mitted into a Participation of the Promifes made to him; tho it is de-. clared to be one of the Fruits of the Spirit of God; tho' we are continually told, that we have nothing to truft to, but the Righteoufnefs, which is by Faith, and the Obedience of Faith; tho' we are faid to live by it, and to be faved by it, or in the Words of the Apostle, to be kept by the Power of God thro' Faith unto Salvation re ceiving the End of our Faith even the Salvation of our Souls: Notwithstanding all these great, and glorious Characters, we are informed by the Author of Christianity as old as the Creation, that Faith, confider'd' in it felf, can neither be a Virtue, or a Vice. are not to wonder at this, remembring that the Spirit, which worketh in the Children of Difobedience, will by degrees weaken the Influence of Faith, and at last make it almost 1 Pet. V. 9. We impoffible to be found upon the Earth; but, by behaving according to the Apostle's Advice, to become gentle towards all Men, apt to teach, patient, in Meekness inftructing those that oppofe themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth. *. No Truth whatfoever, no Branch of Religion, or Virtue can suffer by Examination: A rash Pofitiveness, or a blind Obftinacy are in all Cases hurtful; they bar up our Mind against Enquiry, and prevent all Improvement; even when we are in the right, they are hurtful to our felves, and offenfive to others, and in all Instances leave Impreffions of Disadvantage to the Cause we are engaged in. Those Men, who feel nothing but Indignation arising in their Minds from the Errors and Miftakes of others, who have cloathed their Opinions 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. ---- with fomething fo aweful and facred, as will admit of no Contradiction, nor so much as Doubt, are in a State, not only the most unchristian, but the most unnatural. The Sceptics, who are certain of nothing, and the Dogmatic, who are certain of every thing, are in equally opposite and dangerous Extremes. When the Errors of others move our Pity, and make us apt to teach in Meekness of Wisdom, then we are in that Spirit, which is recommended to us in the Gospel, and which the Cafe of our weak Brethren evidently requires; then we are rightly disposed and prepared, to convince others, or be convinced our felves: Whereas the oppofite Temper is plainly adapted to defeat both those Ends, and, instead of doing Service to Virtue or Religion, is promoting only Superstition, and Ignorance: It is a Chain of Darkness, the strongest of any we are acquainted with. H In examining the Proposition before quoted, that Faith confider'd in it self, can neither be a Virtue, or a Vice, I fhall I. Enquire into the Nature of Faith. Lastly, I fhall compare these two fo I. Then, I fhall enquire into the Nature of Faith. Faith is ufually defined to be our Assenting to a Proposition upon the Testimony of another: It is contradiftinguished from all those Acts of the Mind, by which Truth is perceived without the Testimony of others. There are many Ways by which we arrive arrive at the Knowledge of Truth. Some Truths are fo plain, that, they need only be mention'd, to be affented to: The Matter of them is fo fimple, that the Mind perceives their Agreement immediately, without calling in any third Idea to compare them with. Truths of this kind come by a fort of Intuition, and are prefented to the Mind, like Objects to the Eye, only by appearing before it. Others are difcovered by making many and long Comparifons: In these Cafes the Mind works within it felf, upon its own Materials. But Faith imports a foreign Produce, it brings home fomething either diftant in Time, or remote in Place; fomething which the Mind could never reach by the Exercise of its own Powers, never discover by the most indutrious Improvement of its own Stock; fomething which does not immediately depend upon the comparing and feparating our own Ideas, which is the ground of |