soul is comforted and strengthened by the promises, brings it yet nearer and nearer to Christ and to his divine fulness, for wisdom, power, holiness, and every thing else, which may promote life and nearness to him, or enable it to adorn the doctrine of the Saviour; which cannot suffer a man to endure the thought of imputing his Own salvation to his own strength or worthiness, or of obtaining any glory for himself in the course or practice of holiness; but is jealous, that the whole praise should redound to the Lord alone, for all done in him, or for him, or by him, from beginning to end. In short; "Faith is (as the gracious divine above cited notes) an humble, self-denying, grace, which makes the Christian nothing in himself, but all in God."* This is a general outline of the Faith of God's elect, given

*LEIGHTON's Com. on 1 Pet. c.i. v. 5.

and

and wrought upon their souls by the operation and grace of God's Holy Spirit. And as this faith is of God, so it uniformly tends to him, as the needle to the pole, and can be satis-. fied with nothing but what is of God, or what leads to him, either in the great business of salvation or in the course of events passing in the world. By faith, the Christian understands, that the whole world itself is but a SYSTEM OF MEANS, leading to a sublime and eternal consummation; that the production of souls for glory is one great branch of that system; and that, therefore, every thing shall work together for good to the redeemed, as an essential part of one vast whole, which will finally redound to the magnificent display of God in all his attributes and perfections.-Much › more might be observed of the tendencies and influences of faith in the heart and life of the Christian; but this

F 4

this short sketch may, at present, suffice to show, that in consideration of its nature and activity, in such a world as our's, and in the degraded state of man, it is and must be, in the beginning, middle, and end, entirely from God. For it has been truly enough said, that "No one ever did, or ever will, feel himself and own himself to be a lost, miserable, and hateful, sinner, unless he be powerfully and supernaturally convinced by the Spirit of God:"* And so says the Scripture; or rather our Lord in the Scripture: A man can RECEIVE nothing, and consequently can produce nothing, except it be given him from above. All is, radically, ungodliness, which does not proceed from God: And all is impious infidelity, which does not lead to him through the Mediator Jesus Christ.

§ 34.

By the influence of the Holy One, Faith grows into or brings forth the fruit of HoPE. Without faith, there could be no hope; for hope itself may be considered as the gracious principle of faith, raised or extended towards its object. This hope is nourished, as faith itself, by the Lord alone in the use of his word. He is, therefore, called the God of Hope. Now (says the Apostle) the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Not more than faith

itself, therefore, is it the subject of human power, but a gracious influence from on high, which tends to raise up and invigorate the soul, till it come to the full assurance of hope, as well as of faith and understanding, to the end. And (as a most eminent and experimental divine hath observed) if this be true, "it is a foolish, misF 5 grounded,

grounded, fear, and such as argues inexperience of the nature and workings of divine grace, to imagine, that the assured hope of salvation will beget unholiness and presumptuous boldness in sin, and therefore that the doctrine of that assurance is a doctrine of licentiousness. Our Apostle is not so sharp-sighted as these men think themselves he apprehends no such matter; but, indeed, supposes the contrary as unquestionable: he takes not assured Hope and Holiness as enemies, but joins them as nearest friends-hope perfectly, and be holy. Abp. LEIGHTON's Com. on 1 Peter,

c.i. v. 14.

§ 35. CHARITY, or that sublime and delightful grace of Love, which attaches the soul to Christ, and to all that belongs to him, and which expands itself into universal benevolence in submission to the divine will; this grace also is the genuine offspring of