Fy and eternal life, and points out the means and manner in its attainment. And, as this whole world is established of the hand of a personal Mediator; so this Mediator is frequently called the WORD itself, in whom all the covenant and its promises are framed, and through whom they are carried forth unto his people. CHRIST, therefore, this Mediator, hath taken also the name of Truth, (Rev. iii. 14.) and as such, is become the basis or foundation of his people. He was appointed to this purpose by JEHOVAH: And, therefore, JEHOVAH hath said, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: He that believeth, shall not make baste. Isaiah xxviii. 16.

From this ground of faith, we may see further into the nature of faith itself. Consistent with what it proceeds from, and on what it stands, faith must be certitude in respect to its object, as that is certainty; and certitude also, in respect to the nature of its apprehension, because it is a grace arising from a divine power, and not the accidental impulse of a fallen creature. It takes for an infallible position, that God is true, and, for a position, equally infallible, that his promises, or the things promised by him, are also true and real; though they cannot be the objects of immediate science to the mind, nor of present sense to the body. Hence, we see, that faith is not opinion; because opinion implies doubt: And doubt is contrary to the nature of faith, which is founded upon the certainty of God in his word. Nor is it knowledge, because knowledge infers the presence or enjoyment of a thing at some past time. But faith is certitude respecting things, not yet seen or possessed; which is the high encomium given of it in all the examples, recited in the xith chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Faith is certitude in itself; but there is as great a difference in its proportions, as between the grain of mustard seed when cast into the ground, and afterwards when it becomes a great tree. The seed had the tree in embryo; but the tree did not then discover itself. So there is a distinction between faith and the full assurance† of faith; or they would not have been distinguished in Scripture by different names. Faith, given to the soul, in regeneration, is the grain which can scarce be discerned at first by the soul itself, and still less by

† WITSIUS has collected several excellent judgments of learned divines upon this point: Perhaps none of them is more clear and pious, than the following from PERKINS. Nam licit omnis fides ex natura sua sit persuasio, sola tamen perfecta persuasio est firma & consummata fides. Proinde debebat fides definiri, non solum in genere & gradibus summis; sed etiam varii ejus gradus & mensura declarari, ut et qui infirmi sunt vere et recte de suo statu possint edoceri. Iren. c. vii. See also SPANH. Opera. Vol. iii. p. 173.

"

any body else. Full assurance is radically in that grain, and in due time may grow out of it to the size of a tree; but it cannot properly be called a tree, till it be grown up to one. Their nature is one; but the difference consists in the degree. True faith may exist in the soul without the height of full assurance, and tremblingly may catch hold of the promises, as a little child doth its nurse's hand. The defect is not in the principle itself. because it is true and spiritual life; but in the exercise of that principle of life in our nature, which is full of weakness and frailty, not to say hostility against its very being in us. If all this were not true; it would have been idle in the disciples to pray for the increase of faith, or useless for us, that our faith may be strengthened. Nor can we otherwise understand, what the apostle meant by the weak in faith, or those distinctions of babes, young men, and fathers

in Christ.

In the strongest believers there may be doubts and fears; because they have mortal and sinful bodies: But they do not conquer and prevail. In the weakest believers, for the same reason, there are also the same doubts and fears; but without the like strength of faith to repel them. God carries these lambs in his bosom, and therefore their faith doth not fail.

It seems a paradox to say, that he never believed, who ne ver doubted: But it is as real a truth as it is to say, that I bad not known sin, but by the law. Sin and the law are not more opposites, than faith and unbelief: Yet unbelief had never been known, but for the grace of faith.

These distinctions are necessary to be observed,on the one hand, against those who (with the papists) affirm that there is no certitude in faith, and, on the other, in behalf of those who are oppressed, because their faith is not arisen to the full assurance of certitude.

This full assurance is, however, to be desired and pursued, as the happy privilege of every believer: Though (as it hath been said) it can only be employed and exercised by those who are strong. These only can firmly say with St. Paul, I am PERSUADED, that neither death, nor life, &c. shall be able to se

The graces of the Spirit, as they come from the hand of God that infuses them, are nothing but pureness; but being put into a heart where sin dwells (which, till the body be dissolved and taken to pieces, cannot be fully purged out) there they are mixed with corruption and dross: And particularly faith is mixed with unbelief, and love of earthly things, and dependence upon the creature; if not more than God, yet together with him; and for this the furnace is needful, that the soul may be purified from this dross, and made more sublime and spiritual in believing." LEIGHTON. Com. on St. Peter. Ch. i. v. 7.

parate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; But the others should aspire to say it; and those, who do not aspire, may very well doubt of one thing, whether they be in the faith or not.

And here again, to the high commendation of faith, it may be said, with the apostle, that it is the substance of things boped for, because it substantiates, what is not yet enjoyed; and the evidence of things not seen, because its own very being in the soul is a demonstration from God, that, what he hath promised he will assuredly perform.† Thus, be that believeth on the Son of God, bath the witness in himself, 1 John V. 10. And the author of that witness confirms the testimony: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, Rom. viii. 16.

Thus much for the NATURE and FOUNDATION of FAITH: Let us now consider its EFFICIENT CAUSE.

All natural men think, that they themselves can produce ande xercise faith, whenever they please: And they think so, because they are natural men, not having the experience of this faith, and therefore not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Faith, it is true, is an act in and with the mind, but no more an act of the mind, or from and by itself, than the gushing of the waters from the rock was actually wrought by the little stroke of Moses's rod, or the resurrection of Lazarus from the grave was a mere act of his own, If faith were an act simply of the mind, or the mere production of its natural powers; then, perhaps, men might believe, as they please, and when they please. But then we must presently reject the ground of faith, the Bible, which most positively contradicts this opinion; and, consequently, this sort of faith, having no foundation, must sink into confusion or nothing. We must give up the notion of the self-producing cause of faith, if we follow the Scripture, which says, that faith is the gift of God; that, to Christians, it is given to believe; and that no man can come unto Christ [i. e. believe on him to salvation] except the Father draw him. Many other passages occur to the same purport.

