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Why then dost thou not add with the apostle, as thou art privileged to add; I am PERSUADED, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor ANY OTHER CREATURE, shall be able to separate ME, weak and worthless as I am, from the love of God which is in CHRIST JESUS my

LORD.

Pray, then, for the increase of faith. If faith do not grow, there can be no growth in any other grace: Because this is the hand which receives every thing spiritual, or the channel through which all heavenly blessings flow. According to faith, so is the measure of all advancement, both in true knowledge and real experience. A man cannot have the full assurance of understanding, which consists in a strong and undoubted perception of the correspondence and relation of all heavenly truths to God and to each other, without the full assurance of faith; because out of this last, and not out of the man's own head, the other proceeds; and proceeds by its exercise on the word, and through the illumination of the Spirit upon it. Then from the conjunction of faith with the understanding, and in the advancement of both, arises that most comfortable grace, which the apostle styles, the full as, surance of hope to the end. This sort of hope is not like that poor vapid principal of the natural heart, which hath nothing certain to expect, and longs for distant objects as matters of mere chance: No, It is a hope, which never yet made a man ashamed, and which, grounding itself upon what faith discovers in the word concerning the sureness and truth of salvation, looks out for and expects it, as a great estate which it is heir to, which it shall soon enjoy, and which nothing can take away from it. Thus the man's faith understanding and bope; or, in other words, faith as a divine principle, acting upon the other two, and enduing them with its own full persuasion, carries all the faculties of the soul and body, (allowing for their infirmities) into the sweetest communion with Christ, and through him with the Spirit and the Father. The whole Trinity is glorified in one poor creature; and, thus glorified, elevates that creature to a dignity, which, (according to the apostle) no thought can conceive. God is first glorified in him; for man. of himself can give no glory to God; and then man reflects the rays of this heavenly splendor, confessing that they all came from Jebovab, and belong only to him. Like the moon, the redeemed have no true light of their own; but derive all that deserves the name from their self-existent Sun of Righ

teousness.

The trial of faith is appointed for this end. God suffers, and even ordains, that things evil shall prove those which are good. It is an evil thing, which attempts to debauch or

destroy our faith: And Christ calls those matters by the name of offences, which are to come, and must come, for the trial of this faith, that it may appear to be wrought in God. But this is a precious trial, and a precious end, whatever be the means which God permits and which the world and the devil may use, upon the occasion. These are indeed evil, and intend nothing beside evil: But the Spirit of faith shews his own sovereignty in all, by establishing righteousness itself from the very opposition of iniquity, and by constraining the powers of darkness to drive his people into higher degrees of light and glory.

Upon occasions of this kind, the word of God becomes doubly precious to the believer's heart and understanding He looks upon it as a pledge of God's faithfulness, and is happy in the assurance, that beaven and earth may pass away, but that not one tittle of this word shall fail. He consults the word for information and instruction, that his understanding may be found in the truth; and for comfort and support, that his bope may increase in the truth: And he prays to the Spirit of faith over his faithful word, that he may be enabled to act faith upon it, and that a full persuasion of the divine truth may flow into his soul, in order that he may go through his warfare, like a faithful priest and soldier of Christ Jesus. Nothing endears the Bible more to a Christian, than his trials; and these are made to prove, that indeed the Bible belongs to him, and that he belongs to God. Flights and fancies may amuse those, who are at ease; but, in the great fight of afflictions, one plain word in God's book is worth ten thousand times ten thousand of them all. They are but husks and trash, which can never satisfy the soul, who hungers and thirsts for the living God. The heart in trial doth not want words only, but things in the words: And no word but God's can pretend to this, which hath more matter than language, nay, implies infinitely more than language can express. It is therefore called the word of God, not only because it proceeded from him, but because he fills it with his power, and uses it as the proper instrument for the happiness and salvation of his people.

In matters of faith and practice, the real Christian makes his whole reference and appeal to the word, and suffers no guide to direct his mind, but this. A truly excellent and evangelical writer hath observed," that Scripture is the only rule of right and wrong, and that conscience has no direction but this rule. Neither ethics, nor metaphysics, no fancied light of dark nature, no lawless law of rebel nature, no human science, whether pretended to be implanted, or by the use of reason to be acquired, have any right to guide the conscience. These are blind leaders of the blind. They under

take, what they are not only unfit, but what they have no warrant for." Nothing needs to be added to this, but the exhortation of the apostle, upon another occasion; that Christians should bold fast the faithful word as they have been taught, that they may be able by sound doctrine both to exbort and to convince the gainsayers. Tit. i. 9.

And if men are exhorted to bold fast the faithful word; shall we suppose, that the God of all faithfulness will not hold fast bis own word? Can we imagine, that He, who restores men from death unto life, and who hath promised that this life is and shall be eternal, will disappoint his own purpose, and break his own promise, by suffering that life to be temporary only, or by permitting any wretched creatures to controul his will? What can be a more horrid or blasphemous position than this, against the very power, honor, and truth of God.-Blessed be his holy name, he doth not cure like a Paracelsus, to make the relapse worse than the disease; but he heals all diseases of sin, and prevents all relapses to ruin. He is faithful, that bath promised; is a word for a Christian's heart, which will administer more comfort, even in the time of his trial, than the contrary tenet possibly can to its espousers, in the moments of their greatest ease. Our God is a Rock; and his work must be perfect: And surely then the works of his grace, so much more costly and sublime, as they are than all his works of nature, can never be incomplete.

