explained and recommended. 395 inward pains, which Solomon calleth wounds S E R M. of the fpirit, and faith, no man can hear XV. them. And as we cannot help having anxi- ous foreboding thoughts of futurity, no man can fatisfy his mind, upon rational evidence, that he fhall not fubfift in another Rate after this life is ended ; what defence is there againft the difmal apprehenfions of unhap- pinefs in it ? So that our condition in walk- ing by fight, is both mean and miferable. But faith exalteth the human nature, and raifeth it to the divine likenefs ; it enlargeth the intellectual powers, entertaining them with objects which, though unfeen, are cer- tain, and of the molt tranfcendent excel- lence, fuch as God himfeif, the beauty of holinefs, and the glories of another world ; it is the fubftance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not feen; maketh the invifible Deity, with all his amiable per - feétions, intimately prefent to the mind, the fubjed of its moll affectionate and delightful contemplations ; and it is fully convinced, not in the way of an enthufiaftic wilful per - fuafion, or fuperftitious bigottry, but by a calm attentive confideration of rational evi- dence ; the mind, I fay, is fully convinced that there is an important reality in the hap - pinefs of good men in a future ftate ; upon this
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