opposition to the Spirit; and you so far prevail, as not to live, and walk, and be led by the flesh, but that the course and drift of your life is spiritual, Rom. viii. 1, 6-10, 13; Gal. v. 17, 21, 22. (9.) Whether the world, and all its honour, wealth, and pleasure appear to you so small and contemptible a thing, as that you esteem it as dung, and nothing in comparison of Christ, and the love of God and glory? and are resolved, that you will rather let go all, than your part in Christ? and, which useth to carry it in the time of trial, in your deliberate choice? Phil. iii. 7-9, 13, 14, 18-20; 1 John ii. 15; Luke xiv. 26, 30, 33; Matt. xiii. 19, 21. (10.) Whether you are resolved upon a course of holiness and obedience, and to use those means which God doth make known to you, to be the way to please him, and to subdue your corruption; and yet feeling the frailties of your hearts, and the burden of your sins, do trust in Christ as your righteousness before God, and in the Holy Ghost, whose grace alone can illuminate, sanctify, and confirm you, Acts xi. 23; Psal. cxix. 57, 63, 69, 106; 1 Cor. i. 30; Rom. viii. 9; John xv. 5; 2 Cor. xii. 9. By these signs you may safely try your states. 2. When this is done, you are also to try the strength and measure of your grace; that you may perceive your weakness, and know for what help you should seek to Christ. And to find out what inward corruptions and sinful inclinations are yet strongest in you, that you may know what to lament, and to ask forgiveness of, and help against. My book called "Directions for weak Christians," will give you fuller advice in this. 3. You are also to take a strict account of your lives;[81] and to look over your dealings with God and men, in secret and in public, especially of late, since the last renewal of your covenant with God; and to hear what God and conscience have to say about your sins, and all their aggravations, Psal. cxxxix. 23; 1 Cor. xi. 28. 4. And you must labour to get your hearts affected with your condition, as you do discover it; to be humbled for what is sinful, and to be desirous of help against your weakness, and thankful for the grace which you discern. 5. Lastly, you must consider of all the work that you are to do, and all the mercies which you are going to receive, and what graces are necessary to all this, and how they must be used; and accordingly look up all those graces, and prepare them for the exercise to which they are to be called out. I shall name you the particulars anon.