When God commands to believe, he bestows power to obey that command; for, if faith be his gift, and no inherent principle (which it could not be if a gift of grace,) men cannot

It is a truth, though uttered by schoolmen, Fidem esse substan tiam rerum sperendarum; quia scilicet prima inchoatio rerum sperendarum in nobis est per assensum fidei, quæ virtute continet omnes res sperendas, AQUIN. Sec. sec. quæst. iv. artr 1.-Certum est enim fidem, quæ sst cognitio quædam justitiæ et virtutis Dei, esse radicem immortalitatis, quia ex fide initium est, & origo salutis & beatitudinis nostra. EsTIUS in lib. Sap. c. 15.

obey without it. So then, he enjoins the action of a power only where the power is given. In like manner, Christ said to the apostle St. Matthew, Follow me: But if, at the same time, he had not granted him the power of faith, the apostle could not have yielded the obedience of faith at one single word. The call of God is not in vain; nor doth his word return void, or without his accomplishment.

This is to be understood of God's own particular call to the soul. There is a general call made to the outward ears of men by his ministers, and to their outward eyes by the word itself; but this call is effectual, only where seconded by the immediate grace of God; and then, to all intents and purposes, it becomes a particular call to every object of its The call of ministers is and must be general; they are to call all nations, and consequently the rich and mighty in them: But these are rarely the objects of God's particular call; for we read, that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty, not many noble, are called. Without this obvious distinction, it is impossible to reconcile or understand many important texts upon this subject.

success.

The improper consideration of this matter, and the not attending to these necessary distinctions, seem to have occasioned the presumptuous error of the Arminians, Antinomians, Socinians, Pelagians, Papists, &c. who generally lay it for a foundation, "either that faith exists in the mind of man, as one of its natural powers, or that it can be induced and exercised by him at his will." Hence, they all speak very slightly and superficially of faith: And indeed, according to their notion, it is so common an affair, that it really deserves no more notice than they take of it. They evidently understand no more in the term faith, than what can really be meant in the act of assent to a history.

The Arminians indeed do say, that it is the gift of God;† but they also say, that it wholly depends upon us, whether we will receive it, or act it when received. In this case, they

But

+ Deus statuit illis dare fidem & penitentiam per gratiam sufficientem: hoc est ita dare ut illi possint accipere, per vires ipsis a Deo datas, necessarias & sufficientes ad accipiendum. ARMIN. opera. p. 666. he means, that this suficient grace is common to every man and resident in all so that it amounts to nothing more than natural powers, which, to be sure are the gift of God, but not a special gift in the redemption of Christ. The great Du MOULIN hath well ob. served upon the concession of the Arminians, "that faith is the gift of God," hæc verba non accipiunt eo sensu, quen præ se ferunt. Eorum mens est [ut ipsi fatentur) Deum dare omnibus hominibus vires credendi: At non dare rò credere, sive, actum ipsum credendi, contra apostolum, qui dicst, Deum dare ipsum credere. Phil. i. 29. Et Deum dare velle & perficere. cap. ii. 13. Quæ voces designant

can only mean, that faith is a common gift put into the power of all men; and, therefore, not a particular grace specially conferred. This is but saying, in other words, that it is at their option, whether faith shall be a gift or not. For, if they chuse to have it; then it exists in them only as they chuse, and so virtually they give to themselves God's gift, which is absurd: But, if they chuse to reject it; then it becomes no gift at all, or it is wholly annihilated with respect to them. Either way, it is a rash usurpation of God's wisdom and power to pretend to effectuate or frustrate the first great object of both in the world, and that too by the puny efforts of human strength or pleasure. By a bold perversion, it is saying; God works,but man can let. It is throwing the beautiful arrangement of grace and providence into confusion, introducing chance into the world instead of foresight, and subjecting the Creator of all things to one of the worst and most helpless of his creatures.

The very notion of a gift implies, that it is a matter which the receiver bad not before, and, consequently, that it was, at one time, out of himself, and, at another, brought to himself. 'Tis strange to say, that God confers a gift upon a man, which he either could have elsewhere, or already possesses within him. Upon such a plan, grace and nature would be one and the same.

But, if faith be the proper gift of God, and, as such, a gracious gift not inherent in human nature; man can derive it only and entirely from him. And, if it be a principle to be acted from, in, and with his mind, respecting spiritual objects; then his mind, could never have acted for those objects, without this principle. Otherwise, this new faculty of gracewould be given idly or unnecessarily; which it must be blasphemous to affirm concerning its giver. The life (the spiritual and active principle) I live in the flesh (said the apostle,) that by which I move and exercise in the body,towards the things which are above the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God.

It appears, therefore, that as a man can only possess faith by the gift of God; so he can only act this faith, when possessed, by the power of God. Hence, Christ says, Witbout me ye can do nothing; and the apostle, It is God, that worketh, energizeth, in you, both to will and to do.

Here, then, we may conclude; that the sole EFFICIENT CAUSE of faith is GOD; and that the EXERCISE of this faith, with all OPPORTUNITIES found for that exercise, is induced and occasioned only by the power of God.

ipsum volendi & credendi actum. Sane posse credere, non est fides: Ergo, si Deus dat tantum vires credendi, non dat, fidem. Quomodo autem Deus dat vires credendi, in Christum, quibus Christus non innotuit, dici non potest. MOLIN. Thes. p. 110.