and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

In this name the afflicted and disconsolate are directed to trust. "To trust" in any thing, is to depend upon it with a confident persuasion that it will answer the purpose to which it is applied. To "trust in the name of the Lord," is firmly to expect that he will protect us in time and through eternity, in correspondence with his own perfections, his relation to us, and his holy word.

To stay upon, signifies to lean upon one for support, with confidence that it shall not be withheld. The desponding is here directed to depend for support upon God as his God. The personal pronoun his, denotes a peculiar interest. My God, your God, his God, like my people, his people, all refer, in scriptural phraseology, to the covenant connexion between God and Israel. It is the language of appropriation. The tenor of the everlasting covenant is, They shall be my people, and I will be their God. To "stay upon his God" is, of course, to depend upon God according to the covenant of grace. The import, therefore, of this precept is, If any of you should be in trouble, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in him for all the purposes to be accomplished by the covenant of grace-Commit yourselves to him with confidence that you in so doing shall be saved.

This is the last and the most important injunction to be laid upon those who have not assurance. To exercise faith in the Lord our Redeemer, is the first and the last duty of man under the gospel. It is the duty of every one that hears the gospel, at all times, and under all circumstances. This is his commandment, by way of eminence, that ye believe in his Son whom he hath sent. In vain will you have examined yourselves, unless self-examination issue in the exercise of faith. The light of the recollection of former experience, and of previous enjoyment, will, for the present, afford no profit, without grace be at the time in exercise, leading you to a believing application of the promises of God to the soul: and however sensible you are of former failures and of present guilt, however you may doubt of the piety of your past life, the present exercise of faith in God and in Christ is immediate relief from trouble and anguish Let not your hearts be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me.

Approach then, ye "who walk in darkness, and have no light:" for Christ is THE LIGHT of the world. Behold him in the glory of his own perfections and doctrines. He is "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Do you labour to obtain assurance of salvation? Trust in him; for these things were written expressly for your use that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Do you apprehend that you have never yet believed to the saving of the soul? Trust in him, who is at this moment inviting you to come unto him, that you may find rest. It is high time that you should now commit your soul to him who alone can save to the uttermost. Do you feel the assurance of your personal title to the kingdom of God in Christ? Trust in him: Again believe, and continue in the exercise of faith: for of you it is required-yea, it is expected that your very assurance will lead to new and vigorous exercises of the faith of God's elect. These things have I written unto you THAT BELIEVE on the name of the Son of God, that ye may KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, and that YE MAY BELIEVE on the name of the Son of God.*

The most ready way of attaining to that state of comfortable enjoyment, which is so desirable to all who are sensible of their iniquities, is to approach, according to divine direction, the source of all consolation, without hesitation and without delay. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,t that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." It is thus, that faith itself acts with full assurance; and independently of a retrospect of our own feelings, we become free of all doubt at the time, and in the very act of believing, have a full expectation of eternal life. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus-Let us draw near with a true heart in FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH."

Nothing is more plainly and frequently declared in the word of God than the duty, the importance, and the necessity of faith in Jesus Christ. All professed Christians acknowledge this; and no one will deny, that true faith is necessary in our justification before God. However different and opposite the opinions of men relative to the nature of saving faith, all will acknowledge that it is necessary in some sense or other to the salvation of the sinner. "He that believeth not shall be damned," is too unequivocal an expression to be flatly denied by any one, who receives the New Testament as a divine revelation.

Seeing, however, that I urge as the last and greatest duty of doubting Christians, to put their "trust in the name of the Lord," I feel myself compelled to explain, more particularly, the nature of the faith recommended. I would have you to know what it is, that is required of you, when you are summoned to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I would have you to know, what it is you do, in believing in him. Unless you know what is required, how can you perform it? how can you ascertain afterwards that you now believe, unless you are capable of distinguishing this act of the renewed soul from all other acts or exercises ?*

In order "to escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ." He requireth of us, to "receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel." With these words, brethren, you are familiar from your infancy. You were taught to repeat them by your parents; and you teach them to your children; and long may the whole form of sound words, of which they are a part, be had in remembrance by the Churches. In the quotation I made from the Shorter Catechism, are the following principles, explanatory of the duty of believing to the saving of the soul.

1. It is in order to escape God's wrath and curse due to us for sin, that faith is enjoined as a duty upon any individual.

