3. We are persuaded that this Inheritance belongeth to us upon our care and faithfulness in doing the will of our heavenly Father . If we had absolute assurance of the heavenly Country , this Faith might well cause satisfaction in the benefit ; but if we are to abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul ; or we are sure to be excluded , if we assent not only to the truth of the Promise , but to the condition of the Promise , then our Faith works by fear and hope , and puts us upon fulfilling the condition ; but if men do not believe the condition , it will be an harder matter to persuade them to obey , because it will be so easy for them to persuade themselves that they need not .

4. We are also persuaded , that the condition , viz. doing the will of our Heavenly Father , is through the grace of God possible ; otherwise the belief of an Eternal Happiness in the Life to come , would not stir us to labour for it : This is one reason why the Devils tremble only though they believe , because they cannot assent to the Promises as made to Them , for they are not made to Them ; and if we should want the Faith of the possibility of Salvation , all the rest of our Faith would make us miserable and desperate , but not active and careful to work out our salvation .

In short , if we believe the truth wherein the greatest good is promised , and that 't is promised upon condition of obedience ; and that the condition is enforced by the threatning of the greatest punishments , and that it may well be performed : then in this Faith there is nothing wanting as to the matter of it , to make us fruitful in holiness & good works : But if we do not believe all this , but only some part of it , our unfruitfulness may well be imputed to want of Faith ; but this I confess doth not go very far to satisfy the difficulty , because many believe all needful truth , and yet remain unholy . Wherefore let us go to the second Point . Viz.

2. The manner of believing Divine Truth ; for there is very much of the power of Faith to sanctify us in this very thing . Let us , for instance , take the first Article of the Creed , I believe in God , or I believe that God is . To believe this considerately , and distinctly , is to believe that there is an Infinite Being , an Omnipresent Being : and that he is holy , just , and good : But now our believing that God is , hath no power to make us circumspect in our actions , and careful of our thoughts , but by such distinct persuasions and considerations as these , which are truly and properly Faith : Nor will these distinct considerations have much power neither , unless they be distinctly applied to our selves : God is infinite in all Perfections , and therefore I am to serve and worship him ; he is Omnipresent , and therefore he is with me , and sees me in all that I do , and knows every one of my secrets , and even every thought of my heart , and therefore how shall I dare so much as to regard iniquity in my heart ? He is infinitely Wise and Good , and therefore in this or in any other matter it would be extreme folly as well as sin to follow mine own will in opposition to his : Now all this is Faith , or believing true Doctrine ; and it is by such distinct apprehensions and applications as these , that we must be enabled to overcome the World , and to purify our hearts : But if we believe in that manner , as to rest in the general Doctrine , and to go no farther , I do not see how our Faith should be operative much more than if we had none at all ; and if the general belief of one Article is therefore fruitless , because it is but general , and not resolved into the awakening Considerations that are under it , nor applied distinctly to our selves under such Considerations , then also will the believing of the whole Creed in this fashion , without particular persuasions and applications , be fruitless also ; and it may be said of us , that we understand neither what we say , nor whereof we affirm ; and then what we say and affirm , can have no great force upon us to make us subdue our Passions , and mend our Lives . But though this will go a great way to resolve the unholiness of men professing the Faith , into want of Faith , yet I think it doth not altogether satisfy , that where Faith is as it should be , there will be an holy mind , and a godly life ; because there are many men of clear and active thoughts , and conversant in the study of Religion , that do not live by Faith ; for as the Faith of such men cannot in reason be thought to be a confused and indeterminate persuasion ; so it is too plain by experience , that some such do retain the Faith , but make shipwrack of a good conscience . And therefore let us consider the third thing wherein the power of Faith consists , viz.

3. The permanence of it upon the mind , or a constancy of frequent consideration upon what we believe : That is to say , let us suppose a man that doth not only believe all matters of Faith that are needful , and apprehend them distinctly and particularly , and with application to himself ; but likewise by very much consideration of these things , hath made them present and habitual to himself ; and of such a man I say , That he is under the whole power of Faith , and he it is that overcomes the world : For such a Believer has two advantages , which cannot fail to make him a good man .

1. His Persuasion or his Faith is present to his mind , when he most needs it ; ( i.e. ) upon all occasions of temptation ; so that he will be ready in the strength of it to say with Joseph , How shall I do this great wickedness , and sin against God ? But now though one believes all the awakening Doctrines of Religion , yet if he does not think of them , nor lay them to heart , when the Devil , the World , and the Flesh are busy with him , t is all one with him at the time , as if he had never heard of the Articles of Christian Faith ; and for the present he is as much without the Operation of Faith , as if he had none at all : It is with him , as it is with a man in a swooning fit , there is indeed life in him , but it is without sense and motion ; and for the time he differs not from one that is dead ; or rather , as there is a principle of sense and motion in the one , without any act of either , so is there indeed in the other a Principle of Faith , but no Act of it , and it is therefore as if it were not at all . Distinct and particular application of what we believe , will do much towards the restraining of a man's lusts ; and this is properly Faith ; but then that Faith which once was , and now is not , can do nothing at present ; which is the case of too many persons professing Christianity , That their belief of Divine Truth is oftner absent than present , because they do not think of those things which should govern them , and assist them under Temptations , but by chance , or when they cannot help it ; their business is to put those things out of their minds , and not to fix them there . And this is the first advantage of one that is constant in his consideration of the Truths whereof he is convinced , that they are present to him when he stands in need of their help , and indeed never at any great distance from him . The

