blissful retrospect, if not in its full extent, yet in good mea- sure, will be his : " I bessech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight1!"]
2. No stability in our ways —
[" A double-minded man will be unstable in all his waysk." Let but a sufficient temptation arise, and he will turn aside, even as Demas did, to the indulgence of his be- setting sin. The stony-ground hearers, for want of a root of integrity within themselves, will fall away ; and the thorny- ground hearers, not being purged from secret lusts, will never bring forth fruit unto perfection. It is " the honest and good heart" alone that will approve itself steadfast unto the end. But the upright man God will uphold under every tempta- tion ; as an inspired prophet has assured us : " The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him1."]
3. No acceptance with our God —
[We may deceive ourselves, but we cannot deceive our God : " to him all things are naked and open:" and, however we be admired by our fellow-creatures, he will discern our true state ; as he did that of the Church at Sardis ; of whom he says, " I know that thou hast a name to live, but art dead : for I have not found thy ways perfect before Godm." It is to no purpose to dissemble with him: for " he searcheth the heart and trieth the reins, and will give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings"."]
Address,
1. Those who are unable to ascertain with con- fidence their real state —
[Surely you should not suffer this to remain in doubt. Look into the Scriptures ; and you will find in the saints of old a well-grounded persuasion that they had passed from death unto life. Real uprightness is like light, which carries its own evidence along with it. I would not encourage an ill-founded confidence : nor would I, on the other hand, en- courage that kind of diffidence which puts away the conso- lations provided for us in the Gospel. Examine yourselves as before God ; and never rest till you have the testimony of God's Spirit, that ye are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.]
1 2 Kings xx. 3. k Jam. i. 8. '2 Chron. xvi. 9.
m Rev. iii. 1, 2. n Jer. xvii. 10.