Come then, humble Christian; while others contend for doubting (a poor prize, not worth their pains!) do thou pray and entreat for the firmest acts of believing. In this way, thou wilt be enabled to glorify God; and, in this course, he will, one day, glorify thee. Faith is the death of sin, as well as the life of righteousness.

Faith makes a treasure of God's word, and treasures up, as the choicest jewels, the exceeding great and precious promises found therein. Faith lifts up the soul above the busy bustling troubles of a thorny world, or wafts it over a sea of cares with safety to the haven of bliss, Faith leads the spirit of a man to communion with Christ, and through him, to an access with confidence to the ETERNAL THREE. In a word; faith teaches, purifies, and comforts the heart living and dying; inspires it with a holy longing for unalterable bliss; and, at length, dissolves into love when the believer is arrived in that place, where he will be found. to the praise, and honor, and glory of his God, without interruption and without end.

Lastly; contemplate the triumphs of faith, and pray, that, according to the occasion, these triumphs may be thine. What, a golden legend, indeed, is the eleventh chapter to the

* Walk of Faith. Vol. i. p. 40.

Hebrews! What a noble army of martyrs, and other confessors of Christ, may be found there, and in ancient ecclesiastical histories! Filled with this Spirit of faith, they despised all the malice of men, and looked down upon their cruel tormentors, with contempt for their rage, and with pity for their souls. One cannot read those magnanimous words of Lactantius, without being moved.. "With God before our eyes, with God in our hearts, we can triumph by his aid over all the torments which men can inflict upon our bodies. At those times of trial, we are able to think of nothing else, but the blessings of the life immortal. Though torn in pieces, or consuming in the fire, we are assisted to sustain, without dif ficulty, whatever the madness of tyranny can contrive to lay upon us. Nor do we meet death itself with regret or fear, but court it freely and with joy; knowing what glory is just ready to be put upon us, and that we are only hastening to enjoy the promises."* This was not an empty boast, uttered when no danger was near, but professed about the time of one of the bitterest and most severe persecutions, which ever tried the church of God.

'Tis not probable, believer, that thou shouldst be called to this sort of trial for thy faith: But, if thou wert, the same God, who filled thine ancient brethren with courage and joy, could give thee the same triumph in the end. There is, however, one trial, which thou and all men must in a very short time endure. The hour and trial of death is near to thee, and far from nobody in the world. Thou art graciously privileged to triumph over the last, as well as other enemies of thy soul. Victory over death is the infallible blessing to every believer; and sometimes transport in death. He will e'er long open his eyes and mouth in heaven, though disease may have stopped them below. And can that be death, which ends in life? Can that be an evil which lasts for a moment, and then conducts to everlasting good?-Who can read, without encouragement, the noble confession of the gracious Rivet, just before his translation to glory? "Lord, come and receive me-I "long for thee, O my God! My soul looketh for thee, as the parched earth for moisture. Come, Lord; come, Jesus; "take me into thy bosom. I am ready whensoever it shall please thee. I long for his coming; yet do I not fret "self. Through the help of God, I am not troubled. I wait; "I believe; I persevere. Though he delay my joy, yet am in my way; and the sense of his favour grows in me every moment. My pain is sufferable; and my joy is beyond value. I have no more earthly cares, desires, "Lut of the things that are above." Then laying his hand

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*Inst. Epit. § 8.

nor any

my.

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apon his breast, he added; "Here is inward joy, by the Spi"rit of God dwelling in me. What am I, O gracious God, that thou deignest to dwell under my poor roof? It is thy will, O Lord; and it is mine also. Let thy good Spirit "dwell in me to the end!" Some of his last words were ; "I am going to your God, my friends, and to my God. "have gained all: Amen."--Doubtless, one of his first words, soon after these, was ballelujah!-Reader, pray that it may also be thine!

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WHEN man fell from God, the world, which was made

for him, was thrown into disorder; and he himself, like a wandering star, removed from its proper course, began to slide from darkness to darkness, and naturally tended onward to the blackness of darkness for ever. A law had been given him, as the test of his obedience, calculated both for body and mind; and this law required nothing, but what it was both his duty and his happiness to observe. He had a superiority over all creatures in the world, which was then his pleasant though not perpetual home; and he was subject to none but to HIM, who afforded him both life and love, and who only claimed that from him, which he was well able to pay, and in the payment of which he was to receive new and new incomes of joy. All his blessedness consisted in looking upwards to God; and therefore, as a picture of the state of his mind, his Maker gave him a sublime countenance* and an erect posture of body. Thus while his natural eyes might easily view the heavens, the eyes of his mind could be. hold HIM, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, but yet who vouchsafed to set up his throne in the heart of his humble creature man. By the very figure of his body was he taught, where lay the fundamental happiness of his soul: His face, then the true index of his mind, pointed upwards and continually to God. The beasts were created otherwise; that he might learn from their prone and downward aspect, Vol. II. Dd

*Os homini sublime dedit, cælumq. videre

Jussit, erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.

OVID. Met. 1. i. f. 3.

Lactantius frequently dwells upon this thought, with his usual

elegance of expression, in his Institutions.

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