pondered these things in thy heart ? Hast thou Tearched the book within, to see if thele things be fo? If not, read it again, and make thy conscience speak, whether or no it be thus with thee.

Haft thou “ crucified thy flesh with its affections ” and lufts;" and not only confessed, but forsaken thy fins ? All fin in thy fervent defires, and the ordinary practice of every deliberate and wilful fin in thy life? If not, thou 'art yet unconverted.

Secondly, Satan, Conversion “binds the strong “ man, spoils him of his armour, cafts out his

goods, and turns men from the power of Sa“ lan unto God,” Acis xxvi. 18. Before, the devil could no sooner hold up his finger to the sin. ner to call him to his wicked company, sinful games, filthy delights; but presently he followed,

like an ox to the slaugker, and a fool to the “ correction of the stocks; as a bird that hafteth “ to the prey, and knoweth not that it is for his 66 life.”

But when he is converted, he serves a. nother master, and takes quite another course, i Pet. iv. 4.; he goes and comes at Christ's beck,

Şatan may sometimes catch his foot in a trap, but he will no longer be a willing captive : He watches against the snares and baits of Satan, and studies to be acquainted with his divices: He is very suspicious of his plots, and is very jealous in what comes athwart him, lest Satan should have fume design upon him: He “wreiles “ against principalities and powers," Epb. vi. 12. he entertains the messenger of Satan as mer: do the messenger of death ; he keeps his enemy, i Pet. v. 8. and watches in his duties, left Satan should put in his foot.

Col. iii. 24.

eye upon his Thirdly, the world. "Before a found faith a man is overcome of the world ; either he bows down to Mammon, or idolizes his reptutation, or is, a “ lover of pleasure, more than a lover of • God," 2 Tim. üli. 4. Here is the root of man's misery by the fall, he is turned afide to the creature instead of God, and gives that esteem, confidence, and affection to the creature, that is due to him alone, Rom. i. 25. Mat. X. 37. Prov. xviii, 11. Jer. xvii. 5:

But converting grace sets all in order again, and puts God on the throne, and the world at his footstool, Psalm lxxiii. 25. Christ in the heart, 66 and the world under his feet, Eph. ii. 17.

Rev. So Paul, “ I am crucified to the world, and the world to me,” Gal. vi. 14. Before this change, all the cry was, “Who will shew us any or woridly good ?" But now he fings another tune, “ Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance $ upon me," and let who will take the corn and wine, Pfalm iv. 6,7. Before, his heart's delight and content was in the world; then the song was, « Soul take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry ; « thou hast much goods laid up for many years :' But now all this is withered, and “ there is no « comeliness thac he shoud defire it;" and he tunes up with the sweet psalmist of Ifrael, “ The « Lord is the portion of my inheritance : The lines 6 are fallen to me in a fair place, and I have a or goodly heritage.” He blesseth himself, and boasteth himself in God, Psalm xxxiv. 2. Lam. iii. 24.; nothing else can give him content. He hath written vanity and vexation upon all his worldly enjoyments, Eccl. i. 2.; and loss and dung upon

all human excellencies, Phil. iii.

7,

8. He hath life and immortality now in chace, Rom. ii. 7.He pursues grace and glory, and hath an incorruptible crown in pursuit, 1 Cor. ix. 25. His heart is set in him to seek the Lord, i Chron. xxii. 19. and 2 Chron. xv. 15. He « first seeks the “ kingdom of heaven and the righteousness there, “of;" and religion is no longer a matter by the bye with him, but the main of his care, Mat. vi. 33: Psalm xxvii. 4:

Well then, pause a little, and look within : Doth not this nearly conceśn thee? Thou pretendeft for Christ, but doth not the world sway thee? Doft not thou take more real delight and content in the world, than in him? Dost thou not find thyself better at ease when the world goes to thy mind, and thou art encompassed with carnal delights, than when retired to prayer and medi, tation in the closet, or attending upon God's word and worship: No fyrer evidence of an unconverted state, than to have the things of the world up: permost in o’r aim, love, and estimation, Johu ii. 15. James iv. 4.

With the sound convert Christ hath the supremacy. How dear is his name to him? How

pre. cious is his favour? Cant. i. 3. Plalm xlv 8. The name of Jesus is engraven upon his heart, Gal. iv. 19. and lies as a bundle of myrrh bétween his breasts, Cant. i. 13, 14. Honour is but air, and laughter is but madness, and Mammon is fallen, like Dagon before the ark, with hands and head broken off on the threshold, when once Christ is savingly revealed. Here is the pearl of great price to the true conyert, here is his trea

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sure here is hope, Mat. xiii. 44, 45. This is his glory, “ My beloved is mine, and I am his,' Gal. vi. 14. Cant. ii. 16. O, it is sweeter to him to be able to say, Christ is mine, than if he could say, the kingdom is mine, the Indies are mine.

Fourthly, your own righteousne/s. Before conversion, man seeks to cover himself with his own fig-leaves, Phil. iii. 6, 7. and to make himself whole with his own duties, Mic. vi. 6, 7. He is apt to trust in himself, Luke xvi. 15. ana xviii. 9. and set up his own righteousness, and to reckon his counters for gold, and not submit to the righteousness of God, Rom. x. 3. But conversion changes his mind, now he casts

away

his own righteousness as a filthy rag, Isa. Ixiv. 6. Now he is brought to poverty of spirit, Matt. v. 3. complains of and condemns himself, Rom. vii. ; and all his inventory is “ poor, and miserable, and wretched, « and blind, and naked," Rev. iii. 17. He sees a world of iniquity in his holy things, and calls his once idolized righteousness but filth and dross, and would not for a thousand worlds be found in himself, Phil. ïï. 4, 7, 8, 9. His finger is ever upon his fores, Pjalm li.

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his fins, his wants. Now he begins to set a high price upon Christ's righteousneis ; he sees the need of a Christ in every duty, to justify both his person and performances : He cannot live without him, he cannot pray without him: Christ must go with him, or else he cannot come into the presence of God; he leans upon the hand of Chrilt, and so bows himself in the house of his God; he sets himself down for a loft undone man without him ; his life is hid and grows in Christ, as the root of a tree spreads in

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the earth for stability and nutriment. Before, the news of Christ was a stale and fapless thing; but now, how sweet is Chrift? The voice of tne convert is, with the martyr, “ None but Christ.”

The terms to which we turn are,

First. To God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Secondly, To the laws, ordinances, and ways of Christ.

A man is never truly fanctified, till his very heart be in truth set upon God above all things, as his portion and chief good.

These are the natural breathings of a believer's heart.

" Thou “ art my portion," Psalm cxix. 57.

My soul “ shall make her boast in the Lord," Psalm xxxvi.

My expectation is from him; he only is my rock and my falvation, he is

my

defence. “ In God is my salvation and glory; the rock of “ my strength, and my refuge is in God," Psalm Ixii. 1, 2, 5, 7, and xviii. 1, 2.

Would you put it to an issue, whether you be converted or not? Now let thy soul and all that is within thee attend :

Halt thou taken God for thy happiness? Where doth the content of thy heart lie? Whence doth thy choiceft comfort come in? Come then, and with Abraham, “ lift up thine eyes eastward and « westward, and northward and southward,” and cast about thee. What is it thou wouldest have in heaven, or on earth, to make thee happy? If God should give thee thy choice, as he did to Solomon, or should say to thee, as Ahasuerus to Efther, “ What is thy petition, and what is thy requeft, and it fhall be granted to thee? Ejih. v.