What the author's opinion about publishing posthumous works was may justify what of this kind hath been already done and is now ten- dered to thee, w^hich I shall give you in his own words in his epistle ])efore Dr Sibb's ' Comment on the 1st. Chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Corinthians : ' — ' Let it not stumble thee that the work is posthume, and cometh out so long after the author's death ; it were to be wished that those that excel in public gifts would during life publish their own labours, to prevent spurious obtrusions upon the world, and give them their last hand and polishment ; as the apostle Peter was careful to write before his decease, 2 Peter i. 12-14 ; but usually the chm'ch's treasure is most increased by legacies. As Elijah let fall his mantle when he was taken up into heaven ; so God's eminent servants, when their persons could no longer remain in the world, have left behind them some worthy pieces as a monument of their graces and zeal for the public welfare, whether it be out of a modest sense of their own en- deavours, as being loath upon choice, or of their own accord, to venture abroad into the world, or whether it be that being occupied and taken up with other labours, or whether it be in a conformity to Christ, who would not leave his Spirit till his departure, or whether it be out of a hope that their works would find a more kindly reception after their death, the living being more liable to envy and reproach ; but when the author is in heaven, the work is more esteemed upon earth. Whether for this or that cause, usually it is that not only the life, but the death, of God's servants hath been profitable to his church, by that means many useful treatises being freed from that privacy and obscure- ness to which by the modesty of the author they were formerly con- fined.'
To all this may be added that not many days before the author
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departed this life ho declared his intentions of publishing something himself but his sudden death prevented him.
And let none wonder that in the author's so constant course of preach- ing the same matter may sometimes recur. In some places thou Avilt find notes of reference ; in others the same matter is handled with such variety as to prevent tediousness, in which the author had a sin- gular excellency. However, repetitions of the same truths have their use. 'To write the same things to you/ saith the apostle, 'to me is not grievous, for you it is safe/ Phil. iii. 1. Our knowledge is imper- fect, and needs a continual increase ; our memories are slippery and frail, and need to be refreshed ; our attention is dull, and many truths slip by us at the first hearing without regard ; our hearts are back- ward to our duty, and we need frequently to be excited. We more blame a dull horse than the rider, who frequently quickens him with a spur. It savours too much of pride of knowledge, and a curious itch of novelty, when we cannot endure to hear more than once of the same truths ; and such a humour is not to be gratified, but mortified.i But though some may quarrel, I doubt not but the serious christian will receive benefit by what is here offered, which, that it may be thy lot, is the earnest prayer of
Thy affectionate servant in the work of the gospel,
William Taylok.
^ See the Author's Twenty-fifth Sermon on John xvii,
SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XL
SERMON I.
N 010 faith is the suhstance of things hoped for, the evidence of tilings not seen. Heb. xi. 1.
In the close of the former chapter the apostle had spoken of living; by faith, and thereupon taketh occasion to show what faith is. He that would live by faith had need search out the nature of it ; an unknown instrument is of little use. It is true, a man may act faith that can- not describe it artificially, as an infant may live, that doth not know what life is ; but however, it is more comfortable when our thoughts are distinct, explicit, and clear, concerning the nature of those graces that are so necessary for us, and the christian life is much more orderly, and less at random and peradventure. And therefore the apostle, to teach them this holy art of exercising faith, and living by faith to more advantage, he gives them here an excellent description of it, ' Now faith is the substance,' &c.
In the words there is the thing described, and the description itself. The thing described is Faith ; the description is this, ' It is the substance of things hoped for,' &c. The description is proper, according to the rules of art, Habitus disiingimntur per actus, et actus per ptropria ohjecta, habits are described by their formal acts, and acts restrained to their proper objects ; so faith is here described by its primary and formal acts, which are referred to their distinct objects. The acts of faith are two ; it is the substance, it is the evidence. Think it not strange that I call them acts, for that is it the apostle intends, there- fore Beza says, in rendering this place, he had rather paraphrase the text, than obscure the scope ; and he interpreteth it thus — Faith sub- stantiates or gives a subsistence to our hopes, and demonstrates things not seen. There is a great deal of difference between the acts of faith, and the eftects of faith. The effects of faith are reckoned up throughout this chapter ; the formal acts of faith are in this verse. These acts are suited with their objects. As the matters of belief are yet to come, faith gives them a substance, a being, as they are hidden from the eyes of sense and carnal reason ; so faith gives them an evidence, and doth convince men of the worth of them ; so that one of these acts belongs to the understanding, the other to the will. By the one faith is a con- vincing demonstration, and by the other a practical application. By the one act it turns hope into some kind of present fruition and by the