of that Saxon prince's disease running in his religion, I am sure there is too much of it in mine; and I fear it is an epidemical distemper. But let us reflect a moment: suppose any neighbour of substance and credit should bind himself, by a deliberate promise, to do you some particular piece of service; if he should add to his promise a note under his own hand, if he should corroborate both by some authentic pledge, if he should establish all by a most awful and solemn oath; could you suspect the sincerity of his engagement, or harbour any doubt with regard to its execution? This would be most unreasonable in any one, and to your generous temper, I am very certain, it would be impossible. Let us remember, that God has given us all this cause for an assurance of faith, and more: nay, I will defy the most timorous and suspicious temper, to demand from the most treacherous person on earth, a greater, stronger, fuller security, than the God of infinite fidelity has granted to you and me. After all this, one would think diffidence itself could no longer hesitate, nor the most jealous incredulity demur. Shall we, can we withhold that affiance from the unchangeable Creator, which we could not but repose on a fallible creature? Ther. You rouse and animate me, Aspasio. O that I may arise, and with the divine assistance, shake off this stupor of unbelief! Certainly it can never be honourable to God, nor pleasing to Christ, nor profitable to ourselves. Asp. If it be, then cherish it, maintain it, and never relinquish it. But how can it be honourable to God? It depreciates his goodness, it is a reproach to his vera. city; nay, the apostle scruples not to affirm, that it 'makes him a liar: whereas, they who believe his testimony, glorify his faithfulness, glorify his beneficence, and, as John the Baptist speaks, set to their seal, that God is true.' I have been informed, that when the late elector of Hanover was declared, by the parliament of Great Britain, successor to the vacant throne, several persons of distinction waited upon his highness, in order to make timely application for the most valuable preferments. Several requests of this nature were 1 John v. 10. ↑ John til. 33. granted, and each was confirmed by a kind of promis. sory note. One gentleman particularly, solicited for the mastership of the Rolls: being indulged in his desire, he was offered the same confirmation which had been vouchsafed to other successful petitioners; upon which, he seemed to be under a pang of graceful confusion and surprise, begged that he might not put the royal donor to such unnecessary trouble, at the same time. protesting, that he looked upon his highness's word as the very best ratification of his suit. With this conduct, and this compliment, the elector was not a little pleased. This is the gentleman,' he said, who does me a real honour, treats me like a king; and, whoever is disappointed, he, shall certainly be gratified.' So we are assured by the testimony of revelation, that the patriarch, who staggered not' through unbelief, 'gave,' and in the most signal, the most acceptable manner, 'glory to God." Is it pleasing to Christ? Quite the reverse. It dishonours his merit, it detracts from the dignity of his righteousness, it would enervate the power of his intercession: accordingly you may observe, there is nothing which our Lord so frequently reproved in his followers as this spirit of unbelief. What says he to his disciples when he came down from the mount of transfiguration? Q faithless and perverset generation!' They were perverse, because faithless. What says he to the travellers whom he overtook on their journey to Emmaus? O fools, and slow of heart to believe!' They were fools, because slow to believe. What says he to the apostles. after his resurrection? Jesus upbraided them with their unbelief:'t he took no notice of their cowardly and perfidious behaviour, he inveighed against none of their other follies and infirmities; but he upbraided them Rom. iv. 20. + Аiεσтρаμμevn, Matt. xvii. 17. A believing state of mind is like some well-arranged and beautiful system of limbs: unbelief dislocates the parts, distorts the harmonious frame, and disfigures its comely proportion. 1 AvonTo, Luke xxiv. 25. Not thoughtless, but stupid creatures, void of understanding; as we say in English, without common sense; or, as Horace would have said in Latin, VOL. II. O tribus Anticyris caput insanabile! with their unbelief. Not gently rebuked; no, this was a fault so unreasonable in itself, so reproachful to their Master, so pernicious to themselves, that he se verely reprimanded them for it, with an air of vehe mence, and with a mixture of invective. Is it profitable to ourselves? Nothing less. It damps our love, and diminishes our comfort; it subjects us to that fear which hath torment, and disqualifies us for that obedience which is filial. In a word, this distrust. ful and unbelieving temper weakens every principle of piety, and impoverishes the whole soul. Whence come spiritual oscitancy and remissness? Whence proceed sterility and unfruitfulness in the knowledge of Christ? St. Peter ascribes them all to an habitual unbelief. Such persons, he says, have forgotten that they were purged from their former sins.' In the regenerate, where it remains, it is very detrimental; for they that will not believe shall not be established in the unregenerate, where it prevails, it is absolutely destructive; and though it may not kill like an apoplexy, it wastes like a consumption. They could not enter in, because of unbelief.'