INWARD WITNESS TO CHRISTIANITY'. others, which he thinks just and reasonablethat they should do to him ; Mat. xxii. 39. Luke vi. 31. He is bound to forgive freely thosethat offend hitn, as'aehopes for forgiveness ofhis offences against God ; Mat. vi. 14, 15; He rejoices in the welfare of his fellow-creatures, without repining : He loves his enemies, does ,good to them that hate him, blesses those that curse him, and prays for his persecutors and spiteful foes ; Luke vi. 27. He pities all that are miserable, but takes a peculiar delight in his fellow-christians; (the christians must beknown by this, that they love one another.) He does good to all, but especially to the house- hold offaith ; Gal. vi. 10. Other religions know nothing of so generous anddiffusive a love; the men of heathenismwere hateful, andhatiagoneanother, and spent their lives inmaliceand envy; Tit. iii. 3. They did not so much as aspire to so divine a virtue as the love of enemies; this is thenoble singularity of our gospel. The heathen professions en, couraged revenge, and made it one ingredient of a hero : But envy and malice, wrath and revenge,must be banished from the heart andpracticeof a christian, to whom the kindness and love ofGod our Saviour has appeared ;'these vices must stand aloof fromthe saint, and thus bear á testimony to the truth and divinity ofthe doctrine of Christ, I grant that every one of these instances, and all these parts of eternal life which I have now described, arenot to be found equally in all believers ; nor are they in every believer in á very eminent and evident degree. Butif we take all ofthem together, pardon ofsin, peace ofconscience, the favour ofGod, and a sense. ofhis love, a pleasurable harmony of all our powers, an aversion to all sin, andhatred of every iniquity, a holy contempt of this world, in thepleasures, as well assn the pains and sorrows of it i delight in the worship of God, and desire after his enjoyment ; zeal and activity in service for God, with a sincere aim for his lory, and a hearty love to fellow-creatures and fellow-christians : 1 say, ifwe join all these together, we shall findthat the,christian religión hasa witness fir superior to all other dootrines that ever pretended to divinity. We shall find that every believer has something of all these qualities wrought in his heart, and it is exemplified in Isis life. Truly, where none of these are found, thatperson cannot professhimself aChristianwith anyjustground o hope : Where there is net such a witness as this to the troth of Christianity, where there is not this eternal life begun in some sensible measure and manner, that persen'sprofession of chris- tianity is but vain ; andhis practice and his course contradict the words pf his lips, when he pronounces himself a believer in the Son of God. 1 might here take notice, that the three that bear witness on
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