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seen but towards man, who can discern the dispositions of another only by their effects, the chief manifestation of its existence is by Love. "Faith," says St. Paul in our text, "worketh by love," i. e. its inward stirrings and hidden energy work themselves into sight, work themselves out to human perception, by and through Love.* Love is their natural manifestation. As the life of the soul is evidenced by the movements of the body, so is the existence of Faith in the heart evidenced by the benevolence which that heart manifests towards man. As the hidden vital power of the seed swells, and expands, and bursts, and germinates, and at last reveals itself to view in stem, and leaves, and bud, and flower, and fruit, so does the hidden life of Faith come forth to the light, expand and burst into its due fulness and perfection in the form of Love. The character of the product is the specimen of the character of the principle; the fruit is the sample of the seed. Just as the evil principle within us manifests its existence and its vigour by its actings in the outward man; just as "the motions of sins work† in our members to bring forth fruit unto death;" so does the new principle of the Gospel of Christ + Ενηργεῖτο.

* Δι' αγάπης ἐνεργουμένη.

bestir itself and work, till it break forth into act and deed in the exercise of Love.

And to this derivation of Love from Faith, St. Paul has frequent reference. Thus, for example, when he is seeking a remedy for the uncharitableness which the various opinions and questions in the church at Ephesus had produced, he charges Timothy to remember: "The end of the commandment,"-the one object of the injunctions, which you must deliver as a Minister of Christ," is charity,”—Love, goodwill, candour, mutual peace. And whence would this charity arise? "out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned;" i. e. out of that calm and quietness. of spirit which an assured trust and confidence in God alone can give. For "A pure heart," in this sentence, means an undisturbed, untroubled mind;-a mind not made turbid by the eddyings of doubt, and the currents of opinion; but glassy pure, even as the calm and peaceful lake.* And so, in the same sense, the next

* 'Ex xalapãs nagdías. Compare Acts xv. 9. “God hath put no difference between us and the Gentiles, purifying their hearts by faith:” τῇ πίστει καθαρίσας τὰς καρδίας αυτῶν—soothing their disturbed and doubting minds by giving them the spirit of Faith, assuring them of divine acceptance, sinners and Gentiles as they were.

expression, "a good conscience," means a good conscience towards God; a sense of pardon, reconciliation, peace, adoption. And whence do these result? what is the source of a pure untroubled mind, and of a pacified and quiet conscience? "Faith unfeigned;" assured and honest Trust in God as our Father, and our Friend.

And here, then, we have Charity or forbearance represented, just as in our text, as the result of Faith; of that quiet conscience and untroubled spirit which trust in God through Christ can give. He who is disturbed by a thousand doubts will break the peace of the church, and agitate the sphere in which he moves by the agitation of his own mind: He who has found his rest in God, rests also in a candour and forbearance and affection towards his brethren.*

And the opposite notion to this is expressed by St. Paul in Gal. i. 7, by a word of similar reference. "There be some that trouble you (oi τapáσσoVTEs iμãs) and would pervert the Gospel of Christ"-that agitate and render turbid your minds (as a stream, by stirring up the sediment which lies beneath it) by sophisticating the truth and demanding some ceremonial works, some other ground of hope, but simple faith in Christ.

A similar connexion of "Love of the Brethren," with "obeying (i. e. belief of) "the truth," see in 1 Peter i. 22.

The doctrine then of our text is, that Love, or Benevolence, is the natural product of Faith; even as the flower and fruit are the product of the living seed :--and moreover that as the vigour of our Faith, so will be the fulness of our Love; even as according to the life and vigour of the seed so is the abundance of the fruits.

And why?-for let us not forget the sentiment of Leighton, that things are best known in their causes,-why is this, that the degree of our Benevolence will thus depend upon our Faith? that our dispositions towards man vary as our disposition towards God? There would not at first appear so very intimate a connexion, and yet our text asserts that such an one exists.

The answer will be found, I think, in this position: That in proportion to our inward peace and equanimity, will be our love, forbearance, candour, in a word, Benevolence: And that Faith produces this inward peace of mind and equanimity, and therefore this forbearance, candour, love, benevolence.

In proportion to our inward peace will be our love.

For, if we trace our own experience, and examine our own hearts, we shall find that all

unkindness, temper, anger, and revenge; all want of charity, and candour, and forbearance, result from inward disturbance; our own personal inward disturbance. It matters not so much what is the outward cause; the effect produced, and the degree of that effect, will depend chiefly on the state of mind which that outward cause may meet with to work upon. Take the most common cases. Recollect the different way in which the very same vexation affects you in a moment of pain, or of fatigue, or of disappointment, or of any trouble or sorrow, from that in which it works in a happier state of mind. In the first case it comes as an additional ingredient of evil in the already agitated cauldron and makes it foam and bubble more. In the second it meets with nothing but opposite and uncongenial elements, and is soon absorbed within them, and its disturbing qualities neutralized. Even merely natural temperament; a sound constitution, a well-balanced state of body, a flow of animal spirits and good-humour, will have this power of neutralizing outward evil, and producing and preserving kindness and benevolence. And, generally, a mind at peace with itself—be it from whatever cause, either permanent or temporary -is proportionably at peace with all things

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