TO CORRECT Page 2, 1. 18 and 19, for or, read on. 3, 1. 17, after belief, omit ; 5, 1. 20, for have, read having. 21, 1. 33, for reason, read the mind. 53, 1. 38, after complete, read, 1, Faith or a Sense of Religion.-2, Grace or new Life.-3, Conscience or the Fear of God.-4, Devotion or the Love of God.-5, Resignation and submission to the Will of God.-6, Peace and Reconciliation.-7, Repent- ance and Reformation.-8, Fidelity and Obedience.-9, Worship; and "These things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other THOUGH the religious characteristics accruing on inci- dentals, of which a sample has just been exhibited, may not be of the first necessity, they are, however, subservient to some of that kind; namely, to the good objective cha- racteristics which of God are "made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (Cor. I. i. 30), having their regard towards God, and their foundation in constituents as before described; and in comparison allowed them will be mere offerings of mint, anise and cummin: whereof it may be said as by the prophet, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?" (Isaiah i. 10-12.) Good churchmen, as ye are, what signifies your keeping up a form of godliness, while ye deny and are even ashamed of the power thereof? It may be, that ye pay tithe of pig, goose, and honey, if not of potatoes, or even of barley and wheat: so be it there is no harm in that. But other offerings will be required of you, besides any godly or religious characteristics or incidentals, or what is more perhaps, any of the MORAL characteristics or constituents; as temperance and chastity, mercy and humility, gratitude and fidelity, with many others before mentioned-when you come to appear before God; as another prophet says, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to WALK HUMBLY WITH THY GOD?" (Mic. vi. 6-8) intimating, that besides an appearance before God with the richest incidentals in a man's disposal, and also with some of his highest moral endowments, it would still and more especially be required of him, to appear with the qualification of godliness on constituents, as humility towards God for example. But it will now be both seasonable and important to propose more than one example of this kind, follow ing the natural order of these first rate constituents as above specified, and, § 1. As it is well observed in the apostolic epistles, "he that cometh to God must believe that He is" (Heb. xi. 6): consequently in the way of godliness this will needs be the first object that we meet, namely the belief that He is; constituting what we call Faith, or a sense of religion— the similar, if not equal affinity of this godly principle with either of the two superior elements of the Kingdom, spirit and intellect above mentioned, rendering such a compound designation just in that respect, and the difference between the two notions being also less in matter than in degree; as both faith and a sense of religion will imply two and the same elements, like godliness in general; being the form and power, or mode and matter, or image and substance of belief; or conviction in the manner above described-only faith, the more particular form, mode or image; and a sense of religion, the more superficial. And as much as that may also be inferred from the forecited apostolic authority; which says, according to our translation, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. xi. 1); literally meaning, that faith is, 1, the form, mode, image or evidence of things hoped for; and, 2, the power, substance, or habit of hoping for such things, of indicating and reverting to them continually, as the shadow on a sun-dial indicates and daily reverts to the fleeting hours thereon described; the shadow on the dial resembling the form of faith however expressed, and the light which gives birth to the shadow, its life or substance; this the principle or pabulum, that the effect, form, or process of the life of faith; which are two things as distinct as thirsting and drinking. And that principle of faith is in relation to God's word what thirst may be in relation to water: the Word being the well by the way (Ps. cx. 7), of which every creature draws in going to Godward, or in his progress towards perfection. The principle of faith is a light to direct, and an appetite to impel every sincere candidate for eternity towards its deep flowing fountain: and man walking in a middle sphere between creatures that are not sensible of such an enjoyment, and others more sensible than he, has still great cause to be thankful for so high a privilege in the proportion in which he enjoys it. In a practical view, this distinction may be worth remarking and especially as some for want of observing it appear to think that creeds, and confessions, and other abstract forms of faith are every thing, while the living principle to which its true, perfect and practical form owes its existence shall be thought nothing of; and that true form likewise, perhaps, i. e. the word of God itself, in comparison with such abstract, or it may be, with some foolish counterfeit in vogue. It is no part for a work like the present, to enter into a critique on "fables and endless. genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith" (Tim. I. i. 4), but rather, to exhibit the true form of faith; to shew what that form, being the whole description of the kingdom of God in Christ, may be in all its dimensions from beginning to end: and consequently of the two forementioned elements the principle, power, matter, or substance of faith only will be the object of our present attention. Faith then as a principle, or viewed in its simplicity, may be considered as life to Godward, or as a feeling of our divine relation; and a preternatural species of internal apprehension, distinguished by its force and intelligence from common sensibility, which is milder and more spiritual. In general the term will avail, perhaps, to denote all that can be meant by trust in God, belief in his word, attachment to his servants and service; and in short, a lively sense or perception of all that most particularly concerns us in relation to God, and for the sake of this relation; which is the proper subject of religion. And if the principle itself be not indeed preternatural, as aforesaid, it must at least be the property of an emancipated or |