each of which is of unquestionable and even of vital importance. I propose to exhibit the nature of the Faith we are required to exerciseits connexion with justification-and its moral influence.

It is to the first of these topics--to the NATURE of the Faith which is essential to salvation-that I now invite your regard. In attempting the elucidation of this momentous subject, it shall be my endeavour, FIRST, To ascertain the meaning of the terms employed by the inspired writers, in order to denote the exercise of true and genuine Faith: and SECONDLY, To establish some important principles, in order to guard against the danger of erroneous views and injurious misconceptions.

FIRST, Let our inquiries be directed to the meaning of the terms usually employed on this subject by the sacred writers.

Greatly is it to be lamented, that the subject of Faith, instead of being usually elucidated by discussion, has often been involved in deep obscurity. The definitions and distinctions of metaphysical expositors, both from the pulpit and from the press, have produced confusion, rather than clearness of ideas; so that the mind, yielded to their guidance, has been bewildered in the entanglements they have laboriously constructed. In all the inquiries connected with

revealed truth, I have been disposed to view with suspicion and aversion, scholastic refinements and technical subtleties. I find, in the word of God, a luminous and a beauteous simplicity; and I am encouraged to suppose, that when the inspired writers employ words in common use, they intend such words to be understood in their ordinary sense, unless some intimation be given to the contrary. If they evidently proceed on the supposition, that their meaning is unambiguous, and perfectly intelligible to their readers, even without the necessity of any laboured explanation, I am prepared and authorized to presume, that no peculiar difficulty of interpretation is to be encountered. These remarks appear to me strictly applicable to the subject before us. The sacred writers insist much on the importance of Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; but they betray no apprehension of any danger of being misunderstood, in consequence of any difficulty or obscurity in the terms they employ. They evidently proceed on the supposition, that the persons addressed will be liable to no perplexing embarrassment, either in ascertaining what the Faith required really is, or in determining whether, in the true and intended sense of the requirement, they themselves are believers.

Proceeding, then, with these views, to the investigation of the meaning of the important

terms, currently employed on this subject by the sacred writers, we shall find that, in the use of the nouns rendered "faith" and " belief," and in the use of the verb which denotes the act of believing, there is a direct reference, either to a communication made, or to the character and claims of one who makes a communication. If the case relate directly to the communication itself, and it be made in the form of a testimony, a declaration, or a promise, then that which is required of us is simply that we believe it ;that is, that we receive and embrace it, as undoubted truth; and, as the natural result of so receiving it, that we yield our hearts to the influence which, from its own nature, it is calculated to exert.

But in some instances the case may relate, not so directly to any one specific communication, as to the character and claims of him through whom various communications have been, or may be made. Let us suppose, for example, that the blessed God reveals himself to some individual of our race, in all the majesty and in all the benignity of his character, and in all his infinite resources for the happiness of his creatures. Let us suppose that his language is, "I am the Almighty, the all-sufficient God; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." What then is required of that favoured individual? Beyond

a doubt that he should trust in Him, and rely upon Him with grateful and adoring and most entire affiance. Now it was thus that God did actually manifest himself to the patriarch Abraham; and that venerated servant of the Most High, to his immortal honour, exercised a confidence unsuspecting and unbounded. Two instances of that confidence especially are illustrative of the subject before us.

66

The first is eulogized in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went."" When Abraham was called to go out of his own land," observes Dr. Dwight, “he knew not whether the people among whom he was to reside would prove friends or enemies, kind or cruel; nor whether his own situation, and that of his family, would be happy or unhappy. Wholly uninfluenced by these considerations, and all others, by which men are usually governed in their enterprizes, he still adventured upon an undertaking, in which his own temporal interests, and those of his family were finally embarked. Why did he thus adventure? The only answer to this question is, he was induced to go by a regard to the character of the Being who called him.--The emotion by which he was compelled to

leave his home was confidence. God summoned him to this hazardous and important expedition; and he readily obeyed the summons. The true and only reason was, he confided entirely in the character and directions of God. Such were his views of this glorious Being, that to commit himself and all his concerns to the direction of God was, in his estimation, the best thing in his At the same time he experienced an exquisite pleasure in yielding himself to the direction of God."

power.

A second illustration of the nature of Abraham's Faith we find in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. When far advanced in life, a promise was given him of the birth of a son, from whom was to descend, not only a great and powerful nation, but that long-expected Messiah, in whom all nations were to be blessed. "He staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief, but was strong in Faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform; and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.” His faith then was evidently of the nature of confidence in the promise of God, arising from confidence in the character of God. He placed his reliance on the divine perfections, and therefore he put his trust in the divine assurances. Now this faith of Abraham, be it remembered,