dispensed by a particular providence; when these considerations are laid together, much of the difficulty and much of the objection, which our own minds may have raised against this commandment, will, I hope, be removed.

SERMON XIV.

HOW VIRTUE PRODUCES BELIEF, AND

VICE UNBELIEF.

JOHN vii. 17.

"If any man will do His will, be shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God."

IT does not, I think, at first sight appear,

why our behaviour should influence our belief, or how any particular course of action, good or bad, should affect our assent to any particular propositions, which are offered to us; for truth or probability can never depend upon our conduct: the credibility or incredibility of religion is the same, whether we act well or ill, whether we obey its laws or disobey them. Nor is it very manifest, how E e 2

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even our perception of evidence or credibility should be affected by our virtues or vices; because conduct is immediately voluntary, belief is not one is an act of the will, under the power of motives; the other is an act of the understanding, upon which motives do not, primarily at least, operate, nor ought to operate at all. Yet our Lord, in the text, affirms this to be the case, namely, that our behaviour does influence our belief, and to have been the case from the beginning, that is, even during his own ministry upon earth. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." It becomes, therefore, a subject of serious and religious inquiry, how, why, and to what extent the declaration of the text may be maintained.

Now the first and most striking observation is, that it corresponds with experience. The fact, so far as can be observed, is as the text represents it to be. I speak of the general course of human conduct, which is the thing

to

to be considered. Good men are generally believers: bad men are generally unbelievers. This is the general state of the case: not without exceptions; for, on the one hand, there may be men of regular external morals, who are yet unbelievers, because, though im morality be one cause of unbelief, it is not the only cause: and, on the other hand, there are undoubtedly many, who, although they believe and tremble, yet go on in their sins, because their faith doth not regulate their prac tice. But, having respect to the ordinary course and state of human conduct, what our Saviour hath declared is verified by experi ence. He, that doeth the will of God, cometh to believe, that Jesus Christ is of God, namely, a messenger from God. A process, some how or other, takes place in the understanding, which brings the mind of him, who acts rightly, to this conclusion. A conviction is formed, and every day made stronger and stronger. No man ever comprehended the value of christian precepts, but by conducting his life according to them. When, by so do

ing, he is brought to know their excellency, their perfection, I had almost said, their divinity, he is necessarily also brought to think well of the religion itself. Hear St. Paul :-" The night is far spent: the day is at hand; let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light; let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ; and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." Rom. xiii, 11. It is recorded of this text, that it was the means of conversion of a very eminent Father of the church, St. Austin; for which reason I quote it as an instance to my present purpose, since I apprehend, it must have wrought with him in the manner here represented. I have no doubt but that others have been affected in like manner by this or other particular portions of scripture; and that still greater numbers have been drawn to christianity by the general impression, which our Lord's discourses, and the speeches and letters.

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