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doubts will harrass and difquiet the mind, and a thousand perplexing fears will diftrefs and disturb the foul, untill precious faith in the blood of Jefus, fcatters and disperses these troublers of the heart, by oppofing the fufficiency of the Redeemer's blood, to atone for the most multiplied and aggravated crimes. This in the word of God, is fet forth as a special use of precious faith; it leads the foul and unites it to Jefus, fo it brings back from his fullness and fufficiency that fenfe and affurance of pardon, that is accompanied with peace of confcience. Rom. v, 1, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jefus Chrift; and in the verse next following my text, the apoftle wishes to the church an increase of grace and peace, but this can only be obtained through the knowledge of God and Jefus our Lord, and faith is the key that opens the cabinet of divine, mysteries and fhews us the father propitious, acceffible, lovely and defirable in the face of Jefus Chrift.

I would not after all I have faid or may yet fay of precious faith, have any to conceive of it as fomething excellent or even exifting at all, but as it has respect unto the Lord Chrift, and the fweet gofpel-truths concerning him; faith was never called forth into being until fome promife was made which was to be believed; which being first made to Adam concerning the feed of the woman, here now was need of faith, which if Adam was put into the poffeffion of, muft needs be precious as it would lead him to Chrift, and although not yet manifested in the flesh, would notwithstanding bring backfrom Chrift, peace and tranquility of mind.

This precious faith therefore which exists by, and is ever converfant about the things that pertain to Jefus, is to the foul any thing or every thing, whereby Jefus may be glorified by it; does the foul defire to look on Jefus in the garden, in Herod's judgment-hall, or on the cross; faith becomes an eye to it, and fhews the man of forrows growing pale in death, emptying all his fa cred veins, and iffuing from thence a flood, that buries in oblivion all his fins. Doth the foul defire to take hold on Jefus, faith becomes a hand, and taking Kold of his ftrength, enjoys peace in him, If. xxvii, 5, and draws and derives that ftrength from him, that she can fing with Ifrael's monarch, "the Lord is the ftrength of my life, "of whom fhall I be afraid." Pf. xxvii, 1.

And if the foul defires not only to fee but to taste also that the Lord is gracious; precious faith with officious hand brings from the fullness of Jefus, all that can be defired to chear and regale the drooping mind. My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed, faid our Lord, and be that eateth me fhall live by me; the Jews were offended at these things, and faid, How can this man give us bis flesh to eat? John vi. 52, 55.1 Now precious faith explains this to the foul, and gives it to feed hereon, as the most delicious food; faith represents it and imparts it as the living bread, which whofoever eateth fhall live for ever; and thus the believing foul feeds on Jefus, and lives by bim, John vi. 57, takes from the fullness there is in the Redeemer, and is enriched with all fpiritual bleffings.

4th, Another property of faith, and for which it is defervedly called precious is, it's fubftantiating

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fhadows, and giving being (as one might fay) to non-entities; it is the true philofopher's ftone, it turns all to gold; pain to pleasure, fear to hope, grief to joy, and the most afflictive providences into gracious difpenfations. The apostle to the Hebrews tells us, faith is the fubftance of things hoped for, ch. xi. 1, what then is the believer's expectation and hope? Hopes he for grace to help him in every time of need, while he is fojourning here below? Faith, puts him into the immediate poffeffion of this grace, by which he is fupported for the prefent, and his hope receives a confirmation of a never-failing fupply. Does the believer hope for heaven hereafter? Faith brings down the foretaftes thereof at prefent into his foul.

All the promises in the word of God are like an estate in reverfion; now faith lays hold on the things promifed, and makes future things prefent, fo affures the foul of the reality of them, that it tastes a prefent bleffedness in them, and joyfully feafts upon them. Promifes however precious in themselves and although made by a faithful God, and in covenant-mercy, yet ftand as a mere blank in the facred pages, are like a number of cyphers without an initial figure; but precious faith puts itself at the head of them, and gives them their proper value. I have heard of one, being at the point of death. and when in great anguish of fpiFit under the dreadful lafhes of a guilty confcience, his friends endeavoured to comfort him, by reminding him of the promises of God, and exhorting him to ftay himielf thereon, replied, alas, alas, the plaifter will not ftick; poor foul he wanted precious faith to affure his aching heart that

these promises belonged to him. What comfort would it give to a man pinched with hunger, and ready to perifh for want of food and raiment, to fhew him, or even put into his hands the writings of fome nobleman's eftate, or to point him to the fplendid equipages and fumptuous table of his opulent neighbour? Would this fatisfy his crav ing appetite, or cover and warm his naked body? Would not the very fight of these things rather aggravate than leffen his diftrefs? So the promises of God recorded in his book for the comfort and fupport of his people, and which this apostle by reafon of their super-eminent worth, calls precious promifes, are fo far from yielding any comfort to an unbeliever, that they rather heighten his forrow and wound him deeper, while he has nothing to affure him that these are his; the plaister will not stick, to his troubled confcience, nor yield any healing virtue to his wounded spirit.

But faith unloofes the feals of the facred book, ranfacks with unfpeakable delight each page and line, and with the pleafing language of appropriation, fays of every precious promife, this is mine. Faith hears the voice of God, when reading in his bleffed book, and confiders not the things that are spoken as words of form, or that the threatenings to the wicked and impenitent, or the promises made to the faithful and pious, are things that have a peradventure joined to their event; but looks upon them and regards them in refpect of their certainty, as if already accomplifhed; every word of God in the estimation of faith, is real fact.

5th, As precious faith, is the eye of the foul, as has been obferved, fo it well deferves to be

noted,

noted, that the fight thereof, is remarkably and admirably strong. It is faid of the eagle, that that bird can fix it's eye, and look full on the beams of the mid-day fun; I know not how far this is true of the eagle; but this I know, precious faith, can look full and steady and even delights to gaze on what is infinitely more bright, I mean the most dazzling attributes of the deity, boliness and justice. As the natural and naked eye cannot bear to look on the body of the unclouded fun, because of the unfufferable fplendor of his beams; fo neither can the foul in an unconverted ftate, bear to look on the infinite purity and inflexible juftice of God, for having no medium to look through, no mediator to ftand between, the most holy man that ever lived, (if any out of Chrift could be called holy,) would be utterly confounded, dafhed out of countenance, and be glad in order to efcape the intollerable giare of their uncreated brightness to hide his head in everlasting night. But precious faith, as I have faid, views and conteinplates with pleasure and delight, the infinite boliness of God, leads out the foul in pursuit of the like amiable quality, and animates it with an infatiable defire to be conformed more and more into it's nature. Faith leads the foul to look on Jefus, it's living head, and with whom it is made one, as the brightness of this excellent glory; and while he is thus viewed, as transfigured by faith, the foul feels fomewhat like Peter on Mount-tabor, when he said, Lord it is good for us to be here.

Again, the juftice of God which will one day be as a rod of iron to chaftife devils and difobedient men, is to the believer like the golden fcep

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