called a conqueror, and values himself upon that as entitling him to the admiration of mankind. And the man who is, with insatiable avidity, amassing wealth, applauds himself as pru- dently providing for his family. And if a man's faults be too glaring to be turned into virtues, he will extenuate them under the name of venial errors, or youthful indiscretions. But, Beloved, if this be your state, you are yet m darkness and the shadow of death. The very first step towards the knowledge of a Saviour is the knowledge of yourselves : and if you pos- sess not that, all your other knowledge, whatever it may be, will be in vain.]
2. How far have you watched and prayed against it ? [With all our self-love, our besetting sin may be so glaring
and dominant that we cannot but know it. Still, however, we may not be humbled under a sense of it, bvit, like King Saul, may be returning to it again and again, after all our acknow- ledgment of its vileness. But it is not thus with an upright soul. He will say with indignation, " What have I to do any more with idols?" And if he has been foiled in one and another attempt to subdue his lusts, he will be more and more earnest in prayer to God for grace suflicient for him, that, " through the influences of the Holy Spirit, he may mortify the deeds of the bodyV' and "preserve himself unspotted," though in the midst of a polluting and ensnaring world™. See, also, whether you watch against the occasions that may
call forth your indwelling corruption and whether you
mark the j^r*^ risings of it in your soul, that you may the more effectually prevent its dominance and defilement ? Our Lord's direction is, " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into tempta- tion : " and he has provided armour for us, that we may fight against sin in its first assaults. And we may be sure, that, if we be not thus habitually contending with it, we can never with truth assert that we have kept ourselves from it.]
3. How far have we actually overcome it ?
[" One that is born of God cannot commit sin"," as once he did. God has said, that " sin shall not have dominion over him, because he is not under the law, but under grace"." "The man that obeys sin, is the servant of sin:" and conse- quently neither is, nor can be, the servant of God p. He may, it is true, still feel the workings of his besetting sin : but then it vnll be an intolerable burthen to him : and whilst under a sense of its working, he will cry, " Oh, wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death ? " he vdll be enabled to add, " I thank God, through Jesus Christ
1 Rom. viii. 13. ^ Jam. i. 27. " 1 John iii. 9.
° Rom. vi. 14. P Rom. vi. 16.