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stood rapt in astonishment at beholding their beloved Master disappear: "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven," Acts i. 11. The disposition of Thomas's mind, therefore, was going hence forth, to become universally fatal. Every one who should say with him, "except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe," must die and perish in unbelief. There was to be, henceforward, no other way but this, of believing without having seen, no other means of arriving at a participation in the felicity of believers: "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

3. Finally, the notion which we have given tion, was going, henceforward, to cease. Je of faith, distinguishes it from that of the super-sus Christ was shortly to leave the world: a stitious. To believe, in the view of doing cloud was soon to receive him out of the sight honour to religion, a doctrine weakly proved, of the inhabitants of this earth: "The heavens whatever may be the origin of that doctrine, must now receive him, until the times of the is to have a superstitious faith. Under this restitution of all things," Acts iii. 21 The description may be ranked what has been de-angels had declared to the apostles, as they nominated "faith extorted by tyranny, and faith generated in the brain of the enthusiast." But we have, under this particular, a different kind of superstition in view. To believe a truth completely proved, but without having examined the proofs which support it, is to have the faith of superstition. A truth of which I perceive not the proofs, is no truth with respect to me. What renders my disposition of soul acceptable in the sight of God, when I receive what he is pleased to reveal to me, is my reception of it as an intelligent being, after having weighed the motives which induced me to give it welcome; after having discovered, on putting them in the balance with the opposite motives, that the first had greatly the preponderancy over the others. But to believe a truth with precipitation, to believe it without knowledge, is mere superstition. If it should determine you to declare yourself on the side of truth, must be entirely by chance, and, which may, to-morrow, plunge you into error, as it induces you, to-day, to embrace the truth. Obscure faith, then, is not a persuasion unsupported by proof, it is, in truth, destitute of the proofs which constitute the evidence of object; but not of those which constitute the evidence of testimony, as was from the beginning affirmed, and which it was necessary oftener than once to repeat.

SERMON LXXIV.

OBSCURE FAITH;

OR,

This commentary contains much good sense. It does not, however, seem to me to have exhausted the whole meaning of Jesus Christ. God is supremely good: nothing appeared to him too dear for the salvation of the human race: he has made choice of means the best adapted to the execution of this great work. If he has made choice of means the best adapted to the salvation of the human race, he has likewise made choice of the properest method of enabling us to avail ourselves of the ap pointed means, and that method is obscure faith. Why so? This is the point which we must attempt to elucidate: and some time ago, you will please to recollect, we undertook this task. For when that difficulty was urged against us, which unbelievers make the subject of their triumph, "Wherefore did not Jesus Christ show himself alive after his passion, to his judges, to his executioners?" We made

THE BLESSEDNESS OF BELIEVING, this reply, that the gift of working miracles

WITHOUT HAVING SEEN.

PART II.

JOHN XX. 29.

Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

WE have endeavoured to explain the nature of obscure faith: and now proceed, as was proposed,

bestowed on the apostles, and on the first Christians, constituted a proof more irresistible of his resurrection, than if he had shown himself then, nay, than if he were still to show himself risen at this day.

It might be retorted upon us, "That these two proofs, that of miracles performed by his disciples, and that of his personal manifestation, were not incompatible with each other Jesus Christ might first have shown himself alive after his resurrection; here would have II. To point out the excellency of this ob- been one kind of proof: he might afterward, scure faith. After having attempted to unfold upon his ascension, have sent the Holy Spirit the ambiguity of the expression in my text, to his apostles; this would have constituted a "to believe without having seen," we must second kind of proof. These two kinds of endeavour to evince the truth of it, by demon-proof united, would have placed the truth of strating this proposition, announced by our blessed Lord," Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed."

These words admit of a very simple, and very natural commentary, which we shall first produce, in order to explain them. The point in question is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: Thomas is to be convinced of the certainty of it, by nothing short of the testimony of his own eyes: this mode of producing convicVOL. II.-23

his resurrection far beyond the reach of all suspicion. Wherefore did he not employ them? Wherefore did he not give to a truth of his religion so interesting, and of such capital importance, every species of proof of which it is susceptible?" To this we still reply, that obscure faith was a method far more proper to conduct us to salvation than a clear faith, founded on the testimony of the senses, or on the personal discoveries of the believer him

self: "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

A principle which we have, on other occasions, laid down, will justify this reply. God has placed us in this world, as in a place of probation and sacrifice. It is his will that the manner in which we correspond to this view of his Providence, should determine our everlasting destiny. Let us try clearly to explain this principle, before we apply it to the subject in hand.

