CHAPTER FIFTH.

Appropriating Faith.

WE speak only the general sentiment, in making faith the foundation of the religious life. The blessings, which are purchased and are offered us in the New Covenant, in particular, cannot be received except by faith. In the language of Mr. Erskine, which is well adapted to popular apprehension, "Christ is the bread of life, faith is the mouth of the soul, that eats and feeds upon him. Christ is the mystical brazen serpent, faith the eye of the soul that looks to him for healing. Christ is the strong hold cast open to the prisoners of hope, faith the foot of the soul, that runs into him for shelter."* If it is desirable to live acceptably to God and to walk in the light of his countenance, it is desirable to possess faith. We are told in the Scriptures, that "without faith it is impossible to please God." How important it is, therefore, to have right views of this excellent Christian grace, considered in its relation to sanctification and holy living, as well as in its connection with justification.

* Ebenezer Erskine on the Assurance of Faith. Discourse II.

There are three leading kinds of faith, saying nothing of some subordinate modifications, viz. historical faith, a general religious faith, and an appropriating faith; each of which is entitled to a brief notice. An historical faith in the Saviour is merely a belief that such a man as Jesus Christ, possessing many of the virtuous traits which his biographers have ascribed to him, appeared in Palestine at the commencement of the Christian era. It is not easy to see how a person who gives credence to any of the historical narrations of antiquity, can do otherwise than receive this belief. This faith, however, does not necessarily involve the existence of religion, or even of good morals. Men of abandoned characters and of essentially infidel sentiments may go as far as this. Voltaire and other distinguished enemies of the Christian system had a belief of this kind.

"Alas," says Jacob Behmen, speaking of the state of things in his times, of which he says, that true faith was never weaker since Christ's time than it is now, "the faith of this day is but HistorICAL, a mere assent to the matter of fact, that Jesus Christ lived and died, that the Jews killed him, that he left this world, and is not king on earth in the outward man; but that men may do what they list, and need not die from sin and their evil lusts. All this the wicked child SELF rejoiceth in, that it may fatten the Devil by living deliciously." "'*

(2.) There is also a general religious faith. A person may not only believe with those who pos* The Way to Christ, Bk. II, Chap. 3, §. 52.

sess an historical faith, that there was such a man as Jesus Christ; but may also believe, that he died for the salvation of men in general. This form of faith, it is true, is important; but it does not and cannot secure all those objects which are ascribed to faith in the Bible. I suppose it may be said with truth, that the devils believe and know, not only that there was such a being as Jesus Christ, but that he died upon the cross for sinners. It does not commend itself to human reason, and still less to the word of God, to say that a man has saving faith, who believes in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world so far as the world receives him in that capacity, and yet individually and personally does not believe in him as his own Saviour. If such a general and unappropriating faith were sufficient, it would be no difficult matter to fill up our churches, since those who have such a faith as this may be found in great numbers.

But a faith of this kind, and which goes no further than this, is practically DEAD. And perhaps it may be said here, that the great sin of the people of our own age is, not that they have merely an historical faith and stop in that, as in some former corrupt periods; but that they too often rest satisfied with a general and abstract faith, which is theoretically applicable to the world at large, without bringing it home to themselves. They believe in the general truth, without making a specific and personal application; and thus serve Satan as effectually, as far as they are personally concerned, as if they had only an historical faith.

(3.) A third form or modification of the great principle of faith, is what may be called APPROpriATING FAITH. The necessity of this form of faith is evident from even a slight consideration of the subject. The usual understanding is, with the exception of those who hold strictly to a limited atonement, that our Saviour has provided a common salvation, adequate to the wants of all; but available only in the case of those who exercise faith. How far this salvation will practically extend; how many individuals will avail themselves of it ; why some are taken and others are left, we cannot tell; nor are we certain, that it is important for us to know. But certain it is, that no one will accept of the provision which is made, without faith. But what sort of faith? The answer is, It is that which can speak in the first person; that which has an appropriating power; that which can say I have sinned; I have need of this salvation; I take it home to myself. It is not enough for me to say, I believe that Christ died for others; I must also believe that he died for me individually, and accept of him as my Saviour. It is not meant by this, that previous to the exercise of appropriating faith, and independently of such exercise, we have a special or particular interest in Christ, separate from and above that of others; and that appropriating faith consists in believing in this special or particular interest. An appropriating faith of this kind, and operating in this manner, might be very dangerous. It is merely meant, that out of the common interest, which is broad as the human..

race, we may, by means of faith, take individually that which the gospel permits us to receive and regard as our own; and that we can avail ourselves of this common interest, so as to make it personally our own, in no other way.

God deals with us, (certainly for the most part,) as individuals, and not in masses. When he re quires men to repent of sin, to exercise gratitude, to love, and the like, the requisition is obviously made upon them as individuals, as separate from and as independent of others. It is not possible to conceive of any other way, in which obedience to the requisition can be rendered. Nor is it conceivable that the remedial effect of the atonement should be realized in any other way than this. How is it possible, if I, in my own person, have suffered the wound of sin, that a remedy, which is general and does not admit of any specific and personal appropriation, should answer my purpose? Furthermore, in dying for all, in other words, in furnishing a common salvation, available to all on their acceptance of the same, Christ necessarily died for me as an individual, since the common mass or race of men is made up of individuals, and since I am one of that common mass or race. And indeed we can have no idea of a community or mass of men, except as a congregation or collection of separate persons. In dying for the whole on certain conditions, he necessarily, therefore, on the same conditions, died for the individuals composing that whole.