terrified, as if the judgment were denounced against us; and when they forbid any sin, we are to think they forbid it unto us. By which application we shall make all the rich treasures contained in the Scriptures wholly our own, and in such a powerful and peculiar manner enjoy the fruit and benefit of them, as if they had been wholly written for us, and none other else beside us. By saving faith, we undoubtedly embrace Christ for ourselves, in the same sense as Jacob embraced Jehovah as his God, Gen. xxviii. 21; that is, to a rejecting of every idol that stands in competition with him. Christ is all-sufficient, and suited to save us, as well as others; and it is for the forgiveness of our sins that we put our trust in him. But this is very different from a persuasion of our being in a state of salvation. My objections to this notion of faith are as follow: Nothing can be an object of faith, except what God has revealed in his word: but the interest that any individual has in Christ, and the blessings of the Gospel, more than another, is not revealed. God has no where declared, concerning any one of us, as individuals, that we shall be saved all that he has revealed on this subject respects us as characters. He has abundantly promised, that all who believe in him, love him, and obey him, shall be saved; and a persuasion, that, if we sustain these characters, we shall be saved, is, doubtless, an exercise of faith: but : * Downame's "Guide to Godliness," p. 647. whether we do them or not, is an object not of faith, but of consciousness. Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." "Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. My little children, let us not love in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth: hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him." 1 John ii. 3. 5. iii. 18, 19. If any one imagine that God has revealed to him his interest in his love; and this in a special, immediate, and extraordinary manner, and not by exciting in him the holy exercises of grace, and thereby begetting a consciousness of his being a subject of grace, let him beware, lest he deceive his soul. The Jews were not wanting in what some would call the faith of assurance: We have one Father, said they, even God: but Jesus answered, If God were your Father, ye would love me. The Scriptures always represent faith as terminating on something without us; namely, on Christ, and the truths concerning him but, if it consist in a persuasion of our being in a state of salvation, it must terminate, principally, on something within us; namely, the work of grace in our hearts; for to believe myself interested in Christ, is the same thing as to believe myself a snbject of special grace. And hence, as was said, it is common for many who entertain this notion of faith, to consider its opposite, unbelief, as a doubting whether we have been really converted. But, as it is the truth and excellence of the things to be interested in, and not his in terest in them, that the sinner is apt to disbelieve; so it is these, and not that, on which the faith of the believer primarily terminates. Perhaps what relates to personal interest may, in general, more properly be called hope than faith, and its opposite, fear, than unbelief. To believe ourselves in a state of salvation, (however desirable, when grounded on evidence,) is far inferior, in its object, to saving faith. The grand object on which faith fixes, is the glory of Christ, and not the happy condition we are in, as interested in him. The latter, doubtless, affords great consolation; and the more we discover of his excellence, the more ardently shall we desire an interest in him, and be the more disconsolate while it continues a matter of doubt. But if we be concerned only for our own security, our faith is vain, and we are yet in our sins. As that repentance which fixes merely on the consequences of sin, as subjecting us to misery, is selfish and spurious, so that faith which fixes merely on the consequences of Christ's mediation, as raising us to happiness, is equally selfish and spurious. It is the peculiar property of true faith, to endear Christ: Unto you that believe, HE is precious. And, where this is the case, if there be no impediments, arising from constitutional dejection or other accidental causes, we shall not be in doubt about an interest in him. Consolation will accompany the faith of the Gospel Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. All those exercises of faith which our Lord so highly commends in the New Testament-as that of the centurion, the woman of Canaan, and others are represented as terminating on his all-sufficiency to heal them, and not as consisting in a persuasion that they were interested in the divine favor, and, therefore, should succeed. Speak the word only, says the one, and my servant shall be healed; for I am a man in authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. Such was the persuasion which the other entertained of his all-sufficiency to help her, that she judged it enough if she might but partake of the crumbs of his table-the scatterings, as it were, of mercy. Similar to this is the following language:-If I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole.-Believe ye that I am ABLE to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.—Lord, if thou wilt, thou CANST make me clean.--If thou CANST do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Jesus said, If thou CANST believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. I allow that the case of these people, and that of a sinner applying for forgiveness, are not exactly the same. Christ had no where promised to heal all who came for healing; but he has graciously bound himself not to cast out any who come to him for mercy. On this account, there is a greater ground for faith in the willingness of Christ to save, than there was in his willingness to heal; and there was less unbelief in the saying of the leper, IF THOU WILT, thou canst make me clean, than there would be in similar language from one who, convinced of his own utter insufficiency, applied to him for salvation. But a persuasion of Christ being both able and willing to save all them that come unto God by him, and, consequently, to save us, if we so apply, is very different from a persuasion that we are the children of God, and interested in the blessings of the Gospel. That the belief of the truth which God hath revealed in the Scriptures concerning Christ is saving faith, is evident from the following passages:Go preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved. Believing, here, manifestly refers to the Gospel. to be preached, and the rejection of which would subject the unbeliever to certain damnation.These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, believing, ye might have life through his name. Believing unto life is here described as a persuasion of Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God; and that on the ground of what was written in the Scriptures. Those by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe, and be saved. This language plainly denotes that a real belief of the word is connected with salvation. Peter confessed, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. Here it is plainly intimated that a belief of Jesus being the Christ, the Son of the living God, is saving faith; and |