CHAPTER II.

THE NATURE AND FOUNDATION OF THE FAITH OF THE GOSPEL.

I PROPOSE to explain the nature and the foundation of the faith of the gospel together; because, however distinct they may appear to be at first view, the nature of faith is really inseparable, even in our conceptions, from the testimony on which it is founded. Attempts to explain the nature of faith, as an act of the mind, have always produced unprofitable speculations, and left the readers or hearers in as great ignorance of the subject as before. Abstracted descriptions of this sort are at best improper, and frequently pernicious. They either substitute the exercises which are the effects of faith, in the room of faith itself; or else they lead us to imagine, that believing is a very refined and exalted virtue; and, in either of these cases, our minds are entirely corrupted, and misled from the idea of believing, that is suggested by common sense in all ordinary cases, and adopted in its natural and plainest meaning by the Holy Ghost. I am far from denying at present, and afterwards I will endeavour to prove, that the soul is active in believing; but still I deny, that this act of the soul, considered in itself, and viewed merely as an act, is capable of being described, any more than the act of the eye in perceiving colours, or of the ear in perceiving sounds. All our ideas of seeing and hear

ing are formed, not upon our inward perceptions of colours and sounds, but upon the objects which produce these perceptions. In like manner, all our ideas of faith are formed entirely upon the things revealed to us, and believed by us. Every man is conscious, that belief has no existence without its object in any thing that concerns this life; and it is only a false deceitful oversight, that has led people to imagine it is otherwise with the faith of the gospel. When a mistaken notion is once established, it passes without examination; but that only shows, in a stronger light, the necessity of searching the Scriptures daily, that our faith may stand in the power of God.

What I shall further add on this branch of the subject, may be arranged under these three heads :

(1.) I shall examine the scripture sense of faith, or believing. (2.) I shall consider the word of God as the only foundation of divine faith. And, (3.) I shall more particularly explain the nature of this faith, which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen."

SECT. I.-The Scripture sense of Faith, or Believing.

The general meaning of faith, or believing, is very simple, and intelligible to the weakest capacity. If something either absent or past, is mentioned or reported as a fact, by a person or persons whom we reckon honest men and competent judges, we believe their word, and are satisfied that their account of the matter is true. If the facts they relate to us appear to affect our interest, they awaken in our

minds a general sense of hope or fear, of joy or pain, according to the nature of the facts and the interest we have in them. If we are given to understand, that a person, possessed both of power and resolution, has threatened to punish us; we do not question his severe intention, and our minds and measures are affected accordingly. If a person of ability and benevolence, whom we judge to be a person of honour, and one that pays a strict attention to his word, promises to relieve us from some distressing embarrassment, or to bestow upon us some favour, we depend upon his engagement, and reckon him faithful. In

all these cases, the common sense of mankind never required a definition of their faith. The fact reported, the calamity threatened, or the benefit promised, together with the credibility of the report, threatening, or promise, command and engage their assent. The report becomes their belief concerning the fact; the threatening becomes their belief concerning the calamity; and the promise becomes their belief concerning the benefit. If they are misinformed by the report, threatening, or promise, or if they misapprehend them, yet their minds act in the same manner as if their information was good, and their own apprehensions exactly conformable to truth. Only suppose an information to be true, which is really not true; and experience shows that mankind would not be otherwise affected by the truth, than they are by the lie which they judge to be truth. I do not mean, that it is indifferent to a man what he believes. To believe a lie is always unprofitable, and frequently pernicious. But if a man believes a lie, he judges that lie to be true, or else he could

not believe it; and his mind acts in the same way while he believes it, as if the thing he believes was, in every respect, precisely what he apprehends it to be. Perhaps the most simple account of believing will be found, upon examination, to be the most accurate and useful, namely, that it is the persuasion we have about things by information or report.

Having said this much concerning faith in general, as it is understood and exercised in common affairs among men; I shall now proceed to inquire, Whether it is taken in the same sense in the Holy Scriptures, as when it is used in all ordinary cases.

To any one who is contented to understand the inspired writings in their plain and natural meaning, this inquiry cannot be long or difficult. The most general and exact account they give us of believing, is expressed in these words: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." "The description given of faith in this verse, and exemplified in the various following instances, I take, with the learned Dr. Owen and others, to be a description of faith, inclusive indeed of that which is justifying, but not under the strict notion of it, merely as justifying." In the Scripture we find divine things proposed, sometimes merely to our understanding, and sometimes also to our enjoyment. Considered as things proposed to our understanding, they are represented as truths of the most unquestionable certainty, and of great importance to the happiness of mankind: viewed as things proposed to our enjoyment, they are, moreover, set before us as a suitable and sufficient remedy appointed by God for our salvation. As faith respects the things of God, pro

posed to the understanding of men by the Scriptures, it is said to be "the evidence," or conviction, "of things not seen:" as it relates to the things of God, proposed to their enjoyment in his word, it is "the substance of things hoped for." All the doctrines and duties, histories and promises, contained in the Holy Scriptures, are "written for our learning," and proposed to our understanding as "faithful sayings," and "words of truth." But the gospel, strictly so called, is not only proposed to the understanding of mankind as a word of truth and a faithful saying; it is also made known to the sons of men as a "joyful sound," revealing the righteousness of Christ to the guilty in the form of a free gift; manifesting the sovereign "kindness and love of God towards men;" and "giving them eternal life." In this view, the gospel of salvation, with all its precious blessings, is proposed to the enjoyment of mankind-sinners, as a word, promise, and gift of the grace of God.

When a person is persuaded of the truth of scripture doctrines, because God has revealed them, his faith is "the evidence of things not seen;" that is, he is as fully convinced that the doctrines and truths of the word are just what God has said they are, as if he saw them with his eyes. The things themselves are not seen with his bodily eyes indeed; but they are as evidently true to his mind, and he is as much convinced of them, merely on the credit of God's word, as he can be of the reality and truth of any visible object, when exhibited most plainly to his view. The apostle gives several examples of faith considered as the evidence, or demonstration, or conviction, of things not seen. The Scripture