then argument, signifies also the effect of such demonstration on the mind, or conviction; and such is probably its meaning in 2 Tim. iii. 16.—That this is its true signification here, is manifest from the nature of the case; for faith is not evidence, but the effect of evidence--the conviction arising from it.* The verse may be more intelligibly rendered-" Now faith is the confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."-This is very commonly considered as a definition of faith. I question the propriety of so denominating it. Let it be observed, that the apostle is not here presenting the gospel testimony, for the first time, to the ignorant, or, even for the twentieth time, to the unbelieving. When he did this, and called on sinners to believe it, he never thought (nor did any one else in those days of simplicity) of defining faith. It was too simple for definition. The apostle is here writing to those who had already known and embraced that testimony; and of the faith which they possessed, by which they were justified and had eternal life, he affirms-" It is the confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Now by this he appears to mean one of two things :— either, in the first place, that "things hoped for" and "things not seen," being amongst the subjects of the divine testimony and promise, are of course among the * See Schleusner, Wetstein, Doddridge, &c. objects of faith, inasmuch as faith regards that testimony and promise, and includes therefore the belief of things future and things unseen;-or rather perhaps, secondly, that by the faith of the divine testimony and promise "the confidence (or confident expectation) of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen" are imparted to the soul,-that from it they immediately arise. This is no unusual meaning of the verb to be. We are ourselves quite accustomed to it; as when we say of murder, or house-breaking, or highway robbery, that it is death by the law of our country,―or of any promising advantage to a man in business, this will be his fortune; and in multitudes of similar instances. It is accordingly common in scripture. "Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go; keep her, for she is thy life:"*" And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent:"+" And this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith." In these and other cases, the verb to be expresses, not the identity of the things spoken of, but a certain connexion between them, whether arising from positive institute or from their respective natures. Upon the same principle, when the apostle says of the faith of the believing Hebrews-it is "the confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen," *Prov. iv. 13. † John xvii. 13. + 1 John v. 4. he means that these are its immediate and native results, that they arise out of it, and are so allied to it as almost to form a part of itself:-the belief of God's testimony and promise in the gospel imparts, in a degree proportioned to the measure in which it exists, the firm and steadily assured expectation of all the glorious objects set before the eye of hope,—and the clear and realizing conviction of things which are beyond the evidence of sense, the invisible existence of the world of spirits. And as it is by faith that "the hope of eternal life,”—that is, of the perfection of it above,—is introduced into the mind, it is by the same faith that it is maintained :-we "hold fast" together "the beginning of our confidence and the rejoicing of the hope:"—and it is by abiding in this faith unto the end, that the hope shall be realized in the fulness of joy. Thus "eternal life" is by faith, both as to legal state, spiritual character, and future prospects. It is so, not in consequence of any merely sovereign appointment, but in consequence of the very nature and circumstances of the case. In regard to the first, as grace alone could suit the condition of a sinner, "it is of faith that it might be by grace:"-in regard to the second, it is of faith, because truth cannot operate upon the mind and heart without its being understood and believed:-and in regard to the third, a hope of future bliss, that is founded in a divine declaration and promise, necessarily presupposes the belief of the declaration and promise on which it rests, nor is there the slightest intimation in scripture of that future bliss being bestowed except in fulfilment of a previous believing hope. And faith, whether considered as justifying, or as sanctifying, or as imparting the hope of futurity, derives its appropriateness and its efficacy from the nature of the truth believed. From that it never should be separated in our conceptions of it; for from that it never can be separated in actual subsistence.— There is this difference amongst others, frequently observable, between the statements of the divine word and those of human systems of doctrine professedly founded upon it, that in the latter there is a great deal said about the manner of believing,-about what faith is, as a metaphysical act of the mind,-about how a sinner is to believe, not as it respects the spiritual and practical influence of his faith, but as it respects the process of the mind in believing ;-whereas in the former there is nothing whatever of this kind: it dwells upon the matter, rather than the manner; it teaches us what we are to believe, rather than how we are to believe it. In human systems, we have distinctions without end, of faith into ever so many kinds, and modes, and actings, such as have often been found exceedingly perplexing to the mind of the simple inquirer. It cannot with truth be said of them, as it is said of the word of the Lord, that their entrance "giveth light unto the simple." The Scriptures, on the contrary, are occupied with the testimony itself. Of it they give a full and clear exhibition; but there are to be found in them no puzzling metaphysics about the mental process of believing it, and directions as to the manner in which that process is to be set about and effected. All is plain. The testimony is presented on the authority of God;-sinners are invited to consider and to believe it ;-and the practical effects are detailed by which the faith of it must be followed and manifested. I cannot go further under this proposition, without anticipating what belongs to the next; with which, however, the subjects discussed in this hold a very close and intimate connexion, as will then be apparent. In the mean time, let my reader beware of despising faith. Faith regards the truth believed; and to despise faith is in fact to despise that truth. The contempt is as contrary to reason as it is to Scripture. It is in the truth itself that the saving power resides, just as it is the medicine that possesses the healing virtue: but the truth can have no saving efficacy unless it be believed, any more than the medicine unless it be taken. It cannot justify; it cannot sanctify; it cannot give the hope of the life to This is not mysticism. It is as rational as it And, whether men will hear or forbear, the word of God is peremptory, in connecting salva come. is Scriptural. |