2d . Is this , and that is the greatest of all , That he hath a true and lively sense of these things , as often as they return to his mind ; and he always believes them as he should do , under a vigorous apprehension of his own great concernment in them . To believe that there is a God , and a Life to come ; and that the Son of God came to be our Saviour , and will come to be our Judge ; that through the Infinite Mercy of God , and through the Death and Passion of our Saviour , we may obtain Forgiveness of Sins , and Eternal Life ; to believe these things , I say , according to their nature , and our concernment in them , is to have a due sense of them , and to be justly affected with them more than with all other interests whatsoever , because these indeed are the greatest of all : Now it is by a Constancy of Believing , ( i. e. ) of Considering these things , and making them present to us , that we come to that Faith which consists in a right apprehension , and a just sense of them : Nor will any other means do without this ; and indeed all means of Grace are ineffectual without it , and they are then effectual when they bring us to this degree of Faith : The Prayers that we make are unprofitable , if they do not help to fix our minds upon God and Divine Truth , and by their frequent returns make a sense of Religion natural and familiar to us : Our reading the Scriptures , and hearing good Doctrine and Exhortation , and our assembling for the worship of God , is unprofitable to Godliness otherwise , than by accustoming of us to think as we should do ; that is , to be affected with the Doctrines of our most holy Faith : Good education and good examples do no otherwise promote the work of God in our minds , than by awakening our consideration of that Truth , which is to renew us in the spirit of our minds : Afflictions and Judgments , the Fears and Apprehensions of Death , the amazing Calls of God's Providence , cannot of themselves work the reformation of an evil heart and life ; if they do it , it is by beginning to bring men to that Consideration which they continue afterwards , till they come to a Faith that answers the nature of the things they believe , which consists in a just sense and apprehension of them ; but this is not to be gained , but by a constant Consideration , because they are spiritual things , or future things after this life , which are the main Objects of our Faith . If a sick man believes that he shall gain his health by such a method ; or a poor man , that he shall get an estate ; or a prisoner , that he shall recover his liberty ; or any man , that he shall come to his end in this world by such a course of means , there is no need of much Consideration to persuade himself to try it , because without any pains taken with himself , he is naturally possest with a lively persuasion of his concernment in things of this nature : But in Religion it is otherwise ; tho the interest be great , nay , the greatest of all , yet it is not a sensible nor a present interest in comparison , and so our Faith must be renewed day by day , that we may be affected with it , as reasonable creatures ought to be ; and by much thinking of it , ( i. e. ) by many Acts of Faith , arrive to such a sense of God , and our interest in Religion , as the nature of the thing deserves . And this is that Faith which overcomes the world , which purifies the heart , and makes a man a new creature .

I deny not , That wicked men believe , and do contrary to a sense of their duty , and of their obligations to God : I acknowledge , that they have so much Faith , as makes them uneasie under their guilt , somewhat loth to commit sin , and ashamed and afraid when it is committed : I grant that they have Faith truly so called ; but then they want Faith too , that Faith which is properly so called also , and which the Scripture requires : Either they want the Faith of assenting to some needful Truth , which perhaps doth not often happen ; or they want the Faith of a distinct and particular persuasion and application to themselves , which happens more often ; or they want the Faith of frequent assenting , of a permanent persuasion fixt in their hearts by consideration ; which I doubt is the frequent defect : But now the Scripture doth not barely require , that we should once for all persuade our selves of the Truths of God's Word ; but moreover , That the word of God should dwell richly in us ; and that we should be rooted and established in Faith ; that Christ should dwell in our hearts by Faith and the like ; which is plainly to require a fixed and lively sense of Divine Truths upon our souls , caused by much conversation with them , and thinking upon them : Now this I say , That every act of Meditation , or Thought upon these things , is a distinct Assent to them , and is therefore truly and properly Faith : Now because we are to interpret Scripture by Scripture , therefore this Scripture , That by Faith we are justified , is to be interpreted by the aforesaid Exhortations ; and consequently , by Justifying Faith we are to understand an habitual and permanent persuasion of the great Truths of Religion , effected by a frequent and just consideration of them ; and such Faith will justify , because it will sanctify ; it will procure the relative change of putting us into a state of Favour with God , because it will procure the real or personal change of subduing our corrupt affections , and making us obedient to God from the heart : For suppose a man by constant consideration to have gained such a sense of Spiritual things , as by assiduity men come to have in all matters they frequently think of , and converse about , how is it possible , but he must be a good man in the rest of his life ? But men are but half persuaded , that never think of these things , but by chance , or when they cannot help it : So that this is the great point wherein we exercise liberty in matters of Religion ; viz. Whether we will consider or not ; ( i. e. ) Whether we will often persuade our selves of the great Truths of God , and a World to come ; or but very rarely : This is the main hinge upon which our state turns ; and here lies the principal power we have , still , under the Grace of God , to help and reform our selves ; which seems to be suggested by the Scriptures insisting so much upon it , That we are justified by Faith ; for this shews us where our strength lies : Nay , the just himself lives by his Faith ; and it is by Faith that he perseveres in Righteousness : And where such Faith is , as I have now described , it will not fail to influence the mind and conversation : For we are led by persuasion to evil as well as to good ; and when a man doth ill , it cannot be , that at the same time he should be persuaded to do well : No wonder therefore , that the Scripture concludes of all wicked men , That they are not persuaded of the truth of those things which they profess to believe : They profess , says , the Apostle , to know God , but in works , they deny him , Tit. 1.16 . But works neither deny nor affirm any thing , they only shew whether we our selves do one or the other . If then all that are disobedient , are in a true sense unbelievers ; then all who fully believe , are holy . By Faith Abraham when he was tried , offered up Isaac ; but if the command to offer up his Son , was the Trial of his Faith , then had he not obeyed , his belief had not been true : Therefore also where the belief is true , where it is a fixed and lively sense of God and Religion , where it doth not come in as a sojourner , but dwelleth richly in the Soul , it will sanctify and cleanse it .