pieces as an Anatomy before God then he offers all his Resolutions and Designs to be examined by that Spirit that searches all things And truly whoever shall refuse to undergo this Trial has reason to doubt that there is some Hypocrisie remaining in him some falsness of Heart some allowance of Sin some way of Wickedness that he cannot yet bring himself to part with We must not think that 't is the priviledge only of some few Saints to appeal to God in such a Case as this no Man can say his Prayers without doing that which amounts to the same thing he cannot ask forgiveness of God without a penitent Heart and no one can be said to repent without a sincere endeavour to avoid all Sin for the future of which Resolution he knows that God is the Judge The Integrity of the Heart does not oblige any one to say that he has never sinned or that he has no Inclinations to Evil or that he has already obtain'd a Victory over all his sensual and worldly Desires or that he can promise to himself never to fall into Sin again these are not the things that are necessarily requir'd to make good the Iutegrity of the Heart but if we have seriously considered our ways and do utterly abhor every thing that is Evil if our good Resolutions are fixed and our Prayers are wholly bent toward the pleasing of God in newness of Life then are we such true Penitents and such sincere Christians as God will approve of even when he himself has searched our Hearts and known our Thoughts then are we such as he will carry on to greater perfection as he will lead in the way Everlasting Which is the 3d. and Last thing to be considered viz. That 't is only this Sincerity and Integrity of the Heart that can entitle us to the favourable assistance of God whereby he will lead us in the way Everlasting Where there is not an honest Heart there can be expected no fruit of righteousness Sincerity is the only Soil wherein the word of God can be truly planted and where the Graces of the Gospel can spring and flourish When we see men lead unprofitable Lives under the influence of good Instruction under the outward Observances of Religion and under all the real Advantages of being very eminently vertuous if they were not wanting to themselves then we may be sure that they are not sound at Heart that all their Religious Actions are blasted by some secret Hypocrisie and that they cannot prosper in Holiness by reason of some reserved Sin There is some gainful Injustice that they will not yet lay aside there are some frauds and cheats that they will not yet seperate from their Imployments and Callings there is some lurking Revenge which they have not yet accomplished some Malice which they desire to execute or some Sensuality which they know not how to renounce and if there be any of these ways of Wickedness in many professed Christians no wonder that they do not thrive in Piety and that their Souls grow thin and meagre under the best Provisions in Religion and the greatest Plenty of the Gospel There is some accursed thing some secret consciousness of an unrepented Guilt that spoils those Duties which they cannot wholly neglect and yet from which they receive but little benefit whilst their Souls are in such a wretched condition divided between God and the World they do every thing deceitfully and with a double Heart instead of repenting they only prevaricate with God instead of confessing their Sins they try to palliate them when they should search their Corruptions they only cover it and when they should heal their wounded Souls they only skin them over That which we read in the Text if there be any wicked way in me the Margint of our Bibles has it if there be any way of Pain or Grief in me and it is most certain that where there is not an Integrity of Heart there men will find no comfort in Religion the Ways and Commandments of God are always grievous to such they walk in the Paths of Duty with a Leg that was broken and is not well set but has still some Splinters in it that put them to continual Pain They come to God with a trembling and a king Heart and can have no Confidence no filial Trust and Relyance when they appear before him there is some root of bitterness within that spoils the relish of all their Religious Duties They pray but without Faith and Devotion they do many things in Religion but without a true Principle of Obedience they sometimes receive the Sacrament but 't is with horror rather then gladness of Soul with fear of eating and drinking their own Damnation rather then with raised Affections and a Spiritual Appetite Believe it there is no Strength no Proficiency no Comfort to be found in Religion unless you can bring your Hearts to renounce all ungodliness and every wicked way Unless you cleanse your selves from all Maliciousness Injustice Hatred and Contentions Sensuality and Pride from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit But if upon a serious Examination we find our selves to be sincere and that we are willing to please God in all things according to our Understandings and according to our Power then we may promise