have reason to think, that the Lord gave the man a broad fight of all his other impieties. When the Lord lights a candle in a finner's bofom, though fome one great fin occurs firft, yet he quickly turns to others, and looks through the ugly heart that was never feen before, and fees it full of fins. The Lord tells finners fometimes all that ever they did, by telling them one fin; and thus no doubt it was with the jaylor. In the

10. And last place, the pofture the poor man is in when he puts the melancholy question, What muft I do to be faved? deferves our notice; he is - fallen upon his face; not to worship: this the apoftles would not have permitted, as they did not upon other occafions: but either it is only a civil respect he pays them after the fashion of fupplicants in the eastern countries; or his trembling legs were not able to fupport his body; or partly the one, and partly the other occafioned this po

fture.

The next thing that falls under our confideration, is the answer which the apoftles give to the jaylor's question, Believe on the Lord Jefus Chrift, and thou shalt be faved and thy house. This contains the fubftance of the gofpel; and it is this part of the words we principally defign to infist on. I fhall refer the explication of them, till fuch time as I have done with what is defigned from the question; because I do not incline to burden you with too tedious an explicaton of the words.

From the queftion itself then, according to the account juft now given of its meaning, we shall lay before you, and difcourfe of this one doctrinal propofition.

"A finner that is awakened and foundly con"vinced of fin, and of mifery its necessary confe

"quent and companion, will lay falvation ferionfly to heart; or will with concern put the questi"on, What must I do to be faved?"

This we fee is the firft fruit of conviction in the jaylor, Sirs, What must I do to be faved? This was the immediate refult of conviction in the awakened converts, Acts ii. 37. And thus it will be with all who are indeed awakened and convinced of fin, unless there be some such concomitant circumstances as hinder it neceffarily, of which anon.

In difcourfing this doctrine, we fhall,

I. Premife a few things for clearing the do&trine.

II. Enquire what this falvation is, which awakened finners seek after.

III. We fhall endeavour to give fome account of this concern about falvation, which is the refult of conviction.

IV. We fhall fhew why it is that convinced finners do lay falvation to heart. Now, of each of thefe in order.

I. We begin with the firft, and for clearing our doctrine, we offer to your confideration a few propofitions.

1. Conviction is that fight of fin and mifery which finners get, when the spirit of God presents them to the foul's view, in their nature, and their neceffary connection with one another, together with the finner's intereft and concernment in them; and that in fo clear a light, that he cannot but take notice of them. (1.) We fay the fpirit of God fets fin and mifery in their own nature before the finner's eyes, in a clear light. There is no man who has not fome apprehenfions of fin and mifery; every one difcourfes of these things.

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Education, the difpenfation of the word, and conEverfe have begot fome notions of fin in every body's mind: but for any clear difcoveries of fin in its nature, few have them. The thoughts of men about fin, are, for the most part, like the thoughts of a man who never faw a toad with a full light: if any man fhould tell him how lothfom a crea ture it were; and withal, in the twilight fhew him one, when he could not distinguish it from a piece of curious jet lying by it, he would not be much affected with the account, nor would his thoughts of its deformity and uglinefs anfwer the thing it. felf: but if the Sun fhould dart down a beam of its light upon the lothfom creature, the man would fee it, and it may be then his flesh would begin to fhrink, and it would fill him with averfion. Just fo is it with unconvinced finners: they fee fin, but it is only in the twilight of reafon, education, or the external difpenfation of the word; therefore they are not affected with it, nor do they fee any peculiar deformity in it, until the Spirit of God let in a ray of fupernatural light, and then this very quickly fills the foul with a view of its exceeding finfulness, which makes the heart begin to fhrink at it, and entertain it with averfi on. The cafe is juft the fame with refpect to that mifery that is the confequent and companion of fin. Till once the Lord make bare his arm, in the finner's view, and caft in fome drops of wrath into his foul, with a certification that these are but drops, he will never be duly affected with it. (2.) The Spirit of God in conviction not on ly prefents fin and mifery to the foul in their own nature, but likewife in their connection. God has linked fin and hell together. It always was fo, but finners do not always think fo. Groundless

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apprehenfions of God, as if he were all mercy, his patience in forbearing the execution of fuch as deferve double deftruction,, the fubtil reafonings of Satan, the world and deceitful lufts, either beget a perfuafion that fin and wrath may be separate, or elfe a fufpicion that it is not certain that they are fo linked together, as the word fays, and ministers aver. But the Spirit of God presents the two in their dependence and connection, in fuch a light to the finner's mind, that he cannot but believe that there is no parting them. (3.) The Spirit of God difcovers to the finner how deeply he is concerned in fin, and confequently in that wo that is linked to it. He not only lets him fee the toad crawling at a distance, but upon his very clothes. He not only tells him that a certain man has finned, as Nathan did in the parable; but applies the parable, and fays, Thou art the man. He not only lets the finner fee hell and fin linked together; but alfo lets him fee the one end of the chain, fin, faftened to himself: and all this he difcovers with fuch clearness, as obliges the finner to notice it.

2. We premise this, That there are different degrees of conviction, and that both as to its clearnefs, extent and continuance. Upon fome perfons, fome faint rays break in, and open their eyes fomewhat above nature's power, letting them fee a little more clearly. Upon others there come in full beams, discovering all diftinctly, like the Sun fhining in his ftrength. Again, fome difcover only a few; others get under their view many fins the light that shines upon fome, is only like a flath of lightening, that fills the houfe with furprifing light, and is prefently gone again; or like the warm blinks of the Sun before a fhower, which

are

are presently gone, and the fky filled with dark clouds. So various are convictions, as to their degrees of clearnefs, extent and continuance. Thefe convictions which are only faint, and reach only to a few fins, we are not here speaking of, when we fpeak of a finner that is throughly awakened or convinced.

3. The iffues and confequences of conviction are no lefs various. Thefe fainter difcoveries of fin, which many meet with in the difpenfation of the word, or by awakening providences, ufually carry people the length of fome faint defires after deliverance; or if they rife higher, it feldom goes further than good refolutions, and there they die. The great flashes of light, which dart into the minds of fome, very often mifcarry, and turn to nothing. It is much with the perfons who fall under them, as it is with a man that is awakened by a flash of lightening that darts into his bed: the noise of a thunder-clap that comes along with it, may make the man ftart up before he is well awaked; and the light unexpectedly discovering many things, occafions a great confufion in his mind; but prefently the noife is over, and the light gone, and then the natural temper of his body, the foftnefs and ease of the bed he lies in, do invite him afresh to fleep; and though by the light that came in, he might fee the room full of enemies, he is easily perfuaded that all was but illufions of fancy, and therefore he lays himself down again,and falls faft afleep. Thus it is with many: they hear the thunderings of the law in the preaching of the word, and fometimes the Spirit of God lets a beam of light into the heart with them, that fills all the foul with fear, difcovering the deadly foes that are lodged and fecretly entertained there; this

makes