2 Cor. xiii. 5. Examine yoiirselves, whether ye he in the faith; prove your owfi selves. Knoiv ye not your otun selves, how that Jestis Christ is in you, except ye he reprobates ?
IT is generally, perhaps always, found, that they who are most forward to censure others, have most need of personal reformation. So it certainly was with those who laboured to injure the character, and
undermine the influence, of the Apostle Paul. Whilst they accused him as a weak, ignorant impostor, pre- tending to a heavenly commission which he had never received, they were in reality no other than ministers of Satan, scattering the flocks which they pretended to feed. Hence they constrained the Apostle to de- clare, that his forbearance towards them had a limit, and that their defiance of him, if further persisted in, would terminate ere long in their own confusion. To prevent so painful an issue, he entreated them to examine themselves as to their spirit and conduct ; and to beware lest, after all their boastings, they should be disapproved of their God at last.
But it is not to persons only who are so circum- stanced that the exhortation ought to be addressed : it is of universal importance ; and highly proper for our consideration at all times.
Let us then consider, I. The duty to which we are here called —
Self-examination is a duty incumbent upon all.
But, instead of entering generally into the
subject, we will confine our attention to two things :
1. The point more especially suggested for our inquiry —
[The great question for every man to have settled in his mind and conscience is, vs'hether he be in the faith, or whether he be yet in unbelief? To ascertain this point, we should ask ourselves, whether we have ever come to Christ as sinners, pleading for mercy solely through the blood of his cross, and " desiring to be found in him," accepted altogether through his meritorious death and passion? Yet, not content with this, we should prosecute the inquiry further, and ask, whether we be daily living by faith in the Lord Jesus, and receiving every thing out of his fulness ? Nor must we rest, even though we should receive a favourable testimony from our consciences in this matter : we must examine yet farther the fruits of our faith, and see whether it produce such a life as proves it to be " the faith of God's elect?" If our self-examination proceed not thus far, it will leave us as much under the power of self- deceit, as if we took no pains at all to investigate our state. These are the points which are of vital interest to every true Christian ; and by them must the truth of our profession, and the safety of our state, be determined.]
2. The manner of conducting that inquiry —