mife. Nay, the very language of faith supposes, that the man hath no feeling of ftrength in himself, but believes his ftrength to be in the Lord. Faith is not acted in the sense of strength, but in the fenfe of weakness, laying, In the Lord only have I righteoufnefs and strength.

But, fay you, If I felt the ftrength of fin broken, then I might believe in him as my ftrength, and take him for fuch; but, how can I believe in him as my ftrength, and perfuade myself that he is fo, according to the of fer and promife of the gofpel, when I find the ftrength of fin ftill remaining?

ANSW. 1. The work of God, in breaking the ftrength of fin, and the feeling of that work, is the fruit of faith; and the reafon why you do not feel that work of God, is because you do not believe his word: "If you would believe, you fhould fee the glory of God."

2. The word of God, wherein he offers and promises to be your ftrength, is the ground of faith, upon which alone the perfuafion of faith is to be founded. Beware of confounding the ground and foundation of faith, with the fruits, marks, and effects of it. The fenfible decay of the ftrength of fin, is a mark, a fruit, and ef fect of faith, and might yield a perfuafion of fenfe: but God's word alone is the ground and object of faith; and to build the perfuafion of faith upon it, is the very means of producing all these fruits of faith that are the objects of fpiritual fenfe. To fay, therefore, that you cannot believe in Chrift as your ftrength, till you feel the ftrength of fin once broken, is the fame as if one fhould fay, I cannot lay the foundation, till once I fee the houfe is built; I will not come to the physician, till once I fee the difeafe healed. Nay, if you faw the houfe well built, what need would there be of laying the foundation? If you faw your, plagues healed, what need would there be of coming to the phyfician? If you felt the firength of fin removed, what need would there be of employing Chrift for ftrength? Nay, the very feeling of the ftrength of fin, which you make the reafon why you cannot believe, is the very reafon why you fhould believe, and lay ftrefs upon the divine teftimony

con

concerning Chrift, with particular application of him to you as your ftrength.

My friends, Chrift puts himself in a promife for your ufe; he puts his righteoufnefs in the promife, his ftrength in the promife, his grace in the promife; and Chrift hath put himfelf there, that faith may feek him there: therefore, feek the Lord and his frength; otherwife the ftrength of fin will be your death. There are but two ways wherein it can be fuppofed the ftrength of fin may be broken or removed; either by the law, or by the gofpel. As to the law, as a broken covenant, it may well difcover fin, and condemn it, and you for it; but it is fo far from giving ftrength againft it, that fin gathers ftrength from it, The firength of fin is the law; which is the fubject I purpose to treat of, in the next doctrine. Therefore, it is only in the gofpel, and the promise thereof, that flrength is to be found; and the firength that is in the promife, is the ftrength of Christ, in whom all the promifes are Yea and Amen: and hence when you quit the promise by unbelief, you quit the ftrength of Chrift; when you rely on the promise by faith, you rely on the ftrength of Chrift: curfed unbe lief, then, gives strength to fin; whereas faith fets the ftrength of Chrifl against it. O may this gofpel come to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghofl.

Let me clofe this purpofe with a word to you that are believers, and have fled for refuge from the firength of fin, to the strength of a Saviour. If this hath been your course, I must tell you, though the free offer of the gofpel was your warrant to take that courfe, yet the great power of God was the thing that determined and enabled you thereunto: therefore, blefs him that gave you coun fel; for now the ftrength of fin is broken.

Alas! may one fay, that hath fled to Chrift for flrength, if the ftrength of fin be broken in all that have fled to Christ, then I think, I am a ftranger to him; for I feel the ftrength of fin more than ever.