In strictness of speech, God will not proportion the celestial felicity, which he reserves for us, to the exertions which we make to attain it. Did God observe the rules of an exact distribution in this respect, there is not a single person in the world, who durst flatter himself with being a partaker in that felicity: because there is no one, I speak of even the greatest saints, who does all that he ought, and all that he might do, towards the attainment of it. Much more, supposing us to have done all that we could, and all that we ought to do, to be admitted to a participation in this blessedness, our utmost efforts never could bear any proportion to it. We must still say of every thing we undertake in order to salvation, what St. Paul says of the most cruel sufferings of the martyrs: "They are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us," Rom. viii. 18. The most extravagant thought, accordingly, that ever could find its way into the mind of man, is that of the persons who maintain the possibility of meriting heaven by their good works, nay, the possibility of a man's meriting the kingdom of heaven for others, after having earned it for himself.

But though there is not a proportion of rigorous justice, between the heavenly felicity, and the efforts which we make to attain it, there is a proportion of equity and of establishment. Permit me to explain what I mean by these words: God will not save mankind unless they exert themselves to obtain salvation. Had it been his will to extend indiscriminating favour, he had only to open, without reservation, the path to heaven; he had only to exert the supreme power, which he possesses over our souls, to infuse into them virtue and illumination, and to put us in possession of a felicity already completely acquired, without subjecting us to the necessity of employing indefatigable and unintermitting efforts, in order to our acquiring it. But his views respecting man are altogether different from this. Hence it is that he is pleased to represent the life of a Christian, as a narrow path, in which he must walk; as a race which he must run; as a task which he must perform; as a warfare which he has to accomplish. For this reason it is, that salvation is represented to us, as a victory to be won, as a prize to be gained, as a kingdom which can be taken only by the violent. God, then, has placed us in this world, as in a place of probation and sacrifice: it is his sovereign good pleasure, that the manner in which we correspond to his gracious views, shall decide our everlasting destination.

Let us apply this principle to the subject under discussion; to that obscure faith, which discerns, in the darkness of the past, those

facts on which the great truths of religion rest, as the building on its foundation; to that obscure faith, which penetrates into the darkness of futurity, there to discover the blessedness which religion proposes to us as the object of hope.

1. Let us apply the principle laid down, to that obscure faith, which discerns, in the darkness of the past, those facts on which the great truths of religion rest. There is more difficulty in attaining a discernment of the truth through the darkness of the past, than in beholding the object with a man's own eyes. It is admitted. Had Jesus Christ appeared alive to his judges and executioners, after his resurrection: were he to appear to us, at this day, as risen from the dead, we should have much less difficulty in believing the certainty of an event on which the whole Christian religion hinges. It is admitted. There would be no occasion, in order to attain the conviction of it, to employ extensive reading, to consult doctors, to surmount the trouble of profound meditation, to suspend pleasure, to interrupt business. It is admitted. But the very thing which constitutes your objection furnishes me with a reply. The trouble which you must take, before you can acquire conviction of the resurrection of the Saviour of the world, the extensive reading that is necessary, the consultation of learned men, those efforts of profound meditation which you must employ, that sus pension of your pleasures, that interruption of your worldly business-all, all enter into the plan of your salvation: it is the will of God that you should exert yourselves diligently for the attainment of it.

Let us suppose the case of two Christians: the first shall be St. Thomas; the second a Christian of our own days. Let us suppose both the two equally convinced of the resurrection of the Saviour of the world; but acquiring their conviction in two different ways: Thomas convinced by the testimony of his senses; the modern Christian, by the attentive examination of the proofs which establish the truth of it: Whether of these two Christians, according to your judgment, expresses the greater love of the truth? Whether of these two Christians makes the greatest sacrifice in order to arrive at the knowledge of it? The one has only to open his eyes, the other must enter on a course of deep and serious reflection. The one has only to reach forth his hand, to touch the print of the wounds of Jesus Christ; the other must exert all the powers of his mind, in sifting the proofs, on which the doctrine is established. The one expects that the Saviour should present himself to him, and say, "Be not faithless but believing," John xx. 27. The other goes forth seeking after the Lord Jesus, through the darkness in which he is pleased to involve himself. Is it not evident that this last expresses incomparably greater love for the truth, and offers up to it greater sacrifices than the first? This last, then corresponds better to the idea of probation and sacrifice, to which we are called, during the time which, by the will of God, we are destined to pass in this world. Blessed therefore, with respect to the obscurity of the past, "blessed is he who has not seen, and yet has believed."

