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leading him to think, and act, and feel agreeably to the truth and importance of what is brought to his knowledge; it must call forth fear, hope, desire, aversion, love, gratitude; just exactly as faith in human testimony does, in proportion to the truth and importance of what is thus apprehended.

A man is tossed in a bark upon the wide ocean; all is dark; the sea rages; the tempest howls; death impends. He he says possesses a compass in the virtue of which he fully believes; yet he never consults it, never reposes any trust in its guidance, never directs his course according to its indications-he has only a dead faith. A living faith would have led him to act unreservedly on the compass in which he said he believed, to look at it every moment, to disregard the opinions of the passengers or crew; to follow its directions at all risks, and thus wait with fortitude and calmness for the abating of the storm.

No doubt would ever have been raised concerning this point, if it had not been for that very corruption of man, which the gospel is revealed to cure.

And the case will be more clear, if we remember the occasion upon which this faith is demanded. For consider the glory of that God who reveals the Scriptures, the subject matter of the Revelation, and the state of man to whom it is made, and you will see that a living and efficacious faith, a faith including a repose and trust of the whole soul, with all its faculties and powers; a faith sought for by earnest prayer; a faith produced by the influences of grace in the heart, is essentially necessary.

For who is the AUTHOR OF THE BIBLE? Is he a man like ourselves? No; it is a Revelation from the great and glorious God, whose perfections surpass all human understanding. A message from such a being, whose is our felicity for time and eternity, should be received with a reverent, grateful exercise of the whole understanding and heart. How does

an obedient subject receive a message from his earthly sovereign?

And what does THIS REVELATION REGARD? Is it a matter of secondary moment? Is it information about the creation of the world merely, and the order of nature? Is it an historical document about the series of ages? Is it an accumulation of ceremonies? No; it is concerned in no such limited topics. No; the Revelation of the great God to man regards matters of eternal moment-man's fall and guilt, redemption by the incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God, a sanctifying Spirit, the operations of grace on the heart, the love of God restored, preparation for death and judgment. It reveals the immortality of the soul. It reveals an invisible world. It communicates truth vital, momentous, indispensable. What, then, is the faith with which such a Revelation should be obeyed? How would a herald of peace be received by a rebellious province, if he brought tidings of pardon by the intervention of the only-begotten Son of the offended Monarch?

And what is the STATE OF MAN? Is he not a dying creature? Is he not wandering in the darkness of this world? Is he not the sport of folly, prejudice, concupiscence? Can he do any thing to deliver himself? How does a traveller perishing in at desert, seize the hand of a deliverer? How does the father of a family, roused by the guardian of the night, act upon the testimony of the instant danger of conflagration and death ?

Such, then, must be the nature of the faith by which we receive the Revelation of the great God. A lifeless, tame, unmeaning assent will avail us nothing, but to mock God and increase our condemnation. is essentially unbelief--it is the same state of heart as infidelity itself.

It

But how far do the statements of Scripture support this representation? What is the nature of faith as

VOL. II.

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expressed in the language of Revelation itself? Every step in our remarks is fully sustained. The principle on which faith in Christianity is to rest, is that on which, as we have observed, men are daily acting; "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater." The state of mind which rejects the testimony, is represented as a distrust of God's declarations, and a virtual imputation of falsehood on his express communications; "He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar." The repose and affiance which faith involves, is expressed by an allusion to the custom of affixing a seal to what we most surely credit; "He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true." The necessity of the heart and affections being engaged in it, is strongly insisted on; "If thou believest with all thine heartWith the heart man believeth unto righteousness." The vivid apprehensions it conveys to the mind-the link it forms between man and the invisible things promised is also stated; "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.' Its more immediate reference to the commanding truth of redemption in Jesus Christ, is perpetually held forth; "This is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." The insufficiency of a mere barren assent, as opposed to this heartfelt and living principle, is awfully illustrated by the case of the fallen spirits; "THE DEVILS ALSO BELIEVE AND TREMBLE." The grace necessary to fallen man, in order that he may heartily believe, is strongly stated, both as to the perception of the testimony which is the object of faith, and as to the state of mind from which faith springs; "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name;

which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."4

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The first thing, then, which man has to do after he has examined the Evidences of Divine Revelation, is to implore of God a right disposition to believe-to seek the aid of his Holy Spirit to beg of God to lift up the natural faith or capacity of believing, which, as an old writer speaks, lies in the rubbish of the fall, which is centered on the creature, can discern and repose on human testimony, but shrinks and hesitates about divine; which cannot see spiritual things, nor raise itself up to the communications of the Creator-to lift up this natural believing faculty and make it capable of the effort of obedience to the Scriptures.

But let us consider,

II. THE REASONABLENESS OF OUR BEING CALLED ON FOR SUCH A FAITH, AFTER HAVING ADMITTED THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF CHRISTIANITY.

For it is nothing but the resigning and making over the understanding and heart to God, after being convinced that he has condescended to speak to us. And what can be so perfectly agreeable to the dictates of right reason? The favourite attempt of infidelity to oppose reason to faith, will be found to be a mere stratagem. Faith is itself an exercise of reason in concurrence with the affections, upon the strongest grounds on which an accountable being can act. Faith is so far, therefore, from extinguishing or opposing reason, that it elevates, establishes, purifies it, gives it new materials, and employs it for new purposes. It is reason which conducts us to Revelation, and opens to us the door of the divine sanctuary; there it commits us to the arms of faith, leaves us under her empire, and attends us afterwards only as a

4 John v. 9-12. John iii. 33. Acts viii. 37. Rom. x. 10. Heb. xi. 1. James ii. 19. 1 Cor. ii. 14. John i. 12, 13. 5 Polhill.

subordinate minister. Guided by reason, I discover that Jesus Christ and his apostles have appeared on earth, and have given manifest proofs of their divine mission. I have for these facts, the same kind of certainty as I have for the existence of Cæsar and his conquests in Gaul, or any other events in history, of which no human being ever doubted. Upon these, the examination of the Christian is fixed. These facts reason discusses and searches to the bottom. But when she is once convinced of the divine authority of Jesus Christ and his apostles, this same reason commands him imperiously to submit himself to that teaching, and to abase his feeble understanding before the supreme intelligence."

The question here divides itself into two branches, the submission of the soul to the discoveries of Revelation; and the necessity of divine assistance, in order to do this; and the reasonableness of both will be most evident on the footing of the very Christianity which enjoins them.

1. For, as to THE DISCOVERies of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION, the obvious dictate of conscience is, that man should unreservedly bow to what God is pleased to reveal—this, and this only, is the right, the reasonable course.

"What is reasoning, or a number of propositions consecutive in a certain order," says the latest of our moral philosophers, on a subject not at all relating to religion, and therefore the more free from the suspicion of partiality—" but a continued series of analytical operations, developing the elements of our thoughts. In every proposition, that which is concluded is a part of that of which it is affirmed. The chymist analyses the substances about us; he may give them new names, or detect in them new elements, but he cannot change their nature. In reasoning, there is a

6 Trassy nous.

7 Dr. Thomas Brown.

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