'thy faith by thy works;' implying that if good works do not shine forth in the conversation, it is suspicious there is no true faith in the heart; for such faith is not a feeble weening, or a notion swimming in the head, it is not a profession issuing from the mouth, it is not following such a garb, or adhering to such a party, but a persuasion fixed in the heart by good reason, by firm resolution, by lively sense; it is with the heart,' as St. Paul saith, ‘man believeth unto righteousness;' that is the faith we speak of, and to which we ascribe the production of so great and worthy effects: if a man wanteth that, attested by practice suitable, though he know all the points exactly, though he readily will say amen to every article of the creed, though he wear all the badges of a Christian, though he frequent the congregations, and comply with the forms of our religion, yet is he really an infidel : for is he not an infidel who denieth God? and is he not such a renegado who liveth impiously? he is so in St. Paul's account; for, They profess,' saith he of such persons, 'that they know God, but in works they deny him;' and, He is not a Jew,' saith the same Apostle, (he is not a Christian, may we by parity of reason affirm,) who is one outwardly ; but he is a Christian who is one inwardly, and faith is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God :' we may attribute to a barren conceit, or to a formal profession, the name of faith, but it is in an equivocal or wide sense; as a dead man is called a man, or a dry stick resting in the earth a tree; for sofaith,' saith St. James, without works is dead;' is indeed but a trunk, or carcass of faith, resembling it in outward shape, but void of its spirit and life.

6

To our infidelity therefore, that overspreading vice; to the unsincerity, or deadness of our faith, the great defects of our practice are to be imputed; that is the grand source from which impiety doth so overflow; that so few instances of sprightly virtue are visible, may be a sign the time is the same, or very like to that, of which our Lord saith, When the Son of man cometh, shall he indeed find faith on the earth?'

But if such effects can now rarely be found, yet time hath been when they were more rife, scarce any time hath been quite destitute of them; every age since the foundation of

things may have tokens and trophies to show of faith's victorious efficacy; so many actions as there have been truly great and glorious, so many gallant feats have been achieved by faith if we survey the lives of the ancient patriarchs, of the prophets, of the apostles, of the martyrs and confessors of true religion, their faith in all their works is most conspicuous.

Faith recommended that excellent sacrifice of Abel to divine acceptance, and advanced him to the rank of first martyr for piety.

On the wings of faith did Enoch mount to heaven, snatching the reward due to his faithful, and therefore well-pleasing obedience.

Faith preserved Noah from two mighty deluges, one of sin, the other of water overflowing the earth; by it he stemmed the torrent of the one, and rode on the back of the other; it encouraged him to be a preacher of righteousness against the grain, and a practiser of it against the fashion of the world, not regarding the common hatred and envy which he did incur thereby; it moved him to undertake that great and strange work of building the ark, for a sanctuary and seminary of mankind; the type of that spiritual vessel, by embarking into which through faith we are saved from utter ruin.

Faith disposed Abraham to forsake his country and home, his estate, his kindred, following divine conduct he knew not whither; to wander abroad and sojourn among barbarous strangers faith inclined him, at God's command, to sacrifice his only son, a goodly youth in the flower of his age and hopes, worthily most dear unto him; the son of his old age, and the comfort thereof, given to him by miracle and in special favor; the prop of his family, and the heir of promise, by whom his seed was to be propagated, and his memory to flourish; him was he ready in obedience with his own hand to slay, quelling nature and his bowels, thwarting his own hopes, defying all semblances of contradiction, or clashing between the commands and promises of God.

Faith, through the rudest efforts of envy and malice, through the dismal calamities of exile and slavery, through hideous snares of temptation, through villanous slanders, through loathsome prisons and fetters of iron, all along sustained with admi

rable moderation and presence of mind, did rear up Joseph to the helm of that great kingdom.

The same inclined Moses to exchange the dignities and delights of a court for a state of vagrancy and servility; it heartened him to outbrave the invincible obstinacy of a mighty prince; it steeled him with patience to conduct for the space of forty years, through a wild desert, a most perverse and mutinous herd of people.

Faith was mother of that renowned patience, which exhausted Satan's quiver, spent all his artillery, and wore out his invention in suggesting mischiefs; I know that my Redeemer liveth,' was the rock, on which that unshakeable patience of Job was founded.

