Jesus Christ? Isaiah xlviii. 22; Rom. v. 1. Once your carnal mind was enmity to God. Rom. viii. 7. Is the love of God now shed abroad in your hearts, by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto you? Rom. v. 5. Once you loved not the people of God, nor their pious conversation, nor their strict and holy ways; do ye now love them, and rejoice in them as your favourite companions? 1 John iii. 14. Having once had no delight in prayer, in searching the Scriptures, in hearing the Word, and singing the praises of God, in holy meditation, and devout contemplation of divine things, do you now find these things the most gratifying and gladsome in which you can engage? Acts ix. 11; Psalms cxix. 97; 1 John i. 3; Psalms civ. 33, 34. Having once been openly wicked, or mere formalists, indisposed to a faithful and full dedication of your heart and life to God, do you now delight in the law of the Lord, and run with pleasure and with constancy in the way of his commandments? Psalms i. 2; Psalms cxix. 32. Having once been conformed to this world, do you now turn away from following it, and seek rather to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? Rom. xii. 2. Do you earnestly desire and diligently seek to have all the mind in you that was in Christ Jesus, and to walk as he also walked? Phil. ii. 5; John ii. 6. Are you constant in attending all the ordinances of his grace, that God may work in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure? Phil. ii. 13. Are you zealous for God, and anxious to promote the salvation of souls? Gal. iv. 18; Psalms lxvii. 2. Are you living as strangers and sojourners on earth, and looking forward in expectation of heaven, as that home and happiness on which your heart is set, and to which your steps are constantly directed? Psalms xxxix 12; 2 Pet. iii. 12.

Brethren, these are the points that require your serious investigation. We have referred you to the portions of the Word of God, where they are pointed out as the marks of his children, and we entreat you to turn to these portions in your Bibles, and to examine narrowly whether you be penitent or impenitent, believers or unbelievers, conwerted or unconverted, righteous or wicked, in the way to heaven, or in the broad way that leads to destruction? There will be only two divisions of men at the great day, and there are only two now. O inquire most diligently on which side you are.

Every Christian must feel the sentiment of the evangelical poet,

'Tis a point I long to know;

Oft it causes anxious thought;
Do I love the Lord or no,

Am I his, or am I not?

From these observations you will now easily perceive, in the fourth place, that the test by which you are to try yourselves is none other than the Word of God. It is by this same word that men will be judged at the last day. (John xii. 48.) And surely you should now examine by it, how you are prepared to meet that judgment. Here you find an unerring standard,-truth without mixture of error. Go then to the law and to the testimony. Isaiah viii. 20. Search the Scriptures, and bring your hearts and ways to a comparison with them, nor rest satisfied till you can produce Scripture evidence, as the reason of the hope that is in you. John v. 39.

Still farther, let us in the fifth place, entreat you to beware that you go not about this solemn matter without humble, fervent, and believing prayer, for the aid and influence of the Holy Spirit. James i. 5. Your minds are naturally dark, and he alone who first commanded light to shine out of darkness, can so shine into your hearts, and so shine upon his word, as to bring you to see yourselves as in a glass correctly. If you read with care the second chapter of the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, from the 10th verse, you will perceive that no man, unaided by the Spirit of God, can attain to a correct knowledge of divine things, but that this Spirit searcheth all things. Happy for you, he is promised to convince of sin, and to guide into all truth; and is given for these purposes to them that ask him. John xvi. 8, 13; Luke xi. 13. Let your prayer then be that of David, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Ps. cxxxix. 29.

We would now, in conclusion, urge you by two powerful motives to enter on, and to follow up, the investigation of your state before God.

Consider then, first, if you are indeed the genuine people of God, examination will tend much to forward you with rejoicing on your way to heaven. Pure gold loses nothing by the trial of it; but it shines more clearly. If you find you have Scripture evidence for believing

that you have passed from death unto life, why should you go mourning all your days? Your best friend says, Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright. You have reason to rejoice that you have been brought from the "fearful pit and miry clay" of a state of nature, and that your feet have been set upon a rock, Christ Jesus, and your ways have been established in the road to Zion. You have reason also to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Be ye steadfast and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Be ye faithful to the death, and the Lord will give you a

crown of life.

