ness, meekness, patience, &c. but what know we of them? We rejoice in his being constituted our Surety to obey the law, and endure the curse in our stead; but how know we that so indeed it is? We glory in the imputation of his righteousness, and exult in the hope of being found in him, and being for ever with him, faultless before his throne, to serve him day and night in his temple; but on what do we rely for all this? If our expectations are but just, truly they are noble; but if groundless, extravagant. Are they then well founded? Yes, THE TESTIMONY OF GOD is the rock whereon they rest. He has told us by the mouth of his servants, the inspired writers, all that is necessary for us to know of the character, conduct, and errand of his Son; of every office he sustained, and every end for which he came into the world. To all this he has added, that, "Whosoever believeth on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John, iii. 16. So they preached, and so we have believed. We have, through grace, ventured our everlasting ALL in his hands, nor is it in the hands of we know not whom. "We know whom we have trusted, and that he is able to keep that which we have committed to him against that day." 2 Tim. t. 12. For though none of these things are visible to our mortal eyes, yet having evidence that God hath said them, we are satisfied. We would as soon trust God's word as our own eyes. Thus we walk, like Moses, as seeing him who is invisible, and thus answer to that description, "Whom having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory." 1 Pet. i. 8.

In all our applications to Christ, we have to rely merely upon the testimony of God. Here is a poor self condemned sinner comes pressing through the crowd of discouraging apprehensions, that he may touch the hem of the Redeemer's garment, so to speak, and be made whole. As he approaches, one set of thoughts suggests, How can so great a sinner hope for mercy? Is it not doubtful whether there be efficacy enough in the blood of Christ itself to pardon such heinous crimes? "I know my crimes are heinous beyond expression," replies the burdened soul, "and I should doubtless give up my case as desperate, but that I have heard of him that he is able to save to.

I

the uttermost all them that come unto God by him.' Heb. viii. 25. I will go, therefore; who can tell ?" As he goes, other objections assail him, questioning whether Christ can find in his heart to accept of such a one? "I should think not, indeed," rejoins the poor man, "but he hath said, Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. I know, were I to consult nothing but my feelings, and only to fix my eyes on the enormity of my sins, I should utterly despair; but encouraged by HIS WORD, will go forward. I will walk by faith, not by sight. O hear him say, 'Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and ye shall find rest unto your souls!' This, this is what I want! Depart from me, all ye that vex my soul, I will go in the strength of the Lord God!" 3. We have to give up many present enjoyments for Christ's sake, wherein we have no visible prospect of recompense, none of any kind but what arises from the promise of God. Selfdenial is one of the initial laws of Christ's kingdom. Far from enticing people into his service by promises of wealth, ease, and honour, he set out with this public declaration, "Whosoever will be my disciple, must deny himself, take

up his cross, and follow me." Matt., xvi. 24. But who would enter upon these terms? who would give up houses, lands, friends, and reputation, and expose himself to hardships, persecution, and death, for nothing? Yet many followed him, and that to the day of their death; yea, and upon these very terms too: they LEFT ALL AND FOLLOWED HIM. What then induced them? Did not they act irrationally? Prophets, apostles, and martyrs! what mean ye? have ye no regard for yourselves? what! are you destitute of the feelings of men? "No such thingwe have respect unto the recompense of reward." Reward! -what can that be? Nothing surely below the sun, unless it were every thing the reverse of what is agreeable to human nature! "True; but our Lord has declared, 'Whosoever shall forsake houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and inherit everlasting life.' Matt. xix. 29. We rely upon this, and this supports us."

God's friends, in all ages, have forsaken sensible for invisible enjoyments. Encouraged by considerations like

these, Ruth forsook her father and her mother, and the land of her nativity, and came to a people whom she knew not. It was this that determined her to go forward, when, as Naomi told her, there were no earthly prospects before her. It was this that made her resolve not to go back with Orpah, but to cast in her lot with the friends of the God of Israel. "The Lord recompense thy work," said Boaz to her afterward, "and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust!" Ruth, ii. 11, 12.

