important truth your faith is tried ; John xi. 26, ' Believest thou this?' and in every duty pressed your obedience is tried. Now let faith be lively and applicative, and the closer the application the better. Tiie promise of pardoa and life is universal, and includeth you as well as
174 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
others, if you will believe in Christ, for all true believers shall be saved ; but this is to excite your ffiith and obedience, not to assure your in- terest, which dependetli upon your sincerity in faith, love and obedience. There is the application of faith and the application of assurance. The application of faith is a particular application of Christ and the promise to ourselves, so as to excite us to look after the benefits and ends for which Christ is appointed : Acts xiii. 26, ' To you is the word of this salvation sent.' It is our duty to make general grace partic- ular. The application of assurance is, when I actually determine that my own sins are pardoned, that I am adopted into God's family, and appointed to eternal life, which cannot be without some sense of my sincerity, because the promises of God require a qualification and per- formance of duty in the party to whom the promise is made: 1 John iii. 14, ' We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.' And as you are to stir up your faith, so you are to set about the duties wdiicli the word calleth for. On the first opportunity fall a-practising, for this is a message sent from God to try your obedience ; by doing this continually 3'ou will insensibly habituate yourselves to the practice of godliness, and so grow up into comfort and peace.
See the Use of Faith in the Sacrameut of the Lord's Supper, handled in the Sermon on Heb. xi. 28.
A TREATISE OF SELF-DENIAL;
WITH
SEVEEAL SERMONS
ON lilE
SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER,
AND OTHER OCCASIONS.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATOEY.
To THE Eight Honourable Ann, Lady Wharton.
Madam, — The known esteem your ladyship had for the reverend author, and the hind respects you still bear to his surviving relations, gives your ladyship a claim to any of his works. But besides that, the right 3'ou have to a part of this volume makes this public offer of it to your ladyship justly necessary, the ' Treatise of Self-denial ' being many years since, in the time of your ladyship's widowhood, designed and. prepared by the author for the press, he intending the dedication of it to yourself, which he therefore often called ' My Lady Wharton's book.' That copy being lost, the ensuing treatise has been collected from his own notes, and therefore is truly his own, though it wants much of that exactness it would have had had it been polished by his last hand, and so would have been more worthy your ladyship's acceptance.
What was then so suitable to the circumstances of your ladyship's case, the providence of God hath made as seasonable now it is pub- lished, God having of late called you in a more eminent manner to the exercise of this great duty of self-denial by the sad breach he hath made in your noble family. Seldom do God's eminent servants pass off the stage of this world without some remarkable trials, in which he will prove the truth and strength of all their graces, and so not only magnify the power of his own grace, in carrying them through such temptations, but also evidence the strength of their graces in bearing them, for a pattern to those that should hereafter believe in him.