Glory, and Honour, and Immortality, eternal Life; but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the Truth, Indignation and Wrath, Tribulation and Anguish, upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil, of the few first, and alfo of the Gentile. But Glory, and Honour, and Peace, to every Man that worketh Good, to the few firft, and also to the Gentile; for there is no Refpect of Perfons with God.

May God Almighty give us all Grace fo to bebave ourselves in this World, that we may in the other receive thofe glorious Rewards which our Lord Jefus hath promised to all his faithful Difciples. This God of bis infinite Mercy grant, &c.

SERMON

140

SERMON VII.

ACTS XVI. 31.

Believe on the Lord Jefus Chrift, and thou shalt be faved.

YOU

may remember, that I have not long ago preached feveral Sermons about religious Trouble of Mind, and I then made it my Business to give an Account of fundry Points, which thro' their not being well understood, had a a great Influence, if not in caufing, yet in the increasing that fort of Affliction. And I told you that, as I had Opportunity, I would go on with this Argument, and speak to fome other Points, which often prove the Occafion of many Frights and Doubts to timorous and melancholy Perfons. Having therefore an Opportunity now given me, I mean to proceed where I left off.

Five Causes of religious Trouble, which arife from the Mifapprehenfion of Things, I have already spoken to; that is to fay,

First, The Opinion Men have taken up about Desertion, or God's forfaking them.

Secondly, The Lofs of their fpiritual Comfort, and the Dulnefs and Deadnefs of their Hearts, as to all religious Duties.

Thirdly, The being haunted with wicked and blafphemous Thoughts.

Fourthly, The extreme Fewness of those that fhall be faved.

Fifthly, The Uncertainty they are in, as to their particular Election to Salvation.

I now come to confider two other Things, which fome melancholy People do often complain of, and which caufeth them as much Uneafiness as any other Points I have named: And that is, in the fixth Place, their Want of Faith; and in the feventh Place, their not being truly penitent for their Sins.

Faith and Repentance, they know very well, are the great Gofpel Duties, and indeed the only Conditions required to Salvation. And if they want either of these, in what a miferable Condition are they? But yet as Things ftand with them, they have neither true Faith, nor true Repentance.

These two Things, I fay, I fhall now endeavour to give fome Satisfaction about, by putting both thefe Duties in a fair Light, and fhewing that good Peoples Uneafineffes and Frights about them, are occafioned purely by their not rightly understanding the Nature of them.

I

I begin with Faith, to which I fhall at this Time confine my Difcourfe. The general Description of that Faith, whereby Chriftians are to be faved, is given us in these Words of St. Paul I have now read unto you. When the Goaler, in the Verse before, had earnestly defired Paul and Silas to inftruct him in the Way of Salvation, saying, Sirs, what must I do to be faved? The Anfwer they return to him is, Believe on the Lord Jefus Chrift, and thou shalt be faved, and thine Houfe; fo that faving, juftifying Faith is to believe on the Lord Jefus.

Well but, fay they, whofe Cafes we are fpeaking to, this is our Mifery, we do not believe on the Lord Jefus; on the contrary, we are forely troubled with Unbelief. If you ask them what Reason they have to think fo, do they not believe the Gospel, do they not own our Lord Jefus to be the Son of God, and the Saviour of the World? Yes, they will tell you, they do fo; but yet for all that, they want Faith; because they are full of Doubts concerning their Condition now is not Doubting contrary to Faith? What is it, say they, to believe on the Lord Jefus, but to believe that the Lord Jefus is my Saviour, that his Righteousness is my Righteousness, and that I am one of those for whom he purchased eternal Salvation? But they cannot bring themfelves to a firm Belief of this; they cannot thus apply Christ's Benefits to themselves in particu

lar.

lar. Is it not one of the Articles which every Christian doth daily profefs; namely, that he believes the Forgiveness of Sins? Why, they cannot fay this; they do not heartily and steadfastly believe the Forgiveness of their Sins; and therefore, fure, they want fomething neceffary to faving Faith.

This is the Cafe, and this I fhall now particularly apply myself to; and the rather, because I believe this is a Notion of Faith very common among us; nay, I am afraid it is to be met with in fome of our Catechisms and Systems of Divinity.

And here my Business fhall be to speak of these two Points:

First, Whether it be neceffary to faving Faith, to believe that my Sins are forgiven me, or to make fuch an Application of Chrift's Righteoufnefs to myself, as from hence to be able to conclude, that I in particular am righteous by his Righteousness, and confequently shall be faved by him; or, which comes to the fame Thing, whether the Doubting of this be the Sin of Unbelief.

And, Secondly, What is the true Notion of that Faith which is in Scripture required, as a Condition of Mens Juftification and Salvation. The refolving these two Inquiries is all that can be thought needful, in order to the clearing up all Difficulties in this

Matter.

I begin with the First Inquiry. Whether it be of the Effence. of faving Faith, to be