2. The same principle is applicable to what concerns the night of futurity. It would require but feeble efforts, and would exhibit no mighty sacrifice, for a man to deny himself the delights of a present life, if the joys of the paradise of God were disclosed to his eyes.

But how great is the magnanimity of the Christian, bow wonderful the fortitude of the martyr, and, in propriety of speech, all Christians are martyrs, who, resting on the promises of God alone, immolates to the desire of possessing a future and heavenly felicity, all that is dear and valuable to him upon the earth? The present, usually, makes the most powerful impression on the mind of man. An object, in proportion as it becomes exceedingly remote, in some measure loses its reality with respect to us. The impression made upon the mind by sensible things engrosses almost its whole capacity, and leaves little, if any portion, of its attention, for the contemplation of abstract truths. Farther, when abstract meditations dwell on well known objects, they possibly may fix attention, but when they turn on objects of which we have no distinct idea, they are little calculated to arrest and impress.

A Christian, a man actuated by that obscure faith, whose excellency we are endeavouring to unfold, surmounts all these difficulties. I see neither the God who has given me the promises of an eternal felicity: nor that eternal felicity which he has promised me. This God conceals himself from my view. I must go from principle to principle, and from one conclusion to another, in order to attain full assurance that he is. I find still much greater difficulty in acquiring the knowledge of what he is, than in rising up to a persuasion of his existence. The very idea of an infinite Being confounds and overwhelms me. If I have only a very imperfect idea of the God who has promised me eternal felicity, I know still less wherein that felicity consists.

I am told of a "spiritual body," 1 Cor. xv. 44: a body glorious, incorruptible: I am told of unknown faculties; of an unknown state; of an unknown economy: I am told of "new heavens and a new earth;" I am promised the society of certain spirits, with whom I have never enjoyed any kind of intercourse; I am told of a place entirely different from that which I now inhabit: and when I would represent to myself that felicity under ideas of the pleasures of sense, under ideas of worldly magnificence, I am told that this felicity has no resemblance to any of these things. Nevertheless, on the word of this God, of whom I have a knowledge, so very imperfect, but whose existence and perfections are so certain, I am ready to sacrifice every thing, for a felicity of which I have a still more imperfect knowledge than I have of the God who has promised it to me.

tion, obey: I will depart, without delay, for the land which he shall please to show me.

Nothing can be more delightful to me, than the possession of an only and beloved son: nothing appears to me so dreadful, as separation from a person so dear to me; but, above all, there is nothing which inspires so much horror, as the thought of plunging, with my own hand, the dagger into his bowels. Nervertheless, when it shall please God to say to me, "Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, and offer him for a burnt-offering, upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of," Gen. xxii. 2, I will take that son, that object of my tenderest affection, that centre of my desires, and of my complacency; I will bind him; I will stretch him out upon the pile; I will lift up my arm to pierce his side, persuaded that the favour of God is a blessing, beyond all comparison, more precious than the possession of even that beloved portion of myself.

There is nothing capable of more agreeably flattering my ambition and self love, than to talk with authority; than to govern a whole world with despotic sway: than to rule over the nations, which look up to their sovereigns as to so many divinities; nevertheless, were a competition to be established between a throne, a crown, and the blessedness of the heavenly world, I would "esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt:" I would "choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," Heb. xi. 25.

There is nothing to which my nature is more reluctant, than the suffering of violent pain. The idea of the rack, of being burnt at a stake, makes me shudder. I am convulsed all over at sight of a fellow-creature exposed to torture of this kind. What would it be, were I myself called to endure them? Nevertheless, the lofty ideas I have conceived of a felicity which I have not seen, will elevate even me, above the feelings of sense and nature: I will mount a scaffold; I will extend myself upon the pile which is to reduce me to ashes: I will surrender my body to the executioners to be mangled; and amidst all these torments, I will still cry out with triumph, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us," Rom. viii. 18, "for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," 2 Cor. iv. 17. "Blessed be the Lord, my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight," Ps. cxliv. 1.

I ask, my brethren, does not a man in such circumstances, correspond incomparably better to the idea of probation and sacrifice, than the person who should behold with his own eyes, the eternal recompense of reward which God There is nothing more delightful to me, than has prepared for his children? The proposition to live in the bosom of my country and kin- of our blessed Lord, therefore, is verified with dred: my native air has in it something conge- regard to periods still future, as with regard to nial to my constitution; nevertheless, were periods already past. The vocation of the God to call me as he did Abraham: were he Christian, then, is to pierce through all those to say to me in the words which he addressed clouds, in which God has been pleased to ento that patriarch; "Get thee out of thy coun- velop the religion of Jesus Christ: the vocatry and from thy kindred, and from thy father's tion of the Christian is to pierce through the house," Gen. xii. 1. I will, without hesita-obscurity of the past, and the obscurity of the

future; it is to make study to supply the want of experience, and hope the want of vision. The felicity of the Christian depends on the manner in which he corresponds to his high vocation: "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." This was the point to be demonstrated.

