all his commandments. 66 Thy word," saith David, "is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." "I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments."* Holy resolutions are essential to a sincere obedience they may become abortive by being framed in our own strength, and without "counting the cost; but, notwithstanding, they are a necessary preparation to the conscientious performance of duty. Nothing is more certain than that real religion is a reasonable and voluntary service: he will never truly serve God who is not deliberately resolved to do so. Good resolutions bear the same relation to [upright conduct] as the seed bears to the fruit. All this, however, of itself, is indeed sufficient to form a slave, not a child to produce a constrained and reluctant obedience, not the cheerful homage of a heart flowing with gratitude and love. The understanding may be enlightened, conscience awakened, and the external conduct reputable; while the service of God is felt as an insupportable load, with difficulty sustained, though impossible to be shaken off. Something more is requisite to render religion a delight, to convert wisdom's ways into "ways of pleasantness," and her paths into "paths of peace." 4. To put the finishing stroke, then, to the character of a good man, let me add, once more, that his heart is inspired with a love to the law of God after the "inner man." Considered as a transcript of the divine perfections, as an expression of [God's] immaculate holiness, as the instrument of his sanctification, it is the object of his devoted attachment. The dispositions which it enforces are wrought into his heart; the inward bias of his mind is directed towards the holiness which it prescribes; and so intense is his approbation of all its requisitions, that the least alteration in it would give him pain. He longs not to have the standard of duty reduced to his level, but to have his own heart raised to its elevation. He would not wish for a law which connived at impurity, which commanded any thing short of moral perfection. [Its] immaculate holiness to him forms its principal attraction. It is also entitled to our warmest attachment on account of its beneficial tendency; it is adapted, in the highest degree, to correct every moral irregularity, and to diffuse order and happiness throughout the whole creation. In proportion as it is obeyed, it never fails to ensure the "peaceable fruits of righteousness." 66 Hence those passionate expressions of attachment to the holy precepts of God which abound in the writings of David, and particularly in the 119th Psalm. "O how love I thy law !" "My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times." "I will speak of thy testimonies before kings, and will not be ashamed: and I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate on thy statutes." • Psalm cxix. 105, 106. Its precepts may often do violence to the inclinations of flesh and blood, may often urge to laborious duties and painful sacrifices; sinful pleasures may be [desired,] which unsanctified natures find as difficult to part with as to "cut off a right hand, or to pluck out a right eye;" but still the manifest equity of its requisitions, and their evident subserviency to our best, our eternal interest, is such, that they are cordially approved. A congeniality of mind with the tenor of the divine precepts is experienced; whence arises a practical compliance, not so much the fruit of necessity, as the effect of inward vital principle. Herein is fulfilled the gracious declaration of the new covenant-" But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." This is the great work of the Spirit on the souls of the faithful, the seal of God on the heart of his servants, and the distinguishing feature in the character of his children. Their love to the law produces grief at seeing it violated. "Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law."t 5. In a good man, this attachment to the law of God and to the rules of duty is progressive, and with every accession of religious experience, becomes more vigorous and confirmed. The farther he advances in his Christian course, the more deeply he is convinced that his prosperity is inseparably allied to obedience, that his spiritual enjoyments rise or fall in proportion as he walks more or less closely with his God. "Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee."‡ "Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way which thou shouldst go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." II. Its effects on his character and conduct: "none of his steps shall slide." His steps shall not fatally slide; he shall maintain a uniform and consistent deportment. 1. The violence of temptation shall not overpower him. * Jer. xxxi. 33. Psalm cxix. 53. Psalm lxxxi. 13, 14, 16. Isa. xlviii. 17, 18 XXII. ON PRAYER FOR THE INCREASE OF FAITH. LUKE xvii. 5.—And the apostle said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. We have here an example of prayer addressed to Christ, which implies an acknowledgment of his divinity, since it is a received principle of Scripture that God only is the proper object of prayer. It is the more deserving of our attention on account of its being a prayer for a spiritual blessing, and that a blessing of prime importance; nor could it, with any propriety, be presented to one who was not conceived to have immediate access to the mind. However wavering or confused the apprehension the apostles entertained of Christ's personal dignity might be during the continuance of his ministry on earth, it seems evident, from this instance, that there were seasons when they felt a lively conviction of his divinity, under which they ascribed to him a sovereign power over the heart. From the reply which our Saviour makes to this petition, it is probable it more immediately respected that faith of miracles with which the apostles were in some measure endued, and which was greatly strengthened and enlarged after the day of Pentecost. The weakness of that faith they had on some occasions experienced, when persons afflicted with maladies were brought to them and they were not able to effect their cure.