548 THE USE OF THE PASSIONS IN RELIGION. divine love : it was faith rising high in the hope ofà better resur rection. A naked and simple belief of things unseen, would scarce have wrought these amazing effects in human ,nature, 'without some warm and joyful efforts of the affections of hope and love. Behold the hero of the gospel St. Paul, that little contempti- ble figure ofa man, bearing down all opposition before him in his sacred course of zeal and duty. Under this influence he can triumph over all the formidable things ofnature, and the terrors of this world ; Rom. viii. 35. Who shall separate usfrom the loveof W Christ ? ho shall divide our hearts from him ? Who shall make usweary of his service, or tempt us away from the faith and obedience of his gospel ; Shall tribulation, shall distress, shall persecution, shall famine or nakedness, or peril, or sword. As it was written of the saints in former ages, so shall it be fulfilled again in our age, for thy sake we can bear killing all theday long: the sheep of Christ can stand the axe; or the knife of slaughter : In all these things we are more than conquerors, through the grace of Christ that bath loved us. Every holymartyr hath made it appear, that love is stronger than prisons, or death : It bath its flames that are superior to common fire, and can overcome all the terrors of men. When this divine love and hope have possessed the spirit, what poor and paltry things are all the allurements offlesh and sense ? How feeble and insufficient are all the gay and glitter- ing appearances of nature in this world, all the flatteries of pride and sensuality, to draw the heart away from God ? The holy soul can boldly withstand all the enticements of sin, when divine grace hath seized the affections, and got possession of those sprightly and active powers. What the nerves and spirits are to animal nature, the same thing are the passions to the soul : They are its very nerves and spirits, its most vigorous and unwearied springs of action, both in the zealous discharge ofevery duty, and the firm resistance of every temptation to sin. These active springs set all nature to work in the aflairs of grace. The sanctified affectionsare so great a part of the new crea- ture, that the very graces of the holy Spirit are called by their names. What is divine love, religious fear, and heavenly hope-? What is a sacred contempt and disdain of sensual vanities, and an immortal aversion to sin, and utter abhorrence of it ? What are holy desires, penitent sorrows, and spiritual joys ? What is all this blessedcatalogue of the fruits of the spirit, but thepassions of nature refined and renewedby grace. It is the influence of religion on the passions, that doth in a great measure make the difference between the true Christian, and the mere outward professor : The mere professor may know as much ofthe doctrines of religion, and of the duties of it
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