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The Fourth Use that we make of the doctrine, is for Trial and Examination. Well, sirs, O put yourselves to the trial, lest you go down to the grave with a lie in your right hand. When God is saying, "There is a generation pure in their own eyes, yet not washed from their filthiness" a generation of self-conceited people, that are but deceiving themselves; it should put us to say," Master is it I?" And if we should suspect ourselves, were it said, "One of you shall betray me;" one of you shall deceive yourself: how much more, when it is said, a whole generation is thus set to deceive themselves about eternal salvation. Try if ever you have been humbled for, and delivered from this self-conceit. You may examine it by these things following.

1. Try it by the end you propose in doing any good action, or going about any good duty. The proud selfconceited man is always vain-glorious: "How can you believe, that seek glory one of another?" saith Christ, John v. 44. The man that seeks his own praise and applause thus Jehu, as you may see, 2 Kings x. 15, 16. "Is thy heart right as mine?" saith he to Jehonadab. Whereas the humble man hath always a better conceit of another person's heart than of his own, being always suspicious of himself; and so would rather say, when he meets with one like Jehonadab, O! is my heart right and upright as his is. Again, says Jehu to Jehonadab, "Come, see my zeal for the Lord:" yea, but true zealdesires not to be seen of any, but him who seeth in secret. If our lamp will not burn, without the oil of men's praise, it is a sign that self-conceit hath the predominant. I read of one, who, when in a monastery, fasted whole days together with ease; but in the desart he could not hold out till noon, but his belly would crave presently: when he demanded the reason of this, he had the following answer given, That in the monastery, the praise of man was instead of meat to him; he fed there upon it: which sustenance failing him, in the desart, his fasting strength failed also.

2. Try it not only by the end you propose, in doing good actions; viz. the glory of God, not daring to seek

yourself, if truly humbled; but examine it also by the manner of doing the duty; not daring to trust yourself, but affected with a sense of your own infirmity, resting wholly upon the power of God, to be perfected in your weakness. Self-conceit will venture upon any duty without fear, saying, with Peter, "Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I." But humility will venture upon nothing, without looking for the promised supply, saying, with Paul," Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God," 2 Cor. iii. 5.

3. Examine it by the issue of your religious duties; or your deportment after the doing thereof. Self-conceit will take the praise of the duty done, saying, with Nebuchadnezzar, Dan. iv. 30. “Is not this great Baby lon that I have built? But humility sends it back to the Lord, saying, with David, "Not unto us, not unto us; but to thy name be the glory,” Psal. cv. 1.

But, perhaps, it may be asked, Where will you find a man on earth, that is not tainted with this pride and self? To this it might be replied: thoughts of pride and vain-glory may rush into the heart of an humbled saint: yea, but they rest in the heart of a hypocrite. Again, if the saint sees himself, in the doing of any thing proud; then he is twice as humble afterward, because he was not humble. There may be some kind of humility in an hypocrite, and some remains of pride in a saint: but here is the difference; the hypocrite's humility makes him proud: whereas the saint's pride makes him humble. The hypocrite's humility is followed with pride, and the saint's pride is followed with humiliation. The hypocrite is proud, because he is humble; but the saint is humble on account of his pride. Thus Hezekiah's heart was lifted up: but it is said of him, 2 Chron. xxxii. 26. that he humbled himself for the pride of his heart. In a true believer, there is either the fore humility, helping him to do the duty right; or the after humility, exercising him for the doing the duty wrong, which is the most severe of the two. He hath either, as one saith, "the directing humility, for the right manner; or the "correcting humility, for the erroneous manner of do

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ing." If we can follow the sway of our own pride and vain-glorious affections, without all respect to God's glory, and yet never be truly humbled afterwards, this is evident hypocrisy, and an incontestible proof that we have not the least grain of sincerity. And, indeed, gospel-sincerity is many times more humbled for such mixtures of defilement in duty than for some actions simply evil in themselves.

4. Try this point by your severity against sin in yourselves. An hypocrite cannot endure sin in others: no, not so much as a mote in his brother's eye: though yet he can endure a beam in his own. A true believer is. ready to throw the first stone at himself; he will be ready to say more against himself, than any other can say against him he cannot wink at sins in himself, nor in his nearest and dearest relation. As he loves good in his greatest enemy; so he hates sin in his nearest friend.

