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therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." 2 Thess. i. 11. "that our God would count you worthy of his calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power." Heb. xii, 2. "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." 1 Cor. xii. 3. "no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." 2 Cor. iv. 13. "we having the same spirit of faith." Gal. v. 22. "the fruit of the Spirit is faith."

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A full persuasion. Jer. xxxi. 34. "they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. John xvii. 3. "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Rom. iv. 18-21. "who against hope believed in hope......and being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. viii. 38. “I am persuaded that neither death-." Thess. i. 5. "our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." 2 Tim. i. 12. "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him." Heb. x. 22. "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." James i. 6. "let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." Heb. xi. 1. "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen;" where by substance is understood as certain a persuasion of things hoped for, as if they were not only existing, but actually present. John viii. 56. "your father Abraham rejoiced to see my

day, and he saw it." Hence implicit faith, which sees not the objects of hope, but yields belief with a blind assent, cannot possibly be genuine faith, except in the case of novices or first converts, whose faith must necessarily be for a time implicit, inasmuch as they believe even before they have entered upon a course of instruction. Such was that of the Samaritans, John iv. 41. of the nobleman and his family, v. 53. of Rahab, Heb. xi. 31. and of the disciples, who believed in Christ long before they were accurately acquainted with many of the articles of faith. Those also belong to this class, who are slow of understanding and inapt to learn, but who nevertheless, believing according to the measure of their knowledge, and striving to live by faith, are acceptable to God. Isai. xlii. 3. "a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." Mark ix. 24. "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." Faith is also called TETоibεGiç, or trust, with the same meaning. 2 Cor. iii. 4. "such trust have we through Christ to God-ward." Eph. iii. 11, 12. "in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him ;" where however trust or confidence seems rather to be a particular effect or degree of faith, or a firm hope, than faith itself, inasmuch as it is said to come by faith or perhaps by faith in this passage we are to understand the doctrine on which this confidence is founded. John xvi. 33. "be of good cheer (confidite), I have overcome the world." Hence to trust and to believe are indiscriminately used in the same sense, both in the Old and New Testament. Psal. lxxviii. 22, "because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation."

Isai. x. 20. "it shall stay upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth (fide)." Psal. xxxvii. 5. "commit thy way unto Jehovah, trust also in him." Jer. xvii. 7. "blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah, and whose hope Jehovah is." Matt. ix. 2. "Son, be of good cheer (confide); thy sins be forgiven thee." As to the three divisions into which faith is commonly distinguished by divines, knowledge of the word, assent, and persuasion or trust, the two former equally belong to temporary, and even to historical faith, and both are comprehended in, or, more properly, precede a full persuasion.

On the sole authority of his promise. John xx. 29. "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Rom. iv. 18. "who against hope believed in hope." v. 21. "being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was able also to perform." 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. "my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 2 Cor. iv. 18. "while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." v. 7. "we walk by faith, not by sight." 1 Thess. ii. 13. "when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God." Heb. xi. 7. "by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet." v. 19. "accounting that God was able to raise him up." 1 Pet. i, 8. "whom having not seen, ye love; in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice." Tit. i. 2. " which God, that cannot lie, promised." Here

in is manifested the excellence of faith, inasmuch as it gives to God the highest glory of righteousness and truth. John iii. 33. "he that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true." Rom. iv. 20. "he was strong in faith, giving glory to God." Eph. i. 12. "that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ." 2 Thess. i. 10. "when he shall come to be admired in all them that believe." Heb. xi. 6. " without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." v. 11. "because she judged him faithful who had promised." 2 Pet. i. 1. "to them that have obtained like precious faith with us, through the righteousness of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Hence the title of faithful is frequently applied to God by believers. 1 Cor. i. 9. x. 13. 2 Tim. ii. 13. "he abideth faithful." 1 John i. 9. " he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins."

Whatsoever he has promised. Acts xxiv. 14. " believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets." Rom. iv. 3. "Abraham believed God." v. 16. "therefore it is of faith......to the end the promise might be sure." 1 John v. 14. "this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us."

Ours; that is, ours who believe. John i. 12. "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name." xvii. 20. "neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that shall believe on me through their word." 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. "all are your's, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Gal. ii. 20. "the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith

of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

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In Christ. John vi. 29. "this is the work of God,

that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." xiv. 1. ye believe in God; believe also in me." 1 John iii. 23. "this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." Rom. x. 9. "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 2 Cor. iii. 4. "such trust have we through Christ to God-ward." Gal. iii. 22. " that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." v. 26. "by faith in Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. i. 21. "who by him do believe in God......that your faith and hope might be in God." Heb. vii. 25. "wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." John xii. 44. "he that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me." Hence, as was shown in the fifth chapter, the ultimate object of faith is not Christ the Mediator, but God the Father a truth, which the weight of scripture evidence has compelled divines to acknowledge. For the same reason it ought not to appear wonderful if many, both Jews and others, who lived before Christ, and many also who have lived since his time, but to whom he has never been revealed, should be saved by faith in God alone; still however through the sole merits of Christ, inasmuch as he was given and slain from the beginning of the world, even for those to whom he was not known, provided they believed in God the Father. Hence honourable testimony is borne to the faith of the illustrious patriarchs who lived under the law, Abel, Enoch, Noah, &c. though

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