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to GOD, and ensure his everlasting salvation. They tell you, that although man is incapable of doing any good thing of himself, of resisting temptation, undergoing trial, or defending himself against his great spiritual enemies, the powers of darkness; yet, that the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of our Saviour, are ever at hand, to those who earnestly pray for their influence, to make them both able to will and to do that which is well-pleasing to GOD; and to bring them off from the field of battle more than conquerors. They tell you, that "with "GOD there is no respect of persons;" that in his sight, the rich and the poor, the great and the small, are of the same account; and are equally sure of the same glory in heaven, if they have served Gop with equal sincerity, in their different situations whilst upon earth; that he is not a partial tyrant, but a just and merciful LORD, who freely, and of his own grace and goodness, offers salvation to ALL mankind without exception, and without reserve, upon the simple conditions of repentance, faith, and good works; of earnestly endeavouring to know his will, and practising it when it is known. They preach the resurrection from the grave, and tell you that we must all appear at the judgment-seat of JESUS CHRIST, to give an account of the deeds

done in our bodies; and they earnestly exhort you to live soberly, honestly, and godlily, in this world, that you may be able to meet your Saviour without shame or confusion of face; and they tell you, that, at this great day of judgment, the poorest and most ignorant man alive, if he has done his duty as a christian and a man to the best of his ability and knowledge; that is, if he have diligently searched, and attentively heard, the scrip- tures; believed in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the way of salvation prepared for mankind through him; exercised himself in prayer; honoured the Lord's Day, duly attended his church, and observed his ordinances; done his duty to his neighbour, according as it is laid down in the Bible, and in our own admirable Catechism; that is, if he have "loved him as himself, and done "unto all men as he would they should do "unto him; if he have loved, honoured,

and succoured his father and mother; "honoured and obeyed the king, and all "that are put in authority under him; sub"mitted himself to all his governors, teach"ers, spiritual pastors and masters; ordered "himself lowly and reverently to all his "betters; has hurt no body by word or "deed; is true and just in all his dealings; "bears no malice nor hatred in his heart;

has kept his hands from picking and stealing; his tongue from evil speaking, lying, "and slandering; and his body in temperance, "soberness, and chastity: has not coveted "nor desired other men's goods; but "learned and laboured to get his own living "in that state of life into which it has "pleased GOD to call him ;" if he have done all this, as far as, human frailty and imperfection would allow him; your Ministers, I say, will then tell you, upon the au thority of the gospel, that at the last great day of judgment, the poorest, meanest, and most ignorant man among you, shall then receive this blessed sentence of approbation and reward," Well done, thou good and "faithful servant; enter thou into the joy "of thy LORD."

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I cannot conceive, my brethren, that, with such a Church, such ordinances, and such a ministry as this, so well fitted to " prepare "the way of the LORD" in your hearts, and to help you on in the path of salvation, you can expect or desire any better supply for your spiritual wants; nor can I think, that any man, possessed of these advantages, will be justified in the sight of GOD, it, from a false notion of hearing the gospel more purely preached elsewhere than in the National Church, he shall forsake that

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church, and become a member of another religious communion. Depend upon it, my friends, if you cannot be saved by what you hear in the Church, nothing that you can hear out of it, will be of any use to your souls. The great principle on which your Clergy build their teaching is this, that faith and practice are equally necessary to everlasting happiness; that the one without the other is of no value in the sight of GOD; that faith alone cannot save, for the very devils believe, but tremble; and that "good works" without faith (if they could exist without it) cannot save, because they do not partake of the grace of God. They exhort you, therefore, to be an example both of faith and practice; and not to entertain the fatal notion, that hearing and believing any particular doctrines is in itself sufficient to make a Christian, without a holy, virtuous, and honest life; and a peaceable, charitable, and orderly behaviour. You will recollect, that St. Paul in his second epistle to Timothy, fourth chapter and third verse, says, in the spirit of prophecy, "that "the time will come, when" believers" will "not endure sound doctrine; but, after "their own lusts shall they heap to them"selves teachers, having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the

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truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Beware, then, my brethren, lest this prophecy be accomplished in yourselves. Let no idle curiosity of your own, and no deceitful words or false pretences of others, lead you to desert that Church into which you have been baptized, and in whose nurture and admonition you have hitherto been trained up; but cleave to its scriptural doctrines, righteous ordinances, and solemn form of worship; and, above all, earnestly endeavour to shew forth in your own lives those graces, virtues, and good works, which its Ministry enjoin in their discourses, as the only outward proof of a true belief, and a saving faith. And that you may be the better enabled to do this, lift up your hearts in prayer to GoD, that the Ministers and stewards of his mysteries, may so "prepare and make ready the ઃઃ way of the LORD, by turning the hearts of "the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, "that at CHRIST's second coming to judge "the world, you may be found acceptable "in his sight," who liveth and reigneth, with the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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