new covenant; and these are the two great things which an enlightened soul feels the want of, and for which he is emboldened to come to God by Jesus Christ: I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, saith the Lord in the new covenant; and this is all my salvation, and all my desire, saith the believer.

9. The word faith, in scripture, is evidently used in various senses: Or thus, there are various different exercises of a godly soul, all which in scripture are called faith-for I mean here to leave out all those sorts of faith spoken of in scripture, which the unregenerate man is capable of:-1. It is the way of godly 'men to live under a spiritual sense of God, his being and perfections, and government of the world, and the glory, reality, and importance of divine and eternal things—even under such a living sense of these things, as that they are firmly believed, and are made to influence them as though they were seen: Hence they are said to look at things which are unseen....II. Cor. iv. 18-To see him who is invisible....Heb. xi. 27-And are said to walk by faith....II. Cor. v. 7: And this seems to be the meaning of the word faith, as it is used in Heb. xi. where we read of what Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, did by faith. Their faith was the substance of things hoped for, and evidence of things not seen; i. e. it made divine and eternal things, as it were, subsist, in all their glory and importance, before their minds, and appear as evident as though they were seen, (ver. 1.)-2. It is the way of godly men to live under a spiritual sense of the divine all-sufficiency, whereby they are influenced firmly to believe that God is able to do all things for them, and be all to them, which they can possibly need in time and to eternity; by all which, they are influenced to live in a way of continual dependance upon him for all things: And this is what, in the book of Psalms and elsewhere, is called trusting in the Lord, waiting and leaning upon the Lord, making him our refuge. This temper is expressed in Psal. lxxiii. 25, 26...Whom have Iin heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my

heart faileth: But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever-And ver. 28....It is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord.-3. It is the way of godly men to live under a spiritual sense of God, as the great Governor of the world, to whom it belongs to maintain the rights of the god-head, and the honor of the law; and under a sense of themselves as poor sinners, worthy only of destruction, according to law and justice, and too bad to be pitied or to have any mercy shown them, without some sufficient salvo to the divine honor; and under a sense of Christ as a Mediator appointed to be a propitiation for sin, to declare God's righteousness and secure the divine honor, and so open a way wherein God might be just and yet justify the sinner that believes in Jesus-even under such a living sense of these things, as that they are firmly believed; whereby they are influenced not to draw nigh to God in their own names, emboldened by their own goodness, but only in the name of Christ, depending entirely upon him, and emboldened only by his worth and merits, mediation and intercession, to look for acceptance in the sight of God: Hence, because of this dependance, they are said to pray in Christ's name... John xvi. 23-To have access to God by him....Eph. ii. 18-To come to God through him....Heb. vii. 25 -To believe in God by him....I. Pet. i. 21-And are represented as being EMBOLDENED by his worth and merits, mediation and intercession, to approach the Majesty of heaven....Heb. iv. 16, and x. 19: And now this is called a coming to Christ....John vii. 37—A receiving him....John i. 12—A believing in Christ .... John iii. 15, 16—A believing on 'Christ.... John iii. 18, 36— A believing in HIS NAME.... John i. 12-And a TRUSTING in Christ...Eph. i. 12, 13: And this is that act of faith by which we are justified and entitled to life, as is evident from Rom. iii. 24, 25, 26, where it is, by the Apostle, called faith in Christ's blood. The Apostle considers God as the righteous Governor of the world, (chap. i. 18)—all mankind as being guilty before God, (chap. iii. 9—19)-Christ as being set forth to be a propitiation for sin, (ver. 25) That God might be just and yet justify, &c.

(ver. 26)-And affirms that we are justified by free grace through the REDEMPTION that is in Jesus Christ, (ver. 24)—by faith without the deeds of the law (ver. 28), being considered in ourselves as UNGODLY, (chap. iv. 5): And this justifying faith he calls faith in Christ's blood; because it was principally by the death of Christ that the ends of moral government were answered, and so law and justice satisfied, and a way opened for the honorable exercise of divine grace. But although the word faith be thus used in scripture in these different senses, yet we are to remember that these various exercises of a godly soul are connected together, and always concomitant with one another—yea, and, in some respects, implied in each other and perhaps sometimes all these actings of soul are designed by the word faith; nevertheless they are evidently, in their own nature, so distinct, as that they may be conceived of as distinct acts of the soul. And it may also be noted that the two first of these, viz. a firm belief of divine truths, and a hearty reliance on the divine all-sufficiency, are acts of faith common to angels as well as saints; but the last, which immediately respects Christ as Mediator, is peculiar to penitent, returning sinners: The two first are common to every holy creature ; for all such do, in a firm belief of divine truths, live in an entire dependance upon God, the infinite fountain of all good: but the last is peculiar to sinful creatures, who, because they are sinful, need a mediator to make way for the honorable exercise of the divine goodness towards them. Those who never were sinners may receive all things, from the free grace and self-moving goodness of the divine nature, without a mediator; but those who have been sinners perhaps will receive all through a mediator, to eternity.

