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the abundant indwelling of these promises in the apostle's soul that filled him with the love of Christ, and constrained him to live unto his God and Saviour, as became a disciple of Jesus, and caused his conversation to be continually in heaven. And in the same proportion as they are realized in our souls, will be the sanctifying effects produced by them.

The promises, then, not only give us the strongest assurances that perfection in holiness shall be realized by us, but they also exert a powerful tendency to produce this result upon the heart and mind of a believer. Let us, then, be encouraged to seek for it; for those who seek it in the use of proper means, shall not fail of success. You cannot reasonably expect to obtain the end, only in the use of the means which God has provided. Neither are you to rest satisfied in the use of the means, without obtaining the end for which they have been instituted. Ardently desire the full sanctification of your souls, and firmly believe its accomplishment; for the word of promise will bring forth fruit in you, as it doth in all the world. Treasure up in your minds all the exceeding great and precious promises which, in Christ Jesus, are yea and amendwell upon them-plead them before God in prayer-declare to him your affiance in them-expect their accomplishment--limit not the Holy One of Israel in anything-bear in mind that with him all things are possible. Verily, if you will thus believe, you shall see the glory of God. The power of sin shall be destroyed within you-Satan shall flee before you-all the principalities and powers of hell shall be bruised under your feet. In a word, Christ shall be formed in you, and you shall be changed into his image from glory to glory by the Spirit of your God. Animated by these, your consolations shall be rich, your progress rapid, your victories secure, your success certain; and, in due time, you shall possess the full substance of all the promises in the complete attainment of God's perfect image, and the everlasting fruition of his glory.

DISCOURSE VI.

On the Increase of Faith.

"And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith."-Luke xvii., 5.

Or all the graces which adorn the Christian's soul, faith is the most valuable and important, because it gives strength and stability to all the other graces. By faith we live, by faith we stand, and by faith we walk; we also suffer by faith, and in faith we die. Indeed, faith is the principal subject of disquisition and encomium, in the New Testament. It is so important in the Christian scheme

of redemption, as to be considered equivalent to Christianity itself. Hence, the apostle terms the Christian religion, with all its doctrines, precepts, and institutions, the faith-the faith once delivered to the saints. In the discussion of this subject, we propose to illustrate the nature, degrees, and importance of faith.

I. We are, then, in the first place, to illustrate the nature of faith. Lord, increase our faith. Faith is the medium of knowledge, which we derive from testimony, and should be carefully distinguished from sense and reason. Sense is the medium by which we obtain that knowledge, which strikes immediately upon the senses. Reason is the medium of that knowledge, which we derive by reflecting upon the testimony of our senses, and by comparing one part of this testimony with another, making deductions by a process of argument, more or less long and complicated. Whatever, then, is proposed to the senses, must be something visible, palpable, and present; and whatever is offered to the reason of man, must be within the comprehension of the human understanding. But the province of faith relates to objects that are invisible, spiritual, and incomprehensible. Reason cannot receive anything incomprehensible, but incomprehensibility forms no objection to faith, provided that the testimony which commands that assent be clear and credible. We are not, however, called upon to believe we know not what, or we know not why: no-faith is so much an act of reason as to require that we understand the simple meaning of the proposition we are to believe, and likewise the grounds of credibility upon which it challenges our assent.

1. Faith, then, is the medium of receiving those truths which God has communicated by his inspired servants, which we receive upon his authority, which are not objects of sense, and would not be discovered or comprehended by reason. Hence, it necessarily implies a revelation; and nothing which is not revealed in the word of God is, in the Scripture sense of the term, an object of faith.

2. By the term faith, however, we are to understand something more than merely a bare assent to some particular doctrine; for there is not any particular doctrine to which the most abandoned sinner, or even the devils themselves, may not give their assent. In this sense of the word, St. James says, The devils believe and tremble. The true faith of the gospel not merely credits the truth of divine revelation, but approbates it as excellent, and accepts it as suitable. Assent is an act of the understanding only; but true faith is a consent of the will also, with a full concurrence of our warmest affections. It is called, in one place, a believing with the heart; and in another, a believing with the whole heart. In short, faith is a new and living principle, by which we are enabled to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, for all the ends and purposes for which he came into the world-a principle which, at the same time that it takes us off from self-dependence, leads us to purify our hearts from the love and practice of all sin. To such faith as this

our Lord frequently annexed a promise of eternal salvation. In his discourse with Nicodemus, he says: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that BELIEVETH ON HIM is not condemned; but he that BELIEVETH NOT ON HIM is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And in the close of the same chapter, it is added: He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Not that there is anything meritorious in this grace, more than in any other; but salvation is annexed to this rather than to any other, because this alone unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have acceptance, and by whom we are saved.

