true sense of their need of Christ, as that they rather feel more fit to be mediators and intercessors in behalf of others, than to want one for themselves. And it is the way of such, from that great sense they have of their own goodness, to make bold with God, and to make bold with Christ, in their prayers, as if they felt themselves pretty nigh upon a level. Of all men in the world, I am ready to think that God looks upon these the worst, and hates them the most. (Luke xviii. 914. Isai. lxv. 5.) But did they know it, they would hate him as entirely as he does them. Hypocrites of all sorts fail in this point: they see no real need of Christ; they are not so bad but that, to their own sense and feeling, they might be pardoned and saved by the free mercy of God, without any mediator. Hence they do not understand the gospel; it is all foolishness to them. 1 Cor. ii. 14.

6. It is a spiritual sense and firm belief of the truths of the gospel which encourages the heart to trust in Christ. John vi. 45. That the goodness of God is infinite, and self-moving; that Christ, as Mediator, has secured the honour of God, the moral Governor of the world, and opened a way for the free and honourable exercise of his grace; that through Christ, God, the supreme Governor of the world, is actually ready to be reconciled, and invites all, the vilest not excepted, to return to him in this way. These truths, being spiritually understood and firmly believed, convince the heart of the safety of trusting in Christ, and encourage it so to do. Heb. x. 19. Mat. xxii. 4.

7. Saving faith consists in that entire trust, reliance, or dependance on Jesus Christ, the great Mediator, his satisfaction and merits, mediation and intercession, which the humbled sinner has, whereby he is emboldened to return home to God in hopes of acceptance, and is encouraged to look to and trust in God through him for that complete salvation which is of fered in the gospel. The opposite to justifying faith, is a selfrighteous spirit and temper, whereby a man, from a conceit of, and reliance upon his own goodness, is emboldened and encouraged to trust and hope in the mercy of God. Heb. x. 19. 23. Luke xviii. 9. 14. and accordingly, when such see how bad they really are, their faith fails; they naturally think that God cannot find in his heart to show merey to such.

3. Faith emboldens the heart. In a legal humiliation, which is antecedent to spiritual light, the sinner is brought to a kind, of despair. The things which used to embolden him, do now entirely fail: he finds no good in himself; yea, he feels himself dead in sin; and upon this his heart dies within him. I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Rom. vii. 9. And by spiritual light, in evangelical humiliation, his undone state, in and of himself, is made still more plain. But now faith emboldens the heart, begets new courage, lays the foundation for a new kind of hope; a hope springing entirely from a new foundation. Heb. x. 19. 22. Having, therefore, brethren, BOLDNESS to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. By faith the heart is emboldened. 1. To return home to God, in hopes of acceptance. A spiritual sight and sense of the ineffable beauty of the divine nature begets a disposition to look upon it the fittest and happiest thing in the world to love God with all the heart, and be entirely devoted to him for ever; and enkindles an inclination to return, and everlastingly give up and consecrate ourselves unto him. "But may such a wretch as I be the Lord's? Will he accept me?" Now the believer, understanding the way of acceptance by Christ, and seeing the safety of it, ventures his ALL upon this sure foundation, and hereby is emboldened to return. Heb. xi. 6. He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him; i. e. first: He must see what God is; behold him in his glory, or he cannot, in a genuine manner, desire to come to him. And secondly: He must see that he is ready to be reconciled unto and to save those who, from a genuine desire to be his, do heartily return to him through the Mediator he has appointed; or else he will not dare to come. But when both these are seen and believed, now the soul will return, and come and give up itself to God, to be the Lord's for ever. 2. Faith in Christ emboldens the heart to look to and trust in the free grace of God through him, for all things that just such a poor creature wants; even for all things offered in the gospel to poor sinners. Heb. iv.

16. Let us, therefore, come BOLDLY to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace. Pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace are the two great benefits of the new covenant; and these are the two great things which an enlightened soul feels the want of, and for which he is emboldened to come to God by Jesus Christ. I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, saith the Lord in the new covenant; and this is all my salvation, and all my desire, saith the believer.

unseen.

