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will in earth as it is done in heaven: if I should say so, I should tell a great lie for I should deceive myself, and the truth would not be in me.

Are these indeed the very words of the apostle: "If we say that we have no sin now, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us?" Can no other sense be fairly put upon them, but that the holy John had sin in him at every given moment of his life? Is this the plain literal meaning of the passage? As it certainly is, observe then, O my soul, the decisive evidence given here by the Holy Ghost concerning the inward Pray for his teaching, that thou mayest understand, and pray for his grace, that thou mayest profit from, this scripture. Here is his infallible record concerning St. John and all highly-favoured believersHe asserts that there was no time of their lives in which they were free from indwelling sin: God forbid then that I should think I have no sin. He avers that if they should say they had none, they were deceived; and that if they should stand to it, as popish mys

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tics and protestant perfectionists do, the searcher of hearts declares that they lie, and do not the truth-the truth is not in them: for the father of lies has flattered them, and drawn them into self-idolatry, with a wicked design to corrupt their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. Beware, O my soul, of this deceit; the Holy Ghost has warned thee of it. He foresaw how the first sin would break out in aftertimes, and pride would persuade men that they were perfect in the flesh; he, therefore, so guarded this scripture that none can mistake it, but such as turn away their ears from the truth. He puts all the words in the present tense, Iest any should think he was speaking of time past, or of what men were before the blood of Christ had cleansed them. If WE NOW SAY-WE, who now have fellowship with the blessed Trinity, and are walking in the light of their countenance--say that we NOW HAVE NO SIN, nor had none formerly; he is not speaking of that: if he was (the Holy Ghost understands grammar, and can make no mistake in expressing him

self,) he would certainly have used the past tense; but he uses the present, NOW HAVE NO SIN, so as not to want the cleansing blood of Jesus this moment as much as ever.

If we have any such thoughts, WE NOW

DECEIVE OURSELVES, AND THE TRUTH IS

NOT NOW IN US. How forcible and strong is this testimony from the mouth of John: and the sense, as well as the grammar, shows that he is speaking of believers, and that there is sin in them: for throughout the chapter he treats of the very same persons, and describes, not what they were before, but what they are since they received the grace of God. They were cleansed from all sin by the blood of the Lamb; were admitted into communion with the Father and the Son, by the Spirit; and they enjoyed this communion, walking in the light, as God is in the light-these are the persons here mentioned-of whom God says, they had sin still in them, indwelling sin, the fault and corruption of nature, still remained in them; and if they fancied it did not, they would be sadly deceived-they would

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entirely mistake the covenant of grace, which was to bring sinners sensible of their wants and miseries, to live out of themselves

upon the fulness of the God-man-they would forget their own character, under which alone they can be saved, salvation being only for sinners-they would fall into the crime of the devil, by pride exalting themselves against the person and work of the incarnate God-and they would quite pervert the law and the gospel: for, in order to maintain their inherent perfection, they are forced to legalize the gospel, and to make it consist of certain terms and conditions, upon the performance of which sinners shall be saved; and then, in order to comfort themselves with their having performed these terms and conditions, they are forced to turn rank Antinomians: they lessen the evil of sin, they excuse it in themselves, and They call it by

make just nothing of it.

several pretty soft names, such as infirmity, frailty, excrescence, and at last they get quite rid of it, by laying it upon the devil, and by terming it an injection of old Satan.

And thus they deceive themselves into perfection, and insist upon it that they have no sin, although they have enough in them to damn the whole world. O God, open the eyes of these self-deceivers, and bring them into the way of truth.

Such is the clear evidence of the holy Spirit: he asserts that the greatest believers, while in the body, have sin in them. Dost thou yield, O my soul, to his testimony: Art thou fully convinced of it from the work of his grace, as well as from the word of his truth? Dost thou feel indwelling sin? Is it the plague of thy heart, and the burden of thy life? When thou art willing to walk humbly with thy God, is it continually in thy way, raising objections, putting difficulties, and suggesting hindrances? Is it like a heavy weight, pressing thee down in thy race, that thou canst not run so long, or so fast, as thou couldst wish? Since this is indeed thy daily cross, and the bearing of it the hardest part of thy warfare, O read with diligence the scripture account of it. Take notice

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