brethren, and pray for, warn, counsel, and encourage them also; we fight the good fight, as a part of the great army, which is enlisted under the Redeemer's standard, to wage war against sin, the world, and the powers of darkness.

As far as we are enabled, in this manner, successfully to oppose our own corrupt passions and various temptations, we gain victories which afford us present comfort, lively hopes, and discoveries of the Lord's love to our souls; and hereafter

glory, honour, and immortality." Our Captain assures every one of his soldiers of this inestimable recompence; and if they be slain in the conflict, this will only put them more speedily in possession of the conqueror's crown. In respect of others, our warfare is directed to the encouragement and help of our fellow-soldiers; the salvation (not the destruction) of our fellow sinners; the benefit of all around us; and above all, the honour of our divine Saviour, by the success of his gospel among men: while our bold profession of the truth, our exemplary conduct, expansive benevolence, fervent prayers, improvement of talents, and unre mitted attention to the duties of our several stations, with quietness and prudence as well as zeal, are peculiarly suitable to promote these important ends. The religion of Jesus is thus continued from age to age, by the conversion of sinners to the faith and though the seed of the serpent still bruises the Redeemer's heel, in the sufferings

of his people; yet Satan is, as it were, put under the feet of every true christian at death; and Christ will at length finally and completely crush his head, while all his faithful soldiers shall attend his triumphs and share his glory.

It must appear from this compendious view of our conflicts, that all, who are really engaged in them, experience a variety of changing emotions in their minds, to which others remain entire strangers. They must often mourn their ill success, or that of the common cause, or rejoice in the advantages attained or hoped for. Sometimes they are ashamed and alarmed by being baffled, and at others they resume courage and return to the conflict. They always come far short of that entire victory over their appetites, passions, and temptations, to which they aspire; and they cannot therefore be so calm as indifference would render them. Much self-denial must be required in such a case, and perpetual fears of being surprised by the enemy. Yet their alarms, tears, groans, and complaints, are evidences that they are Christ's disciples; their joys with which "a stranger in"termeddleth not," far more than counterbalance their sorrows; and they can often triumph in the assured hope of final victory and felicity, even amidst the hardships and sufferings of the field of battle.

ESSAY XVII.

On the Privileges enjoyed by the True Believer.

THE

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HE sacred Oracles continually teach us, that the upright servant of God, notwithstanding his mourning for sin, and all his conflicts, fears, chastisements, and tribulations, is favoured and happy above all other men, even in this present world. And when the apostle observed, that "if in this "life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable;" he only meant, that if a christian could be deprived of the hope of heaven, and all those earnests, consolations, and lively affections which result from it, his peculiar trials, his tenderness of conscience, his antipathy to sin, and his thirstings after God and holiness, would be superadded to the ordinary burdens of life, without any proportionable conterpoise to them. But as this is not and cannot be the case; so, the christian with the hope of glory and his other peculiar privileges, may be and actually is, in proportion to his diligence and fruitfulness, of all men the most happy. In order to evince this truth, it may be useful to appropriate the present Essay to the consideration of the most distin

guished privileges of the real christian, which no other man in the world can partake of: for they constitute a joy with which a stranger inter"meddleth not;" even "the secret of the Lord, "which is with them that fear him.' And it may be premised, that a disposition supremely to desire and diligently to seek after all these blessings, as the felicity in which our souls delight, and with which they would be satisfied, is one grand evidence that we are actually interested in them.

1. Every real christian is actually pardoned and justified in the sight of God: and "Blessed is he "whose transgression is forgiven; whose sin is "covered: blessed is the man unto whom the Lord

imputeth not iniquity."" Among a number of condemned criminals, that man would be deemed the happiest who had obtained the king's pardon, though others were more accomplished, or better clothed for the cheerful hope of his prison-door opening to set him at liberty, and to restore him to the comforts of life, would render the temporary hardships of his situation tolerable; while to the rest the gloom and horrors of the dungeon would be blackened by the dread of the approaching hour, when they must be brought out of their cells to an ignominious and agonizing execution. -We all are criminals: death terminates our con

1 Ps. xxv. 14. Prov. xiv. 10.

Rev. ii. 17. * Ps, xxxii. 1, 2. Rom. iv. 6-8.

finement in this vile body, and this evil world: at that important moment the pardoned sinner rises to heaven-the unpardoned sinner sinks into hell: and, except as the former has his views darkened by temptation, or by fatherly rebukes for his misconduct; or, as the latter has his fears repressed by infidelity, or dissipated by intoxicating pleasures and pursuits; the very thought of this closing scene and its most interesting consequences, must have a most powerful effect on their respective happiness and misery, even during the uncertain term of their present life. Nothing can be more evident, than that the Scripture declares that all believers are actually pardoned, and completely justified. "There is" says the apostle, "no "condemnation to them which are in Christ "Jesus; who walk not after the flesh, but after "the Spirit." "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justi"fieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is "Christ that died; yea, rather is risen again, "who is even at the right hand of God, who also "maketh intercession for us."" And our Lord assures us, not only that "he who believeth is not " condemned," but also, that "he hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation.""

6.6

The same privilege was proposed under the old testament:when the prophet, speaking of repentance and conversion, (the concomitants and 1 Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34,

2 John iii, 14-21. v. 24.