walk by faith, then faith must stand opposed to spiritual sight, or spiritual discernment.

I doubt not but there is such a thing as to live upon frames : which ought to be guarded against. If I imagine, for instance, that God changes as I change; that he admires me at one time, and not another; or that his great love, from whence all my hope of salvation springs, rises and falls according to the state of my mind; this is, doubtless to dishonour God, as it strikes at the im mutability of his love. So, if I derive my chief consolation from reflecting upon what I am, instead of reflecting upon what Christ is, this is to dishonour Christ, and may, very properly, stand opposed to living by faith. But this is not the common idea of living upon frames. It has been usual, with many, to account that man to live upon frames, who, when he is stupid and dark and carnal, cannot be confident about the safety of his state; and him to live by faith who can maintain his confidence in the worst of frames. Allow me, brethren, to offer three or four plain reasons against this notion of the subject.

1. Faith is the only means of spiritual discernment and communion with God; and, therefore, cannot be opposed to them. Our best frames are those in which faith is most in exercise; and our worst, when it is the least. Faith is the eye of the mind. It is that by which we realize invisible and spiritual objects, and so have fellowship with God. Yes, it is by this grace that we behold the glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord.

2. If faith is opposed to spiritual discernment and communion with God, then it must work alone; it must never act in conjunction with any of those graces wherein we feel our hearts go out to God; for this would be to confound faith and sense together. But this is contrary to fact. When we have most faith in exercise, we have most love, most hope, most joy; and so of all the graces all sweetly act in harmony. Thus the scriptures represent it as ever accompanied by other graces; especially by love purity, and lowliness of heart. It is expressly said to work by love; and, it should seem never works without it. It is also said to purify the heart. The exercise of faith, therefore, and the ex

ercise of holiness, can never be separated. Equally true is it, that it is ever attended with lowliness of heart. There are two instances of faith recorded, which our Lord particularly commendded, saying, he had not seen such great faith, no not in Israel: the one was the case of the woman of Canaan, and the other of the Roman centurion; and both these were attended with great humility. The one was contented to be treated as a dog, and the other thought himself unworthy that Christ should come under his roof. A confidence unaccompanied with these, if it may be called faith at all, seems nearly to resemble what the Apostle James called faith without works; which he pronounced to be dead BEING alone.

3. If faith is to be understood in this sense, then it not only works without, but contrary to other graces. The scriptures encourage a spirit of self-examination and godly jealousy. These are modest and upright graces, and constitute much of the beauty of Christianity. Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; say the inspired writers: try your ownselves!—Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it.-Let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear. But always to be confident of the safety of our state, let the work of sanctification go on as it may, is not only unfriendly to such a spirit, but subversive of it. Hence, it is common, with some, to call every degree of godly jealousy by the name of unbelief, and to impute it to the enemy; yea, to shun it, and cry out against it, as if it were itself a devil! This is not the most favourable symptom of an honest heart. Surely an heart truly upright would not wish to receive comfort itself, but upon solid evidence: and where it was taught to call such a fear by the name of unbelief, I know not; I think I may say, it never came from the word of God. If the veracity of God were called in question, no doubt it would be unbelief; but the question, at those times, with a sincere mind, is, not whether God will prove faithful in saving those that trust in him, but, whether he be indeed the subject of that trust. His doubts do not respect God, but himself. Love and fear are the two great springs and guardians of right action. When love is in exercise we do not stand in need of fear to stimulate or guide us

but, when we are not constrained by the former, it is well to be restrained by the latter.

4. Faith, in that case, must be unsupported by evidence. God's word affords us no warrant to conclude ourselves interested in his promises, and so in a state of safety, unless we bear the characters to which the promises are made. We have no right, for instance to apply to ourselves that promise, Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God: 1 will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness, unless we bear the character of the party there addressed. This is expressed in the foregoing verse, But thou Israel art MY SERVANT, &c. If, from the real desire of our hearts, we yield not ourselves servants to God, no impression of this passage upon our minds can warrant us to conclude, that God is indeed our God, or that we shall be strengthened, helped, or upholden by him. So also no man has any right to conclude himself interested in that promise, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee, unless he be so drawn from the love of sin, self, and the world, as to love God better than any of them. But, if we are to hold fast the confidence of our safety, whatever be the con. dition of our mind, or the evils in our conduct, then we are, in that instance, to believe without evidence. If the work of sanctification be the only spiritual evidence of our interest in Christ, then, in proportion to that work increasing or declining, our evidence must be strong or weak. When we degenerate into carnality and indifference, it must, of course, diminish. To say, then, that those are the times in which we exercise most faith is the same as to say we exercise most faith when we have least evidence; and consequently, it must be a kind of faith, if it be faith at all, that is unsupported by evidence.*