§ Let us then, my dear friend, cast away this sin which so easily besets us both. It clogs our feet, it hampers all our powers, and hinders us from running, with alacrity and speed, the race that is set before us. What says David? God hath spoken in his holiness; hath made an express and inviolable promise, that I shall be ruler of his people Israel. I will rejoice, therefore:' away with every alarming apprehension; I will even exult and triumph: * Mark xvi. 14. The word is not eжeTiμnoev, as in Luke xvii. 3. not eλeyšev, as in Tit. i. 13. but wveldiσe, which signifies, not barely a rebuke, but a rebuke accompanied with keen and stinging reflections; such as may cover the face with blushes, and wound the heart with anguish. It is used by the evangelist Luke, and by the apostle Peter, to describe those calumnies, invec tives, and reproaches, with which the persecutors of Christianity endeavoured to gall and afflict the Christians. Luke vi. 22 1 Pet. iv. 14. Though our Lord Jesus was most amiably tender and gentle, yet when severity was necessary and wholesome, be knew how to be severe. Our all-wise Physician could apply the caustic, as well as administer the cordial. + 2 Pet. i. 8, 9. Isa. vil. 9 nay more, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth;' I will look upon the whole land as my own; I will divide it, and dispose of it, just as if it was already in my possession. Why should not you and I also say, 'God hath spoken in his holiness;' hath expressly and solemnly declared, the promise' of an all-sufficient Saviour is to you.' We will rejoice therefore;' confiding in this most faithful word, we will bid adieu to all disquieting fears, and make our boast of this glorious Redeemer. Yes, notwithstanding all our unworthiness, Christ and his atonement, Christ and his righteousness, are ours. God hath passed his word, and amidst all our temptations his word is our anchor, its hold is firm, and its ground immoveable. Ther. I have heard some people distinguish between the faith of reliance and the faith of assurance; between the reflex and the direct act of faith. Methinks I approve these sentiments, though I dislike the terms. The sentiments are happily adapted to the relief of human infirmity, though the terms are rather too abstruse for ordinary capacities to understand. Asp. I cannot say that I am very fond either of the one or of the other: in my opinion, they both partake too much of the subtilty of the schools, and are more likely to create perplexity than to administer godly edifying; for which reason, I should choose to drop the difficult phrases, and not to dwell on the nice distinctions. Yet, if we must not dismiss them without some notice, I would just remark, That the faith of reliance, in its true scriptural sense, includes or presupposes a degree of assurance. Includes; for what is reliance, but a repose of the mind, which is attended with tranquillity, and excludes per turbation? How can this take place, if there be no sort This very important doctrine is more copiously displayed in a sermon of Mr. Erskine's on the Assurance of Faith, vol. iii. p. 201, Was I to read in order to refine my taste or improve my style, I would prefer Bishop Atterbury's sermons, Dr. Bate's Works, or Mr. Seed's discourses; but was I to read, with a single view to the edification of my heart in true faith, solid comfort, and evangelical holiness, I would have recourse to Mr. Erskine, and take his volumes for my guide, my companion, and my own familiar friend. of conviction that the Lord is my light and my sal vation? Presupposes; for who would rely on a satis faction made, without being persuaded that the satis faction is for him and his iniquities? Reliance, sepa rated from this persuasion, seems to be neither com fortable nor reasonable. As to those who insist upon what they call the reflex act of faith, sure they mistake the nature of the thing. This, if I understand them aright, is their way of arguing: I am a new creature; 1 love the Lord Jesus in sincerity; I have the fruits of the Spirit: from whence it is plain, that Christ and his salvation are mine.' Now, in all this procedure I cannot discern the least. footstep of faith; no, not the least trace of receiving a testimony or relying upon a Saviour. Here is nothing more than a logical deduction of one proposition from another; a conclusion drawn from given premises. Grant the latter, and any person, without any aid from the Spirit, will infer the former. It may, therefore, more properly be reckoned an act of reasoning than of believing; it is founded on what we ourselves feel, not upon the record of a faithful God; and it is styled, by judicious writers, the assurance of sense rather than of faith, When, in conformity to the afore-mentioned opinion, we are advised to prove our title to comfort by genuine marks of conversion, and taught on this column to fix the capital of assurance, I would rather propose a question than advance objections. Is not this somewhat like placing the dome of a cathedral upon the stalk of a tulip? Ther. No, say they, it was the practice of the apo stle himself; and he has left it upon record, as a pat tern for all posterity to copy: we know that we are passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.' Asp. Observe, Theron, the process of the apostle's reasoning: it is like the form of an inverted cone, where you have first the point, and from thence proceed to the base. So the sacred writer begins with the less, and ascends to the greater proof. He says, in one of the following verses, hereby perceive we the love |