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nevolence; and the other is not faith. Both are empty professions of a belief in certain truths, which have never fixed themselves in the mind so as to become regulating principles or moral causes in the mental constitution. We may in deed suppose another character, slightly removed from this, in which the truths have really received the approbation of the judgment, and yet fail to produce their proper influence. This arises from distorted moral habits, and a vitiated state of the moral faculties, which have destroyed the healthy balance of the whole economy of the mind. The consequence is, that the man perceives and approves of truths, without feeling their tendencies, and without manifesting their power.

Intimately connected with this subject, also, is a remarkable principle in our mental constitution, -namely, the relation between certain facts or truths, and certain moral emotions which naturally arise from them, according to the chain of sequences which has been established in the economy of the mind. A close connexion thus exists between our intellectual habits and our moral feelings which leads to consequences of the utmost practical moment. Though we have little immediate voluntary power over our moral emotions, we have a power over the intellectual pro cesses with which these are associated. We can direct the mind to truths, and we can cherish trains of thought, which are calculated to produce correct moral feelings; and we can avoid or banish mental images or trains of thought which have an opposite tendency. This is the power over the succession of our thoughts, the due exercise of which forms so important a feature of a

well-regulated mind in regard to intellectual culture; its influence upon us as moral beings is of still higher and more vital importance.

The sound exercise of that mental condition which we call Faith consists, therefore, in the reception of certain truths by the judgment, the proper direction of the attention to their moral tendencies, and the habitual influence of them upon the feelings and the conduct. When the sacred writers tell us that, without faith it is impossible to please God, and when they speak of a man being saved by faith,-it is not to a mere admission of certain truths as a part of his creed that they ascribe consequences so important; but to a state in which these truths are uniformly followed out to certain results which they are calculated to produce, according to the usual course of sequences in every sound mind. This principle is strikingly illustrated by one of these writers, by reference to a simple narrative. During the invasion of Canaan by the armies of Israel, two men were sent forward as spies to bring a report concerning the city of Jericho. The persons engaged in this mission were received in a friendly manner by a woman whose house was upon the wall of the city; when their presence was discovered, she hid them from their pursuers and finally enabled them to escape by letting them down by a cord from a window. Before taking leave of them, she expressed her firm conviction that the army to which they belonged was soon to take possession of Jericho, and of the whole country; and she made them swear to her, that, when this should take place, they would show mercy to her father's house. The engagement was faithfully fulfilled. When the city

was taken, and the other inhabitants destroyed, the woman was preserved, with all her kindred. In this very simple occurrence, the woman is represented by the sacred writer as having been saved by faith. The object of her faith was the event which she confidently expected,-that the city of Jericho was to be destroyed. The ground of her faith was the rapid manner in which the most powerful nations had already fallen before the armies of Israel,-led, as she believed, by a divine power. Acting upon this conviction, in the manner in which a belief so deeply affecting her personal safety was likely to influence any sound mind, she took means for her preservation by making friends of the spies. Her faith saved her, because without it she would not have made this provision; but, unless she had followed out her belief to the measure which was calculated to effect this object, the mere belief of the event would have availed her nothing. When we therefore ascribe important results to faith, or to any other mental operation, we ascribe them, not to the operation itself, but to this followed out to the consequences which it naturally produces according to the constitution of the human mind. In the same manner, we may speak of one man in a certain state of danger or difficulty being saved by his wisdom, and another by his strength. In doing so, we ascribe such results, not to the mere possession of these qualities, but to the efforts which naturally arose from them in the circumstances in which the individual was placed. And when the inspired writer says, that without faith it is impossible to please God, he certainly refers to no mere mental impression, and to no barren system of opinions; but to the

reception of certain truths, which, in our present state of being, are entirely the objects of faith, and to all that influence upon the moral feelings and the character which these must produce upon every mind that really believes them.

NATURE AND PROVINCE OF FAITH.

LET us take the illustration of a man affected with a disease supposed to be mortal: he is told that a remedy has been discovered of infallible efficacy; and that a person is at hand who is ready to administer it. Does he perceive his danger; does he believe the virtue of the remedy; does he confide in the sincerity of the individual who offers it: this is faith. The immediate and natural result of his faith is, that he asks for the remedy which is offered; and this result is inseparable from such belief, according to the uniform sequence of volitions in every sound mind. The man who professes to admit the facts, and does not show such a result of belief, professes what he does not actually feel. If he perceives not the extent of his danger, he asks not the remedy, because he values it not; and the same effect may follow if he doubts either its efficacy or the sincerity of him who offers it. In this case, it is also to be observed, that a reflection is thrown upon the character of this individual, by imput ing to him an offer of what he has either not the power or the intention to perform. But if the man really believes the truths, he applies for the remedy; and he receives it. Thus his faith saves him; because by means of it he sought the offered aid. Could we suppose him merely to

admit the facts, without asking the remedy, his belief would avail him nothing.

Such appears to be the simple view we are to take of Faith, when we apply it to the great benefits which are presented to us in the Christian revelation. This is addressed to us as beings in a state both of guilt and of depravity; and as having no means of our own by which we can rescue ourselves from condemnation and impurity. It unfolds a dispensation of peace, by which, in perfect consistency with the harmony of his character, the Deity offers mercy and forgiveness, and an influence from himself which has power to purify the moral being. These benefits are conferred on every one who believes; the man who is convinced of his guilt and perceives his impurity; who feels his inability to rescue himself; who admits the efficacy of the remedy, and confides in the sincerity with which it is offered; this is he who believes. His faith saves him; because, acting on his conviction, according to the uniform sequence of volitions in every sound mind, he asks the promised aid,and asking, receives it. Much of the confusion in which the subject has been involved appears to have arisen from metaphysical refinements in which the various parts of this mental process are separated from each other. They form one harmonious whole, which cannot be broken. The man will not seek the remedy who believes not its efficacy, and perceives not his moral necessities; but, however he may profess to admit these facts, if he follows not out his belief to its natural result in applying for the remedy, his mere belief will not profit him. The grounds on which these truths are addressed to us are contained in

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