SERMON I. _The Inward Witness to Christianity._ 1 JOHN v. 10.—He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the Witness in himself. THE FIRST PART. There are two points of great and solemn importance, which it becomes every man to enquire into: _First_, Whether the religion he professes be true and divine; and _then_, Whether he has so far complied with the rules of this religion, as to stand entitled to the blessings thereof. The christians of our age and nation, have been nursed up amongst the forms of christianity from their childhood; they take it for granted their religion is divine and true, and therefore seldom enter into the _first_ enquiry: but when they come to think in good earnest about religious affairs, their great concern is with the _second_, _viz._ to know whether they have so far complied with the rules of the gospel of Christ, as to obtain an interest in the promised blessings of it. And when they hear such a text as this, _He that believeth, hath the witness in himself_, they immediately expect that the meaning and design of it should be to _witness_ the truth of their own faith, and consequently to prove their own title to salvation. But in the first christian age the case was far otherwise. The gospel itself was not then universally established, and the disciples of this new religion might have frequent doubts in their own minds concerning the truth of it, while they saw it disallowed and opposed by the world round about them. It was evidently necessary therefore for them to enquire, whether it came from God or no? And it is with this view the apostle John writes these words, _He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself_; _viz._ _he_ hath a proof within himself that _eternal life is in the Son_, ver. 11. and is to be obtained by our believing in him. It is to the truth of this doctrine that the _three bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and the three on earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood_. And though the proof of the sincerity and truth of our faith now may be derived from hence by a farther consequence, yet the first and direct design of the apostle is to shew, that the truth and divinity of our religion has an inward witness to it in the heart of every believer.