66 I AM the more confirm'd in this Obfervation from a Paffage in Dr. Clark. "But above all, "the greatest and most effectual Means that we can poffible use to prevent the Growth of Po66 pery and Superftition, is to be infinitely care"ful not to run into that Atheism and profane "Libertinifm, which is the contrary Extreme "to Superstition. For as unreasonable Super"ftition enflaves the Minds of Men, and makes them fo uneafy under the Yoke, that they "often fly off into the contrary Extreme of Ir"religion and Profaneness; fo the natural Ef"fect of Profanenefs, when Men fee the in"tolerable Confequences and Mischiefs of it, is "to drive weak Minds into the other Extreme "of Superftition. If therefore while we fly from "the Superftition of Popery, we run into the "Contempt of all Religion; that profane Li"bertinifm will probably terminate in Popery “again *" "The patronizing fuch a blind "Faith, naturally tends to a total Infidelity; as a total Infidelity tends reciprocally to the Supવ port of fuch a blind Faith and implicit Sub"jection." "Will they not be carried away, "by Inclination and worldly Hopes and Fears, "to turn Infidels firft, and then implicit Be"lievers? first to believe nothing, that they 66 may with the more Grace profefs to believe "every Thing," according to the present Bi fhop of Winchefter †. 2. THE Solifidians and other Sectaries in devious Notions of the Chriftian Faith, dangerously mistake, and disturb the Harmony and * Pofthum. Serm. Vol. VI. pag. 388. from pag. 498, to 502. + See his Tracts Subordination, Subordination, which God and his Gospel have CHAP. eftablish'd between that Faith, and the eternal XVIII. Law of Reafon; by exalting the former, which is but a Duty of the Means, upon the Ruins and Contempt of the perpetual Duty of the latter: As if there could be any Value or Virtue in the Means unapplied to, or ineffective of the End it was purposely ordained to produce, and fo clearly proclaimed to be fubordinate to the Accomplishment of. But this more properly belongs to another Subject, the true Chriftian Intention and Defign of that Faith, where it is embraced. 3. THE Deifts and others are guilty of making an open Rupture between Reafon and Faith; by flattering and exalting naked unaffifted Reafon to an Excess, beyond the Conditions of Humanity, and contrary to the common Sentiments of the Wifeft, and almoft the general Voice of Mankind; who have been all fenfible of a Degeneracy in their moral Powers, and the Want of fome Redrefs. And now that complete Redrefs of, and Confolation to, all thofe difquieting Ailments is come down from Heaven, and has display'd its healing Virtues and Ufes, it must be very unkind and ungrateful to ply all its Force and Efforts, or play any conceited Artifice, Sophiftry, or Ridicule against its beft and trueft Friend; that brings Knowledge to its Ignorance, and Relief to its Doubts, perfect Peace and Reconciliation between Enemies; and, if there is not a Fault on one Side, mutual Love and Complacency, the original Felicity of our Being. The Wickednefs and Folly of which Proceeding will better appear under the next Head. III. The СНАР. XVIII. III. The moral Virtue of Faith. TAKING Faith in the Sense before describ'd, I proceed to fhew how it is a moral Virtue, or what Share the Will of Man has in it, which makes him accountable to God for his Faith. It must be acknowledg'd on all Hands, that the original, permanent Ufe of our Faculties, Understanding, Will, and Affections is, to affift us to attain the true End of Man, Happiness in this Life, and that which is to come. And it cannot be denied, that the Will is the ruling Faculty over all the rest, and, the Light of the Understanding being at hand and very much at its Command, conftitutes it the moral Agent in every Man; for every Man has the Argument of Experience within himself fuperior to all the Subtleties of Difpute, that he can freely chufe, or refuse, after all is faid and done, with respect to the Object laid before him; and be as certain of that Man-moving, felf-determining Power in all his moral Actions, as he is of Motion; tho he is not able to answer the fuper-refin'd impertinent Objections against it. NOR is there any outward Restraint upon his Liberty, but what he has the Freedom to throw off; nor yet any inward Hindrance or Fetters put upon it, but what is of his own occafioning; excepting always one Reftraint, which he is not, nor ought not to be free from, and that is a Determination to Good: because that is the Perfection of Human Liberty and Choice as it derives from God, and is the Liberty of God him felf, felf, as I have before fhewn*: Nor is there any CHA P. other Fate upon Man (the Fate of God himself XVIII. if it may be fo exprefs'd) excepting that hard Condition of being conditionally fated to his own Happiness according to the Circumstances and Opportunities put in his Power; and, in order to render it bis Happinefs, is ftill left to the Option of his own Choice, and the Refult of his own Endeavours, THE Deifts allow this Fate and Deftiny to Happiness, but in a very abfurd Senfe; they oblige God to confer all the Happiness upon Man his Nature is capable of, not as a Gift they would thank him for, or a Reward of his promifing, but neceffarily due to their Behaviour; and fo, they profoundly think, they fecure and can extort Happiness, whilft they indulge them-. felves in the Neglect of fome of the proper Conditions, and Qualifications. But God without Dominion including the Dependence of hist Creatures upon his Will, and without fubfequent Providence diftributing Rewards and Punishments proportion'd to Deeds, and fo appearing before all the World to diftinguish the Good from the Bad, is nothing elfe but Fate or Nature, or fome other infignificant Name exclufive of Governor. But it is in vain to think of flattering or perfuading him out of his righteous Government in giving eternal Life only in Christ Jefus, and denying it to thofe who knowingly reject him. THE Author of Christianity as old, &c. refolving, as he fays, to go to the Bottom of this Matter, gives in this Account of Faith. "Faith *Page 26. of this Vol. "confider'd CHAP." confider'd in itself can neither be a Virtue, or XVIII. " a Vice, because Men can no otherwife believe "than as Things appear to them: Nay, can "there be an higher Affront to God than to fuppofe, he requires Men to judge otherwife "than the Faculties he has given them, enable "them to do? Or what can be more abfurd "than to imagine, that God will fhew his Fa"vour to one for believing what he could not "believe; and his Displeasure to another for 66 not believing what he could not believe? "And therefore Faith is only to be efteem'd "by the Works it produces; for the strongest "Faith may be worse than no Faith at all. The "Devils themselves (who are held the most wick"ed Beings in the Universe) believe and trem"ble *" This indeed is going to the Bottom of Infidelity. In answer to which, it is readily own'd, that the Understanding Faculty is paffive in perceiving and judging of Truth, nor can it do otherwife than perceive and judge natural, or moral Truth, as it appears to it; any more than the Eye of the Body can help feeing and diftinguishing its Objects when they are before it. Nevertheless, it is perfectly certain, that the Will has that controuling Power, as over the Eye of the Body, fo over the Eye of the Mind, to turn it from one Object to another, and view one more attentively than another, juft as it is, or is not, agreeable to it; it can divert the Underftanding from perceiving or judging, by recommending other Objects to employ it; it can withdraw the Attention fo foon, that the Per |