It highly concerns us, my brethren, to fulfil this twofold engagement, and thus to attain at length, supreme felicity, in the way which it has pleased God to trace for us. Let us,

1. Pierce through the obscurity of the past. Let us learn to make study supply the want of experience. Let us diligently apply ourselves to acquire the knowledge of our religion, by seeking after assurance of the truth of those facts, on which it is established. Of these, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the chief: for "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain,

ye are yet in your sins," 1 Cor. xv. 14. 17. But thanks be to God, this fact, of such capital importance, is supported by proofs which it is impossible for any reasonable man to resist. But requires a considerable degree of attention, of serious recollection, to study these with advantage. To this study there must, of necessity, be sacrificed some worldly employment, some party of pleasure: a man must sometimes retire into his closet, and get the better of that languor which deep thought, and close reading naturally produce. But, O how nobly is he rewarded for all his labour, by the copious harvest which it yields! What delight in discovering that God has proportioned the weight of the proofs by which his religion is supported, to the importance of each of its parts! What consolation to see that this truth, "Jesus Christ is risen," this truth which gives us the assurance that God has accepted the sacrifice of his Son, that the work of our salvation is accomplished, that access to the throne of grace is opened to us, that the disorders introduced by sin are repaired! What consolation to see that a truth of such high importance is so completely ascertained, and that so many presumptions, so many proofs, so many demonstrations concur in establishing it!

What satisfaction is it, thus to transport our selves, in thought, into the apostolic ages, there to contemplate the wonders of redemption! For this is the effect which study produces, of those exquisitely conclusive and irresistible proofs which demonstrate the truth of this great event: it transports us into the apostolic ages; it enables us to behold with the mind's eye what we cannot behold with the eyes of the body. After having thus torn up incredulity by the roots, with what an ecstacy of holy delight may the Christian approach the table of the Lord, with full conviction of soul, and say to him with Thomas: "My Lord and my God." The heart-affecting persuasion I have of what thy love has done for me, elevates, penetrates, overwhelms me. It will render easy to me the most painful proofs which it may please thee to prescribe to my gratitude. "My Lord and my God, my Lord and my God, I regret all the time I have devoted to the world and its pleasures: henceforward I will think of thee, and thee only: I will live to

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thee, and thee only. Accept the dedication which I now make. Bear with the weakness in which it made: approve the sincerity with which I this day come to break off the remaining attachments which fetter me down to the world; and to bind closer those of my communion with thee, the only worthy object of love and desire."

How blessed shall we be, my beloved brethren, in thus penetrating through the obscurity of the past! "Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed."

2. But let us likewise penetrate through the darkness of futurity. Let hope supply to us the want of possession. How shall it, henceforward, be possible for us to entertain suspicion against the faithfulness of God's promises? Behold on that table what God is capable of doing in our behalf. Behold by what miracles of love-O miracles of the love of God, we want language to express thee, as we want ideas to conceive thee! but behold on that table, behold by what miracles of love he has prevailed to make us the rich present of his own Son, to expose him, for our sakes, to all that series of suffering which has been the subject of our meditation during the weeks which commemorate the passion.

Is it possible for us to believe that a God so gracious and so compassionate could have created us to render us for ever miserable? Is it possible to believe that a God so great, and so munificent should limit his bounty towards us, to the good things granted us here below, to that air which we breathe, to the light which illuminates this world, to the aliments which sustain these bodies? Nay, is it possible for us to believe that he should permit us to remain long in this world, exposed to so many public and private calamities; to war, to famine, to mortality, to the pestilence, to sickness, to death? Away with suspicions so injurious to the goodness of our God. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Rom. viii. 32. Let us indulge ourselves in feasting on the deliciousness of this hope: let us not destroy the relish of it, by wallowing in the pleasures of sense: let us habituate ourselves to pursue happiness in a conviction of the felicity prepared for us in another world.