That pricked the ruddy stripling forward, naked and unarmed, with undaunted heart and countenance, to invade the monster of Gath, that tower of flesh, swelling with rage and pride, and all fenced with brass and steel; Thou comest to me,' said he, ' with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts :' there lay his confidence, thence sprung his admirable courage.

To this the bold attempts, and the glorious victories of Joshua, of Gideon, of Barak, of Jephtha, of Samson, of Jonathan, of the Maccabees, are worthily ascribed, who with small forces, on great disadvantages, did assault, did vanquish mighty enemies and oppressors.

This inflamed the zeal of Elias, by which he alone did check and control the degenerate follies of his nation, surmounting the indignation of princes which favored them; it fed him in the wilderness by the purveyance of ravens; it framed the wheels of that fiery chariot, which transported him into heaven. This made Jeremy, with like zeal and courage, dare to carry most unwelcome news and unpleasant messages to an outrageous people, not daunted by their angry menaces or cruel misusages; 'his feet sunk into the mire,' but faith bore up his heart above all discouragement.

This saved the conscience of those three brave youths clear from that impiety into which barbarous violence would have driven them, so that neither the fury of that great monarch nor his gaping furnace could terrify them into sin; faith putting into

their mouths those manful words, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter; if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king; but if not, be it known unto thee, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image, which thou hast set up :' their faith carried them undaunted into the flames, and kept them untouched within them; so that they became as gold not wasted, but tried and purified in the furnace.

Neither could a danger no less terrible scare the noble Daniel from his devotions; his faith did stop the lions' mouths;'

and, 'he,' saith the text,' was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found on him, because he trusted in his God.'

Such exploits of spiritual prowess were achieved by an Old Testament faith, relying on God's attributes and providence, although wanting a clear revelation of the promises, which then lay wrapped up in mysteries and shadows; but more heroical acts of fortitude and patience did the bright sunshine of grace and glory on the minds of our apostles and primitive saints produce animated by faith, a little troop of them marched out with resolution to attack all the powers of hell, and to beat down the kingdom of darkness, to dispatch all the prejudices and errors of mankind, and to subdue the world to the obedience of Christ; so armed, successfully did they knock down and trample on all opposition to their glorious designs; they defeated all the secular power and policy, they baffled all the wit, the learning, the eloquence, which stood in their way, or gave them resistance; they triumphed over persecutions, and in regard to all sufferings were more than conquerors; to forsake and forfeit all they had was their gain; to have nothing was their wealth; to incur disgraces was their glory; to be in continual labor and travail was their ease; fastings, hunger, and thirst, were their pleasure, their feast, their luxury; prisons were chapels to them, in which they preached, and prayed, and sang praises to God; their joy was to suffer; to receive stripes, and undergo torments, was their triumph and their glory; they constantly defied, they often courted death.

That they were able to perform such prodigious acts, and to

endure things so insupportable, was not from a stupid insensibility of things, from a sturdiness of spirit, or stiffness of humor; but from a true magnanimity inspired by faith; because they were persuaded of God's will, because they confided in God's help, because they relied on God's word, because they did expect rewards from God able to satisfy for all their pains and losses; this made them to undertake so bold enterprises, and carried them with insuperable constancy through all; hence were they glad to abandon their ease and pleasure, to prostitute their honor and reputation, to part with their substance, to venture their safety, to sacrifice their lives for God's truth; 'Therefore do we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe,' is the short account which St. Paul rendereth of it: and infallibly the like effects will faith produce, wherever it is found, in a degree proportionable to its sincerity and strength.

‘A grain of faith,' our Saviour saith, is able to remove mountains; that is, to accomplish things in appearance very strange and difficult: and, To him that believeth all things are possible,' saith the same mouth of truth; and, ‘He,' saith our Lord again, that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater works than these shall he do.' If this be true in reference to works concerning the frame of nature, it is surely no less true in regard to those which lie within the more proper sphere of faith, to moral and spiritual operations: if faith can obtain the help of God, enabling to transfer a mountain, it also can procure his grace disposing to restrain an appetite, or repress a passion.

Now that which is in itself so worthy and lovely, which is attended with so good consorts, which is the daughter of so excellent causes, the sister of so great virtues, the parent of so admirable effects, how can it otherwise than be very precious, very laudable, very acceptable? how can we at all wonder that it should be graced with such commendation, and crowned with such rewards?

Let us therefore (to conclude) be exhorted, if we do want it, to endeavor the acquist of it, by all proper means, (by serious contemplation and study, by prayer to God, by voiding, all ob