LIFE OF FAIin. 407 in the fetters,of their folly and concupiscence, andas strangers to all solid joy and honor. You will be moved with some compassion to them in their misery, when they are braving it among men, and domineering for ,a little while ; and you will think, Alas ! poor man! is this all, thy glory ? Hast thou no better wealth, no higher honor, no sweeter pleasures than these husks ? With such a practicaljudgment as you value gold above dirt, and jewels above common stones you will value heaven above all the riches and pleasures of .this, world, if you have indeed a living, saving faith ; Phil. iii. 7-9. 2. A sound belief of the things unseen will habitually incline your wills to . embrace them, with consent, and complacence, and resolution, above and against those worldly things that would be set above them and preferred before them. If you 411, true be- lievers, you have made your choice, you have fixed your hopes, you have taken up your resolutions, that God must be your por- tion, or you can have none that is worth the having ; that Christ must be your Savior, or you cannot be saved; and, therefore, you are at a point with all things else. They may be your helps, but not your happiness. You are resolved on what rock to build, and where to cast anchor, and at what port and prize your life shall aim. You are resolved what to seek, and trust to ; God or none ; heaven or nothing.! Christ or none, is the voice of your rooted, stable resolutions. Though you are full offears, sometimes, wheth- er you, shall be accepted, and have a part in Christ, or no ; and whether ever you shall attain the glory which you aim at; yet you are off all other hopes; having seen an 'end of all perfections, and read vanity and vexation written upon all creatures, even on the most flattering state on earth, and are unchangeably resolved not . to change your Master, andyour hopes, and your holy course, for any other life or hopes. Whatever come of it, you are resolved that here you will venture all; knowing that you have no other game to play, at which you are not sure to lose, and that you can lay out your love, and care, and labor on nothing else that will answer your expectations; nor make any other bargain whatsoever, but what you are sure to be utterly undone by; Psal. lxxiii. 25. iv. 6, 7. Matt. vi. 20, 21. xiii. 45, 46. Luke xviii. 33. 3. A soundbelief of things invisible will be so far an effectual springof a "holy life, as that you will " seek -first the kingdom of Gad, and his righteousness;" (Matt.. vi. 33.) and not in your res- olutions only, but in your practices, the bent of your lives- will be for God, and your invisible 'felicity. It is not possible that you should see, by faith, the wonders of the world to come, and yet prefer this world before it. A dead,.opinionative belief may stand with a worldly, fleshlylife ; but a working faith will'rnake you stir,
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