9. The word faith, in scripture, is evidently used in various Or thus, there are various different exercises of a godly soul, all which in scripture are called faith, for I mean here to leave out all those sorts of faith, spoken of in scripture, which the unregenerate man is capable of. 1. It is the way of godly men to live under a spiritual sense of God, his being and perfections, and government of the world, and the glory, reality, and importance of divine and eternal things; even under such a living sense of these things, as that they are firmly believed, and are made to influence them as though they were seen. Hence they are said to look at things which are 2 Cor. iv. 18. To see him who is invisible. Heb. xi. 27. And are said to walk by aith. 2 Cor. v. 7. And this seems to be the meaning of the word faith, as it is used in Heb. xi. where we read of what Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, did by faith. Their faith was the substance of things hoped for, and evidence of things not seen; i. e. it made divine and eternal things, as it were, subsist, in all their glory and importance, before their minds, and appear as evident as though they were seen, (ver. 1.) 2. It is the way of godly men to live under a spiritual sense of the divine all-sufficiency, whereby they are influenced firmly to believe that God is able to do all things for them, and be all to them, which they can possibly need in time and to eternity; by all which, they are influenced to live in a way of continual dependence upon him for all things. And this is what, in the book of Psalms and elsewhere, is called trusting in the Lord, waiting and leaning upon the Lord, making him our refuge. This temper is expressed in Psal. lxxiii. 25, 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I de

But God is

And, ver. 28.

sire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth. the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. It is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord. 3. It is the way of godly men to live under a spiritual sense of God, as the great Governor of the world, to whom it belongs to maintain the rights of the godhead, and the honour of the law; and under a sense of themselves as poor sinners, worthy only of destruction, according to law and Justice, and too bad to be pitied or to have any mercy shown them, without some sufficient salvo to the divine honour; and under a sense of Christ as a Mediator appointed to be a propitiation for sin, to declare God's righteousness and secure the divine honour, and so open a way wherein God might be just, and yet justify the sinner that believes in Jesus; even under such a living sense of these things, as that they are firmly believed; whereby they are influenced not to draw nigh to God in their own names, emboldened by their own goodness, but only in the name of Christ, depending entirely upon him, and emboldened only by his worth and merits, mediation, and intercession, to look for acceptance in the sight of God. Hence, because of this dependance, they are said to pray in Christ's name. John xvi. 23. To have access to God by him. Eph. ii. 18. To come to God through him. Heb. vii. 25. Το believe in God by him. 1 Pet. i. 21. And are represented as being EMBOLDENED by his worth and merits, mediation and intercession, to approach the Majesty of heaven. Heb. iv. 16. and x. 19. And now this is called a coming to Christ. John vii. 37. A receiving him. John i. 12. A believing in Christ. John iii. 15. 16. A believing on Christ. John iii. 18. 36. A

believing in HIS NAME. John i. 12. And a TRUSTING in Christ Eph. i. 12, 13. And this is that act of faith by which we are justified and entitled to life, as is evident from Rom. iii. 24, 25, 26. where it is, by the Apostle, called faith in Christ's blood. The Apostle considers God as the righteous Governor of the world, (chap. i. 18.) all mankind as being guilty before God, (chap. iii. 9—19.) Christ as being set forth to be a propitiation for sin, (ver. 25.) That God might be just and yet justif, &c. (ver. 26.) And affirms that we are justified by free grace through the REDEMPTION that is in Jesus Christ, (ver.

24.) by faith without the deeds of the law, (ver. 28.) being considered in ourselves as UNGODLY, (chap. iv. 5.) And this justifying faith he calls faith in Christ's blood; because it was principally by the death of Christ that the ends of moral government were answered, and so law and justice satisfied, and a way opened for the honourable exercise of divine grace. But although the word faith be thus used in scripture in these different senses, yet we are to remember that these various exercises of a godly soul are connected together, and always concomitant with one another; yea, and, in some respects, implied in each other: and perhaps sometimes all these actings of soul are designed by the word faith; nevertheless they are evidently, in their own nature, so distinct, as that they may be conceived of as distinct acts of the soul. And it may also be noted that the two first of these, viz. a firm belief of divine truths, and a hearty reliance on the divine all-sufficiency, are acts of faith common to angels as well as saints; but the last, which immediately respects Christ as Mediator, is peculiar to penitent, returning sinners. The two first are common to every holy creature; for all such do, in a firm belief of divine truths, live in an entire dependance upon God, the infinite fountain of all good: but the last is peculiar to sinful creatures, who, because they are sinful, need a mediator to make way for the honourable exercise of the divine goodness towards them. Those who never were sinners may receive all things, from the free grace and self-moving goodness of the divine nature, without a mediator; but those who have been sinners perhaps will receive all through a mediator to eternity.

io. A heart to love God supremely, live to him ultimately, and delight in him superlatively; to love our neighbours as ourselves; to hate every false way; to be humble, meek, weaned from the world, heavenly minded; to be thankful for mercies; patient under afflictions; to love enemies; to forgive injuries, and, in all things, to do as we would be done by; a heart for all this, I say, is always in exact proportion to the degree of true faith; for the same views of our own wretchedness; of God; of Christ; of the way of salvation by free grace through him; of the glory, reality, and importance of