ference about the doctrines and life of faith, which is so exceedingly dishonouring to God, and so generally ruining unto mankind. 2. Since "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," it is manifest that unconverted sinners ought to hear the word, and improve the means of grace. The obligation that lies upon them to do so, arises from the command of God, who hath prescribed their duty, and made it their reasonable service. Sinners are not required to hear the word, and improve the means of grace, in order to work out a preliminary righteousness, to make them worthy of any favour at the hand of God, or even to qualify them for the enjoyment of it; but the duties prescribed to them are the means of receiving the Spirit of God, who enlightens the mind, renews the will, and gives the knowledge of salvation, by the ordinances of his own appointment. Gospel ordinances prescribe services that become the majesty and honour of the Lord's glorious and fearful name, and point out the way of life unto self-destroyed sinners. they were to be observed, in order that divine mercy might be extended to the observers of them, as a recompense for these duties; such services would be altogether inconsistent with the promises of God, and subversive of the design of the gospel. If But they are life-giving institutions, that are mighty through God to make the dead to hear the voice of the Son of God, and hearing it to live. Divine power works by and through these means, as they are the appointments of heaven; but the grace of God is no where promised to reward and crown the work of men, in attending and observing these insti tutions, with any other kind of blessings than he has been pleased to convey by the institutions themselves. Perhaps an example or two may contribute some light to my meaning.-When Moses and the children of Israel kept the first passover by faith, they sprinkled the blood of the paschal lamb upon the lintels and door-posts throughout all their dwellings, lest the angel that destroyed the first-born of man and beast that night in all the land of Egypt, should touch them. Israel must have sprinkled the blood, or else they could not escape in the general calamity; yet the protection promised them was not a reward of their labour in sprinkling the blood, but it was afforded them through the means of the blood they sprinkled, which was the ordinance of God for their safety. Again, when an impotent person stepped into the pool at Bethesda, first after the angel had troubled the water, he was made whole of whatever disease he had. A great multitude of such people lay in the porches adjoining to this pool, waiting for the troubling of the waters, each of them hoping for the first benefit from that event, by getting first into the troubled water; yet the cure such persons received did not in the least depend upon their own work of stepping into the water, as being any sort of reward for their labour; but they were cured by means of the troubled water into which they first stepped, which was the ordinance of God to heal them. In like manner, the great God has made it the duty even of unconverted sinners, to read, and hear, and believe his word, and to observe his ordinances, not with a design to give them spiritual blessings as a reward of their services of this kind, but because he is pleased, through means of his word and ordinances, to confer the knowledge and enjoyment of salvation. 3. Since the Spirit of truth produceth faith by means of the word, working the faith of the law only by means of the law, and working the faith of the gospel only by means of the gospel; it is very manifest, that the operations of the Holy Ghost upon the soul of man, can neither be justly expressed nor conceived in an abstracted form. A systematical account of his gracious influence, is better adapted to gratify the curiosity of a philosopher, than to improve the mind or enlarge the experience of a Christian. His general office is to convince and to bear witness of revealed truths, and by making them plain to the understanding, and rendering their influence efficacious upon the heart and life. This office he performs by means of the word; and the only advantageous way of describing his agency upon the heart, is to describe the meaning, authority, and influence of his testimony of its different articles, as it is declared in the Scriptures, and as it is transfused into the hearts and lives of believers. 4. Since faith is wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit, through means of the word of God, we conclude, that the only proper principle or habit of saving faith is the word of truth, put into the mind, and written on the heart, by the demonstration and power of the heavenly Comforter.* By consulting more It is only upon this principle that the general obligations which lie upon mankind-sinners to believe the gospel, and improve the means of grace, can be consistently maintained. pretend that sinners are called to use means of having a new To with reason than with the Scriptures, an opinion has been adopted that seems to subvert this proposition; namely, that the Spirit of God creates a new nature in the soul by his immediate agency; and that this new nature is the proper principle and habit of all the actings of the mind, in faith, love, and new obedience. This new nature is supposed to be antecedent to all acts of believing, even as the eye is antecedent to seeing, and the ear to hearing; it is said to be something distinct from the object of faith, the word of faith, and the acting of faith; it is considered as something immediately produced by the Spirit, that lives and exists independent of the word of God, though it cannot act but under the influence of that word. This new nature is not thought to be formed by believing, because faith is the act or effect of it; and it is said to be something inherent in a man, really distinct from the enjoyment of Christ revealed in the gospel. But, according to the Scriptures, "the old man' " is "put off," and "the new man” is "put on," by learning Christ, by hearing him, and being taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus; and to" be born again," is precisely of the same import with "believing on Christ." Therefore, the principles or habits of faith are nothing else than the word of Christ dwelling in the soul. But this subject will be further illustrated, when I come to consider the influence of faith, on the head of Regeneration. nature, which does not consist in the enjoyment of Christ by believing, is to put them on doing some services in order to their receiving a new nature, as the reward of their labour; it limits the declarations of the gospel, and destroys every encouragement to the hearing of faith, except what is founded upon a legal principle. CHAPTER VI. THE EXCELLENCY OF THE FAITH OF THE GOSPEL. THERE are two rules whereby we ought to be directed in making an estimate of the worth and excellency of any object: either its worth is inherent in itself, independent of any opinion mankind may have about it; or its excellency consists in its fitness as a means of accomplishing some important purpose. When we compare the different species of creatures with one another, we see different degrees of excellency and dignity in their several kinds; but if we speak properly, God only is good, and glorious, and excellent. If we consider the order, harmony, and dependencies of the words, and works, and purposes of the only-wise God, we see abundance of reason to adore the depth of the riches both of his wisdom and knowledge, in the grand arrangement of the whole system, and in the happy connections established among its particular branches. Here we may per ceive a wonderful beauty and excellency in some of the works of God above others. Some of them are placed in the most conspicuous stations, and ordained to diffuse very extensive happiness; as the sun that rules the day, and the moon that walketh in brightness amidst the gloom of night: others are important and useful in their kind, but their use is so limited, that they are, on a comparison, of small value, and of little or no consequence. The faith of the gospel |