of the world; as the High-Priest of our profession, who is passed into the Heavens, and ever liveth to make intercession for us. Here only are life and immortality brought to light. Here only are disclosed to us those exceeding great and precious promises, by which we may be made partakers of the divine nature. No wit or wisdom of man could ever have penetrated into these mysteries, or have discovered to us the knowledge of them. They are matters of pure revelation, and are made known to us only by the word of God. Neither have they been handed down through the uncertainty of human tradition. They have been preserved and are secured to us in the written oracles of truth, in the Holy Scriptures; which being the only depositary of divine knowledge, can be the only Foundation of saving Faith. In this respect they produce Faith. They produce it

2dly. Inasmuch as they are the Instrument by which it is wrought in the heart.

That Faith, of which we are speaking, and to which alone the Blessings of Christ's Mediation are restricted, is itself the gift and operation of God. It is the work and production of the Holy Spirit in the heart. It is one of the most valuable fruits, one of the most important effects, of that new and holy nature, which in regeneration He

imparts to the soul. But the great Instrument by which He works and operates, is the written Word. This is the instrument, which, when commissioned and employed by the Spirit of God, becomes " quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow:" and which is, therefore, emphatically stiled "the Sword of the Spirit." This is the instrument, by which He accomplishes the great work of our regeneration itself, for it is expressly said by St. Peter, that we are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever:" and again by St. James," of his own will begat He us by the word of truth." Hence, by the same instrument, He produces Faith in the heart. Blessed with His quickening energy, the Word "comes with power," and "effectually worketh in them that believe." To what other cause can we ascribe it, that the three thousand on the day of Pentecost believed and embraced the Gospel, but to the powerful and quickening energy with which the Holy Spirit accompanied the preaching of the Apostle, and thus through the medium and instrumentality of the Word produced a divine faith in the hearts of those who heard it? Does not St. Paul call the Gospel which

he preached," the word of Faith," as being that word by which Faith is produced and strengthened in the heart? Does not Christ say to the Jews, "ye have not His word abiding in you; for whom he hath sent, Him ye believe not ;" thereby intimating, that if the Word of God had abode in them, it would have produced Faith. Their not believing, was a proof that the Word did not abide in them. It could not abide in them, and they at the same time remain destitute of Faith.

Having thus endeavoured to confirm and illustrate the two propositions deduced from the text, I shall proceed to make a practical application of the truths contained in them.

1. Has Christ limited the benefits of His mediation to those who believe on Him? Is this really the case? Does He confine His intercession even in its most extended application to believers in Him? How strikingly does this truth show the importance of Faith! How clearly does it point out the wide distinction between believers and unbelievers! Ministers are often censured for insisting on this distinction. They are blamed for stating the importance and necessity of saving Faith. But has not Christ Himself stated this importance, this necessity? Has not He insisted on this distinction? While He prays exclusively for those who believe

on Him, does He not virtually shut out from the benefits of His intercession, those who believe not? Surely this is to point out a wide and most important difference between belief and unbelief. When we declare that a man must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved; do we declare more than Jesus Christ Himself has declared? Do we declare more than His Apostles have declared; more than the Scriptures throughout declare? No. We declare no more than all these declare; and less we dare not to declare. We preach to you Faith-Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ-as that one great, essential principle, the absence, or the presence, the want or the possession of which constitutes the grand distinguishing difference in the state and characters of men.

Those who have this Faith, are the children of God, and have an interest in all the blessings of the Gospel, in all those great and glorious privileges, which the intercession of Christ procures. While those who are without this Faith, are at enmity with God, belong not to His family, are under the curse of His law, and have neither part nor lot in the Gospel. We preach to you this faith as the bond of union with Christ; the foundation of all good works; the only source of all practical godliness. We preach to you this Faith, as a living seed in the soul, not a

dead, a cold, a barren notion in the head, but a vital, a warm, a powerful principle in the heart, impelling to active, spiritual obedience, and naturally, yea necessarily productive of the fruits of righteousness and true holiness. This is the faith we preach; a saving, justifying, sanctifying Faith: a Faith, which adorns, enriches, and ennobles all who have it; but without which the proudest distinctions of rank and wealth, the highest attainments in learning and science, the most orthodox notions of religion, the most correct form of it, the most zealous profession of it, will leave men at last only poor, wretched, and contemptible beyond all possible conception.

2. Are the Scriptures the Medium through which this Faith is produced? Do those who believe on Jesus Christ, believe through the Word? Is this proposition also true? Is it true in two respects? Is the Word the Foundation on which Faith is built, as well as the Instrument by which it is wrought? In both these respects then, how important is the Word of God! How invaluable are the Scriptures! And what a powerful and practical influence should this consideration of their importance and value have on the use which we make of them, and on the purposes to which we apply them!

Is the Word of God the Foundation on