to our selves a gracious Acceptance of our honest and diligent Endeavours a protection and guidance of our Persons in our lawful Callings and Imployments and a favourable construction of our unvoluntary Slips and Infirmities Then God and his Holy Angels will be ready to asist us to preserve us from Dangers to arm us against Temptations to lead us in Truth and Righteousness in Piety and Vertue which is the sure the certain the everlasting way Where there is no design or purpose of Wickedness there the Heart is prepared for God to write all his Laws upon it and as it increases in purity it will be capable of receiving his Laws in a deeper Impression and a fairer Character Sincerity in the lowest degree is the true Image of God on the Soul thô drawn but in weak Colours a proficiency in Holiness will add a further perfection to it and quickly give it a stronger Life The honest Mind receives new Illumination from the Spirit that searches it and the Thoughts of that Conscience must needs be more awful where God has been more eminently present Goodness and Power and Wisdom and Mercy delight to encamp about all those who are fully resolved to serve God in the Integrity of their Hearts they have a disposition that fits them to receive the Influences of the Spirit whereby they shall be mightily strengthened in the inner Man they have a worthiness to be admitted to the highest Mysteries of the Christian Religion to the nearest Communion with God in Holy Duties where they shall find their good Resolutions confirmed their pious Purposes encouraged their honest Affections rais'd and their Sincerity advanc'd into further degrees of Established Virtue and whilst they keep on in the plain Path of Duty and an upright Conversation they shall be safely conducted thrô this Wilderness of Temptation and Misery to the Blessed Mansions of Everlasting Peace and Glory Now to God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Praise and Thanksgiving now and for Ever more FINIS
may give Alms out of a Principle of Vain-glory make long Prayers as a Preface to Injustice Fast and Mortifie only to appear Devout receive the Sacrament in compliance only with Custom and the expectation of Neighbours They may Read the Bible out of Curiosity or in order to make Objections against it or only to fill their Memories with its Phrases without considering the Wisdom and Holiness of those Writings or without making them a Rule of Faith and a Law of Life And many may come to Church only to make their best Appearance and to be Diverted rather than Edified by a Sermon whereas the only solid and lasting Principle of these and such like Duties is a Sense of our Obligation to God a complying with his Authority and Will a Design of promoting his Glory by our hearty and ready Obedience and of saving our Souls in the Day of the Lord. There are some secular Considerations which may come in as Vnder-Motives to our Duty because God has been pleas'd to make use of them to invite us to Vertue and Holiness such as a good Name or fair Reputation in the World Health and Plenty and Length of Days which are represented in the Book of Proverbs as the Noble Retinue and the Lovely Attendants of true Wisdom and Piety such as serve to make her Amiable and Glorious in the Eyes of all People and therefore must be allowed to have some attracting Force in them and to be inducements to a good Life but then we must take care that they be so in a subordinate manner that they be not the chief and principle Things for which we are willing to serve God for these outward Advantages are but Accidental or the usual Blessings of an ordinary Providence they are not the certain Fruits of Righteousness or its Essential Reward Persecutions Afflictions and a calamitous State of Affairs may hinder us of those Ornaments of Vertue and spoil us of those Motives to Religion but nothing can break our good Purposes when they are Bottom'd upon the true Principle the Authority and Will of God In quiet Times and when the Age is in good Temper Religion may be very profitable even towards the bettering of our Circumstances in this World it may bring us to great Honour and place us in the Favour and Esteem of most People It may be attended by Riches and Plenty and the fairest Accommodations of this Life and all the while none of these splendid things may in the least abate of the sincerity of our Hearts because we are resolv'd to continue in the same design of serving God tho' he should take away the Hedge that is about us And tho' his Providence should deliver us over to bitter Trials yet with Holy Job we would hold fast our Integrity Vertue is always Virtue and Duty is ever Duty to the sincere Christian his outward Condition or his Fortune may alter but his Heart and his good Intentions are still the same His Eye is upon God and his Laws upon his Immutable Nature and Holiness That is his Compass to Saile by in the Voyage of Life and let it be never so Dark and Cloudy he still Steers on All other Motives may vary and change but the Fear and Love of God is our sure Direction and will establish