482 A SERIOUS ADDRESS TO and secured their esteem and prayers. Judas did so for years : Saul was once also among the prophets, Ananias and Sapphira were supposed to be good believers for a time : the foolish virgins joined in society with the wise, and were perhaps unsuspected to the last : and Peter himself stood in need of con - version, long after he had outwardly left all to follow Christ, Luke xxii. 32. So important is that charge of our Lord, " Strive to enter in at the strait gate, for many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." To these cautions against the various ways by which the generality of penitents skin over the wound of sin in their conscience, permit me to add an IV. EVA\GELICAL ExxORTATION, pointing out the divine method of a sound cure, which, though least regarded, and Iast tried, by most sinners, is not only effectual in some, but infallible in all cases.-- - Wouldst thou serious Reader, be made whole in an evangelical manner? To thy convictions of original and actual sin must be added, a "conviction of unbelief' Feel then, that thou hast neglected Christ's great sal- vation : own thou didst never ask, or never persevere in asking, the unfeigned, saving, powerful faith, by which the atonement is received and enjoyed, Rom, v. 11. Acknowledge, that the faith thou hast hitherto rested in, was not the gift of God, that grace of his own operation, wrought in thee according to the working of his mighty power, and mentioned Eph. ii. 8. Col. ii. 12. Eph. i. 9. And confess it was not the right Christian faith ; because it chiefly grew from the seed of prejudice and education, as the faith of Jews and Turks ; and not from the seed of divine grace and power, as the faith of St. Paul, Gal. i. 14. and because it never yielded the heavenly fruits which gospel faith infallibly produces : such as a vital union with Christ, Gal. ii. 20. the pardon of sins, Col. i 14. Acts xiii. 30. peace with God, Rom. v. 1. dominion over sin, Rom vi. 14. victory over the world, 1 John v. 4. the crucifixion of the flesh, Gal. v. power to quench the fiery darts of
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