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means of falvation are of three forts, feèrët, private and public. Now I will put fome quefti ons to you in reference to each of them bill 197

P begin with thefe which we call fecret, and of then Thall only name fecret reading of the fert ptures, and prayer, Lev. xviii. Rom. x. 13. And in reference to thele fhall put two or three queftions to you. And, (r.) Are ye neglecters of fecret prayer? Can ye rife in the morning, and go to your work, and never bow a Rnee to God? To fuch we dare fay confidently, Ye were never yet concerned about your fouls falvation. (2.) Are ye ever concerned to know what Tuccefs ye have in your prayers? Moft part deal I fear by their prayers, as forte unnatural parents do by their children; they lay them down to others, and never enquire what beebies of them, whether they die or live: which argues that they are hot in earnest in theif. We ever find the faintsrecorded in feripture in earneft about the acceptance and fuccefs of their prayers. (3.) Are all your fecret prayers confined to hated times, it may be morn ing and evening!? Or are ye frequently breathing out your defires in ejaculations? If ye heglect thefe, it is à fad fight ye are not concerned about falvati on. Ejaculations, I may fay, are the genuine ef fect of concern about falvation. Here, I do not approve of thefe common formis that people ufe to the great feandal of religion and offence of God, God faves, the Lord deliver ns, upon eve ry turn. Thefe furely argue want of concert a bout falvation, and want of dute respect to God. Perfons duly concerned about falvation will Ipeak of God with more fear and dread, than is com monly in thefe expreffions, which, as they are of ed, are certainly a palpable breach of the third

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command. But when I fpeak of ejaculations, I mean thereby affectionate and reverend defires fent up to God about falvation: and I believe there fhall fearce be found any really concerned about falvation, who are utter ftrangers to them. (4.) Do ye neglect the reading of the word of God, or do ye not? Such of you as will not be at pains to learn to read the word of God, I can fcarce think you in carneft concerned about falva tion, fince ye neglect so neceffary a mean; at leäftI think ye have need to be very fure of the grounds ye lean upon, if ye do conclude yourselves really concerned about it, while ye neglect this duty! When people are not at pains to read, or take not care to get the fcripture read to them in fecret; if thro' age they be incapable,it is a fad fight of want of concern about falvation. I would defire you to confider feriously that one command given by God to his church of old. He gave them his laws and his ftatutes, which if a man do, he shall even live in them, Lev xviii. 5. And he gives them a peremptory command how to use them, Deut. Xi. 18, 19, 20. Te shall lay up these my words in your heart, and in your foul, and bind them for a fign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes and ye shall reach them your children, fpeaking of them when thou fitteft in thine hoafe, and when thou walkeft by the way, when thou lieff down, and when thouriseft up: and thou fhalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon my gates Every where they were to have the law of God along with them. How they can be concerned duly about falvation, who ne glect the ufe of that which God commands, and commands fo peremptorily, I do not well underfind. (5.) Do ye take heed to what ye read?

Part II. Do ye learn to do all the words of the Lord; or do ye endeavour to understand what ye read? In a word, are ye affected with what ye read, or are ye not? If ye be not, then it is evidence enough, that ye are not concerned seriously about falvation: fo that ye are not folidly convinced of fin. If ye either neglect the ufe of thefe means of falvation, or prove unconcerned as to the fuccefs of your ufe of them, it is undoubtedly fure that yet ye have not laid falvation to heart. I do not indeed say, but even the children of God may be more remifs at fome times than at other times, but entirely to neglect or prove unconcerned, they cannot, nor indeed can any that is laying falvation to heart. But,

I come, in the second place, to enquire into your diligence in your families; and here I shall fay only two things. (1.) This concern about falvation will make thofe who have families care, ful in the performance of family-duties, and thefe who are members of families careful in attendance upon them. When once a man is ferious about falvation, he will be fure to fet about thefe duties which may any way contribute to his fafety and establishment. (2.) When a perfon is once con cerned about falvation, then there will fome regard be had to the fuccefs of fuch duties, that is, fuch an one will take care to know whether he is better or worfe by the duties he follows. Now, bring these two home to your own confciences: and let me ask you what confcience ye make of performing or of attending to thefe duties? If ye either neglect them, or turn indifferent as to the fuccefs of them, paft all peradventure, ye are in a dangerous condition. A man that fees himself in a state of mifery, and thinks ferioully of falvati

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on, will not be content to trifle in thefe duties which have fo immediate, fo remarkable an influence upon his eternal condition. If he neglects them, then he lies open to the fury of God, which, according to the prophet Jeremiah's pray? er, will fall upon the heathen, and the families that call not on the name of God, Pfal. lxxix. 6. Jer. x. 25. If he prove remifs, he falls under the wo denounced against the deceiver, Mal. i. 14. Curfed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and facrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing. And he thinks his case hard enough already, without the addition of that new wrath. The laft fort of means of falvation are fuch as are called public. A concern about falvation will discover itself in reference to these many ways; of which we fhall only name two or three. (1.) It will make us lay hold upon every opportunity of this fort. A man that is in great danger, and knows himself to be fo, will be fure to frequent thefe places which promise him fafety. (2.) It will be a fatisfaction and matter of joy to him that there are any fuch opportunities, and that his cafe is not entirely defperate and hopeless. (3.) When he comes to them, he will still have falvation in his eye, and will greedily look what afpect every thing he hears and fees has upon his own falvation. (4.) He will not be fatisfied with any thing unless he fee how he may be faved. Now, is this your carriage, when ye pretend to be concerned about falvation? Do ye with fatisfacti on embrace every opportunity of the ordinances? Do ye joy when they fay to you, Let us go up to the house of God? Do ye keep your eye fixt upon falvation? Or, are ye more intent upon other things? This is a good way to know whether ye

be concerned about falvation or not. Now, to conclude this mark, I fay, that if ye do neglect, or carelefly use the means of falvation, whether private, fecret or public, it difcovers your unconcernedness about falvation, A. man that has falen into the fea, and is in hazard of drowning, will hafte toward every thing that may contribute to his fafety; and when he comes near the fhore, he will not fpend time in obferving the form of the hore, but its usefulness to him. So a man that fees himself in danger of finking in the wrath of God, will look to all the means of falvation; and that which his eye will fix principally upon, will certainly be their usefulness to himself. That duty, and that way and manner of performing it, that levels moft directly at his falvation, will please him beft. I fhall, in the

7th and last place, Put this one queftion more home to you for trial. Will fmall and inconfiderable difficulties make you lay afide thoughts of alvation, or the ufe of the means? If fo, it is a fad fign that ye are not yet arrived at that concern, which is the fruit of found conviction. One that is foundly convinced of fin, and is thence induced to lay falvation to heart, will not stop at any thing he meets with in his way: for he can fee polion in the way, that is fo terrible as that wrath of God he fees pusfuing him; nor can he hear of any enjoyment, to make him turn back again, that is fo valuable as that falvation he feeks after. All hinderances that ye can meet with in the way to heaven, I mean, fuch as are proposed for rati onal inducements. to perfuade you to give over, may be reduced to one of two. The tempter muft either fay, Defift and quite thoughts of fal vation; for ye will run a great hazard if ye ftep

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