his fupports and comforts from God, both for this life, and that which is to come.

ANOTHER way wherein the just man lives, and ought to live, by faith, is this; that as he expects all his fupport from God, fo be trufts all his concernments with him; his body, his foul, his eftate, his friends, his relations, he trufts all with God, in the belief of these two great articles, -that God's providence rules the world, and that the fame providence worketh all things for good to them that are good.

God did not make the world by his wif dom, and then leave it to be governed by chance; he did not employ infinite wifdom to build an houfe, and then fend chance and folly to dwell in it. But the fame wisdom and power that made the world, do ftill dwell and abide in it.

And that we might truft God in all affairs, and having fo done, might rejoice in that truft; that we might hope even against hope, and be content where there is nothing vifible that fhould give

content

content unto us,therefore doth he tell us, that all things work together for good, that we might be content fometimes in the greatest straits; content to see the poor man want a friend, or the righteous man neceffary relief and fupport; that we might be patient when we see our friendswronged, our enemies profper, our estates fmall, and our circumstances weak; that we might be content to do well, and to 1uffer ill; to be poor, without advantages of growing rich; to be despised, where we deserve honour; to be neglected, where we should be advanced; to be fick and afflicted, without hopes of recovery of health and happiness in this world; therefore we are told, and therefore we are to believe, that all things fhall work together for good, to them that love God.

HAVING thus far fhewed, What it is to live by faith; I am to fhew in the

SECOND PLACE, the excellency and advantage of this living.

AND herein confifteth the excellency and advantage of it, in that it fets us above all

the

the trifling concerns of this world, and fixeth our converfation in heaven. Faith enlighteneth the mind, purifies the heart, ennobles the affections, alters the whole frame and difpofition of the foul, carries a man into another world, poffeffes the mind with other thoughts, acquaints him with other things, furnisheth him with new defires, placeth him in another state; fo that he which before minded earthly things, is now raised far above them, hath God always in his eye, heaven is daily in his thoughts, eternity finks into his mind, the joys of the angels, the contentments of the faints, the meditation of a bleffed immortality, warm his heart every morning, and keep him company every day.

Every man hath a defign, and fome end or other to purfue in this world. Riches, greatnefs, power, worldly ambition, and earthly pleasures, are the great pursuits which engage the attention of mankind. But no fooner doth faith open the eye, no fooner is the fenfe of heaven and the true fear of God awakened in the foul, but all these things vanish as empty fhadows,

fhadows, or a dream of the night. The world paffeth away, and the lufts thereof; but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever.

And what large and excellent discourses, will the juft man who lives by faith frame unto himself upon this truth? Behold, faith he, the world with all its pomp and luftre, with its glory and greatness, is in daily decay and confumption, and how fhould I live upon that which must die? How should that establish the foul, which hath itself no establishment? how fhould that be a foundation for me to rest upon, which hath no foundation for itself?

Caft your eyes round about, upon the riches, wealth, and preferments of this world; and behold they are in a continual motion to corruption; they are in a daily flux; the waters do not haften faster to the fea, than all these things melt towards fmoke and vapour.

Have crowns and fceptres exempted any man from death, from the beginning of the world to this time? have riches ever made a man immortal? hath health ever made a man wife? or have great prefer

ments

ments ever given a man great content? Solomon hath long fince put off his crown, and his robes, and long fincé turned to duft. The kings and emperors of former ages are all dead, and the worm made no difference between them and the meanest of their fubjects. How little is there left in the world, that was two hundred years ago? All that is paft, and fomething sprung up in its ftead, which yet fhall fhortly pass away as that did.

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Thus faith views all things in the decline, it fees them all in motion and decay; it lets the world pafs as it will pass; it leaves that which leaves it; and turns its eye from beholding vanity: But how bright is the glory of heaven in the of faith? how precious are the things of immortality in them that believe? and how ravishing are the affections of eternal life, in them that long after eternal things? He thus believes, and thus acts. He never wants the help of a fin, to do him a favour; or the joy of a fenfual pleasure, to make him happy. If he wants comfort, faith fupplies him; if he wants content, be fetches

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