very In a matter of so great importance, therefore, it is wonderful, that a man who calls himself a reasonable creature, should be careless and indifferent; careless, whether he has any religion, or none; indifferent, whether his religion, when he does possess any, be true or false; careless, when he has embraced the true religion, whether he makes any improvement in his practice answerable to it, or not: so that the foundation of a christian's duty is a due regard of God, of our neighbour, and of ourselves: of which duties I shall treat in their proper order. First, then, II. Our duty to Gov is, to believe in him; to fear him; to love him with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength; to worship him; to give him thanks; to put our whole trust in him; to call upon him; to honour his holy name, and his word; and to serve him truly all the days of our life. In which short description of our duty to God, we are directed to believe and acknowledge the being and self-existence of a God; that he is from everlasting and world without end; that he is a spirit whom no man hath seen, nor can see; that he is the great creator and preserver of all things, the father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, clothed with the infinite perfections of power, wisdom, and goodness, from which all the other divine attributes do flow; and that in the godhead there are three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Therefore he who cometh to God, must thus believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him. And It is in vain to make profession of religion, without being first well instructed and firmly persuaded of the being and attributes of God. Right notions of which every one knows are the foundation of all religion: but then this knowledge must not be a bare speculation; but a serious, practical, affecting impression, and deep sense upon the mind of a supreme Being, who created the world by his power, preserves and goveins it by his goodness and wisdom, and will judge * See the second Answer after the Commandments in the Church Catechism. it with justice, mercy, and truth: of such a supreme Being whose glory no eye can behold; whose majesty no thought can comprehend; whose power no strength can resist ; from whose presence no swiftness can flee; from whose knowledge no secret can be concealed; whose justice no art can evade; whose goodness every creature partakes of: so that the duty of believing in God implies not only our believing his existence, and his being governor and judge of the world; but also that we have worthy and honorable appre hensions of his nature and attributes. Now, as without belief in God there can be no religion; so where there is such a belief in God, the scripture always in course supposes it accompanied with every other part of true religion; and what those parts are I shall now inform you. Wherefore Our first approach to God is by FAITH; without which it is impossible to please God. Now faith is a firm belief of things at present not seen; a conviction upon the mind of the truth of the promises and threatenings of God made known in the scriptures; of the certain reality of the rewards and punishments of the life to come; which enables a man, in opposition to all the temptations of a corrupt world, to obey God in expectation of an invisible reward hereafter. As faith also is a sincere persuasion of the mind, concerning the certainty or credibility of any truth or fact arising from another's testimony, the reason of faith in the holy scriptures is strong and forcible; because that is the testimony of God, concerning those things in which are contained the means of eternal life, which may properly be reduced to these particulars; affirmations, commands, promises and threatenings. And : First, of his affirmations such are the creation of the world; the dispensations of providence in former ages; and, above all, the Son of God manifested in the flesh; his life, and death, and resurrection, and ascension into heaven; the distinction of the blessed Trinity into Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the second coming of Christ; the resurrection of the dead; the last judgment, and the rewards and punishments which will ensue upon it. These affirmations of God contained in scripture, though above our understanding, and C not to be perceived by sense, nor to be seen through with the closest application; yet, if we have faith and trust in his promises, become present unto us. The neat instance by which we are to show our faith in God's word is to believe that all his commands are true, just, and fit to be commanded; and that they are the rule and measure of our obedience, to show us wherein, and how we must obey him. Therefore our faith in his commands must be constantly shown by our sincere obedience. The third thing in scripture, which demands our belief, are God's promises of outward nccessaries, present ease and refreshment, and of all the benefits of Christ's death and passion; the promise of divine guidance to the weakness of our understandings and judgments; of strength in tribulations; grace under temptations; and of acceptance and pardon upon our faith and sincere endeavours; which is always to be accounted a necessary condition on our part. The end therefore of our belief in God's promises is to incite us to perform the conditions, which when we have done, we may justly apply the promises to ourselves, and expect our share in them: but