pointment of a day of rest, which sets me free for "one day, at least, from the snares and cares of the "world, gives me an opportunity of recruiting my "spiritual strength by private and public atttendance "" upon the Lord, and affords me a little time to at"tend to the state of my children and servants. I "love my friends; but if my business will not permit "me to see them at other times, it is better for me "not to see them at all, than to be interrupted in the " improvement of my privileges on the Lord's day."

But they who then choose to meet in troops, and feed themselves without fear, will still have something to plead. They are all professors, they do not visit the people of the world, nor receive visits from them -They manage so as to hear two good Gospel sermons in the day, and perhaps have a hymn and a prayer after dinner into the bargain-though they go well filled to the evening worship, they are far from being intoxicated. Will they say, Is there any harm in this? Ask their servants, for whom they are responsible, and who have as good a right as themselves to worship the Lord on his own day. But the poor servants are perhaps more harassed and fatigued on the Lord's day than on any other day of the week. If they still say, "What harm? let me only appeal to your own consciences: Is this "to eat and drink to the glory of God?" If you can persuade yourselves to think so, I pity you, but know not what answer to return.

April 11, 1795.

OMICRON.

175

THOUGHTS ON FAITH, AND THE ASSURANCE OF FAITH.

WE may easily conceive of a tree without fruit, but the idea of fruit is naturally connected with that of some tree or shrub which produces it. In this sense, assurance is of the essence of faith; that is, it springs from true faith, and can grow upon no other root. Faith likewise is the measure of assurance. While faith is weak (our Lord compares it in its first principle, to a grain of mustard seed), assurance cannot be strong.

Jesus Christ the Lord is a complete all sufficient Saviour. His invitation to the weary and heavy laden is general, without exception, condition, or limitation. He has said, Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. God not only permits,but commands us to believe in the Son of his love. The apostle affirms that he is able to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him. When Moses raised the brazen serpent in the wilderness, the direction. to the wounded Israelites was very short and simple; it was only, Look, and live. Thus the Gospel addresses the sinner, Only believe, and thou shalt be saved.

Why then does not every sinner who is awakened to a sense of his guilt, danger, and helplessness, and whose desires are drawn towards the Saviour, believe with full confidence, even upon his first application for mercy? Is not the remedy fully adequate to the malady? Is not the blood of Jesus able to cleanse from all sin? Is not the word of the God of truth worthy of entire credit? Yet with such a Saviour exhibited before the eyes of his mind, and with such promises sounding in his ears, he continues

to hesitate and fluctuate between hope and fear. Could he rely as firmly on the word of God, as he can on the word of a man, who, he thinks, means what he says, and is able to make good his promises, he would immediately be filled with joy and peace in believing. But experience and observation may convince us, that, however rational and easy this assurance may seem in theory, it is ordinarily unat tainable in practice, without passing through a train of previous exercises and conflicts.

It is true, young converts are often favored with comfortable impressions, which lead them to hope that their doubts and difficulties are already ended, when perhaps they are but just entering upon their warfare. They are brought, as it were, into a new world; a strong and lively sense of divine things engrosses their attention; the world sinks into nothing in their esteem; the evil propensities which discourage them are overpowered for a season, and they hope they are quite subdued, and will trouble them no more. Their love, gratitude, praise, and admiration, are in vigorous exercise. An aged, experienced Christian may recollect, with a pleasing regret, many sweet sensations of this kind, in the early stages of his profession, which he cannot recall. But he now knows that the strong confidence he felt in these golden hours was not the assurance of faith;-it was temporary and transient ;—it was founded upon what we call a good frame. Though his comforts were strong, his faith was weak; for when the good frame subsided, his fears returned, his hope declined, and he was at his wit's end. Then, perhaps, he wondered at his own presump tion, for daring to hope that such a creature as himself could have any right to the privileges of a believer. And if, in the warmth of his heart, he he had spoken to others of what God had done for

his soul, he afterwards charged himself with being a, hypocrite, and a false witness both to God and man. Thus, when the Israelites saw the Egyptians (who had pursued and terrified them) cast up dead upon the shore of the Red Sea, they praised the Lord, and believed. They were little aware of the wilderness they had to pass through, and the trials they were to meet with, before they could enter the promised land.

But strong faith, and the effect of it, an abiding persuasion of our acceptance in the Beloved, and of our final perseverance in grace, are not necessarily connected with sensible comfort.-A strong faith can trust God in the dark, and say with Job,

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Yet it is not to be maintained without a diligent use of the instituted means of grace, and a conscientious attention to the precepts of the Gospel. For notions of truth, destitute of power, will not keep the heart in peace. But this power depends upon the influence of the Holy Spirit; and if He is grieved by the wilful commission of sin, or the wilful neglect of the precepts, he hides his face, suspends his influence, and then confidence must proportionably decline, till he is pleased to return and revive it. There are likewise bodily disorders, which, by depressing the animal spirits, darken and discolour the medium of our perceptions. If the enemy is permitted to take advantage of these seasons, he car pour in a flood of temptations, sufficient to fill the most assured believer with terror and dismay. But, ordinarily, they who endeavor to walk closely and conscientiously with God, attain, in due time, an assurance of hope to the end, which is not easily nor often shaken, though it is not absolutely perfect, nor can be, while so much sin and imperfection remain in us.

If it be inquired why we cannot attain to this state of composure at first, since the object of faith and the promises of God are always the same?several reasons may be assigned.

Unbelief is the primary cause of all our inquietude, from the moment that our hearts are drawn to seek salvation by Jesus. This inability to take God at his word, should not be merely lamented as an infirmity, but watched, and prayed, and fought against as a great sin. A great sin indeed it is; the very root of our apostacy, from which every other sin proceeds. It often deceives us under the guise of humility, as though it would be presumption, in such sinners as we are, to believe the declarations of the God of truth. Many serious people, who are burdened with a sense of other sins, leave this radical evil out of the list. They rather indulge it, and think they ought not to believe, till they can find a warrant from marks and evidences within themselves. But this is an affront to the wisdom and goodness of God, who points out to us the Son of his love, as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, without any regard to what we have been, or to what we are, excepting that broken and contrite spirit which only himself can create in us. And this broken spirit, though unbelief perverts it to our discouragement, is the very temper in which the Lord delights, and a surer evidence of true grace than those which we are apt to contrive for ourselves. It is written, He that believeth not the record which God hath given of his Son, maketh him a liar. Why do we not start with horror at the workings of unbelief, as we should do at a suggestion to commit murder, or the grossest outward enormity?

Again, our natural pride is a great hindrance to believing. If we acknowledge ourselves to be sinners, and are sensible of our need of mercy, we are