tween Christ and the saints, and that subsists between them, and is the foundation of the saints' communion with Christ. Such is the nature of it, that it is not merely like the various parts of a building, that are cemented and cleave fast together; or as marbles and precious stones may be joined, so as to become one: but it is such a kind of union as subsists between the head and living members, between stock and branches; between which, and the head or stock, there is such a kind of union, that there is an entire, immediate, perpetual dependence for, and derivation of nourishment, refreshment, beauty, fruitfulness, and all supplies; yea, life and being. And the union is wholly for this purpose; this derivation is the end of it; and it is the most essential thing in the union. Now, such an union as this, when turned into act, (if I may so say,) or an active union of an intelligent rational being that is agreeable to this kind of union, and is a recognition and expression, and as it were the active bond of it, is something else besides mere love. It is an act most properly expressed by the name of faith, according to the proper meaning of the word so translated, as it was used in the days when the scriptures were written.

§ 26. Trusting in a prince or ruler, as the phrase was understood among the Jews, implied in it faithful adherence, and entire subjection, submission, and obedience, So much the phrase plainly implies; Judges ix. 15. "And the bramble said unto the trees, if in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon." We have an account of the fulfilment of this parable in the sequel -How the men of Shechem did not prove faithful subjects to Abimelech, according to their covenant or agreement with him, but dealt treacherously with him: verse 23. And how accordingly Abimelech proved the occasion of their destruction. The like figure of speech is used to signify the nation's obedience to the king of Assyria; Ezek. xxi. 6. Our trusting in God and Christ, is often expressed by our trusting in his shadow, and under the shadow of his wings, and the like: Psalm xvii. 8. and xxxvi. 7. and lvii. 1. lxiii. 7. and xci. 1; Cant. ii. 3; Isaiah iv. 6. and xxv. 4. Here see Ruth ii. 12. compared with chap. i. 16. John iii. 36. "He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life: he that believeth not the Son, aridwv. The force of the word may in some measure be learned from Acts v. 36, 37. and Acts v. 40. "And to him they agreed or obeyed;" the word is the same. And Acts xxiii. 21. "But do not thou yield unto them ;" the word is the same in the Greek. Acts xxvi. 19. "I was not disobedient (asions) to the heavenly vision;" Rom. i. 30. "Disobedient to parents, arides." See also Acts xvii. 4. "Some of them believed (in the Greek STEIndav) and consorted with Paul and Silas." Acts xiv. 2.

"The unbelieving Jews, ameidouvres." Eph. ii. 2. "The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, arsideias." We may judge something of the force of the word do, by the signification of the word whence it comes; doua is the passive of red, which signifies to counsel, to move or entice, draw or persuade unto.

§ 27. It is fit that, seeing we depend so entirely and universally, visibly and remarkably, on God, in our fallen state, for happiness-and seeing the special design of God was to bring us into such a great and most evident dependence--that the act of the soul, by which it is interested in this benefit, bestowed in this way, should correspond; viz. a looking and seeking to, and depending on God for it; that the unition of heart, (that is the proper term,) should imply such an application of the soul to God, and seeking his benefits only and entirely, and with full sense of dependence on him. As the condition before was obedience, or rendering to God, so now it is seeking and looking to him, drawing and deriving from him, and with the whole heart depending on him, on his power and free grace, &c. Faith is the proper active union of the soul with Christ as our Saviour, as revealed to us in the gospel. But the proper active union of the soul with Christ as our Saviour, as revealed to us in the gospel, is the soul's active agreeing, and suiting or adapting itself in its act, to the exhibition God gives us of Christ and his redemption; to the nature of the exhibition, being pure revelation, and a revelation of things perfectly above our senses and reason; and to Christ himself in his person as revealed, and in the character under which he is revealed to us; and to our state with regard to him in that character; and to our need of him, and concern with him, and his relation to us, and to the benefits to us, with which he is exhibited and offered to us in that revelation; and to the great design of God in that method and divine contrivance of salvation revealed. But the most proper name for such an active union of the soul to Christ, as this, of any that language affords, is faith.

§ 28. The revelation or exhibition that God first made of himself, was of his authority, demanding and requiring of us, that we should render something to him that nature and reason required. The act of the soul that is suitable to such an exhibition, may be expressed by submitting, doing, obeying and rendering to God. The exhibition which God makes of himself, since our fall, in the gospel, is not of his power and authority, as demanding of us, but of his sufficiency for us, as needy, empty, helpless: and of his grace and mercy to us, as unworthy and miserable. And the exhibition is by pure revelation of things quite above all our senses and reason, or the reach of any created faculties, being of the mere good pleasure

of God. The act in us, that is proper and suitable to, and well according to such an exhibition as this, may be expressed by such names as, believing, seeking, looking, depending, acquiescing, or, in one word, faith.

§ 29. That believing, in the New Testament, is much the same as trusting, in the Old, is confirmed by comparing Jer. xvii. 5. "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, whose heart departeth from the Lord;" ver. 7. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is," with Heb. iii. 12. "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." It also is confirmed by this, that trusting God, and hoping in him, are used in the Old Testament as expressions of the same import. So hope is often in the New Testament used to signify the same thing that, in other places, is signified by faith. Rom. xv. 12, 13. Rom. xv. 12, 13. "And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now, 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.' Compare Dan. iii. 38. with Dan. vi. 23. and Heb. xi. 33, 34.

