54 INWARD IIITNESS TO CHRISTIANITY. {SEAM. III.. ed, nor could, nor did they so gloriously practise the duties of love and forgiveness to men, as the Christian religion requires, and works in the hearts of sincere be- lievers. Qd remark. You learn here {,n excellent rule for self-examination, whether you have true faith or no. If you have, it will be accompanied with this evidence for this eternal life begun in the soul, does not merely prove that christianity is a true doctrine, but it proves also that the faith of that person is true, where this eter- nal life is begun. This is mentioned in the foregoing sermon, therefore I shall pass it over briefly. The apos- tle asserts this sufficiently, ver. 13. These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know ye have eternal life. The du- ties of morality, both of the first and second table, will be written upon the heart, and will, in some degree, be practised in the life, where the gospel is written in the heart, and where christianity is wrought in its power in the soul. But, . on the other hand, those who neglect the duties of the first table, or indulge themselves in a very careless performance of them; 'those who pass by the duties of the second table, and those relative en- gagements, which they lie under to their neighbour by the law of God, can never have the evidence within themselves, neither of the truth of christianity, nor of the truth of their own faith : They may be heathens, they may be heroes, they may be philosophers, theymay be any thing but Christians. 3d remark. Learn the true method of confirming your souls in the christian faith : seek daily greater de- grees of this divine life wrought in you. This advice is also hinted by the apostle John, in the: 13th verse, I have written these things to you concerning the witness ofchristianity, that consists in having eternal life begun in you, not only that ye may know ye have it, but that ye may 'go on to believe on the name of the Son of God. We have need in our day to be well seasoned with argu- ments against the dangers of the times, and the tempta- tions of the age in which we dwell. Christianity begins to be a stumbling-block, and the doctrine of the gospel is called folly; it is reproached to a very great and shameful degree, in a nation, which in public professes
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