SERMON XLVI. 53 sorrow whohavethe holy evidences of election upon me, who am chosen and prepared of God for everlasting happiness r' Let us walk in thisdaily practice, in this joy of the Holy Spirit, and wait for a rich and abundant entrance into the kingdom and glory of our Lord and Saviour. The third thing I-proposed to mention was the abuses of this awful doctrine. There is nothing so true, so sacred and so.divine, but it may be abused through the wickedness, or the weakness of the hearts of men and the temptations of the evil one. Abuse I. One abuse of this doctrine is when we pervert it to nourish presumption, and to indulge our sloth and negli- gence, when we sit with folded hands like the sluggard in the neglect of duty, or allow ourselves in a course of sin upon this pretence, " That if I am elected I shall be called and sanctified, and saved ; the grace of God will take hold of me some time or other, and bringme to faith, and holiness, and eternal life." Answer I, Do you dare venture to argue ,thus foolishly in the common affairs of thislife, or to actunder the influenceof such arguments ? ' You believe that God has determined the time of your` continuance in this wórld, and do you liuti; idle and refuse to procure food, or to partake ofit on this pretence, that God will prolong your life to his appointed hour, and that he will provide food for you, and make you eat and drink if he design you shall live ? No : You apply yourselves with diligence to obtain your daily bread, and to partake of it ; you take care to make useof the appointed means, to preserve natural life notwithstanding God's _decree ; and why do you not practise the same with re- gard to your salvation, and seek after faith andholiness as the ap- pointed means ? But it is a sign you value eternal lifeat avery low rate, if you will venture the lossof it upon such a weak pre- tenceas youdare not trust to in the things of this life. That man that goes down to the grave, or goes down to hell upon these principles perishes like a fool, and deserves to perish., II. Electing grace as it works in Galling and converting us to faith and holiness, generally operates in so gentle, so imper- ceptible a manner, and so suitable to our natural faculties by awakening them to seek after heaven, that we can hardly dis- tinguish it from the operation of our own spirits, but by theblessed effects of it; and if we will never stir up ourselves and our na- tural powers to seekafter the salvation of Christ, it isadangerous sign that we are not elected. For though divine grace be really the first agent in our salvation, yet it never doth violence toour natural powers, nor will it ever save us without our own activity únd diligence in duty.
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