object beloved. The more ardently he loves God, too, he contemplates him the more frequently, and with the greater attention and pleasure: and, whilst he is engaged in performing this endless circuit of contemplation and affection, he obtains, at every repetition of the exercise, some fresh lineament of God's glorious image.

XXII. 2dly, When faith considers the unspotted purity of God, she readily concludes that she must exert her endeavours also to attain eminent holiness, if she wishes to possess, to cultivate, and to retain such communion with God as will prove effectually conducive to her joy. She assents to the voice of reason suggesting this truth. She gives credit to the sacred volume teaching it still more expressly; "The secret of the LORD is with them "that fear him:"-and to the Lord himself crying aloud in her ears, "Be ye separate, and touch not the "unclean thing, and I will receive you." She learns, also, by experience, that she no sooner relaxes her ardour in the pursuit of piety, than the joy of fellowship with God is immediately impaired. But since faith prizes this joy above every thing else, it cannot fail powerfully to stimulate her to a certain distinguished sanctity of life; as she is well assured that, without this, she can neither attain nor preserve that communion with God, which she so earnestly desires.

XXIII. 3dly, That stupendous love of God, by which he gives himself to the soul for its salvation, when it is apprehended by faith, and represented to the believer in its true light,-kindles surprising flames of reciprocal love. No one, I may venture to affirm, truly believes that God has become his own God, who, whilst he believes, is not swallowed up with amazement at that

abyss of divine love, and doth not sincerely wish that he had a far more capacious soul, that it might be entirely replenished with the love of God,-who so greatly loves, and is so greatly loved. In believers themselves, I am aware, that fervent and unbounded love, with which they are required to love their God, sometimes languishes. But on such occasions, their faith towards God as their own God, is either scarcely present, or not lively, or not called forth into exercise. When this faith is at once present and vigorously exercised, it dictates to the man a song of love not unlike the following, in which Augustine adored his God:* “I "love thee, O my God, and I desire always to love thee more; for thou art truly sweeter than all honey, more "nourishing than all milk, and brighter than all light. "Thou art dearer to me than all gold, and silver, and precious stones. O my Love, whose heart is ever warm, and never waxes cold, be pleased to inflame 66 me. O let me be entirely inflamed by thee, that I may entirely love thee; for if one love any other object together with thee, which he does not love for

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thy sake, he loves thee the less. May I love thee, "O Lord, since thou hast first loved me!".

XXIV. 4thly, Whoever truly believes that he is now become a partaker of God, as he cannot be his own, so cannot wish to be his own; but, did he possess any thing more valuable than himself, he would give it up to his God. Far from desiring to reserve any thing to himself instead of employing it in the service of God, he is truly grieved because he himself is not better, and more worthy of being surrendered to the Lord. On this topic, nothing can be conceived more elegant and forcible,

Soliloq. cap. xix.

than the following expressions of Bernard, in his treatise on loving God, which I cannot help quoting. "If," says he, "I owe my whole self for my creation, "what can I add for my renovation by means so astonishing? I have not been renewed so easily as I "was made. God made me, by merely speaking a sin

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gle word; in renewing me, he has not only spoken "much, but endured many grievous and ignominious "sufferings. In the first work he gave ME to myself; "in the second he GAVE HIMSELF; and when he thus "GAVE HIMSELF, he RESTORED ME to myself. Hav"ing, then, been both GIVEN and RESTORED, I owe MYSELF, I doubly owe MYSELF for MYSELF. What "shall I render to God for HIMSELF? for though I "were able to render MYSELF a thousand times, what "am I in the presence of GOD!" Christian faith in God teaches a man thus to reason, and thus to stir up his soul.

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xxv. We remark, in conclusion, that what has been said must not be understood to intimate, that no person in whom all the attainments of which we have now spoken, and these in the degree which we have delineated, are not found, can say in sincerity, I BELIEVE IN GOD. We have described " believing in God," not as it subsists in Christians that are weak and "of little faith," but as it may be conceived, and as it is sometimes seen in those to whom the Lord has imparted a richer measure of his Spirit. It is proper in this manner to propose faith in God to ourselves, not that we may fall into despair, or be unduly discouraged, when we cannot discern some parts of the description

VOL. I.

*De Diligendo Deo.

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G.

in ourselves; but that captivated with its beauty and excellence, we may cultivate, with all possible zeal and activity, the small beginnings which we have, till we gradually reach that full assurance of faith, which produces so many excellent fruits. Lord, we believe; help thou our unbelief. AMEN.

DISSERTATION VI.

ON FAITH IN A THREE-ONE GOD.

I. THE Creed is usually divided into three parts; of which the first relates to GOD THE FATHER, and the work of CREATION; the second to GOD THE SON, and the work of REDEMPTION; the third to GOD THE HOLY GHOST, and the work of SANCTIFICATION. The most ancient formulary having consisted of a simple profession of the Trinity, our present Creed, which took its rise from that formulary, and in course of time was completed by the addition of various articles, is still so framed that these may all be referred to the Three Persons in the Godhead. This great doctrine remained as the Foundation of foundations, upon which the other articles were built.

II. When, however, his own distinct actions are ascribed to each of the Persons respectively, this must not be understood to intimate that either the power or the operation of the Persons is divided, or that any one of them accomplishes his work more immediately than another. As God is one, so the power and operation of all the Persons are one and undivided; and each person is the immediate and perfect cause of the whole