DIALOGUE THE FIRST.

Wherein is shewn in what manner false Professors, and such as glory in their goodness, must be stript of their own righteousness, and learn to know their misery by nature. "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge; for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God; for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom. x. 2—4.

IN these words the Apostle has particularly in view false professors, who, prepossessed in their own favour, and depending upon their own righteousness, pass lightly over repentance and faith, and pretend to save themselves by the performance of certain works of piety, as if it could be done out of the communion of Jesus Christ, and without their having need of the reconciliation made by his blood. In like manner, I purpose to address myself to those persons who, calling themselves good and religious people, and endeavouring to pass in the world as such, have never ex

perienced in their souls the depth of their misery by nature, or any sincere desire produced by divine grace. It is intended to show them how delusive is the good opinion they entertain of themselves, and how much their vain self-sufficiency, with all its miserable assemblage of pretended good works, ought rather to cover them with confusion. It is not presumed that they are in possession of faith and godliness; all that is expected of them is, that they will suffer themselves to be conducted into the knowledge of their corruption, and that they will not oppose the truth, or fortify themselves in their self-righteousness.

Pastor. My dear friend, are you well assured of your salvation?

Disciple.-Yes, without doubt; why should I not be saved?

Pastor.-Have you then made a serious inquiry into that salvation on which you rely? Do you remember the time and place wherein you wrestled with God, by prayer and tears, to obtain the forgiveness of your sins, and that, not with the mouth only and negligently, but with fervor and perseverance? Have you experienced that solicitude and perplexity the soul is in when it fears being lost; when one cries, "Lord, save or I perish! Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 1 am lost, my God, unless thou help me, Ho

sea xii. 4.

Answer me, and give a reason for the hope that is in you.

Disciple. I pray to God night and morning; I read his word; I do no wrong to anybody, and I go regularly to church and the sacrament; so, I trust God will not reject me.

Pastor. I have been solicitous for you every time I have thought of your condition. It is true, I have judged charitably of you, observing that you are not so disorderly or profane as many others; but, by the knowledge God has given me of his truth, I have also remarked, that your hope of salvation is the creation of your own imagination, and not the work of God in your soul; that in thus seeking in yourself a false support, you build upon a quicksand, and that in relying upon it, you run the risk of falling into perdition. fact, it appears that you are yet a stranger to the corruption of your nature, and the poison of original sin with which the heart is infected; and also to the sovereign and only remedy for all our evils, which is the effectual grace of our Saviour, received by faith. Perhaps you will not credit what I say, but I feel myself constrained to declare it, and I am happy in having, to-day, an opportunity.

In

Disciple. I believe, however, in the Lord Jesus, and I put my trust in him.

Pastor.-I wish your declaration was true and sincere; but faith, and a firm confidence in the merits of the Saviour, are only found in a soul that deeply feels its great misery, and full of "godly sorrow," 2 Cor. vii. 10, perceives its state of sin and condemnation. It is to such poor souls the grace of the Gospel is proclaimed. The Son of God is come "to comfort those that mourn, and to bind up the broken-hearted," Isaiah Ixi. 1- 3. Many persuade themselves that they shall be saved; but when the foundation of their hope is examined, we discover that it rests upon the sand; that it cannot stand against the assaults of the enemy, and that it vanishes, like a shadow, before the light of divine truth. One relies upon the decency of his outward conduct; another upon the goodness of his disposition; a third upon the regularity of his attendance upon the ordinances, being, as St. Paul says, "touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless," Phil. iii. 6; and because, in his own eyes, he is better than others, he thinks he has faith, and a sure hope of salvation. But what faith and hope can that be, which is not fixed upon Jesus Christ, but upon oneself? True faith discovers to us our great misery and natural state of condemnation, conducts us to the Saviour, and unites us firmly to him, who is the propitiation for our sins, by his