us in the right way As Sincerity has respect to the Principle upon which we are to act so the Integrity of the Heart has respect to all the Commandments of God it will not consist with a Partial Obedience it will not allow of any one Sin tho' mens Constitutions and Natures their Business and Imployments the Examples of the Age and the Vitious Customs of the World plead ever so hard for the retaining of that one Sin for the allowance of any one Sin which we know to be such is a direct Violation of the Authority of God and is inconsistent with a State of Pardon and Grace If we be contented that there remain any way of Wickedness in us we have not yet truly Repented neither can we expect that our Prayers should be heard for if we regard Iniquity in our Hearts the Lord will not hear us What the Psalmist here calls any Wicked way we may understand either of a habit and course of Sin or of any Indulgence to any one beloved Lust or of any secret Design and Purpose of committing any Evil whatever If there be any thing of this Nature permitted to remain within our Souls we have not that Integrity of Heart which God indispensably requires to make our Repentance true and our Religious Service acceptable to him But then we should do well to consider That the Integrity of the Heart is to be judg'd of by the Truth and Seriousness of our Resolutions and Endeavours both to discover what ways of Wickedness there are in us and then to put them from us and to guard our selves against them for the future by an honest and hearty Diligence As to some Remains of Corruption some Tendencies towards Evil some Strivings of the Flesh with the Spirit some sort of Infirmities and Slips which are not seperable from the strictest Life and some Defects and Imperfections in our best Actions These are the Misery and Burden of our Fallen Nature these are Matter for the Exercise of a continual Humiliation and notwithstanding these Infirmities our Hearts may be right with God when we allow ourselves in no way of Wickedness in no Course of Sin in no Indulgence of Appetites in no Design of complying with any evil Thoughts Desires and Tendencies but sincerely endeavour to suppress and weaken the Remains of our Corruption and to perfect Holiness in the fear of the Lord. Thus we see what is that Sincerity and Integrity of Heart which God indispensably requires from all of us to qualifie us for his Pardon and Grace and to make us true and real Christians Sincerity requires that we serve God upon a Right Principle without Hypocrisie and with a due Sense of his Authority and good Pleasure Integrity calls for our Resolution and Endeavour to obey all the Commandments of God without making a Reserve for any way of Wickedness whatever The 2d Thing I propos'd was how we may best judge of this Sincerity and Integrity of our Hearts viz. by examining of our own Consciences to that degree as to be willing to appeal to God's Omniscience in that Matter Search me O God and know my Heart Try me and know my Thoughts The Examining and Searching of our own Hearts is a necessary and a difficult Duty all pretend to it but there are few I fear who perform it thoroughly Most People will allow it to be a requisite Forerunner to the Receiving of the Blessed Sacrament and before the Solemn Festivals they will generally set aside some time to consider of their ways and Lives But do they find it an easie matter to descend into themselves and to search to the bottom of their Souls Is there
not a natural Averseness in Man to behold his own Deformity or at least to acknowledge it to be such Can a Man be easily brought to search and probe his own Wounds Will not he presently draw back his Hand and think he has done enough before he has gone half way or before he has reach'd to the Bottom and Core of his Disease When men knock at the Door of their own Hearts are not Self-love and Pride and Security ready to step out and to tell them all is well If they be so resolute as to make a further Entrance they discover perhaps a great many Sins but they are so Painted and Varnished over by Pretences and Excuses taken from the Customs and Examples of the World that they hardly know how to condemn themselves for entertaining such modish and fashionable Guests If they chance to be somewhat more inquisitive and to open another Scene in their Hearts they find perhaps a multitude of strong and confirmed Habits of Sin which have dwelt there a long time and now plead Possesion They think it almost impossible to get out these setled and rooted Inhabitants and now they are come to such Strength to such a twisted and multiply'd Interest they think they had better be let alone than disturb'd to no purpose If they still go on to make a deeper Search behold there appears a Fountain of Evil continually bubling up into impure Desires sensual Lusts worldly Designs and vile Imaginations then they presently conclude That this is that which men call Original Sin the bed of Corruption the brackish Fountain of Impure Streams which Poisons all our Nature And as to this they think it sufficient to