"The just shall live by faith." He reads also, "Justified by faith, we have peace with God." Again, when the question was asked, in the agony of overwhelming and poignant conviction, "What must I do to be saved?" he reads that the answer was not, "Climb to heaven," nor, "Purchase heaven by your good deeds," nor, "Obey and be rewarded," as rational men would suppose; but, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And he reads again that, not self-reliance, not courage, not strength, not might, not power, either were or are the victory that overcometh the world; but "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." He cannot understand it. It seems to him evident that the system is not Divine that inculcates a grace which, he conceives, may live and flourish in its intensest form, without the fruits of purity, truth, and holi

ness.

We are perfectly aware that faith, severed from love, may be a mere conviction in the head, unproductive of any real good. But, whilst faith, when it is alone as a mere intellectual conviction, and no more, may be worth nothing; yet there is not a grace in the Christian character that has vitality or fragrance without faith. Love severed from faith is a blossom nipped from the branch on which it grows. Duty severed from faith becomes a hard, stiff, rigid performance. Only when inspired, sustained, and invigorated by it, does the blossom bloom in amaranthine beauty, and develop itself in precious truth and duty, and reflect the light of glory in the sky.

It is, however, very remarkable, that Paul, the "apostle of faith," as he has been called, gives the most exquisite definition and illustration of love; and, on the other hand, John, the "apostle of love," attributes most to faith. Who can forget that beautiful chapter, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I

And

am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith,” says the apostle of faith, "so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing"? On the other hand, when we turn to John, who dwelt so much on love, the apostle that Jesus loved, in whom the human sympathies of Jesus so much centred, and ask him what he thinks

of faith, he answers, "Who is he that overcometh the world,

but he that believeth?" "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." Paul, who is suspected by some of laying too much stress on faith, gives the grandest picture of love; and John, who is suspected by others of laying too much stress upon love, attributes, nevertheless, in the midst of his portraiture of love, the strength, and force, and victory to faith.

The truth is, that faith is the root underground, not always seen; and because it feeds upon the unseen. We trace faith not by seeing it, but by seeing its fruits. It is the hidden force, coiled up in the regenerated heart, which gives birth to that victory over sin and Satan and the world, which is described as more than victory, through him that loved us.

The true definition of faith, when we take the original word for our guide, is not an abstract, intellectual belief, if that be possible; but "confidence" (riotis). It is the same to the mind, that leaning on a stick, or a wall, or on a foundation, or on any other support, is to the body. It is not a cold conviction that lies in the understanding; but a

warm, generous confidence, that lives in the innermost recesses of the heart. That man does not truly believe, who does not bring head and heart to rely upon "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."

Is it objected by some, that the gospel lays too much stress upon this confidence - for we may translate the word very properly" confidence." I answer, is not faith, or confidence, the very cement of the whole structure, and pyramid of social life. Without faith, or confidence in the laws of nature, as they are commonly called, the farmer would not sow, the man of business would not enter into engagements or make promises, and the sailor would not attempt to cross the Atlantic. The artisan would not labor, except he had faith that the market would be open, and accessible to the products of his labor. In other words, by faith the farmer sows, the merchant speculates, the sailor goes to sea, and the artisan engages in his daily toil. Whether we like it or not, the just and the unjust live by faith. The just live a higher life, the unjust live a lower, but both must live by faith. Take away this "faith" — or "confidence" —and what is the worth of any institution that we have? Take away confidence from a bank, and it goes to ruin. Exhaust public confidence from an insurance office, and it will soon be broken up. Take away confidence from government, and its stability is gone. Exhaust the confidence of man in man, and each individual would be insulated from the rest of society, and would look with a cold suspicion upon his neighbor, and all reciprocal good offices would cease, and society would fall to pieces, or corrupt and rot under its own depravity and wickedness.

Faith or confidence is necessary to the very existence of the social system, and, if it be perfectly reasonable that confidence should be so important an element in this under world, is it unreasonable to suppose that God should have

laid hold of so precious an element, and made it occupy a mighty and important place in the higher world?

It has, however, been objected by some to faith, and to the stress that is laid on it, that many persons substitute "I believe" for "I do," or "I give," "I love." St. James tells us, that it is not the exercise of true Christian faith, to say to the cold, "Go, and be warmed," to the naked, "Go, and be clothed," while he does not warm nor clothe them; and he asks very naturally, "can such a faith can this sham faith save?" It is this sham faith that St. James speaks of, and not the faith of the gospel. But when persons do substitute "I believe" for "I do," "I love," religion is not to be blamed, surely, for this perversion of it. The man who substitutes the creed for the decalogue, who thinks the repetition of one without an omission to be an atonement for his breach of the other; who thinks that orthodoxy is a sufficient substitute, and an atonement for immorality, and that right believing is good enough, although there be not right living; perverts the gospel, has not only no right faith, but has no idea of the nature or obligations of faith. There cannot be real faith, or confidence in God, in the Scriptural sense of that word, without a retinue of Christian graces constantly in its train. To talk of faith being imperfect without works, is just as foolish as to talk of a fire being imperfect without heat, or of the sun being imperfect without sunbeams. If there be no heat, there is no fire; if there - be no light, there is no risen sun; if there be no good works, there is no faith. There cannot be true Christian faith, unless there follow it, necessarily and truly, a thorough Christian practice. Faith gives momentum to every grace, the direction it is to take, the vitality in which it flourishes; and without faith, all Christian graces would instantly expire.

The definition of the apostle is, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for."

There has been a great deal of discussion as to what is the precise meaning of the word "substance." Perhaps the plainest expletive is, it is the "basis" of things hoped for, that whatever good hope a man has, must, if it be good, lean upon the foundation of previous sound faith. In other words, it teaches us, that it is impossible to cherish a hope worth having, unless we have a faith that will issue in fruition; that for all good things that are truly hoped for, there must be good things that are truly believed in. Faith, the belief of good, is the basis of hope, the expectation of good.

When it is said, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for," we naturally ask, What are some of these things? what did Noah, and Enoch, and Abel expect? There are some things that are properly the objects of hope; there are other things that we never ought and never can hope for. Persons say, "I hope for the forgiveness of my sins;" "I hope one day to repent." This language is absurd. Forgiveness of sin is not the object of hope at all; it is the object and possession of faith. "I hope to repent," is delusion; because I repent through believing, not by hoping. It is the ruin of many, that they hope to be forgiven; it is the joy and safety of thousands, that they believe that they are forgiven, or in order to be forgiven. We are not to hope to be forgiven; but to believe, in order to be forgiven, or that we are already forgiven. We are not to build our faith upon our hopes, but our hopes upon our faith. Thus "faith is the substance," the basis, "of

things hoped for."

No Christian ought, or is warranted, to hope for increase of pardon and justification before God. Every one is now, by faith in the righteousness of Christ, either completely justified, so that his justification cannot be increased, or he is not justified at all. We may be imperfectly sanctified,