Of 7ufl jcatien by Faith. 147 and by them faith is made perfe8. That S E x M. eminent patriarch did not obtain righteouf- VI nefs, and that high title of the friend of`--v"")' God, by his diligence and zeal in ritual ob- fervances ; but by a very fubftantial proof of his confidence in God, and relgnation to his will, which carried faith to its higheft perfection. In like manner, altho' the works of the mofaic infiitution, or the Jewifh religion, are now laid afide ; and if we feek to be juftified by them, we are fallen from grace ; it does not follow, that the works of the chriftian religion, and obe- dience to the commands of Chrift, are unneceffary likewife ; for by them it is that faith is made perfea, praEtical chriftianity receives its finifh'd form, and they are what the gofpel indifpenfably requires to our fal- vation. The fum is this ; when the religion of nature, which efientially confifts in an imi- tation of God's moral perfections, when this was fo obfcured in the degenerate ftate of human nature, that the end generally could not be obtained by it, that is, bring- ing men to the regular practice of virtue, and to the happinefs they were originally defign'd for ; it pleafed God to favour fume L 2 of
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