and no farther as his relation to us, and our corresponding feelings and duties towards him, are involved; just so far, and no farther, as our inseparable connexion with him requires to be developed; and the obligations, encouragements, and help arising out of that connexion require to be known and realized. The light of Christianity is light from heaven; but it darts its rays upon us, not to dazzle, but to direct;-neither to illuminate the vast expanse around us, but simply to mark out clear to us the narrow path that leads to everlasting life. "The day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

And hence, then, from this practical object of Christianity, and this practical character of its Articles of Belief, we see at once what is the nature of that personal Faith, or dependence, which we are pledged to repose thereon. Christian Faith, like Christianity itself, must be a matter, not of the Intellect merely, but of the Heart; not of speculative assent, but of practical Affiance; not of insight into universal truth, but of clasping earnestly the hand put forth to guide us into necessary truth, -truth necessary for our duty, for our comfort, for our life. That sort of reception which the sick man gives to the physician's promises of cure that

man

which the poor man gives to the assurance of relief that which the prisoner gives to the announcement of the royal pardon; that is the reception which the Articles of the Christian Faith deserve and demand from us; the springing up of the very soul to welcome them-the stretching out of the eager arm to embrace them and press them to the bosom. Whence it is that Scripture speaks so constantly of Faith as a work and disposition of the heart. "If thou believest with all thine heart," said Philip to the Eunuch, in our text, "thou mayest be baptized." "With the heart," says St. Paul, " believeth unto righteousness." "Take heed," he writes to the Hebrews, "lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." Were Christianity a philosophical system, then we could look only to the wise and intellectual to investigate its claims and reason out its principles. Were it a learned theory, then must we call for research, for critical acuteness, for logical induction, to build up the elaborate pile of conviction in the mind. But Christianity is counsel from a Father to his children; it is help for the helpless-food for the hungry-rest for the wearyhope for the desponding-life for the dying; it is not for one man, or one class of men, but for all men, in the ignorance, infirmity, and destitution of their common fallen nature; and therefore we may ex

pect for it the attention of those human feelings which are one and the same in all; we may carry it round to high and low, rich and poor, old and young; we may unfold its revelations to our children just budding into thought, and self-acquaintance, and inquiry, and we may ask them confidently, assured that they can understand and feel the claim "Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe as thy godfathers and godmothers promised for thee?"

your own

For, have you attended to the Facts of nature, and of the world in which you live? Do you feel how limited is man yea, and the earth that man inhabits? Do you observe that all things are exposed to ceaseless change and revolution, and there is no such quality in them as absolute Permanence? -that all things are derived, and there is no such quality in them as absolute Causation?—that all things are dependent, and there is no such quality in them as absolute Power? And do you therefore ask, as thus you meditate, and wondering feelings crowd into your mind, and the whole aspect of nature and of man appears to you as one vast mystery, threatening to engulf the soul, and yet by the same impulse lifting it up to high anticipations-do you ask, Where and Who is the Unchanging, the Uncaused, the Independent? Then, recollect, your Creed and Catechism teach you to "believe in God the Father

Almighty, who hath made you and all the world." Christianity declares to you the great, mysterious ONE the Eternal amidst unceasing change-the Self-originated amidst endless derivation-the Allcontrolling amidst universal weakness;-Him "who was, and is, and is to come"-Him, who is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords" Him, "who created the heavens and stretched them out; who spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; who giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein." "There is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him!" And this God, further, you are taught to look upon as your God 66 -as having made you and all the world;" as the Father, therefore, of your spirits, the fountain of your happiness, the centre of your dependence and your hope. Here is no mere abstract truth, guessed at after many an anxious cogitation, and, when obtained, still not bearing upon our personal well-being; but here is a Being to whom you may cling amidst the sundry and manifold changes of the world-on whom you may lean when all things else must slip from under you-by whom you may be protected against all other power in heaven and in earth. Do you know what an earthly Father is? The Christian Faith declares to you a heavenly Father! And do you understand

what is the meaning of a child-like confidence and hope in your earthly Father? The Christian Faith encourages you to exercise just this same child-like confidence and hope in your heavenly Father, God! For this, dear Brethren, is Faith not merely to believe that God is, but that he is, moreover, "the rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” attending to their supplications, smiling on their efforts to please him, and "not unmindful of their work and labour of love which they show towards his name."

But we are not limited beings only, and therefore transitory, weak, and helpless. We are also sinful beings, and therefore self-condemned. God is our Father; but we have strayed away from him, like the self-willed and unthankful prodigal. God is our Maker, but we have thrown off his fear; our Master, but we have refused him honour. And just in proportion as the mind awakes to this factthis plain, undeniable, appalling fact, of our condition—so it must crave the revelation of a corresponding fact, which may calm its perturbation, meet its well-founded apprehensions of deserved punishment, and save it from despair. "I have strayed away from God-Who shall bring me back to him? I have sold myself to sin-Who shall ransom me from its cruel tyranny? I have failed to render what is due from me-Who shall pay for me

H