live in uninterrupted joy, and love, and obe dience.

We are standing on the brink of eternity; in a few days we shall be launched into it. Let us look over the precipice before we make the awful plunge. It is a dark and untried region. Do you see any light, or will you commit yourself to chance? Oh, in the midst of that obscurity, there shines a bright Star, which, even whilst we gaze on it, sends its own blessed light into the heart, and expels thence all doubts and anxieties! The King of that country is he who died here for sinners. He loved us, and gave himself for us. And he hath gone to prepare a place for his people. If you belong to him, you are safe, and you may belong to him to-day. When he be comes your hope, you will have a joyful hope-a hope that maketh not ashamed. But till then, there is no hope for you. With him is the fountain of life, that is, of happiness; and we deceive ourselves when we look for true happiness elsewhere. When our hearts wander from him, they wander from life and joy. Abide in me, he says, and I will abide in you. What are all the

promises which the world can make in comparison of this?

- It may appear to some that I have given rather a complex view of faith. Some writers have thought that they simplified faith very much, by saying that it is a mere assent to the truth of Divine testimony. I consider it to be no more, in its own nature; but does it not embrace a variety of truth, and is it not, obvious then that its simplicity or complexness depends entirely on the nature of the testimony to which the assent is given? An assent cannot be given to any thing without receiving an impression corresponding to it in all respects; for the meaning of belief is just the impression made on the mind by the object presented to it. If the object be simple, the impression or belief will be simple; and if the object be a declaration involving a variety of subjects, the impression or belief will include them all. Now, as the Gospel addresses a variety of affections in the human mind, and manifests a variety of the Divine attributes, it cannot in one sense be called very simple; at the same time, as its meaning is level to the simplest

capacity, that is to say, as the actions of which it gives the narration, do most unequivocally declare the principles from which they proceed; in this respect it may be called simple, Some, in contending for the simplicity of faith, are not satisfied with affirming that it is always the same in itself whatever be its object, and that it is no thing more than the belief of the testimony of a credible witness, which is certainly true, but they go so far as to maintain that the faith of the Gospel consists in the belief of the bare facts only of which it testifies, apart from their import. Now, this view of the subject is very much fitted to mislead. The faith of the Gospel, for instance, is not merely the belief of the facts that Jesus died and was raised from the dead, but also, and chiefly, of the import of these facts. It is not merely the belief of an insulated truth, but of a testimony including a variety of truths, to all of which it gives credit. The Jewish elders and priests believed a bare fact when they were persuaded that the resurrection of Jesus had in reality taken place, while they did not believe the truths which are connected

with and arise out of it. It is as truths or realities, that the doctrines of the Gos→ pel are the objects of faith, but the belief of them includes a belief of their qualities or properties. The Gospel is not only a true saying, but a saying divinely excellent and supremely interesting and important; and if it is not perceived in this light, then it is not believed to be what it is. In other words, the truth is not believed; for it is as essential a part of the Divine testimony, that the Gospel is good news of a plan of salvation, which is full of God, and altogether worthy of him, and adapted to the chief of sinners, and free for their use, as it is that there is salvation at all, or that Jesus lived, and died, and rose again. He who does not understand the glorious meaning and design of these facts, does not believe the Gospel, because he does not believe what is an essential part of the truth.

Sometimes the expression simple faith is used to denote faith unaccompanied with strong feelings of hope and of joy, and such like sensations. This may respect certain parts of the truth which have the effect of producing an acknowledgment of the faith

fulness and kindness of God, a conviction that his favour is the one thing needful, a renunciation of all other hopes, an expectation of deliverance, and a desire after God, while yet there is no joy, because other parts of the truth are not clearly discerned. Such a state of mind, in regard to the reve lations made to Dávid, is described in the 42d and 43d Psalms. Even in such cases, however, there is a kind and degree of sensation produced in correspondence to what is really believed, so that the expression in question is scarcely correct. Faith in the Gospel will produce peace and joy in proportion to its strength, except when disease or constitutional tendencies prevent its natural operation: and when these fruits are wanting, we may consider the question as put, Where is your faith? The human mind is easily shaken. Pain or weakness, sorrow or anxiety, temptation or remorse, may distract the mind, and mingle their dark impressions with the glory of the Gospel salvation. It may please God to permit a jarring nerve, or a morbid sensitiveness of frame, to mar Christian joy even to the grave. It is seldom, however, that this