The Life ofFaith. nature of our fouls be, to LoveGood asGood; it cannot bepof- fible, that he fhould not be our End, who isour Creatour ; and thatwe fhould not be related to him as to the Chiefeft Good, both origina[y as our Benefaaor, and finally as our End. q.. And then it is eafie for you next to fee, what duty you owe to that God to whom you are thus related. That if you are abfolutely his Own, you fhould willingly be at his abfolute difpofe: And ifhe be your Sovereign Ruler, you fhould labour moll diligently to know his Laws, and abfolutely to obey them. And if he be infinitely Good, andyour Benefalfor andyour End, you are abfolutely bound to Love him molt devotedly, and to place your own felicity in his Love. All this is fo evidently the duty of man to God by nature, that nothingbut madnefs can deny it. And this is it which we call Sana ifcation, or Holinefl to the Lord. And our cohabitation and relation to men, will tell us, that Mice and Charity are our duty as to them. And when a man is fully fatisfied that Holinefs, ju- (fice and Charity, are our duty, he bath a great advantage for his progrefs towards the Chrifiian Faith. Towhich let me add, that as to our !rives alto, it is un- deniablyour duty to take more care for our fouls, than for our bodies, and to rule our fenfes and pafftons by our Reafon, and to fubjc6t our lower faculties to the higher, and fo to ufe all fenfible and prefent things, as conduceth to the publick good, and to the advancement of our nobler part, and to our greateft benefit, though it crofs our fenfual appetites. All this being unqueftionably our naturalduty, we fee that man was made to live in Holinefi, Suffice, Charity, Temperance, and rational regularity in the world. 5. When youhave gone thus far, confider next bowfar men are generally from the performance of this duty: And how backward humane nature is to it,even whilethey cannot deny it to be their duty : Andyou will loon perceive that God who made it their duty, did neverput in them this enmity thereto : nor ever made themwithoutJome aptitude toperform it. And ifany would infer that their indifpofednefs proveth it to be none of their duty, the nature ofman will fully confute him ; and the confcience and contetlionof all the fober part of the world. What wretch fo blind (if he believe a Deity) who z will
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