tle divides believing and confession: Rom. x. 9, 10. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Pray observe, if a man believe with the heart, he is not only possessed of righteousness, and stands clothed with it before God; but salvation is secured to him, by virtue of that righteousness too. Yet you see, that the apostle carefully shuns the dividing these two, faith and confession, righteousness in the one, salvation in the other: Confession is made, says he, unto salvation. After we are once possessed of the righteousness of Christ by faith, we only want complete salvation, and we must go on confessing his name till we be possessed of it. It is observable, that of all the hells upon earth that ever a true believer fell into, most of them have been upon this account, when the violence of temptation hath prevailed upon the people of God, in a day of trial, to abandon their profession. What sad instances have we of some of the most eminent saints and servants of God, that have been left of God in a day of trial, that have left their profession, and have been tortured in their souls till they have returned to it again, though with the peril of their lives? A stout and free adhering to the profession of their faith, was commonly attended with joy and peace in believing : and denying thereof, and complying with the course of this world, what sad smart did it raise in their consciences.

III. The third and last thing is, How this is to be done? I shall not now insist upon all things I thought of, with respect to this, how a Christian is to hold fast his profession. I shall only direct the exhortation these three ways:

1. Hold fast the profession of your faith before God. If you ever have called God your God and Father, never eat in these words again. How sorry and pitiful, but common a matter is it, that a believer will call God his God confidently in the morning, and may be in the dark evening call him by another name? Thou shalt call me, My God, and shalt not depart from me: it is a promise the Lord makes; the Lord fu!fil it to us.

2. We must learn to hold fast the profession of our faith before the devil. Whenever Satan and we come together, he

begins to assault; then be sure to keep the profession of your faith; hold it fast. Above all, says the apostle Paul, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be darts of the wicked, Eph. vi. 16. Peter, 1 Epist. v. 9. Whom resist

able to quench all the fiery So also So also says the apostle stedfast in the faith, knowing

that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are

in the world.

3. We should be careful to hold fast the profession of our faith before the world. The world has a sharp sight into the infirmities of the saints, but is quite blind as to their virtues : They cannot see these: they cannot see the beauty of the inward man; but they can see the spots in the conversation of the people of God, and they will be careful to take notice of them, and to make more of them than they are. The more captious the world be, the more careful saints should be in their conversations: Be blameless and harmless, says the apostle, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked, and perverse nation, holding forth the word of life, &c. Phil. ii.

15, 16.

I would only, before leaving this head, name a few things that make this holding fast of our profession very hard, and should make us the more diligent in the exercise of faith, that we may get strength from the author of our faith to maintain the profession of it.

1st, It is very hard to keep the profession of our faith without wavering, when sin is in the conscience. The law of God enters there, and a man sees his own iniquity. Peter perhaps had made no profession of his faith before; but if he had, he renounced it when he spoke those ungodly words, Depart from me. What a Christian pray Christ to leave him; is that spoke like a believer? But the sense of sin was raised in him, upon the appearance of divine power in that great work of Christ.

2dly, It is very hard to keep the profession of our faith without wavering, when we see a rod in an angry God's hand, and feel the smart of it upon our own backs. To think the same thing of God, to have the same kind thoughts of Christ, and lively hopes of heaven, in this case as formerly, is hard indeed. Job was a man that held fast the profession of his

faith, without wavering, at a mighty rate, when he said, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him; but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him, Job xiii. 15, 16. As if he had said, "I defy all hypocrites in the world to say so." Is there any but a believer, and a stedfast one, who is able to say, A God slaying me shall be my God.

3dly, It is hard to keep the profession of our faith without wavering, when there is a furnace of mens wrath for our profession, and when there are great hazards a man is exposed to for his profession. This has tried many a man's profession. There are signal instances of this in the 3d and 6th chapters of Daniel. The furious king and the fiery furnace was just before the three children: "Now," says Nebuchadnezzar," will you fall down, and worship my gold"en image, or no? Will you profess still your faith in "God?" "Yes," say they, "whether he deliver us, or no, "we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image "which thou hast set up." Danicl would not forbear his praying in usual times and places, and usual circumstances, for all the danger of death thereby. This was the confession of his faith.

4thly, It is hard to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, in the sight and feeling of unbelief. When a poor creature finds unbelief in him, yet, notwithstanding, to adhere to, and hold fast the profession of his faith, is no easy matter. He was a young believer for time, but an old skilful believer for stedfastness, that gave that answer to our Lord, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief; "I own faith in the "face of unbelief, in the feeling of it." Thereupon it is that that word turns; I suppose afgood part of the meaning of it is this that I drive at, 2 Tim. ii. 12, 13. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us: If we believe net, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself. Pray observe, If we believe not, if we have not the faith, that strength of faith that the case calls for; yet his faithfulness will take care of securing a gracious issue: for the meaning cannot be, if you have no faith at all; but if your faith be weak, and be not in that high measure the case calls for, the Lord will take

care to support it; and he has done so many times to many of his people, and they have been only obliged to God's faithfulness in keeping his word.

ment.

Lastly, It is hard to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, in the sight of death and judgment. That is the great trial of a man's profession of his faith: this is the great wind, and storm, and rain, that beats upon the house, and tries how well it is built. It is an easy matter to make a profession in a fair day, and keep to it; but when this storm. comes, it is a great matter to hold it fast. How many sad instances are there? Many, nay most Christians unconcernedly sit down, and think sometimes that they have faith enough for their daily work; but they do not know what provision they have for this great trial, the very foresight of death and judg Death looks near, when it enters, as it were, deeply into the meditation and thought of the heart of a poor sinner. Canst thou maintain the hope thou professedst the other day? canst thou look on death and judgment as near at hand, and say, "I retain the same confidence and hope of eternal life, "that I had when I thought these things were afar off?” The apostle therefore did express his faith extraordinarily, and professed it highly, when he sang, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law: but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 55, 56, 57. He reckons himself, by faith, as sure of the victory, as if already possessed of it. The believer can, by a strong faith, sing the praise of victory, before the battle be half ended for the apostle Paul had not yet known what death and the grave were; he knew them only by faith, and knew who had overcome death, and knew that he had an interest in him that had overcome both.

SERMON III.

HEBREWS X. 23.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that hath promised.

I HAVE spoke unto the exhortation to the duty that is in the first part of the verse, Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. The apostle, ye see, joins himself in the exhortation; and, as it were, exhorts himself, whilst he exhorts them. That great apostle, who had so much faith, who had made so noble a profession of it, joins himself with the rest of believers, Let us hold fast, &c. Paul's faith was greater than that of the Hebrews; his profession and confidence higher; his stock richer; he joins himself equally with them let us all mind this. Upon this I have spoken unto these two things:

1. That which is the matter that this exhortation is conversant about, and that is the profession of faith, or the confession of our hope; and of that I spoke under this note, That whoever they be that have Christian faith and hope, they should make a Christian profession or confession of it.

2. The second thing in the words is the duty he calls to, with respect to this profession; and that is, holding it fast without wavering; and of that I spake last day, that Christians should be stedfast in their profession, not moved away from the hope of the gospel, Col. i. 23. This first part of the verse I shall dismiss with two things, and proceed to his argu

ment.

The first is this, That it is a mighty hard thing to make a true profession of faith. Secondly, It is a mighty hard thing to keep it when it is made.

First, It is a mighty hard thing to make a true profession of faith. I do not mean it is hard for folks to say they believe, that is as easily said as another word is; but to make a true profession of faith, is a matter of great difficulty. No man can make a true profession of faith, but he that hath true