ed in it from age to age; that "we cannot make even one single step in accounting for the phenomena, without admitting the immediate presence and immediate action of an INCORPOREAL AGENT, who connects, moves, and disposes all things, according to such rules and for such purposes as seem good to him* "

It may be noticed here, that, though the faith of God's people, under the Christian dispensation, is, as such, a pure principle solely derived from the Holy Spirit; yet that certainly the faith of the ancients, having less evidence in the actual coming of the Messiah, was more strictly devoid of sense, and upon that account, (as one says,) eminently "bold and noble:" because these,

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obscure prophecies and mystical types, raised their belief, and expected apparent impossibilities." But the power of God made that belief easy, firm, and practicable, which to man, with nothing but the force of his own reason and abilities, would for ever have been absolutely unattainable. It is almost unnecessary to instance the cases of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, and others, in the various occurrences of their lives.

By way of contrast to this luminous work of God, let us, for a moment, bring forward that dark shade of the free-will and working of man; and we shall find it as cold and dismal, as it is gloomy and totally unfit to impart what is needful to us in the present fallen situation of our souls.-For, if Faith, as some have asserted, originate from human reason, or be nothing more than a liar exercise of reason;" then it depends upon rational motives or arguments, or upon that simple force, which truth, or perhaps verisimilitude only,

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may carry as a naked proposition to the mind. Not to dwell upon the total repugnancy of this tenet to the Scripture, which proves by numerous facts as well as descriptions, that the faith of real believers is the sole gift of God and the special operation of his Spirit; the consequences, which attend the principle, clearly demonstrate its fallacy or falsehood. For, if Faith stood in the wisdom of men, and not in the power of God; if, by argument or the deductions of reason, it received its birth, its growth, its establishment; by human wisdom or by crafty argument, and especially in minds not very able to meet difficult or involved discussions, such a faith might be easily, and therefore often, overthrown. God's poor and unlearned people, and such is the great bulk of them, would be in a terrible plight in a circumstance of this kind. But, most happily, the fact is, God hath made foolishness the wisdom of this world; and, by the foolishness of preaching, he is pleased to save them that believe. To these, most truly, Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Moreover, the things of God are spoken with most real advantage, (as gold requires no gilding,) not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; for after all, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are, not naturally, but SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED. He must be born again; he must be renewed in the spirit of his mind; he must become a spiritual man; before he can truly understand or receive faithfully spiritual things. Thus, the proud reason of an unconverted heart is deeply humbled in this business of grace, and is not allowed, being fleshly and corrupt, to comprehend, and much less to glory in, the things which lead to the presence of God.

Again. If faith stood upon human reason, or derived all its energies, acts, and conclusions, from human reason, it would be subject to perpetual doubts, which imply a condition directly opposite to its own nature. For, "Faith, (as Archbishop Leighton hath justly observed,) elevates the soul, not only above sense and sensible things, but above reason itself. As reason corrects the errors that sense might occasion, so supernatural faith corrects the errors of natural reason, judging according to ¡sense* " Faith leads the mind, in its very nature and tendency, to certitude, and to gain an establishment in God's truth beyond all contradiction; but reason must be in perpetual controversy upon objects, which are not subject to sensation, as spiritual things confessedly are not, and can do nothing but doubt and dispute upon them, as it hath always done from age to age. Hence, the world is full of religious controversies, and upon this ground cannot be otherwise. We do not reason at all, but upon topics of uncertainty; and therefore we must necessarily admit, that the word of God is not so sure a foundation as it is, when we begin to build our doubts upon it. But, since God has revealed his truth; where he gives the grace of faith to understand and rest upon it, all doubt, and consequently all carnal reasonings, should be cast downt, or done away; as being opposed to that truth, which cannot be mixed with error; and injurious to that faith, which is granted for the most firm and implicit reliance upon itt. Every believer's experience will

* Com. on 1 Pet. i. 8, 9.

† 2 Cor. x. 5.

In this case,¡ above all others, "nature," saith the learned Cudworth, " is not master of art or wisdom: nature is ratio mersa et confusa, reason immersed and plunged into matter, and as it were fuddled in and confounded with it." Siris. § 255. If reason be weak and incompetent in its energies upon natural things, how much more incapable must it be respecting a just

tell him, that, when reasonings prevail, distrust, perplexity, weakness of heart, and perhaps unholiness, of heart and of life, are struggling most within him and that he never enjoys a happy fellowship with his Saviour, or light and life from the Holy Spirit, or is deeply sensible of the love of the Father towards him, or obtains victory over sin, the world, and all that is contrary to God, but when he lives most clearly by the faith of the Son of God, and can cast all bis welfare with the most entire recumbence upon him. A merely rational professor has nothing to work with but his own fallen nature, and nothing to work for but the pride and self righteousness of his own deceived heart, which is constantly. ready to turn him aside.

When faith is low, Hope must sink in proportion. And that sort of faith, which is only another name for reason, can bear no fruit beyond its own proper nature. If that faith, then, be founded in doubt or uncertainty, or depends upon the inconstant and mutable exertions of man's weak and fallible mind; the Hope arising from it will scarcely deserve so good a name, and may turn out to be at last only of that deceitful or deceived kind, called the hope of the hypocrite, that perisheth.

In the absence of Faith and Hope, where can Charity, or true Love towards God and man, spring up or appear? This love arises from the firm conviction of God's goodness, and from an ardent desire to show it, in the remembrance of his

determination upon objects spiritual and sublime, such as are all the things of God? "Reason also, (says another author,) is as much a rebel to Faith, as Passion is to Reason." Besides, the course of reason, proceeding from reflections, which, as they arise from the wavering weakness and misapprehension of the human mind, are both uncertain and disunited, must needs be unsafe and unsure, in holy things especially. Whereas faith, grounded in its principle upon the sole truth and power of God, cannot be mistaken, unless God is. So far, then, is faith from superstitious fanaticism, that it is the very death of all reveries and fancies in matters of religion.

mercy. It is possible, that a man may be humane, and mild, and benevolent; but all this kindness of temper, (desirable as it is,) must be upon natural principles, worldly motives, or worldly ends, if it proceed not from the grace of God. He cannot

heartily love God, nor desire to glorify him, nor work for the spiritual benefit of men, nor be employed, with a single eye and a simple heart, upon the momentous objects of his own salvation, by any powers of his own fluctuating reason, or without some latent considerations terminating in carnal ease, interest, or glory. Such a man, having no faith, or hope, or love, but from his own depraved mind, cannot possibly serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him; because he lives. upon probabilities only at the best, and, possibly to him, mere fallacies, speculations, or delusions, resulting from his own varying and imperfect apprehensions. If he cannot live upon some certain grounds, or without faithless fear, he must be op-; pressed with anxiety and torment, if he has feeling; and, if he have no feeling, he must be involved in the darkness of unbelief, practical atheism, or that sort of despair, which leads to carelessness and indifference, or to all "wretchlessness of unclean living." The pleasures and delights of faith, and hope, and charity, and the things which accompany salvation, are out of the question with such a man. And he will most forcibly prove by his disposition or actions, in some way or other, that he, who has no share in the kingdom of Christ, cannot live out of the dominion of the devil.

It may also be observed, that the Holy Scripture always leads the heart of the believer to love the PERSON of Christ, as well as his work and office