?.

Work is the Immediate Effect of Charity. And if we measure the Different Excellencies of these Virtues by the Duration * of them, the Pre-eminence of Charity is very Clear. Extraordinary Faith, or, the Faith of Miracles, befides that even in the times when it was vouchfafed, it was Neceffary only to a Few perfons, and Sufficient to the Salvation of None; those Times of its vouchfafement were very short, and it ceased in the first Ages of the Church. And That Faith, (an Affent to the Scriptures) which is a Duty of Univerfal Obligation, will ceafe together with our Lives; when the Obligation of Duties will Ceafe, and be fucceeded by the Reward of them. But Charity never faileth: The Extent of it is Equal to the Duration, not only of the Earth but of Heaven. 'Tis our Duty in This, and will be our Eternal Employment in a Future State. And how Excellent muft That virtue be which is of Everlasting Continuance, and the

*Chryfoft. in Ep. 1. ad Cor. Homil. 34. & Gregor. Nyffen. de Anim. & Refur. + Vide Chryfoft.

Homil. 6. in Ep, ad Tit.

Continuance of which will be the Support and Supply of our Everlasting Blifs?

Most of these Reasons of Preferring Charity unto Faith, are likewife Reafons of its Preference unto Hope, and are so easily Applicable, that they need not be Repeated. This Difference indeed is obfervable, that whereas Charity is not the Source of Faith, but the Confequence of it; Hope is the Immediate Confequence of Charity, and directly derived from it. Our Affurance that there is a Future ftate of Happiness prepared forGood men, is purely owing to our Faith; But the Hope of being our Selves Admitted into that State, ariseth Immediately from our being Conscious to our felves, that our Faith is Followed and Crowned by Charity. Faith, ftrictly fpeaking, cannot, as to its proper Acts and Exercise in the Understanding, be either Caused or Improved by Charity; but Charity gives both Rife and Improvement unto Hope. And, on This account, Charity is, in a greater Degree, Preferable to Hope, than to Faith. For though Faith without Charity be Imperfect, yet

we

we may have Faith, from which Charity is to arife, before that Happy Effect be Actually drawn from it; whereas Hope can neither be Increas'd nor Begun without Charity. A man cannot but Love Happiness fo as to Defire it, and a good opinion of Himself may lead him on to fome Expectation of it; but, if he hath not Charity, That Expectation must prove Vain, and That Defire fink into Everlafting Despair. True Faith and Hope are Neceffary and Divine Endowments; But, without Charity, there is no colour of Confolation in the One, nor of Juftification by the Other.

་

It remains, that we should proceed to fome Application of this Discourse. And First, Since a Stedfaft Faith is no lefs Neceffary to Salvation, than a Holy Life; It highly concerns us, to hold fast the profeffion of our faith without wavering. If it Muft be, and that Moving occafion of our Sorrow and Pity cannot be avoided, that Evil men and Seducers fhall wax worfe and worse, deceiving and being deceived: Nevertheless, Continue thou in the

*

2 Tim. iii. 13, 14, 15.

N 4

things

things thou hast learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou haft learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. Let us Efteem it, as it ought to be Efteem'd, an Ineftimable Bleffing, that we have been carefully instructed in the Scriptures, as foon as ever we became Capable of Instruction; And let us Teftify our Gratitude, for having fo Early Imbibed those Sacred Doctrines, by our Firm Adherence to them. Let no Vainglorious and Arrogant, no Bold and Daring, no Artful and Infinuating, no Defigning and Fallacious men, who wreft the Scriptures to their own Deftruction Deceive and draw us into the fame Destruction with Them.

And because our Danger is moft Apt to arise from the Various Interpretations, which have been, or may be given of the Holy Scriptures; the most Dangerous Errors and Herefies being Introduced under the Colour of Sacred Authority; Let us therefore provide for our Safety, by Depending, as it is our Duty to Depend, upon the General and Un

interrupted

interrupted Senfe of the Chriftian Church, concerning those paffages of Scripture, which are hard to be understood, Concluding, That the Church, which is faid to be* the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, and upon the Authority of which the Canon of the Holy Scripture depends, must be a competent Witness, if not a Judge of the Faith which was once deliver'd to the Saints, and the long Prescription + for truth, fupported by her Written Testimony, must be better grounds for a private Christian to rest upon, than any Modern Conjectures; That the Determination of no Single perfon, is Equal to the Determinations of Multitudes, which have Excell'd in Judgment and Learning and Piety: That, befides the Other Evil and Perilous confequences of Rejecting the Authority of the Chriftian Church, Those must needs be thought to run into manifest Danger of Error, who, in Oppofition to that Authority, do Depend upon the Judgment of One, or a Few particular perfons,

* 1 Tim. iii. 15. fcript. adv. Hæret.

† Vide Tertullian. de Præ

because