ANSW. Sin is not always ftrongest, when the ftrength of it is moft felt. The world, that are under the power

and dominion of fin, have no fenfe or feeling of the power of it, because it is their element: even as a man that is in the water, feels not the weight of it, becaufe he is in the element of it; but, bring him out of the water, and put a tub full of water on his head, he will then find the ftrength and weight of it, because he is not within its element. The wicked world feel not the ftrength of fin, because they are under the power of it, and within the very element of fin's ftrength: but, believer, thy beginning to feel the ftrength of fin, fays, thou art getting out from under the power of it; yea, the prevailing power of fin may fometimes take place, where the killing, and domineering power of it is broken: Iniquity prevails against me, may the believer fay; and yet, Sin shall not have dominion over him; for, be is not under the law, but under grace. But tho' the ftrength of fin be broken in you, believer; yet even the broken ftrength of fin may be fo great, as to break your heart, and break your back, and break your peace, and break your confidence and courage: therefore, as you have begun to flee to Chrift for refuge from the ftrength of fin, so you must hold on; living by faith on him as your ftrength, and that in the courfe of all his appointed means, fuch as reading, hearing, meditating, watching, and praying, and guarding against all the motions of that ftrong enemy; and particularly against the first metions of fin, and the first beginnings of it: great evils arife out of fmall beginnings; one fpoonful of water will quench that fire, which afterwards whole buckets cannot abate. Therefore, refift the beginnings of fin, as you would refift the devil. When fin does not feem to be hewing all its ftrength, that which it aims at, even in its weakest affaults at firft, is to put forth its utmost ftrength: Watch, therefore, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: and let not down your watch; for if you watch one half-hour, and think you may fleep fafely the other half, The Philiflines will be upon. you, Samfon. Whenever you begin to fleep in fecurity, fin will waken upon you in its ftrength and fury, though it were upon the back of a faving manifeftation: yea, if you have been upon the mount with God, even upon the top of

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the mount; Satan, if he can, will throw you down from the pinacle of the temple: therefore, keep near to your Lord, your frength.

And whatever means you use, beware of going back to your old husband the law; for, as I defign to fhow in the following doctrine, the law, inftead of helping you, will hurt you. If you wind up a clue of legal performances, expecting to overcome fin that way, you will find it vain labour, and that you mult wind it off again, and begin upon a new bottom, namely, Christ, the Lord your righteoufnefs and ftrength. To work hard in the duties of religion, without faith in Chrift, as your righteousness, for acceptance, and ftrength, for affiftance, is as vain labour, as for a weaver to throw the fhuttle from one fide of the web to the other, without a thread in the fhuttle. Why, let him work never fo hard with feet and hands, it is loft labour, he will never make out his web that way; yea, he but waltes his ftrength in doing nothing. Therefore, being divorced from the law, as a covenant of works, and condition of life, and married unto Chrift, live upon your new Husband Jefus Chrift, and live near him by faith, that you may bring forth fruit unto God. The more you live under grace, the more free will you be from the firength of fin; but the more you live under the law, the more will you be under the dominion of fin: for, The Strength of fin is the law.

THAT fin hath a great ftrength, will be denied

by none, but fuch as are wholly under the power of it, and have utterly loft the understanding of their own miferable condition. There are two arms of fin, by which it puts forth and exerts its power, and by which it attains to its unlawful dominion; the one is fraud, and the other is force: the fraud of it is fo great, that, it is dreadful above all things; and the force of it is fo violent, that, like a mighty torrent, it carries down all before it, with refpect to which it is promifed, Pfalm Ixxii. 15. concerning our Lord Jefus Chrift, in behalf of the poor and needy that cry to him, He fhall redeem their foul from deceit and violence; and how he redeems them from the ftrength of fin, when it takes and holds them with thefe powerful arms, is here difcovered in this triumphant fong, O death, where is thy fting ? ( grave, where is thy victory? When a powerful enemy is to be fubdued, the great and leading inquiry is, where the ftrength of the enemy lies, that fo it may be attacked in its principal ftrength: but, if the ignorant world, that are ftrangers to the grace of God revealed in the gofpel, fhould be examined and afked, Where does the ftrength of fin ly? They would never anfwer it as our apostle does here; yea, it would be a hard question, a difficult catechifm to the moft part of gofpel-profeffors, especially fuch as are under the powerful influence of a legal fpirit. It cannot but be a mystery to their under

*The two difcourfes following were delivered at Orwell, Auguft 7th and 8th, 1727.

ftanding,