acknowledge that there is such a Noisome Dungeon in every Man's Heart as well as in theirs that there is no Obligation to cleanse it but to lament and bewayle themselves for it is enough Thus we see how some who undertake a self-examination may be lead through all the Apartments of Sin and Wickedness without much concern and be impos'd upon by a train of cheats and delusions and think there is little for them to correct and amend because they have not yet discover'd the great cheat of all the Decitfulness of their own Hearts For if they had found out that and been well aware of it they would soon have confess'd that no fashionable Customs of the World no Growth no strength of Habits could be any excuse for Wilful Sin and that Original Corruption was no such Torrent of Evil but that it might be weakned and diverted and that they were mens actual and voluntary Sins which fed and heightned that Fountain and made it so often over-flow that Repentance and Prayer and Watchfulness and a constancy in good Duties might easily keep it within its Bounds and reduce it to that low State that tho' it might sometimes make attempts against a Life of Vertue yet it should seldom prevail in such Instances as could be interpreted to interrupt a Course of Goodness But now if People would examin their Hearts to some purpose they must allow themselves a considerable time to do it in especially those who have not accustom'd â—hemselves to this Duty already they must set about it with much thoughtfulness and concern they must make themselves very sensible of the horrid Nature of Sin and that there is no escaping the Wrath of God if they wilfully retain Iniquity in their Hearts they must be very careful that they be not impos'd upon in this so necessary a Work by the Wiles of Satan by the prevailing Vitiousness of the Age by the Treachery and Deceitfulness of their own Hearts They must recal as many particular Transgressions as they can and work into their Minds a more earnest and ready Watchfulness against those Sins which their Constitutions and their Callings and their way of Life and their frequent Falls have made them most liable to They must compare their Actions with the Rule of God's Word with the Vows and Engagements they have already made with the strictness of that profession they are under and with the Spiritual Nature of those Rewards they are preparing themselves to receive And if they would be further satisfy'd of the Sincerity and Integrity of their Hearts they cannot refuse the Appealing to God's Omniscience that they are serious and hearty in what they are doing that they really design to get a full Knowledge of themselves that they are not willing to conceal or cover any one Sin but that having made such Discovery of their Hearts as they are well able to attain to they are willing and desirous that God would try them further by that Word of his which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword that is able to divide asunder the Soul and Spirit the Joynts and Marrow and is a clear discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart That if it may be for their further good God would melt them down in the Furnace of Afflictions and then make them sensible what Dross there was adhering to them what mixture of Impurity which nothing but that Fire could have reveal'd These are Trials which cannot be propos'd and desir'd but by an Honest Heart which must needs give us a testimony and Comfortable assurance that we are Sincere and that it is our full purpose to serve God all our days and in all the Circumstances of our Lives with clear Sincerity and Integrity of Heart especially if we give our selves some leasure to consider what we do when we make this Solemn Appeal to God and with David in this Psalm imploy our Minds for some time on the Spiritual Nature and Omniscience of God before we desire to be Try'd and Prov'd and Examin'd by it He confesses that it was God that made him and that saw his Substance before it was fashion'd into the curious fabrick of an Humane Body That 't was his secret power that fram'd the wonderful structure that fitted all the innumerable parts with due proportion and Contexture and made it a suitable Habitation for an Immortal Soul He confesses how the same Spirit and power is present to all the thoughts of his Heart that there are no foldings no dark recesses that can conceal any thing from him that all the branchings of his Soul the imaginations of his Heart the compass of his conversation are register'd in his Book no night no retirement that can shut out God no hiding from his Spirit thô he should travel into the remotest Countries or remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea nay thô he should go down into Hades and make his abode in the Regions of departed Souls even there his Power and his Hand would find him out And when he had with such deliberation and exactness consider'd and acknowledg'd the Omniscience of God and view'd it in several Lights and imprinted it on his Mind by variety of Expressions then he offers his whole Heart to be taken in