§ 30. That saving faith implies in its nature divine love, is manifest by 1 John v. 1. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him." The apostle's design in this verse, seems to be, to show the connexion there is between a true and sincere respect to God, and a respect to and union with Christ; so that he who is united to the Son, is so to the Father, and vice versa. As he believes in Christ, and so loves him, it is evident that he is a child of God. He, whose heart is united to the Father, is so to the Son. He that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. (Compare chap. ii. 22, 23, 24. and chap. iv. 15, with John xiv. 1. and John xv. 23, 24.) This shows, that love is the main thing in saving faith, the life and power of it, by which it produces great effects; agreeably to what the apostle Paul says, when he calls saving faith, faith effectual by love.

§ 31. The distinction of the several constituent parts, or acts of faith, into assent, consent, and affiance, if strictly examined, will appear not to be proper and just, or according to the truth and nature of things; because the parts are not all entirely distinct one from another, and so are in some measure confounded. For the last, viz. affiance, implies the other two, assent and consent; and is nothing else but a man's assent and consent, with particular relation or application to himself and his own case, together with the effect of all in his own quietness and comfort of mind, and boldness in venturing on this foundation, in conduct and practice.

Affiance consists in these five things: 1. Consent to something proposed, to be obtained by another person, as good, eligible or desirable. 2. Assent of the judgment to the reality of the good, as to be obtained; that he is sufficient, faithful, &c. 3. The mind's applying itself to him for it, which is no other than the soul's desiring him to make it possessed of this good. 4. Hoping that the good will be obtained in this way; which hope consists in expectation of the good, and in some ease, quietness, or comfort of mind arising from this expectation. 5. Adventuring some interest on this hope in practice; which consists either in doing something that implies trouble, or brings expense or suffering, or in omitting something that we should otherwise do; by which omission some good is foregone, or some evil is incurred. If these acts cannot in strictness all take place at the same moment of time, though they follow one another in the order of nature, yet they are all implied in the act that is exercised the first moment, so far as that act is of such a nature as implies a necessary tendency to what follows. In these three last especially consists man's committing himself to Christ as a Saviour. In the third and fourth especially consists the soul's looking to Christ as a Saviour.

§ 32. In that consent to the way or method of salvation, which there is in saving faith, the heart has especially respect to two things in that method, that are the peculiar glory of it, and whereby it is peculiarly contrary to corrupt nature.

1. Its being a way wherein God is exalted, and man debased. God is made all in all, and man nothing. God is magnified as self-sufficient and all-sufficient, and as being all in all to us; his power and his grace, and Christ's satisfaction and merits, being all and man is annihilated; his power, his righteousness, his dignity, his works, are made as nothing.

2. Its being so holy a way. It is a way of mere mercy, yet of holy mercy; mercy in saving the sinner, but showing no favour or countenance to sin; a way of free grace, yet of holy grace; not grace exercised to the prejudice of God's holiness, but in such a way as peculiarly to manifest God's hatred of sin, and opposition to it, and strict justice in punishing it, and that he will by no means clear the guilty; every way manifesting the infinite evil and odiousness of sin, much more than if there had been no salvation offered. Therefore, humiliation and holiness are the chief ingredients in the act of consent to this way of salvation.

§ 33. In these things I have spoken only of a consent to the way or method of salvation. But in saving faith is included also a consent to the salvation itself, or the benefit procured, What is peculiarly contrary to this in corrupt nature, is a worldly spirit; and therefore in order to this act of consent, there must be mortification to, or weanedness from, the world, and a sellVOL. VIL

70

ing of all for the pearl of great price. Besides all these, there is in saving faith a consent to Christ himself, or a closing of the heart or inclination with the person of Christ. This implies humiliation; for as long as men deify themselves, they will not adore Jesus Christ. It implies sanctification; for Christ's beauty, for which his person is delighted in and chosen, is especially his holiness. It implies forsaking the world; for as long as men set their hearts on the world as their chief good, and have that as the chief object of the relish and complacence of their minds, they will not relish and take complacence in Christ, and set their hearts on him as their best good. The heart of a true believer, therefore, consents to these things exhibited in the gospel of salvation: The person who is the author of the salvation; The benefit, or the salvation itself; The way or method in which this person is the author of this benefit.

§ 34. Faith is often mentioned in the same sense as hearing, hearkening, yielding to, and obeying the gospel, obeying Christ, being obedient to the faith, obeying the form of doctrine, &c. Hence we may learn the nature of saving faith; that it is an accepting, yielding to, and complying with the gospel, as such a call and invitation; which implies the hearing of the mind, i, e. the mind's apprehending or understanding the call; a believing of the voice, and the offer and promises contained in it; and accepting, esteeming, prizing the person and benefits invited to; a falling in of the inclination, the choice, the affection, &c. It not only signifies dependence, as it appears in venturing in practice, but also as it appears in the rest of the mind, in opposition to anxiety; as appears by Luke xii. 22, &c. "Take no thought-how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith!-Fear not, little flock, it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom,"-compared with Philip. iv. 6, 7. and 1 Pet. v. 7. This is agreeable to that phrase used for trusting in the Old Testament, "Roll thy burthen on the Lord." Matt. xiv. 30, 31. "But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?"

§ 35. The following inquiries concerning saving faith, are important: Whether justifying faith, in its proper essence, implies, besides the act of the judgment, also an act of the inclination and will? Whether it properly implies love in its essence? What are the scripture descriptions, characters, and represen tations of justifying faith? What is the true definition of justifying faith, a definition which agrees with the scriptrue representation of faith, and takes all in? Whether the word faith, as used in the gospel, has a signification diverse from what it