The same things influenced Moses, it seems, to refuse a crown. It has been thought, that, in virtue of his adoption, he might have been king of Egypt; but that throne not only, like other thrones, exposed him that sat thereon to numberless snares, but probably was inaccessible to any but those who would continue the system of idolatry nd oppression. In that case, for Moses to have been king of Egypt must have been to have sacrificed a good conscience, despised a crown of glory, that fadeth not away, and united in persecuting his own, and the Lord's people. Moses seems fully to have weighed this matter. The result was, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming even the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." He freely, therefore, leaves the life of a courtier; avows himself the friend of the poor despised captives; and dares to retire into Midian to live the life of an obscure shepherd. I say he dared to retire; for it required a greater degree of fortitude thus to deny himself, than to stand in the front of the hottest battle. But by faith he forsook Egypt, and went and lived a stranger in a strange land, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible-yes, "he had respect unto the recompense of reward." Heb. xi. 24-27.

Through faith the holy tribes of martyrs, in all ages, loved not their lives unto death. By faith in invisible realities, as the apostle to the Hebrews largely proves, they bore all manner of cruelties, not accepting deliverance itself upon dishonourable conditions; suffered all kinds of deaths with unremitting fortitude, and, in some sort, like their glorious Leader, triumphed over principalities and powers when they fell.

Indeed every man in the world may be said to walk either by faith, or by sight. There is not only a giving up sensible for invisible enjoyments by actually parting with them, but by not setting our hearts upon them as our chief good. This may be done where there is no call actually to give them up, and is done by all real Christians in the world. Men whose chief good consists in the profits, pleasures, or honours of this life, live by sight: they derive their life from objects before their eyes, having neitheir patience nor inclination to wait for a portion in the world to come. But good men, as well the rich as the poor, derive their life from above, and so live by faith: their "life is hid with Christ in God." Col. iii. 3.

Perhaps here, as much as any where, is required the peculiar exercise of faith. For one actually divested of earthly good to look upward, and set his heart on things above, is faith; but for one still possessed of this, one on whom Providence smiles, prospering him in all re sets his hand to, blessing him with wife and children, houses and lands in abundance; for him to exercise such a degree of indifference to all these, as to derive his chief happiness from invisible realities, this is faith indeed! This seems to have been exemplified in Abraham, and others of the patriarchs. Of him it is said, "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country." Heb. xi. 9, 10, 13, 14, 16. How is this? We do not wonder, when he and Sarah went into Egypt on account of a famine, that he should consider himself a sojourner there; (Gen. xii. 11.) but how is it that he should do so in Canaan, the land of promise, his own estate as it were? The next verse informs us, "for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."-So Jacob, when before Pharaoh, called his whole life a pilgrimage, (Gen. xlvii. 9.) though the far greater part of it was spent in the land of promise; and "they that say such things," adds the apostle, "declare plainly that they seek a country." Though God had given them the good land, they would not make it their chief good. They could not be contented with this Canaan, but longed for another. Noble souls! bid them lift up their eyes eastward, and westward, and northward, and southward, and tell them, all they can see is their own; still they will not live by sight,

but by faith: they will "desire a better country, that is, a heavenly."

4. Our hope of a better state when this is over, is built on faith in God's testimony. We have no sort of evidence but this, that any such state exists. We cannot see any thing of the kind, nor aught from which we can infer it. We cannot learn it from any of our senses. Reason itself could never have found it out. Reason might have taught us the idea of a future state, but not of a future state of bliss. Though much might be argued from the fitness of things, to prove that man is not made barely for the present life, yet nothing could be drawn from thence to prove that rebels against the Supreme Being should live in a state of eternal felicity :-no; for this we are wholly in-. debted to the "word of the promise." Hence faith is said to be "the substance," ground, or foundation "of things hoped for." Heb. xi. 1. Affording us not only a firm persuasion of their reality, but a kind of present possession of them. Influenced by this, we become dead to the present world, and so, in a sort, overcome it; and at length "sit down with Christ in his throne, as he also hath overcome, and is set down with his Father in his throne." Rev. iii. 21.

We will now add a few words on the IMPORTANCE of such a life. If, all things considered, it would have been best for us to have always seen our way before us, to have been guided, so to speak, with our own eyes, and not to have implicitly followed the directions of God, no doubt so it would have been. But he who perfectly, and at once, saw the beginning and end of all things, judged otherwise. With the highest wisdom, no doubt, he formed the resolution, "The just shall live by faith." It may be impossible for us, in the present state, to find out all the reasons for this resolution, but two or three seem to present themselves to view.

1. Such a life brings great glory to God. Confidence is universally a medium of honour. To confide in a fellow creature, puts honour upon him in the account of others, and affords a pleasure to himself, especially if he be a wise and upright character; as it gives him an opportunity of proving his wisdom and fidelity. Though the great God cannot be made more honourable than he is, by any thing