may give a sentence of approbation wliere tlie severest con- demnation is due^. If not itself regulated according to the Scriptures of truth, it will be a false guide and a deceitful comforter ]
2. Consult it daily as in the presence of God —
[Inquire into its records of the past, and seek its direction for the future. Consult it in reference to every part of your duty, and especially in reference to the end for which you live, and the means you are using to attain it. If you will listen to its voice, it will tell you whether you are living to yourselves, or to your God; and whether you are exercising that care and watchfulness, that labour and self-denial, that zeal and love, which are necessary to bear out a testimony in your
favour The more diligently you consult it in your
hours of leisure and retirement, especially if you take care to implore earnestly from God the influences of his Spirit, the more salutary will be its warnings, and the more consoling its testimonies in your favour.]
3. Endeavour to keep it pure —
[Excellent was that resolution of Job, " My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live ^" True it is, that whilst you are in this ensnaring world, exposed as you are to temptations without and to corruptions within, there will be frequent occasion to lament the defilements you contract. But go from day to day, and from hour to hour, to the fountain of Christ's blood, which is " able to cleanse you from all sin," and " from an evil conscience." And let not any sin, however small it may in appearance be, continue unrepented of, or unmortified ]
4. Aim at the highest attainments —
[It is not at a course of moral actions only that you must aim, but at a life entirely and unreservedly devoted to God. " The single eye" is that after which you must aspire; and " the simplicity that is in Christ," is that which you must hold fast under all possible circumstances. Every action, every word, every thought, must, if possible, be under the influence of Divine grace, and be " brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." Strive for this with all your might; and then we will venture to say, that in you shall that word be fulfilled ; " Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace ^"]
y Acts xxvi. 9. ^ Job xxvii. 6. ^ Ps. xxxvii. 37.