3. This faith is a spiritual perception in the mind, by which it realizes the attributes of God, the glories of the Redeemer, and the economy of redemption. It is the only instrument of connexion with God-the only point of contact with the invisible state. Faith discerns God as everywhere present to succor and support his people, by his providence and grace. It beholds myriads of angels, also, waiting upon God, and flying at his command, to execute his will, and to minister to his people. The chariots of fire and horses of fire were not more visible to the eye of sense, when God withdrew from the face of Elisha's servant the veil that concealed them, than they were to his master by the eye of faith. If we could only conceive aright of Elisha's views at that moment, we should have a right idea of the power and office of faith, and of the high privilege that belongs to every believer. Faith is, also, in reality that principle, by which, and by which alone, we obtain all spiritual blessings. Certainly it is that by which we receive the forgiveness of our sins; for nothing but faith will unite us to Christ, or interest us in his salvation. It is by faith, likewise, that we must be sanctified; for we can only be renewed by the Holy Spirit; and it is only in the exercise of faith that we can receive the Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, it is by faith that we must obtain that inheritance, which God has prepared for them that

love him.

4. Faith is a seminal principle of holiness and virtue; the seed by which all other graces are produced by a sort of spiritual vegetation, and from which they derive sustenance and growth. The unbeliever has respect to nothing but earthly things: he sees nothing, knows nothing, cares for nothing, but what is visible and temporal. His hopes, his fears, his joys, his sorrows, are altogether carnal. So it was once with the believer; but it is now so no longer. By faith, the realities of the external world are opened to his view; he sees heaven with all its glory, and hell with all its terrors. Earthly

vanities flee away; and hope and fear spring up spontaneously in the mind, and move him to action. Thus, by the exercise of faith the believer overcomes the world, dedicates himself to God, and consecrates all the powers of his mind, and all the members of his body, to the service of his Maker. By faith he lives, by faith he walks, and by faith he perseveres to the end of the Christian race. While his faith continues strong and vigorous, he never relaxes; but forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forward to that which is before, he presses on towards the mark of the prize of his high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He gives all diligence to make his calling and election sure, by adding to his faith, virtue ; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. Thus, faith is the spring of every religious action, and the seed of every Christian grace.

5. To this faith, and to this alone, is the justification of our persons in the sight of God annexed. This doctrine is affirmed by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, where he is discussing the subject. He asks, "What shall we then say, that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt; but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness; even as David describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without work, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whosesins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Here the doctrine of justification by faith, without works of law, is fully asserted. Justification, or the pardon of sin, is annexed to faith, not because it is the seed of holiness or spring of virtuous action, but because it is the instrument by which we lay hold upon the mercy of God as revealed in the gospel, by which our sins are pardoned. It also appears, from this prayer, that faith is capable of increase. We proceed to observe, then,

II. That faith, even when sincere and genuine, admits of degrees. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. The principle of faith is implanted, that it may increase. It is intended that the inner man should grow stronger and stronger, for it is to survive the outer man; and when this is fallen into decay, to remain a receptacle of the divine grace forever. The tabernacle is to perish, but the graces which inhabit it are to subsist and flourish forever; and these graces are sustained by faith.

1. Faith admits of degrees, as to its extent. The subjects of faith may be increased; the number of those truths apprehended by

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faith, may be augmented. The sincere believer may, at first, have a very limited and contracted view of the Christian scheme, which may, in the course of time, be greatly enlarged by the perception of new ideas. These ideas are received by faith, and incorporated into the mind. Although, strictly speaking, this may be considered an increase of knowledge, yet it gives to faith a wider scope, and furnishes new food for the soul. At first, the ideas of a believer are but few, and these perhaps confused; but as faith comprehends within its grasp the past, the present, and the future, new prospects rise, and new scenes open to the vision of faith. By it, he perceives that the universe had no existence, and that it was created out of nothing by the word of God. By it, he sees everything upheld and ordered by the hand that formed it, and not so much as a hair of our head falling to the ground without permission. By it, he foresees that all the human race which have lived in successive ages passed away, shall be recalled into existence at the last day, and be judged according to their works.

But faith more particularly views the great and mysterious work of redemption. It beholds the plan formed in the infinite wisdom, goodness, and benevolence of God; and in due season, with gradually increasing light, revealed to man. It sees the incarnation, the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was sent into the world to save the chief of sinners. It views the descent of the Holy Spirit in all his miraculous and new-creating powers, to attest the truth of Christianity, and to render it effectual for the salvation of a ruined world. It beholds this work still carried on in heaven by the Lord Jesus Christ, as our great high priest within the vail, and as the living and life-giving head of his church and people. And carrying its eye forward to future ages, it sees the Redeemer's kingdom fully established, and every subject of his empire seated with him upon his throne of glory. Thus, faith increases its sphere of action, and by the acquisition of new ideas, sees things in a clearer light, and the mind is led to embrace them with a firmer grasp.

2. Faith may also be increased in the augmentation of its strength and intensity, as well as in addition to its knowledge, or enlargement of its creed. The weakest faith, if truly sincere, will bring us to God with reverence and humility, and will make us urgent with him to bestow upon us his benefits. Nor shall we regard any trouble in seeking him, provided that we at last obtain the desired blessing; but if our hope be deferred, it will make our heart sick. We shall become impatient, if the pardon which we seek be not instantly sealed upon our consciences, or the victory we solicit be suspended for a time in dubious conflict. We shall be ready to dictate to God both the time and manner of his interference, and to limit his powers according to our own narrow apprehensions of them. But, by an increase of faith, we shall rest more simply on his declarations and promises. We shall not, like Zecha

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