*All true faith must have TRUTH for its foundation. That faith to which the scriptures promise salvation, is founded upon evidence; and that evidence is the TESTIMONY of God. Hence it is, with great propriety by the Apostle, defined, the belief of the truth. This definition includes more than many seem to apprehend. To believe the truth in reality, is cordially to eredit the account which God has given of himself, of us, of sin, of Christ, of earth, of heaven, &c. Whoever thus realizes divine truth must, of necessity, feel its influence. The same Apostle tells us, that those who receive the

There are but two cases, that I recollect in the whole system of true Christian experience, which so much as seems to resemble this notion; and these are in fact, essentially different from it. One is, that of the most eminent Christians having a general and

word as it is, find it effectually to work in them. Hence we are said to be sanctified through the truth, to know the truth, and to be made free by it. I cannot believe God to be that amiable and gracious being which his word represents him to be, without loving him. I cannot believe myself to be that vile and worthless being that God represents me to be, without abhorring myself in dust and ashes. If I really credit what God hath said of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, it is impossible but that I should hate it, and perceive its dreadful demerit, and plainly see myself righteously condemned for being a subject of it.. If I really believe the record that God has given of his son, that is the same thing as to think of his excellencies, in measure as God thinks of them; and, in that case, I cannot but embrace him with all my heart, and venture my everlasting all upon his atonement. If from my heart, I believe what God hath said of the vanity of this world, and the substantial bliss of that to come; if I realize the emptiness of all the enjoyments of the former, and the eternal weight of glory pertaining to the latter; I shall necessarily labour, not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life.

If this be a just notion of faith, then it will follow, 1. That all unconverted men are truly, and in the most literal and proper sense of the word UNBELIEVERS. Whatever they may pretend, they do not realize what God has revealed of his character or their own, of the nature of sin and its dreadful demerit, of the excellence of Christ, of the vanity of this world, and the solid bliss of the next. Nor can this their unbelief be removed but by their becoming entirely new creatures, by a work of the Almighty spirit of God. 2. That a mere cold assent to things, commonly called believing the doctrines of the gospel, unaccompanied with love to them, or a dependence on Christ for salvation, is very far from being true saving faith. Let but the doctrines of the gospel be really and heartily believed, as God has revealed them, and as before said, it will be impossible but that we should feel a determination to venture upon Christ alone for salvation, with all the proper effects of living faith. But persons may profess to believe those doctrines when they do not, or may believe them partially, but not as God has revealed them. Yea, a person may think these his professions to be true, and these his notions to be just, and yet be an infidel at heart. The Jews professed to believe Moses, and, no doubt, verily thought they did, but our Lord told them, Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. We are under a necessity, therefore of concluding, that, where these effects are not produced, the faith of such persons is, in a great degree, pretended, and not real: and in that degree in which it is real, it is very superficial; it reaches only to the shell of truth

well-grounded persuasion of their interest in Christ, even at such times wherein they may not experience those evident and sensible exercises of grace which they do at other times. But then it is to be observed, grace has more ways than one of being in exercise: the grace of love for instance; sometimes, it is exercised in the most tender and affectionate feelings of the heart towards Christ, longing to be with him, and to enjoy him in the world to come ; at other times, it works more in a way of serving him, and promoting his interest in the present world. This latter may not so sensibly strike the person himself, as being an exercise of love but, perhaps, other people may consider it superior evidence.

The industrious peasant, sitting in his evening chair, sees his children gathering around him, and courting his affections by an hundred little winning ways. He looks, and smiles, and loves. The next day he returns to his labour, and cheerfully bears the burden of the day, in order to provide for these his little ones, and promote their interest. During his day's labour, he may not feel his love operate in such sensible emotions as he did the evening before. Nay, he may be so attentive to other things, as not immediately to have them in his thoughts. What then? he loves his children indeed, he gives proof of it, by cheerfully enduring the toils of labour, and willingly denying himself of many a comfort that they might share their part; and were he to hear of their being injured or afflicted, he would quickly feel the returns of

at farthest. The essence and glory of the gospel is by them, neither discerned nor believed. 3. That all that confidence which is unsupported by evidence, held fast by so many, is not faith; but presumption, or delusion. If faith is the belief of the truth, then whatever I believe ought to be a truth, and a truth supported by evidence, prior to, and independently of, my believing it. This is certainly the case respecting the excellency and all-sufficiency of Christ. He is what he is, whether I believe it, or not. However I may disallow him, he is chosen of God, and precious. Whatever real excellence I at any time, discern or believe to be in him, I only believe the truth, and what would have been the truth if I had never believed it. Faith, therefore, draws aside the vail, and discovers things, in some measure, as they are. So, if that persuasion which I may have of my interest in Christ have any right to the name of faith, it must be a truth, and a truth capable of being proved by scripture evidence at the time.