10. A heart to love God supremely, live to him ultimately, and delight in him superlatively....to love our neighbors as ourselves....to hate every false way....to be humble, meek, weaned from the world, heavenly-minded....to be thankful for mercies ....patient under afflictions....to love enemies....to forgive injuries, and, in all things, to do as he would be done by ;-a heart for all this, I say, is always in exact proportion to the de

gree of true faith for the same views of our own wretchedness....of God....of Christ....of the way of salvation by free grace through him....of the glory, reality, and importance of divine and eternal things, which lay the foundation for true faith, and always accompany the exercise of faith, do, at the same time, lay the foundation for this divine temper: And besides, this divine temper is what every true believer feels to be the fittest and happiest thing in the world, and, as such, longs for it, and goes to God to have it increased and strengthened; and, being unworthy to go in his own name, he goes in Christ's name: so that the obtaining more and more of this divine temper is one main end of his exercising faith in Christ: And whatsoever he asks the Father in Christ's name, he receives. God is readier to give his holy spirit to such an one, than parents are to give bread to their children.... John xvi. 23—Mat. vii. 11 and therefore every true believer does obtain the end of his faith; and not only has, but grows in this divine temper, and is governed by it, and brings forth fruit according to it : and thus shows his faith by his works, according to St. James's doctrine.... James ii: And herein true faith stands distinguished from all counterfeits. Never had a hypocrite a spiritual sense of that ineffable beauty of the divine nature, which lies at

Unworthy to go in his own name. As thus, if, in prayer, I offer up this petition, "Lord, enable me to love thee with all my heart!"-it implies, (1) That I do not love God with all my heart, notwithstanding the infinite obligations I am under to do so; for which defect I am infinitely to blame, and deserve an infinite punishment....to be instantly driven from God's presence forever, and spurned to hell as a creature fit only for destruction (2) It implies that all the external manifestations which God has made of himself to me in his works and word, and all the external means he has used with me, are not able to win my heart wholly to God; so great is my sottishness and alienation from the Deity, and love to the world and sin: And now, surely, such a vile wretch cannot have a thought of any mercy from God, on the account of any goodness in me; yea, rather I am too bad to be pitied, unless there be some sufficient salvo to the divine honor. How, therefore, can God give me the greatest of gifts, even the sanctifying influences of his holy spirit, but through the great Mediator, consistently with his honor as moral Governor of the world: Now, therefore, being thus unworthy to go to God in my own name, I go in Christ's name; as knowing that, through him, God can exercise his infinite, self-moving goodness to the vilest of creatures, consistently with his honor; although law and justice call for their immediate destruction, considered as in themselves.

the foundation of all the experiences of the true saint, and from whence all true holiness originally springs. The formalist may, from legal fears and mercenary hopes, be so strict and consciencious in his ways, as to think himself a choice good, man: and the enthusiast, from a firm persuasion of the pardon. of his sins, and the love of Christ, may be so full of joy and love, zeal and devotion, as to think himself a most eminent, saint but there is nothing of the nature of true holiness in either; for it is self, and nothing but self, that is the principle, centre, and end of all their religion: They do not believe in Christ, that through him they may return home to God, and be consecrated to him forever, and obtain grace to do all his will: They do not know God, or care for him, but are wholly taken up about their own interest. That Moravian maxim, “That salvation consists in the forgiveness of sins," exhibits the true. picture of the heart of the best hypocrite in the world; while that in II. Cor. iii. 18, is peculiar to the godly....We all with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory.

11, And lastly-In true believers there is a principle of faith, which abides and grows, and perseveres to the end. That spiritual sense of God...of themselves... of Christ, and of the gos pel-way of salvation through him, which lays the foundation for the first act of faith, becomes habitual: They have a spiritual understanding to discern spiritual things, (I. Cor. ii. 12)—They were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord; and hence they are called children of the light and of the day....Eph. v. 8— I. Thes. v. 5. Spiritual light does not come upon believers like flashes of lightning at midnight-now and then a flash, and then as dark as ever again; but their light is habitual, like day-light: And from the first dawning of divine light at the hour of conversion, that day-break of heaven, their light shines more and more, year after year, to the perfect day....Prov. iv. 18: The flying clouds in the day time, although they may hide the clear shining of the sun for a while, yet they do not make it dark as in the night; yea, the thickest clouds are not able to do it.