Upon the whole then; fince Religion is not a mere Science and Speculation, but is to be the Work and Employment of our Lives, and to exert itself in the Love of God and our Neighbour, as our bleffed Saviour has taught us; fince the Knowledge of any thing, or the Belief of any thing, confidered merely as Acts of the Mind, are no Principles of Action; but every Action proposes to itself fome End, which is the Object of fome Defire; it evidently follows, that Faith cannot be a Principle of Religion, till it becomes the Object of our Defires, that is, till it has its Effects and Operations in the Heart. This Notion of Faith is not only probable, but neceffary, upon the View of our own Nature, and the Origin of all our Actions, which arife in the fame Manner, whatever the Principle of Action be. Even Senfe works in the fame Manner, and powerful as it is, has no Effect, till it has made its Way to the Heart, the Seat of all our Paffions and Affections. There, and there only, it prevails as a Principle of Action. Senfe produces no Senfuality, till it warms the Affections with the Pleafures of the World; and Faith produces no Religion, till it raises the Heart to love and to embrace its Maker.

The great Advantage the World has over Religion lies in the Certainty and Reality of

its Objects, which flow in upon us at every Senfe. To fupply this Defect on the Part of Religion, Revelation was given to affure us of the Certainty and Reality of Things future; without which Affurance they could have no Effect or Influence on our Affections. The Objects of Faith then fupport Religion in the fame Manner as the Objects of Sense promote and encourage the Love of the World: And, as there could be no fenfual Love of the World, if there were no Objects of Sense; so neither could there be any Religion, where there are no Articles of Faith: For as, in general, there can be no Defire, where there is no Knowledge; fo, in particular, there can be no Principle of Faith, where there are no Objects of Faith.

All the Articles of the Gospel tend to one of thefe Ends, either to affure us of the Certainty of the Revelation and Redemption by Chrift Jefus, or to set before us the very Substance and Image of the Things hoped for, For this laft Purpose our Lord rofe vifibly from the Grave, to give us the very Evidence of Senfe for that Part of our Faith, which feemed to be most contradictory to the Experience of Senfe. For the first Purpose, to affure us of the Certainty of the Revelation and Redemption by Christ Jefus, our Lord was declared to

be the only-begotten Son of God, the Brightness of his Father's Glory, and the express Image of his Perfon; by whom the Worlds were made, and who upholdeth all Things by the Word of his Power; that we, knowing in whom we have trusted, might hold faft the Confidence and Profeffion of our Faith without wavering: (For He is faithful that promifed.) When Chrift was declared by the Voice out of the Cloud to be the Son of God, the fame Voice gave the Reafon of the Declaration; This is my beloved Son, hear ye him, Luke xvii. 5. To reject therefore these Articles of the Gospel, is to reject the Revelation and the Redemption of Chrift, and to fet out purely on the Foot of Natural Religion. How reasonably you 'may do this, and how well it becomes your Condition, the Time will not permit me now to fhew.

Thefe Objects of Faith are our Motives and Incitements to Holiness and Righteousness; and, if we suffer them to have their due Influence on our Hearts, they produce that Faith, which is the Life and Spirit of a Chriftian, which unites him to God, and will entitle him to Glory at the great Day. How far 'tis in our Power to promote or obstruct this Influence, will appear under the last Head, which was, to fhew,

I

Thirdly,

Thirdly, that the Motions and Operations of the Heart are in great Measure under our own Power and Government.

I fhall not spend much of our Time in a plain Cafe, and in which every Man's own Experience is his best Instructor.-We find daily, that we can check our Paffions and Inclinations to serve the Purposes of this Life; and, if we would do as much for that which is to come, we should answer all that the Apostle in the Text requires of us, when he exhorts us to take heed of an evil Heart of Unbelief. Were it not in our Power to fufpend the Influence of our Paffions, Man would have no more Freedom or Liberty than a Stone, and would, confequently, be utterly incapable of Religion. 'Tis not in our Power to feel or not to feel, the Impreffions of Sense: Our Eyes, our Ears, and every Senfe, prefent before us the Objects of the World, whether we will, or no; and, if thefe Objects can as uncontroulably take Poffeffion of our Hearts, as they do of our Minds and Imaginations, all Men must as neceffarily follow the Dictates of Sense, as they admit the Objects of Senfe: Which would deftroy, not only the Power of Faith, but all moral Virtue, all Diftinction of Good and Evil. But this is not the Cafe: For, tho' we cannot fee Things as

we

we will, yet 'tis in our Power to pursue and court them as we pleafe: We can fupple our Inclinations, and make them yield to our Will; as is evident in the many Inftances where Men facrifice their prefent Enjoyments to the distant Profpects of Honour or Preferment For the future Things of this Life are no more the Objects of Sense than the Things of another Life ; and 'tis not Senfe, but Judg ment, that refuses the present Good for a diftant Advantage: And 'tis but an Inftance. of the fame Reason and Judgment to restrain the fenfual Appetites, and to make room for the Hopes of Immortality to enter in and poffefs the Heart; and this is truly the Work of Religion. God has placed before us Life and Death, Things prefent, and Things to come. If Things temporal have this Advantage, that they are feen, yet the Things which are not seen have this Prerogative to balance that Advantage, that they are eternal. The Truth of these Things is founded both on Reason and on the Teftimony of God. If we receive his Teftimony, 'tis well: But, if we interest our Hearts in the Cause, and act as Men refolved to secure to themselves these bleffed Hopes, then is our Faith made perfect. And, fince this depends upon the due Regulation of our Defires, which are subject to the