feels as if he must hold on by his hands, when his heart and head seem to fail him. And when in this bitterness of soul he falls down on his knees to God, and prays that He will not take away His Holy Spirit from him, can we doubt that the stony heart will be made to melt within him, can we doubt that his faith will be purified, thus tried in the fire?

Do I seem to speak of extreme cases? do the hearts of Christians not respond to the truth of such statements? God alone knoweth what those inward wrestlings are by which He permitteth His servants to grow strong in grace, to overcome the evil one. Happy are they who know not such trials! and happy too are they who know them! for we are to “count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of our faith worketh patience: but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." This world is the place of hope. Hope that is seen, is not hope. It is not at once that the soul of man can learn to walk by faith as if by sight: it must pass from strength to strength. As far as it has attained, it must walk by the same rule of Christian duty, and God will reveal even this that lacketh unto it. Christ did not rebuke His followers when they besought Him to increase their faith. It is a wholesome thing to feel the nothingness of our own strength. It is a wholesome thing to know those agonies of spirit in which, when belief or trust is failing, a man cries," Lord, save me,

I perish!" For in the darkest trials we are not deserted. Though belief is dull, or love callous, we may still conquer on our knees. Christ is near, to stretch out His hand to save us from sinking: though He say to us, Oye of little faith, wherefore did ye doubt ?" yet He will strengthen and save us. There is a way to escape from temptation, that we may be able to bear it.

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It is sometimes said that this is "not enough comfort:" that the souls of men must languish and come to despair, unless God vouchsafes them more assured, more unvarying consolation and sense of favour. I will not ask, Is man to measure the sum of comfort which God shall give? I will rather ask, Is it really too little for a sinful creature, earnestly convinced of the deadly guilt of his sins, and of the facts of the redemption and sanctification of man,-is it really "not enough comfort" to know himself beneath the discipline, even the stern and soul-dividing discipline, of the Spirit? Is it "not enough comfort" to know that God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able? Baptized as we are by God's blessing into His holy Church, brought up within the reach of the means of grace, hearing His word continually preached to us by His appointed ministers, anxious above all things to make our calling and election sure, and therefore instant and fervent in prayer for spiritual aid,—if our course towards heaven be not without lets or hindrances,

if in submitting our hearts to the rule of the Spirit we feel the occasional weakness of the flesh, if it be at first impossible for us to keep up continually to the height of faith, shall we presume to say that we have "not enough comfort?"

Alas! my brethren, it is not a heaven-sent comfort which we need, it is an inward heart whole with God. Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? that is, to bring down Christ from above; or, Who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead; but rather the word of faith should be very nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart. Let us not so pant to gain the hills from whence we shall see the end of our journey, as to forget that our present course is through the low vale of duty. Here let us work while we have time. God is not unmindful of us. He will hear His own day before Him. And doing His will, we shall know of His doctrine; and striving to serve Him acceptably in prayer, He will circumcise our hearts with His love, whereby we shall repose our full trust and confidence in Him and His promises. "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; and we are of them that believe unto the saving of the soul."

elect, which cry night and

SERMON XVI.

ON FAITH.

GALATIANS V. 6. and vi. 15.

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."

WHEN We put these two verses of the Epistle to the Galatians together, it becomes clear that St. Paul intends faith working by love to be synonymous with

a new creature.

In the same manner he writes to the Corinthians, that "we walk by faith, not by sight;" and a few verses further, in the same chapter, "that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”

There may be other senses in which a Christian is become a new creature; though probably they would all be found, upon examination, to run up into the same but certainly there is none more

remarkable than the one here used by the Apostle; that is, in possessing the virtue of faith.

No person, I think, who is at all accustomed to subjects of human philosophy, as treated by heathen writers, can fail to observe, that the faith, whereby the heart of man believeth unto righteousness, is a virtue which was unknown to the world, and undescribed before the revelation of Christianity. It is not that faith is merely a new name for some human excellence, or combination of excellences, with which men were already acquainted. On the contrary, it is absolutely a new thing: it is a virtue as inconceivable without revelation, as unattainable without grace. Accordingly, heathen ethics are one thing, and Christian ethics absolutely another. Faith, which is unmentioned and unconceived in uninspired morality, is the sum total of the morality of the Bible.

Now, consider for one moment, how entirely wonderful it is that a change like this should have been proposed or effected by the unlettered fishermen of the lake of Gennesareth. "In Christ Jesus," they said, "neither circumcision availeth any thing;" therein they disallowed all the claims of obedience to the law, of exclusive privilege, of being Abraham's children, of being trusted with the oracles of God: nor uncircumcision; therein they overthrew the schools of uninspired philosophy, the much prized and boasted knowledge of those who professed themselves to be wise ;-but faith which worketh by