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Thoughts and wholfom Counfels to our Souls, it must be a provoking Ingratitude to be deaf to this inward Charmer, and not produce Fruits worthy of that Spirit we are acted by ?

Let us liften to the Apostle, and he will tell us the Fate of fuch as are guilty of fuch a Profanation; If any man, fays he, defile the Temple of God, him fhall God destroy.

And the Reafon he fubjoyns in the next Claufe; for the Temple of God is holy, 1 Cor. 3. 17. whofe Temple ye are. If then we are acted, fupported, and influenc'd by a Spirit better than our own, it highly concerns us not to grieve or quench, but rather to cherish and improve this Principle by all the methods we can. And would we nourish and tuate all the Graces of the Divine Life, fo as to become perfect Men in Chrift Jefus, let us confult the Scriptures, thofe Oracles of God, and Treasuries of the Spirit; let us always attend upon Religious Duties, and wait upon God in the Ordinances of his Church, and then he will not fail to be prefent with us, and inspire our Minds with Zeal and Love, with Repentance and Humility, and every Grace he delights in, especially if we aře careful to make frequent and folema

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Approaches to the Holy Table; for there he has appointed to meet us, and to entertain an heavenly and fpiritual Intercourse with our Minds. Here 'tis, that by the Exercise of our Graces, we renew and confirm them, and, like good Stewards, receive our Talents doubled to us: For who, that duly attends the Holy Sacrament, does not perceive, befides the fecret Tide of Joy and Comfort fpringing up within, that his Faith is ftrengthned, his Hope enlivened, and his Charity inflam'd? So that 'tis not more true, that the Profeffors of a Spiritual Religion, ought to act up to the Laws of it, than 'tis likewife, that the Spiritual Life is best fuftain'd by an holy Communion with God, in all the Parts and Offices of his Worship. To conclude, fince God has dealt out the gifts of his Spirit without measure, and is always ready to fupply a Spirit of comfort to the afflicted, as well as wif dom and counsel to the ignorant or misguided; fhould we not, in the Sense of this Priviledge, endeavour to poffefs our Souls in patience, and bear every Crofs and Calamity, as becomes those who have the Spirit of God to fupport and befriend them. Since we carry fo mighty a Power within

us,

us, let not every accident, every little weight of Trouble, bend or break us; but rather let us afpire after that Measure of the Spirit, that Joy in the Holy Ghoft, which will help us to defpife the World, and rejoyce even in Tribulation; ftill remembring what the Apoftle St. John · fays, That greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the World. So fhall we make our Lives eafie, our Deaths comfortable, and our Accounts joyful, at the laft Day; for having thus fought a good fight, and finished our courfe in piety and patience, and had our fruit unto holiness, we fball poffefs the End of all, everlasting Life.

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SERMON XIII.

1 JOHN Chap. 5. v. 16.

There is a Sin unto Death: I do not fay that be fball pray for it.

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Ince all Mankind must be judg'd for their Actions, and not only receive a different Doom, for the Good or Evil they have done here, but enjoy degrees of Blifs, or fuffer various measures of Punishment, as they have done, more or lefs good, or hurt in the World; it does not only very much concern us, to be able rightly to diftinguifh between Virtue and Vice, in or der to the good government of our Lives, but likewife to learn the Extent and Bounds of Duty on the one hand, and the different Qualities and Degrees of Sin on the other; that fo by knowing where the one ends, and the other begins, we may proceed, with due caution, in fhunning the Evil, and pursuing the Good, and by that means fecure the Peace of our Confciences in this

World,

World, and the happiness of our Beings in the next.

For as 'tis impoffible to enjoy any other than a falfe Hope or Security, where we cannot affure our felves that we have not indulg'd any wilful Sin, or frequently committed fome Sins, tho' perhaps without any actual deliberation, yet with out an actual Repentance for, and forfaking of them afterwards.

For how is it poffible we should discern the true State of our Souls, unless we have taken a juft Account of the moral Defects it is fubject to, and what is the Demerit of every Sin, and every degree of it, and how far we have complied

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in any inftance with the Terms of the Gofpel,and how far fwerv'd and deviated from it? Moft certainly, as the Word of God fhall (together with our own Hearts and Lives) judge us at the laft Day; fo from the fearch of thefe only, can we probably collect, whether we are in a State of Grace or not; that is, by bringing every Action to its proper Rule, and then pronouncing upon the Iffue of it,as it has well or ill correfponded there with. But tho' this be the true way of

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