* A circumstance of this nature, it is possible, had recently occurred, which gave rise to this request. Whatever particular species of faith might be designed in the words of the apostle now before us, we shall beg leave to consider faith, in the present discourse, in its more ordinary acceptation, in which it denotes a persuasion of divine truth, founded on the testimony and produced by the Spirit of God. The faith of which we shall speak is that cordial assent to the testimony of God which distinguishes all regenerate persons, and which is defined by St. Paul, "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith, in the New Testament, is applied solely to the exercise of the mind on the divine testimony. It denotes a reliance on the veracity and faithfulness of God,-his veracity respecting the truth of what he has affirmed, his faithfulness in the accomplishment of what he has promised. Hence it differs from sense and reason. Of the objects of the former we gain a knowledge by immediate experience, by their direct impressions on the bodily organs; of those which fall within the province of the latter, we arrive at a conviction by a process of argument more or less simple. Faith, on the contrary, is a reliance on the truth of what God has declared simply because he has declared it. It implies a revelation of his mind and will, and the principle on which it founds the assurance of whatever it embraces is this, that the Supreme Being can neither deceive his creatures nor be deceived. It converses with supernatural verities, that is, with truths which are not capable of being ascertained by sense, or demonstrated by reason. In our present discourse we shall confine ourselves to two observations. I. That genuine faith admits of degrees. II. That an increase of faith is, on every account, highly desirable. I. Where faith is genuine and sincere, it is yet susceptible of different degrees. Considered with respect to the number of the truths embra ed, it is obvious at first sight that the faith of one Christian may be far more extensive than that of another. Though every real Christian embraces the whole revelation of God, and has consequently an implicit confidence in all the declarations contained in it, yet the knowledge of one may extend to many more particulars than that of another: a more accurate acquaintance with the Scriptures may bring before the view some truths of which the other entertains no conception. The religious belief of one may be confined to first principles, while that of another includes also the higher and more refined mysteries of Christianity. Considered in this light, none can doubt of the possibility of an increase of faith; though, strictly speaking, such an enlargement of the view may be more properly denominated an increase of knowledge. An increase of faith respects more immediately further development of the principle itself, a greater force of persuasion, a more unshaken confidence in revealed truth, accompanied with a more uncontrolled ascendency of it over the heart. The strength of Abraham's faith is described, not as consisting in the extent of the truths it embraced, but in the force and vigour of his persuasion of the Divine promises. It is opposed to his "staggering through unbelief." A persuasion of the same divine truths, even when it is cordial and sincere, may admit of augmentation. The power and grace of the Redeemer, for example, by which "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him," ,"* are cordially believed by all Christians;-but they are apprehended with different measures of clearness and force: with some they are sufficient to imbolden them to venture upon him with trembling hope; with others they produce the full assurance of faith, accompanied with "joy unspeakable and full of glory."† The transcendent love of the Redeemer, in dying for us, is truly apprehended and sincerely believed by all true Christians; but the views which they entertain of it are very different in depth and impression. As the same object may be seen under different lights, so the same truths may be contemplated with distinct degrees of evidence and brightness. To Το "perfect that which is lacking in your faith." "Your faith groweth exceedingly." "But having hope, when your faith is increased." By the nature of things, the light of faith must ever be inferior to that of vision; it can never fully reach, in its power over the heart, the perfection of sight, and, consequently, will never make us equally * Heb. vii. 25. 11 Pet. i. 8. 1 Thess. iii. 10. 2 Thess. i. 13. || 2 Cor. x. 15. happy or holy with those who "see as they are seen, and know as they are known." There is a limit to which it can never reach, but it may make nearer and nearer approaches to it. These things, on which the faith of a Christian is exercised, may be considered as twofold; consisting either of objects revealed which have a present subsistence, or promises of future good. The character and perfections of the blessed God, the office and work of the Redeemer, the dignity of his person, the efficacy of his blood, and the prevalence of his intercession, belong to the former. The light of faith makes this known to us; and this light is progressive, and by it we may attain to still higher and more transforming views of God and the Redeemer." XXIII. SECOND DISCOURSE ON PRAYER FOR THE INCREASE OF FAITH. LUKE xvii. 5.—Lord, increase our faith. THE advantages resulting from an increase of faith. II. As they regard the Supreme Being. I. As they respect ourselves. It will have powerful influence in increasing our religious enjoyments. One grand design of Christianity is to make mankind happy by diminishing that portion of vexation of spirit which cleaves to all earthly things. "These things have I spoken unto you," said our blessed Lord, "that your joy might be full." But the degree of this joy will be proportioned to the measure of our faith. 1. An increase of faith will effectually deliver us from distressing doubts respecting our state. As light makes all other things manifest, so it makes itself. While faith is "like to a grain of mustard-seed,"‡ it may be difficult to be discerned; but when it becomes more matured, it will be easily perceivable. 2. The things of God are so transcendently excellent and glorious, that the more lively our apprehension of them, the more happy we shall necessarily be. The more we see of God in Christ, the more we shall be conscious of a surpassing beauty in those objects that will eclipse the whole world in our view. The all-sufficiency and unchangeableness, the goodness, holiness, and truth of the Great Eternal, viewed by faith, will fill the mind with the most exalted satisfaction. The glory of the visible heavens and of the earth is nothing more than the reflection, or rather the shadow, of this glory. If the contemplation of created truth and goodness, developed in the This and the following sermon were preached in June, 1810. ↑ John xv. 11. Matt. xiii. 31. |