Consider, as a second motive, that if you find you are in the gall of bitterness, and in bonds of iniquity, the disclosure, however distressing, will tend to your best interests. Could there be any thing more ruinous to you, than to say, "Peace, peace, when God has not spoken peace?" nay, when he is angry with you every day? You might indeed glide down the stream of time in a state of insensibility for a little; but soon, very soon, would you arrive at a fearful precipice, and downward plunge at once into everlasting sorrow. Then would you learn the awful secret of your being without Christ and without salvation, but mercy would be clean gone for ever, the Lord would be favourable no more, and the impenitent must lie down in everlasting despair.

But now it is not too late. If you know that you are miserable and guilty sinners, and awake in alarm under the conviction of it, you may also know that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and that he says, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and besides me there is none else."-Isa. xlv. 22. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."-Acts xvi. 31. You shall be saved from the guilt of sin, "for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."-Rom. viii. 1. You shall be saved

from the pollution of sin; for he says, "A new heart will I give you, and a right spirit will I put within you."Ezek. xxxvi. 26. You shall be saved from the power of sin, for he says, Sin shall not have dominion over you."Rom. vi. 14. And you shall be saved from the punishment of sin, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."-Johm iii. 16.

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P. S.-We have often seen much good to result from a system of asking questions not only on catechisms and the Scriptures, but on sermons also; and we regret much that the good old Scottish custom of devoting a part of the evening of the Sabbath, to the examination of children and servants in this way, has been so little practiced amongst us. To make an effort for reviving this most useful exercise, we intend to add a few questions to the end of each essay, to assist parents in the good work; and they will find the answers printed in italics, to enable themselves to see them more readily. If they try this exercise on the first Sabbath evening of the month, with the aid of The Orthodox Presbyterian, they will perhaps be led to continue it with chapters in the Bible, and the sermons they may hear or read on other Sabbaths, to the great advantage of their families. We would recommend that, in entering on this exercise, every member of the family that can read, should have a Bible in hand, and turn to the principal portions of the Scripture quoted; and let one or other of them read them aloud out of the Bible as they occur; and let the parent stop to allow time for finding and reading. This will familiarize them with the Word of God, and teach them to draw saving truth from that sacred source.

As the divine blessing alone can render any means we employ useful, prayer for this blessing should close the exercise; and to assist in this solemn duty also, a short prayer will be added to every essay, embodying the principal points contained in it. May the Lord seal and sanction all by his heavenly grace!

QUESTIONS ON THIS ESSAY. WHAT is the subject of this essay? What four things should we prove? What kind of creatures are we that What says the Lord on this subject? appear? What will Satan try?

What is the text? What especially? we should do so? Where must we all

How are we to prove ourselves? Is it by comparison with our fellow-creatures? Why not? Is it by our former selves? Why not? May we be reformed and not regenerated? Give examples. What must be right in the sight of God? What great point then are we to ascertain? What do the Scriptures call this change? Where do they describe it? What are we on the whole narrowly to

examine? How many divisions of men will there be at the great day? How many are now? Repeat the poetry. What is the test by which we are to try ourselves? Why by the word of God? For what are we to pray when we go about this examination? Why should we seek this influence? What part of the Scripture shows the necessity of the Holy Spirit to teach us the things of God? What is the first motive to induce us to prove ourselves? What is the second?

A PRAYER ADAPTED TO THIS SUBJECT.

ALMIGHTY God, who searchest all hearts, and understandest all the imaginations of the thoughts, enable us to prove our own selves, and to know our state, as we are known to thee. Thou hast made us capable of reflection; yet how often, Lord, have our thoughts, like the fool's eyes, been wandering to and fro through the earth, neglecting to turn inwards, and examine our own selves. Thy word has called us to consider our ways, but alas! Lord, how thoughtless have we been, how unwilling to search our hearts, how slow to turn unto the Lord. Thou hast warned us of an approaching judgment, but how little have we prepared for it! Great God, have mercy upon us, and abundantly pardon our sins. Save us from the temptations of Satan, convert us to thyself, and heal our diseased souls.

And O suffer us not to deceive ourselves by imagining, because we are not as other men are, we are therefore approved of thee; or that because we have been reformed in our outward conduct, we have been therefore renewed in heart. We have all, by nature, been as an unclean thing, and our very righteousness hath been as filthy ragsO grant the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost to be shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that our hearts, being made right in the sight of God, we may be enabled in our lives to show forth thy praise. Help us to deal faithfully with our souls in bringing them to the standard of thy holy word; and open our eyes that we may behold the wonders of thy law, and the beauty of thy holiness. Thou wilt soon make an awful separation between the righteous and the wicked; give us grace now to judge ourselves, that we may not be condemned of the Lord.

Withhold not, O God, thy Spirit from us, for without