requires almoft the fame Faith, but without giving the fame Evidence? Is it not the Profeffion, of every Religion to believe God to be a Rewarder of them who diligently feek him? Could you have any Natural Religion without this Principle? This the Gofpel requires of you: And, if Jefus Chrift has given you more Evidence for this Faith than ever Nature could afford her Children, forgive him this Injury. Is it become less credible that God will reward the Righteous, because he has fent his Son into the World to declare his full Purpose fo to do? Is it harder to trust him now, fince he has appeared to us in Signs and in Wonders and in mighty Works, than it was before, when we faw him only by the glimmering Light of Nature? Are the express Promises of God, confirmed to us in Chrift Jefus, of lefs weight than the general Suggeftions of Nature? If these express Promises, these clear Evidences of the Purpose of God are not the Things complained of in the Gospel, what are they? Faith has ever been the Principle of Religion, and must ever continue fo to be: For, when all other Gifts fhall ceafe, Faith, Hope, and Charity will be the only Gospel Graces which Time fhall not destroy. B-b

Religion

Religion is a Struggle between fenfe and Faith. The Temptations to Sin are the Pleasures of this Life: The Incitements to Virtue are the Pleafures of the next. These are only feen by Faith: Thofe are the Objects of every Senfe. On the fide of Virtue all the Motives, all the Objects of Faith engage: On the fide of Vice stand the formidable Powers of Senfe, Paffion, and Affection. Where the Heart is established in the Fulness of Faith, the heavenly Host prevails, and Virtue triumphs over all the Works of Darknefs: But, where Senfe governs, Sin enters, and is served by every evil Paffion of the Heart. If this be the Cafe; if Religion has nothing to oppose to the prefent Allurements of the World, but the Hopes and Glories of Futurity, which are seen only by Faith; 'tis no more absurd to fay Men are faved by Faith, than it is to fay they are ruined by Sense and Paffion; which we all know has fo much of Truth in it, that it can have nothing of Abfurdity.

To this Account of Faith the Definition which the Apostle has given of it (in the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews) exactly agrees: Now Faith is the Subftance of Things hoped for, the Evidence of Things not feen.

Thing's

Things hoped for are the Things of Futurity, Things which are not feen, as we learn from St. Paul, Romans viii. 24: We are faved by Hope: But Hope that is feen is not Hope: For what a Man feeth why doth be yet hope for? Now without Faith there can be no Hope: For, if we do not believe Things future, we cannot poffibly hope for them. Hope therefore is indebted to Faith for all its Objects: For thefe Things with refpect to Hope would be mere Non-entities, were it not for Faith. Confidered therefore as Things hoped for, they owe their Substance and their Being to Faith. Faith then is the Subftance of Things hoped for, the Evidence of Things not feen. The Things not feen are thofe good Things which God has prepared for them who love him, the Rewards of Virtue and Holinefs, which Eye hath not feen, nor Ear heard, neither hath the Heart of Man conceived. And that these Things are chiefly meant by the Apostle, is evident from the great Number of Instances fubjoined in this Chapter, in which the Thing not feen is generally the Promife of God, that is, the Thing promised by God. Now, the Promises of God being neither Objects of Senfe nor Science, but fuch Things as are made known to us by Bb 2

his

his Declaration, the Evidence upon which they are received is the Evidence of Faith. The Reason why we believe there are fuch Rewards, is, because we believe the Word of God: The Reason why we hope to receive them, is, because we judge Him faithful who has promifed.

Since then all the Bleffings of Holiness, all the Hopes of Religion, are founded in Faith, is it not very natural to fay, that the Man who follows after Holiness and Piety, induced by the glorious Prospects of Futurity, is faved by Faith? that he who facrifices the World and its Enjoyments to the Hopes of Eternity, depending entirely upon the Truth of God, that he will perform the Word which is gone out of his Mouth, is saved by his Faith, without which he could have had no Hopes, no Expectations, to place against the prefent Enjoyments of the World? Do but confider the Pofture of Mind a Man is in, when he deliberates upon the Good and Evil of his own Actions, and is determining his Choice whether to follow the Pleasures of Sin, or to endure the Hardships and Fatigues of Virtue: What are his Motives, what are his Deliberations? Is not the whole Contest between Things present and Things

to

to come, the Realities of this Life, and the Uncertainty of the other? Most certainly this is the whole Debate: For, put the Things of this Life and the next upon the same Foot of Certainty and Reality, and there is no Man Fool enough to deliberate on his Choice. Were the Glories of Heaven the Object of Senfe; could we with the Eyes of Flesh look up to the Throne of God, the heavenly Jerufalem, and difcern the innumerable Company of Angels, the general Affembly and Church of the First-born, which are written in Heaven, and God the Judge of all, and the Spirits of juft Men made perfect, and Jefus the Mediator of the new Covenant, and the Blood of Sprinkling, that speaketh better Things than that of Abel: Could we have this View, a Man would no more part with his Inheritance above for the short Enjoyments of Sin, than he would fell the Reversion of an earthly Crown for one Morfel of Meat. The Cause of Sin therefore is never argued upon the Comparison between the Glories of Heaven, and the Pleasures of Life. No wicked Man was ever fo weak as to fay, 'Tis better for me to eat, drink and be merry this Day and the next, than to reign in eternal Glory and Immortality. But thus he reasons, The