any tolerable degree, I hope this work will tend to promote the interest of religion. And whether I have succeeded or not, I hope, through the mercy of a gracious God, to obtain from him the acceptance of my endeavors, and from the real followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, their candor and their prayers.

TREATISE

ON

RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS.

PART FIRST.

ON THE NATURE OF THE AFFECTIONS, AND THEIR IMPORTANCE IN RELIGION.

1 Peter, 1 : 8.

'Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory."

THE Apostle here describes the state of mind of the Christians he addressed, while they were suffering those persecutions and "manifold temptations" refer red to in the preceding verses, as the "trial of their faith."

Such trials benefit religion. They try the faith of professors, and show whether it is genuine. They exhibit the beauty, amiableness, and excellency of true religion, which never appears so lovely as when it is most oppressed. They also tend to purify it from corrupt mixtures, establish and confirm it, and render it more lively and vigorous.

In the text, the Apostle shows the effect of trials or those to whom he wrote. There were two kinds of

operation, or exercise of true religion, of which he takes particular notice.

1. Love to Christ: "Whom having not seen, ye love." Though there was nothing that the world saw, or that Christians themselves then saw, which thus influenced and supported them; yet they had a supernatural love of something unseen: they loved Jesus Christ, and by this affection they were influenced and supported.

2. Joy in Christ: Though their sufferings were grievous, yet their spiritual joys were greater; and these supported them, and enabled them to suffer with cheerfulness. There are two things of which the apostle takes particular notice respecting this joy.

(1.) The way in which Christ, though unseen, is the foundation of it, that is, by faith: "In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice.”

(2.) The nature of this joy: " Unspeakable and full of glory." Unspeakable in kind; very different from worldly joys and carnal delights; of a vastly more pure, sublime, and heavenly nature; the sublimity and greatness of which words could not express. Unspeakable also in degree, it having pleased God, in their state of persecution, to communicate to them this holy joy with a bountiful and liberal hand.

Their joy was full of glory." It was unspeaka ble-no words were sufficient to describe it-yet something might be said of it, and no words were more adapted to represent its excellency than these-full of glory; or, as it is in the original-glorified joy. In rejoicing with this joy, their minds were filled, as it were, with a glorious brightness, and their natures perfected. It was a prelibation of the joys of heaven, aising their minds to a degree of heavenly blessedness.

Hence the proposition, or doctrine, which I would raise from these words, is this,

TRUE RELIGION CHIEFLY CONSISTS IN HOLY AFFECTIONS. We see that the apostle, in observing the operations and exercises of religion in the Christians to whom he wrote, singles out the affections of love and joy. These are the exercises of which he takes notice, as exhibiting the reality and purity of religion. Here I would

I. Show what is intended by the affections.

II. Observe some things which make it evident that a great part of religion lies in the affections.

1. It may be inquired WHAT THE AFFECTIONS OF THE

MIND ARE.

I answer, they are the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul.

God has endowed the soul with two faculties; one is that by which it is capable of perception and speculation, and is called the understanding: the other is that by which it not merely discerns and judges, but is some way inclined; or, it is that faculty by which it views things, not as an indifferent, unaffected spectator, but either as liking, or disliking; approving, or disapproving. This faculty is called by different names. It is sometimes called the inclination; as it respects the actions which are determined and governed by it, it is called the will; and the mind, with regard to the exercises of this faculty, is often called the heart.

Sometimes the inclination is but just moved beyond a state of perfect indifference; at other times it is vigorously exercised: these lively and powerful exercises of the inclination are called the affections.

It should be remarked, also, that the will and the affections are not two distinct faculties; and that the

latter do not differ from the mere actings of the inclination and the will, but only as it respects the liveliness and vigor of the exercises.

It must be admitted, that language, in reference to this subject, is somewhat imperfect. In a certain sense, the affections do not differ at all from the inclination and the will: the will is not moved from a state of perfect indifference, but as it is affected. But still there are many acts of the inclination and the will, which are not in general called affections.

The affections and the passions are not unfrequently represented as being the same; and yet, in the more ordinary acceptation of the terms, there is, in some respects, a difference. The word affection appears to convey a more extensive idea than the term passion.

The affections are of two sorts; those by which the soul cleaves to, or seeks; and those by which it dislikes, or opposes. Of the former kind are love, desire, hope, joy, gratitude, complacence; of the latter kind are hatred, fear, anger, grief. There are some affections of a mixed nature; as pity, in which there is some thing of the former kind toward the person suffering, and something of the latter in reference to what he suffers. In zeal, there is warm approbation, as it respects one object; and vigorous opposition, as it respects another.

II. The second thing proposed, is to notice some circumstances which render it evident, that TRUE RELIGION, IN A GREAT MEASURE, CONSISTS IN THE AFFECTIONS.

1. What has been said of the nature of the affections, makes this evident, and is sufficient without adding any thing further upon the subject; for who will deny that true religion consists, in a great measure, in vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of e soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart?