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Laftly, He who does not find religion full of pleafure, who does not glory in God, and rejoice in our Lord Jefus, he who is not filled with an humble affurance of the divine favour, and a joyful expectation of immortality and glory, does yet want something; he is yet defective, with respect either to the brightness of illumination, the absolute. ness of liberty, or the ardor of love; he may be a good man, and have gone a great way in his Christian race; but there is something still behind to compleat and perfect him; fome error or other creates him groundlefs fcruples; fome incumbrance or impediment or other, whether an infelicity of temper, or the incommodiousness of his circumstances, or a little too warm an application towards something of the world, retards his vigour, and abates his affections.

I have now finished all that I can think neceffary to form a general idea of religious Perfection: for I have not only given a plain definition or description of it, and confirmed and fortified that description by reason and fcripture, and the concurrent fense of all fides and parties; but have also by various inferences, deduced from the general notion of Perfection, precluded all groundless pretenfions to it, and enabled men to see how far they are removed and diftant from it, or how near they approach it. The next thing I am to do, according to the method I have proposed, is, to consider the fruits and advantages of Perfection. A confideration which will furnish us with many great, and, I hope, effectual incitements or motives to it; and demonstrate its fubferviency to our happi nefs.

CHAP. IV.

A general account of the blessed fruits and advantages of Religious Perfection. Which is reduced to these four beads. 1. As it advances the honour of the true and living God, and of his Son Jesus, in the world. 2. As it promotes the good of mankind. These two treated of in the chapter of zeal. 3. As it produces in the perfect man a full afsurance of eter nal happiness and glory. 4. As it puts bim in poffeffion of true happiness in this life. These two last, assurance, and prefent happiness or pleasure, handled in this chapter. Where the pleasures of the finner and of the perfect Christian are compared.

F the two former I shall say nothing here; designing to insist upon them

more particularly in the following section,

under the head of zeal, where I shall be obliged by my method to confider the fruit of it; only I cannot here forbear remarking, that Perfection, while it promotes the honour of God and the good of man, does at the same time promote our own happiness too; since it must on this account moft effectually recommend us to the love of the one and the other; Them that honour me, faith God, I will honour, I Sam. ii. 30. And our Saviour observes, that even Publicans and finners love those who love them, Matth. v. 46. Accordingly St. Luke tells us of Chrift, Luke ii. 52. That Jesus increased in wisdom and ftature, and in favour with God and man; and of those eminently devout and charitable fouls, Acts ii. that they had favour with all the people; so resistless a charm is the beauty and loveliness of perfect charity, even in the most depraved and corrupt times. And what a blessing now, what a comfort, what a pleasure is it, to be the favourite of God and man!

The third and fourth I will now discourse of, and that the more largely, because as to assurance, it is the foundation of that pleasure, which is the richest ingredient of human happiness in this life. And, as to our present happiness, which is the fourth fruit of Perfection, it is the very thing for the fake of which I have engaged in my prefent present subject. And therefore it is very fit that I should render the tendency of Perfection to procure our present happiness very confpicuous. Beginning therefore with affurance, I will affert the poffibility of attaining it in this life; not by embroiling my felf in the brakes of feveral nice and fubtle speculations with which this fubject is over-grown; but by laying down in a practical manner, the grounds on which af furance depends; by which we shall be able at once to difcern the truth of the doctrine of afsurance, and its dependance upon Perfection.

Now affurance may relate to the time prefent, or to come: for the resolution of two questions, gives the mind a perfect eafe about this matter. The first is, am I affured that I am at present in a state of grace? The fecond, am I affured that I shall continue so to my life's end? To begin with the first: the answer of this enquiry depends on three grounds.

First, A divine revelation, which declares in general, who shall be faved; namely, they who believe and repent. Nor does any fect doubt, but that repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Chrift, as St. Paul speaks, are the indifpenfable conditions of life. 'Tis true, the notion of repentance is miferably perverted by some, and that of faith by others: but what remedy

medy is there against the lufts and paffions of men? The fcripture does not only re quire repentance and faith; but it explains and describes the nature of both, by such confpicuous and infallible characters, that no man can be mistaken in these two points, but his error must be owing to some criminal prejudices or inclinations that biass and pervert him. Good men have ever been agreed in these matters: and catholick tradition is no-where more uncontroulable than here: the general doctrine of all ages hath been, and in this still is, that by repentance we are to understand a new nature and new life: and by faith, when diftinguished from repentance (as it fometimes is in fcripture) a reliance upon the mercy of God through the merits and interceffion of Jesus, and atonement of his blood. Heaven lies open to all that perform these conditions; every page of the gospel attests this; this is the substance of Chrift's commiffion to his apostles, that they should preach repentance and remiffion of fins through his name amongst all nations. And this is one bleffed advantage, which revealed religion has above natural; that it contains an express declaration of the Divine Will, concerning the pardon of all fins whatsoever upon these terms. Natural religion indeed teaches us, that God is merciful; but it teaches

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