2. The mortification of all sin —
[Da^dd says, " If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear mei." To fancy therefore that we have received answers to prayer, whilst there is any sinful temper or dis- position harboured in the heart, is a fatal delusion. . Even the ungodly Jews, who set themselves in opposition to Christ, were fully convinced of this truth : for, imagining him to be a sinner, and taking occasion from thence to deny the miracle he had wrought, they said, " Now we know that God heareth not sinners ; but if any man be a worshipper of God and do his will, him he heareth^" This then must be a point of diligent inquiry ; ' Is sin in general dispossessed of its power over me ? is my besetting sin in particular subdued and mortified ? is my hatred to sin inveterate, uniform, unreserved ?' Unless this be our state, it is in vain that we pretend to communion with the Deity, and boast of our assured acceptance with him : if we are under the habitual influence of any one reigning lust, of whatever kind it be, we may make a great profession of religion, but we are hypocrites; we may make a noise about it, but " we are as sounding brass, and as tinkling cymbals."]
In reference to this subject, we beg leave to offer some ADVICE —
1. Be careful to notice the dealings of God with
your souls —
[Many set themselves against all kinds of Christian ex- perience, and make even the very word, experience, a subject of continual ridicule and invective. That injudicious persons have given but too just ground of offence by their statements of their own feelings, must be confessed : but we must not therefore suppose that religion has nothing to do with the feelings, and that it is a matter purely intellectual. Why should that alone have no 'influence on the heart, when it is calculated more than any thing else to call into activity all the powers of our souls? or why should that be enthusiasm in rehgion, which is deemed reasonable in all the common affairs of Hfe? liet a man be embarked in any thing that greatly involves his honour and interest throughout his life ; a merchant in trade ; a commander in war ; a student in academic contests : will he feel no anxieties ? will he have no fluctuations of mind, no alternations of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, according as his prospects brighten or are obscured ? will the issue of his labours be to him such a matter of indifference, that he shall contemplate the probabilities of success or failure without any emotion? And if these diversified feelinars are so called forth
'&•-
1 ver. 18. r John ix. 31,