be the cafe; if religion has nothing to oppose to the present allurements of the world, but the hopes and glories of futurity, which are seen only by faith; it is no more abfurd to say men are faved by faith, than it is to fay they are ruined by fenfe 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 fubftance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not feen. 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 he 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 these things with respect 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 fubftance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not feen. The things not feen are those good things which God has prepared for them who love him, the rewards of virtue and holiness, which eye hath not seen, 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 subjoined in this chapter, in which the thing not feen is generally the promise of God, that is, the thing promised by God. Now, the promises of God

being neither objects of fenfe nor science, but fuch things as are made known to us by 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 faved by his faith, without which he could have had no hopes, no expectations, to place against the present 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 fin, or to endure the hardships and fatigues of virtue: What are his motives, what are his deliberations? Is not the whole contest between things prefent and things to come, the realities of this life, and the uncertainty of the other? Moft certainly this is the whole debate: for, put the things of this life and the next upon the fame 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 sense; 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 firft-born, which are written in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the fpirits of just 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 fhort enjoyments of fin, than he would fell the reverfion of an earthly crown for one morfel of meat. The cause of fin therefore is never argued upon the comparison between the glories of heaven, and the pleasures of life. No wicked man was ever so weak as to fay, it is 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 things about me are present and real: I fee, I feel the world; and every fenfe directs me to the enjoyment of it: but for heaven, where is it? Distant it is, I am fure, and out of fight; and perhaps is only a delufion of fickly imagination. When this reasoning prevails, as too often it does, tell me, I beseech you, is it not a victory gained by fense over the power of faith? Had faith been ftrong enough to have placed in view the fubftance of things hoped for, to have made evident the things not feen, could the world fo eafily have prevailed? I truft, it could not; for the things of faith as much excel the things of fenfe, as the heavens are higher than the earth. But, where faith is not strong enough to make a competition between the things of futurity and the prefent pleasures, the world muft triumph, and the finner will be loft for want

of faith. On the other fide, what is it that makes men willingly endure afflictions and perfecutions? Do you think the righteous man fo very filly, as not to know that pleasure is better than pain, ease and tranquillity to be preferred to vexation and torment? Can you imagine that he chooses oppreffion for oppreffion's fake? No certainly: but his faith, his truft and confidence in God, make him esteem the promises of God as if they were present before his eyes; to the hopes of them he facrifices the world; and, after the example of his great Mafter, the author and finisher of our faith, for the joy that is fet before him, endures the cross, deSpifing the fhame. Thus Mofes by faith, when he was come to years, refused to be called the fon of Pharaoh's daughter, choofing rather to fuffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of fin for a feafon. Mark the reafon which follows, and the power of his faith: efteeming the reproach of Chrift greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had refpect unto the recompence of reward. By faith alfo he forfook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. But what confidence was this? What forces, what allies, had he to fupport him against the united strength of Egypt? Thus fenfe indeed would reafon. But through faith he endured, as Jeeing him who is invifible: though he had no vifible protector, yet through faith he saw the hand of God ftretched out for his deliverance. This was his confidence, this his support.

Towards the close of this eleventh chapter the Apostle fings the triumphs of faith under all the cruelties of men: Others, fays he, were tortured;

and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments: they were floned, they were fawn afunder, were tempted, were flain with the fword; they wandered about in sheepfkins and goat-fkins, being deftitute, afflicted, tormented. All thefe perfifted in faith, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better refurrection. The refurrection was a ftate they had never feen; it was what they could only hope for: but the promife of God was to them more than the evidence of fight; and to their trust and confidence in him they willingly gave up all that their eyes beheld, and fubmitted to the evils, which fenfe is ever warning us against.

From this account it will be easy to understand what the Scripture means, when it tells us that faith overcometh the world: for religion is a conteft between the world and faith, between things present and things to come. Faith puts us under the conduct of future hopes and fears, exempts us from the power and influence of things prefent; which prefent things are the world: and therefore it is properly faid of faith, that it overcometh the world.

To this notion of faith agrees likewise what St. Paul had faid concerning it in his comparison between faith, hope, and charity, and other fpiritual gifts, such as speaking with tongues, prophefying, and healing of diftempers. These fhall cease: But now remaineth, says the Apostle, faith, hope, and charity; and the greatest of thefe is charity: for charity and univerfal benevolence is the very grace and ornament of heaven, the employment and the pleafure of bleffed fpirits. Nor can faith and hope ever