This hope, it is true, replenished as it is with such unspeakable sweetness, is not without a mixture of bitterness. It is a hard thing to be enabled to form such transporting ideas of a felicity placed still so far beyond our reach. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick," Prov. xiii. 12. But we shall not be suffered to languish long. "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry," Heb. x. 37. Yet a few short moments more, and our great deliverer, Death, will come to our relief. Let us not stand aghast at his approach. It is not becoming in Christians, who cannot attain the perfection of happiness till after death, to be still afraid of dying. Let us, on the contrary, anticipate the hour of death, by the exercise of a holy ardour and zeal. Let us look for it with submissive impatience: " Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better," Phil. i. 23, than

any thing we can possibly enjoy in this valley | wish you attentively to listen to the declaraof tears. "He who testifieth these things, saith, tion made by the apostle, in the words of my surely I come quickly:" let us cry out, in re- text. They stand in connexion with the last turn, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus," verses of the preceding chapter. St. Paul had Rev. xxii. 20. Come, Redeemer of my soul: advanced, not only that God bestows on every I adore thee amidst the clouds in which thou believer, the same privileges in substance, concealest thyself: but vouchsafe to scatter which he had vouchsafed to saints of the first them. After I have enjoyed the felicity of be- order, but that he actually works in them the lieving, without having seen, let me likewise same wonders which he operated in Jesus have the felicity of seeing and believing. Let Christ when he restored to him that life which me see with my eyes him whom my soul lov- he had laid down for the salvation of mankind, eth: let me contemplate that sacred side, from and when, amidst the acclamations of the church whence issue so many streams of life for the triumphant, he received him into paradise. wretched posterity of Adam: let me admire that sacred body which is the redemption of a lost world: let me embrace that Jesus who gave himself for me; and let me behold him, never, never to lose sight of him more." God, of his infinite mercy, grant us all this grace. To him be glory for ever. Amen.

SERMON LXXV.

THE BELIEVER EXALTED TOGETHER
WITH JESUS CHRIST.

PART I.

EPHESIANS ii. 4-6.

God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

In the text, our apostle expresses in detail, what he had before proposed in more general terms. He says, that as Jesus Christ, when dead, was restored to life, and raised from the tomb; in like manner we, who "were dead in trespasses and sins," have been "quickened," and "raised up," together with him: and that as Jesus Christ, when raised up from the dead, was received into heaven, and "seated on his Father's right hand," in like manner we, after our spiritual resurrection, are admitted to a participation of the same glory. Let us view these two texts in their connexion, in order to comprehend the full extent of the apostle's idea: God, as we read in the conclusion of the preceding chapter, the "God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, has displayed what is the greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power; which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, and put all things under his feet." And in the words of the text, "God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," Eph. ii. 4—6.

This proposition, I acknowledge, seems to present something hyperbolical, which it is not easy to reconcile to the strictness of truth: but the difficulties which prevent our comprehending it, do not so much affect the understanding as the heart. It would be much more intelli

ON studying the history of the lives of those eminent saints of God, whose memory Scripture has transmitted to us, we can with difficulty refrain from deploring the extreme difference which God has been pleased to make between their privileges and ours. Nay, we are sometimes disposed to flatter ourselves, that if these privileges had been equal, our attainments in virtue might have made a nearer approach to those which have rendered them so respectable in the church. Who would not surmount the difficulties of the most painful career, if he were to enjoy, like Moses, inti-gible, were the love of the creature less premate communications with Deity; if his eyes were strengthened to behold that awful majesty which God displayed on mount Sinai? Who could retain the slightest shadow of incredulity, and who would not be animated to carry the gospel of Christ to the uttermost boundaries of the globe, had he, like Thomas, seen the Lord Jesus after his resurrection; had Jesus Christ said to him, as he said to that apostle: "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands: and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless but believing," John xx. 27. Who could remain still swallowed up of the world, had he seen, with the three disciples, Jesus Christ transfigured on the holy mount; or had he been, with St. Paul, "caught up into the third heaven, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter?" 2 Cor. xii. 2. 4 I have no intention, my brethren, to inquire how far this conception may be illusory, and how far it may be founded in truth: but I

dominant in us, and did it less encroach upon the feelings necessary to our perception of a truth, which is almost altogether a truth of feeling. We should accordingly, have been cautious how we ventured to treat such a subject, at our ordinary seasons of devotion; but, on this day, we believe all things possible to your pious affections. We believe that there can be nothing too tender, nothing too highly superior to sense, on a solemnity, when it is to be presumed, that, with the apostles, you are "looking steadfastly towards heaven," after an ascending Saviour, that you are following him with heart and mind, and saying, "Draw us, Lord, we will run after thee."

*

Before we enter farther into our subject, there are a few advices which we would beg leave to suggest, which may predispose you more clearly to comprehend it.

1. Learn to distinguish the degrees of that

• Ascension Day.

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