There are, it is true, other ends to be answered by believing; there are other consequences for the glory of God and the good of men to result from it: there are other motives to be

* The doctrine of faith admits of very extensive discussion. The place which it occupies in the economy of the covenant of grace, as the gift of God, on the behalf of Christ, worked in fallen men by the Holy Ghost, communicated by the exalted Lord of the covenant, and carried on in all its exercises by the Author and Finisher of it; and the influence which it has in uniting us to Christ for justification, in living in Christ for sanctification, and in repelling the fiery darts of the adversary, furnish a subject of profitable contemplation. To distinguish "the faith of God's elect" from counterfeits; to distinguish saving faith from historical belief -the temporary reception of the gospel-the vain confidence of the presumptuous-and the belief which receives or exercises miraculous power; thus to treat of the nature of faith, is edifying to the Christian. To explain its inseparable connexion with the love of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, with the law and government of God, and indeed with all divine things-with the grace of repentance-with knowledge--and with Christian hope, would be both pleasant and profitable. To examine and detect the errors uttered by ignorance or design, in order to mislead us upon this important part of actual godliness, would also tend to our improvement and confirmation: but such discussions would not comport with our present design. I now consider faith merely as the duty of man: but I do not forget in the mean time, that it is the gift of God.

urged in recommending it; but this is the great leading object to be accomplished by faith-To escape the personal danger of hell-fire.

There is therefore necessarily implied in faith, a sense of sin, and merited wrath-pungent spiritual convictions. In effectual calling, which precedes faith, the Holy Ghost produces in the soul of the sinner these convictions; he enlightens the mind also in the knowledge of Christ; and, renewing the will, persuades and enables him to embrace Christ, that is, to believe in him. This is the order. There is no faith, no saving faith, without a sense of sin, and a desire to escape from its danger and pollution. It is strange, that it ever entered into the head or heart of any man on earth, to suppose that faith could be exercised without a sense of sin and danger. "The whole have no need of the physician, but they who are sick." The keeper of the prison came trembling before Paul and Silas, and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

2. God requireth of fallen sinners to believe in Christ. This is his commandment, that ye believe in his Son, whom he hath sent. Faith is the duty of the sinner, notwithstanding his inability to believe without divine illumination, and renovation of will. So far from man's impotence being an excuse, it is a crime. It is itself the principal evil for which the remedy of the gospel is provided. Sinners, can you imagine that the corruption of your fallen nature-the wickedness of your own evil hearts, shall either discharge your obligations to God, or justify you in continuing in rebellion? Learn to correct such absurdity. No, you dare not plead your sin as its own apology. He who declares your impotency, calls upon you to act. This may appear paradoxical: but it is truth. No man can come unto me, except the Father who hath sent me draw him. You therefore cannot come without divine aid. Behold your impotency. But you are commanded to come. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and turn unto the Lord. Behold your duty. Both your impotency and your duty are affirmed by him who cannot lie.*

* It is not necessary, in order to justify wisdom in this case, to have recourse to words without meaning, or to false doctrine. We do not affirm, that sinners have ability of perfect obedience to God; for this is not true: An ability, which is acknowledged to be incapable of performing the work, is too palpable a contradiction to be adopted for the purpose of

3. In the gospel, Christ Jesus is freely-offered to sinners for their salvation. Who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.*

Faith receives him as he is offered: and if there were no offer, there could be no faith. THE GOSPEL OFFER is the sum of all evangelical preaching. For this purpose chiefly, we explain the doctrines, we illustrate the precepts, and publish the promises of divine revelation that the gospel offer might appear worthy of all acceptation. This offer is freely made to the chief of sinners. All the calls and the invitations, all the commands and all the threatenings in the book of God, are subservient to the evangelical message-That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself: We, as ambassadors, therefore, pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. We offer to the sinner, without respect to previous subjective emotions of his own mind, we offer directly to the chief of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, and salvation in him; and in the name of God, we assure every one who accepts this offer, that he himself shall be saved: "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."†

4. Faith is receiving Christ for salvation, and resting upon him alone-These are written that ye might believe-and that believing, ye might have life through his name.‡

In saving faith there is, of course, an exercise of intellect; for there is necessarily an assent to the truth, which God proclaims in making the offer. By the illumination of the obviating a difficulty which is only imaginary. A self-determining power is absurd.

The question is one of moral agency, and the only power concerned in the case, is that of discharging a moral obligation. To a moral action it is essential that it be voluntary. What comes to pass involuntarily is neither virtuous nor vicious. Will is governed by motives; and the circumstances which influence the will are the primary sources of our activity. Of these there are some which make a part of our constitution, and which, on that account, are called active principles. They are depraved by original sin: and this corruption of the whole nature is itself both our sinfulness and our impotency. This being the case, the will cannot be influenced to good without a change of nature. It is not only a fact, that the sinner is unwilling to do good; but it is also a fact, that "the corruption of his whole nature" renders it impossible for him to become willing. "Man by his fall has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good."-Con. Faith.