is a babe; but ftrong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reafon of ufe have their fenfes exercifed to difcern both good and evil. And tho' here the apoftle feems more immediately to regard the perfection of knowledge; yet the perfection of righteousness must never, in the language of the fcripture, be feparated from it. Much the fame remark muft I add concerning the integrity of righteousness, and the Chriftians progrefs or advance in it. Tho' the fcripture, when it speaks of Perfection, doth fometimes more directly refer to the one, and fometimes to the other; yet we must ever suppose that they do mutually imply and include one another; fince otherwise the notion of Perfection would be extremely maimed and incompleat. I will infift therefore no longer on the ufe of the words Perfect and Perfection in fcripture: but as a further proof that my notion of Perfection is truly fcriptural, I will fhew,

2. That the utmost height, to which the Scripture exhorts us, is nothing more than a fteady habit of holiness; that the brighteft characters it gives of the perfect man, the lovelieft defcriptions it makes us of the perfecteft ftate, are all made up of the natural and confeffed properties of a ripe ba bit. There is no controverfy that I know of, about the nature of a habit, every

man's

man's experience inftructs him in the whole philosophy of it; we are all agreed, that it is a kind of fecond nature, that it makes us exert our felves with defire and earneftness, with fatisfaction and pleasure ; that it renders us fixed in our choice, and conftant in our actions, and almost as averse to those things which are repugnant. to it, as we are to thofe which are diftafteful and difagreeable to our nature. And that, in a word, it fo entirely and abfolutely poffeffes the man, that the power of it is not to be refifted, nor the empire of it to be fhaken off; nor can it be removed and extirpated without the greateft labour and difficulty imginable. All this is a confefs'd and almoft palpable truth in babits of fin: and there is no reason why we fhould not afcribe the fame force and efficacy to habits of virtue; efpecially if we confider that the ftrength, eafinefs, and pleasure which belong naturally to thefe babits, receive no fmall acceffion from the fupernatural energy and vigour of the Holy Spirit. I will therefore in a few words fhew how that state of righteousness which the fcripture invites us to, as our Perfection, directly anfwers this account I have given of an habit.

Is habit in general a fecond nature? This ftate of righteoufnefs is in fcripture called the new man, Ephef. iv. 24. the new creature,

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creature, 2 Cor. v. 17. the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. i. 4. Does it confequently rule and govern man? Hear how St. Paul expreffes this power of the habit of holiness in himfelf, Gal. ii. 20. I am crucified with Chrift; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Chrift liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. This is a conftant effect of habits, and is equally discernible in those of vice and virtue, that they fway and govern the man they poffefs; Rom. vi. 16. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield your felves fervants to obey, his fervants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of fin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Shall I go on to a more diftinct and particular confideration of the properties of an habit? The first is, a great averfion for those things which are contrary to it, or obftruct us in the exercise of it. And this is directly the difpofition of the perfect man towards temptations and fins; he is now afhamed of thofe things, which before he gloried in; he is filled with an holy indignation against those things, which before he took pleasure in; and what before he courted with fondness and paffion, he now fhuns with fear and vigilance. In brief, the fcripture describes fuch an one as poffeffed with an utter hatred and abhor

rence

rence of every evil way, and as an irreconcileable enemy to every thing that is an enemy to his virtue and his God. Thus Pfal. cxix. 163. I hate and abhor lying, but thy law do I love; and verfe 128. Therefore I efteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every falfe way. And this is a genuine and natural effect of integrity or uprightness of heart; whence 'tis the observation of our Saviour, Matt. vi. 24. No man can ferve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or elfe he will hold to the one, and defpife the other. And indeed every-where a hatred, a perfect hatred of evil, is accounted as a neceffary confequence of the love of God; Pfal. xxxvii. 10. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: and therefore the Pfalmift refolves to practise himself what he prefcribes to others; Pfal. ci. 2, 3. I will behave my felf wifely in a perfect way: O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart : I will fet no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn afide, it shall not cleave to me. And how can this be otherwife? the love of God muft neceffarily imply an abhorrence of evil; and that habit, which confirms and increases the one, must confirm and increase the other too.

2. The next property of an habit is, that the actions which flow from it are

(if we meet not with violent opposition) performed with eafe and pleasure: what is natural, is pleafant and eafy, and babit is a fecond nature. When the love of virtue, and the hatred of vice, have once rooted themselves in the foul, what can be more natural than to follow after the one, and fhun the other? fince this is no more than embracing and enjoying what we love, and turning our backs on what we deteft. This therefore is one conftant character of Perfection in fcripture: delight and pleasure are every-where faid to accompany the practice of virtue, when it is once grown up to strength and maturity: The ways of wisdom are ways of pleafantness, and all her paths are peace, Prov. ii. 17. Perfect love cafteth out fear, 1 Joh. iv. 18. And to him that loves, the commandments of God are not grievous, 1 Joh. V. 3. Hence it is, that the good man's delight is in the law of the Lord, and that be meditates therein day and night, Pfal. i. 2. Nor does he delight lefs in action than meditation, but grows in grace as much as knowledge; and abounds daily more and more in good works, as he increases in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Confonant to this property of Perfection it is, that in Pfalm xix, and exix, and elsewhere frequently, we hear the Pfalmift expreffing a kind of inconceivable joy and tranfport

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