till then, how sure soever we believe these promises to be, we cannot hope for any benefit from them; seeing we are not the persons to whom they were made until we have performed the conditions they require. We are also to believe that God is just and powerful, that he will and is able to punish sinners both with spiritual and temporal afflictions, and eternal destruction; and we are not only to believe that the terrors of the Lord are recorded for our admonition and caution; but to preserve us from those sins to which these punishments are justly threatened; and to recover us to repentance, when we have fallen; or to fortify us against compliance in the hour of temptation. This is the object of faith fitted to work upon our minds on account of its certainty and importance. We have all the assurance of the truth of these that we are capable of in this life, from the dictates of reason, and a general consent of mankind; besides the most credible revelation of these things in the gospel. How strange then is it that some satisfy themselves with the zeal they express for the profession of the true religion, though they dishonour that profession by unrighteous works! That others expect to obtain salvation by the strength of their faith, utterly mistaking the very meaning of the word faith; appreliending it to signify credulity, instead of fidelity; and that they shall be accepted for being confident, instead of faithful servants! That some depend upon certain things that can be done for them by others; as if any thing could, in the religious sense, be of advantage to any man, which does not at all make him the better man! That others rely upon the merits of Christ; deceiving themselves with an expectation that Christ will rescue them from punishment, though they themselves reject all the motives by which the gospel proposes to rescue them from sin! And as to the importance of this faith, every one must own, that the high est hopes and the greatest fears are sufficient springs of human actions: for, what can concern us more than eternal happiness and eternal misery? Thus we may observe, that faith in God, through Jesus Christ, includes our obedience to his laws, and produces, in the heart of a sincere and true believer, a humble hope in his promises. III. A second duty to God is HOPE; which is a strong reliance and dependence upon the truth and goodness of the Lord, for his performance of those things promised on his part; which also is a condition of our acceptance with him. So that a humble hope, the effect of faith, is a proper homage to God upon the foot of his infallible truth, that he neither can be mistaken himself, nor is under any temptation to deceive us. Whatever he says must be true, and accordingly claims our firm hope and dependence, though we can have no other evidence for it beside his word: yet we should indeed be very careful, that we have the word of God to support our hope, and that we have used the best means in our power to understand the true meaning of God's word; which are the only means to guard us against those two pernicious extremes, presumption and despair, which interrupt or destroy this duty. Therefore though the apostle has taught in general to hope all things, we must watch our own corruption and not suffer it to rely too much upon our own strength. For we are guilty of the great sin of presumption, when we neglect those means of grace, which are established in order to enable us to perform our duty; when we rashly run ourselves into temptations, presuming upon our own ability to encounter them; and even in those trials that the providence of God brings upon us, when we trust more to our own resolution than to his divine assistance: and consequently he who hopes for pardon of sins and eternal life, without that repentance and obedience, to which alone they are promised, is a presumptuous hypocrite, whose hopes shall perish. For this self-confident temper often betrays us to undertake what we have neither capacity nor ability to perform. It makes us neglect those previous measures, which are necessary to accomplish what we design. It teaches us by dearbought experience the frailties and infirmities of our nature. It frequently makes shipwreck of a good conscience, and provokes God to withdraw his grace; which we lay so little stress upon, in order to our preservation. And therefore, To cure this sort of presumption, we should consider the weakness and frailty of human nature, and the frequent instances of it in our own conduct, and how unable we are of ourselves to do any thing that is good: we should reflect upon those eminent examples, that have been fatally betrayed by too great a confidence in themselves; and which are set up as so many marks for us to avoid those rocks upon which they split. Yet, We are not to be born down with our sins, and mistrust the mercy of God, as to fall into the contrary fault, which is despair. For, though it be true, that sin is the saddest slavery in the world; yet it must not break and sink men's spirits, and make them so base and servile, as to deprive them of that courage necessary to rescue themselves from it. For, as long as custom and continuance in sin deprives us of our strength; so it discourages our hopes, both of God's grace and assistance, and of his mercy and forgiveness. But, when this despair is the effect of religious melancholy, which is frequently an indisposition of body, then there is no such reason to be cast down. For, whoever com |