ed of our sins past; we may rest assured, that we are strangers to genuine religion. We need carry our inquiries no farther, for the present: for, if we have not the first requisite for an acceptable approach to the Lord's table, we surely are not possessed of the second, to which our attention will now be directed.

SECTION III.

Faith.

HAVE we "a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ?" Our church, in this respect, and as we humbly conceive, in all others, harmonises with the Holy Scriptures. She first urges "repentance towards God," and then, "faith in our Lord Jesus Christ."

It is well known, that the Holy Scriptures represent faith as of the highest importance in the concerns of religion, as the one condition, or term, upon which the blessings of salvation are suspended. They tell us, that "he who cometh to God must be- lieve that he is, and that he is the rewarder of all those who diligently seek him;"-and that, "without faith, it is impossible to please him." They declare, in the most explicit and unequivocal language, "he that believeth on the Son of God, hath everlasting life-but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Life or death-salvation or perdition-heaven or hell are

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suspended upon the answer we can give to the tion "dost thou believe on the Son of God?" And yet, notwithstanding all this, what erroneous opinions prevail in the Christian world respecting the nature and offices of faith? How important, then, is it, that every candidate for eternity, should ascertain what that principle is, to which such momentous effects and consequences are attributed in the sacred volume.

Faith, according to the simplest idea of it, may be defined, a reliance upon testimony. Things which fall under our own observation or knowledge, are not properly matters of faith, but of consciousness. I do not believe, I know that I exist. I do not believe, I know, that fire will burn. Faith, therefore, is a belief of things which do not fall within the range of our absolute knowledge, but are supported by the testimony of credible witnesses.

If it rests on human testimony merely, we may call it, by way of distinction, human faith; if it rests on divine testimony, we may call it a divine faith. We may believe in the scripture history, and the inspiration of the Bible, on the testimony of men who could not be deceived as to the nature of the facts which they relate, and could have no possible motive for palming a deception upon others. But, our faith in all the doctrines which the scriptures contain, rests on the veracity and faithfulness of that Divine Being, by whose inspiration they were given

to man.

A man may believe, on the ground of evidence exhibited, that the Scriptures are of divine origin, and yet have no operative or divine faith in the contents of the sacred volume. And he may give his speculative assent to the general truths of Christianty, and yet be utterly destitute of every right affection towards God, and entirely regardless of all the exercises and acts of that "holiness without which no man can see the Lord.” St. James informs us, that the very "devils, believe and tremble.”

The faith which is necessary to justification, is not so much an act of the understanding as of the affections. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Its object, is not so much propositions relating to Jesus Christ, as Jesus Christ himself. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life." As the poor, wounded Israelites, writhing with torture, and dying under the influence of the venom imparted by the bite of the "fiery flying serpents," simply by looking to the brazen serpent, erected in the camp, were saved from death, and had the vigour and freshness of health restored to their bodies; so the poor sinner, wounded by the infernal serpent, and dreading the agonies of the second death, simply by believing, or trusting in Jesus, is saved from guilt, and has peace, and spiritual health, and salvation, imparted to his soul. This resting on Christ; this affi

ance of the soul upon the Redeemer, is the faith to which such extraordinary effects are ascribed in the sacred volume.

The faith, therefore, which is required in all who come to the Lord's table, is not a bare belief in the holy scriptures; for this we may have without the least degree of repentance; but it is what our church appropriately styles, "a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ;" which cannot exist in the soul that is destitute of an unfeigned sorrow for sin, and an earnest desire to be saved from its dominion and guilt. It includes not only a belief in the great plan of salvation through the merits and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also our hearty, personal acquiescence in that plan, from a full conviction of its expediency and necessity. It is, in fine, that faith which gives the sinner an interest in the Redeemer's righteousness, and brings him into a state of acceptance with God; which "works by love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the world."

The self-examination of every communicant, on this point, should be deep and searching: he should anxiously seek to know whether he does indeed believe. Not merely whether his understanding is convinced that such a person as Jesus Christ did once appear in the world and die for the benefit of mankind; but whether he cordially submits to the righteousness, and relies upon the atonement of Christ, under a full conviction that he has no merit of his own to

recommend him to God. Whether he gladly and humbly receives salvation, through the merits of the Lord Jesus, as a free gift, without money and without price.

If we are strangers to this simple reliance upon the atonement of the Son of God; this renunciation of every other hope, and reception of him, as "all our salvation and all our desire;" what is the act of approaching the Lord's table but an unmeaning ceremony, or a solemn mockery? By the very act of commemorating the sacrifice of his death, in this solemn mode of his appointment, we virtually profess our belief that "there is salvation in none other," and that we must rely upon his merits as the only foundation of hope, or become the wretched victims of merited perdition and despair. If, then, the act be performed without the faith which its very nature implies, is there not reason to apprehend, that the guilt of hypocritical profession is incurred? The least that can be said, is, that there can be, in such a case, no "discerning of the Lord's body;" and the unbelieving communicant, to use the language of the Apostle, is "guilty of the body and blood of the Lord."

Let every communicant, then, solemnly ask, as in the presence of the Searcher of hearts-Have I a "lively faith in God's mercy through Christ?" "He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself." Have I, then, this internal testimony of my faith? Have I an humble and contrite heart? Do I