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5. Examine it by your rejoicing at the graces, and grieving at the sins of others, as well as your own. The man that is pure in his own eyes, and selfish, if he can grieve for his own sins, he is not careful to grieve for the sins of others: this is suspicious, as if he grieved not for God's cause, or for the dishonours his own sins hath done to him; for, were he truly affected for the offence he himself hath done to God, then would he grieve also, that the sins of others, dishonour God, and stain his glory but he is grieved for his own sake, for fear of some evil procured to himself by his sin; which argues selflove rather than love to God.--Again, the man that is pure in his own eyes, and selfish, if he rejoices in his own graces, yet not in the graces of others; or when he sees the glory of God set forth by others, when he hath no hand in it himself: he is like the men of Ephraim, saying to Jephthah, "Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us?" Judges xii. 1. But the humble soul, in whom self is broken, can rejoice, and give praise and thanks, to hear or see that God is glorified, though he himself was not the instrument thereof. This appears to be the frame of Paul, Phil. i. 8. Though some preached Christ out of envy and vain-glory; yet, for the matter, sound,

though for the manner unsuitable; what was that to Paul, that Christ was truly preached? "Therein, says he, I do rejoice; yea, and will rejoice."

Examine yourselves by these things: judge and try yourselves, that you may not live in the dark, and still remain uncertain whether you are in a state of nature or grace.

The fifth use that we make of the doctrine, shall be for exhortation. O sirs, seek that the Lord would deliver you from self-conceit, and proud thoughts of yourselves. Here we might address three different kinds of persons. We might exhort the proud, to receive a word of terror; but having dropt a word of this nature, on the sixth inference on the use of information, we shall not here insist farther upon it.We might also speak a word to the humble, and advise them to receive a word of comfort: but having likewise insisted a little on this, on the fifth inference, on the above use of information, we shall refer to what was there offered. We might address ourselves to all in general: but as we offered something of this nature on the third particular on the second use, viz. of caution, we shall pass this by at the time also.

It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to flatter himself, and dream that he is rich, and increased in goods, and stands in need of nothing: and to think the best of himself: but yet nothing is more dangerous. It is dangerous to be flattered by another; "A man that flattereth his neighbour, spreadeth a net for his feet," Prov. xxix. 5. but, yet, it is more dangerous to flatter ourselves; for self-flattery spreads a net for our souls: and many souls are caught at last in this net. It is a great evil for a man to deceive another; but much more for a man to deceive himself: even so, it is a terrible thing for a man to kill another; yet it is still more dreadful for one to kill and destroy himself. But the evil and danger of it, I opened before.

Let us take heed then, and be jealous and suspicious of ourselves, especially when we find good conceits of ourselves arise in our hearts. And that we may not be -self-conceited, and pure in our own eyes, let us take these following directions, by way of antidote, with which I conclude the subject.

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QUEST. How may a man avoid this self-conceit, of judging of himself better than indeed he is?

ANS. The first antidote against self-conceit, is, "To "look well to ourselves, and our foul faces, in the glass "of the holy law." Many may vainly imagine their faces fair and clean, till they come to look in a glass ; and they no sooner look therein, but they see many spots and defilements which before they thought not of. So let us do here: let us examine ourselves by the law; examine what, and how much the law requires; and how far short we come of that purity, grace, and holiness that is there required: and then you will find little cause of falling in love with your Ethiopian face, or dote upon yourselves, when you see that you are so ugly and deformed: a sight of your deformity would keep you from self-conceit. When, in the glass of the law, you see your own defiled and deformed visage and monstrous shape, you will find little cause to be enamoured with your own beauty. Men are pure in their own eyes, because they do not make use of this looking-glass. When the commandment came, and Paul saw himself in this glass, then sin revived, and he died to all conceit of his own purity. When you view yourself in this glass, it will make you say the quite contrary to the young man in the gospel, None of all these things have I kept from my youth.

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The second antidote against self-conceit, is, "To take "a look of Christ's fair face in the glass of the gospel." This would be a mighty preservative: "Beholding as in a glass the glory of God, we are changed,” 2 Cor. iii. 18. When Job saw this sight, then he cries out, "Behold, I am vile: now, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." A sight of Christ's matchless beauty would make us lothe our deformity. A sight of his perfect righteousness, in its glory, would make us see and be humbled for our own guiltiness and sin.-If a foul faced person, who thinks himself handsome enough, set himself with a very beautiful person, to look into a glass together, the beautiful face, which he sees beside his own, will make him think very little of himself, when compared with the other. O! how infinitely more, if, with

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