got faith, and you own it; and I wish you would come and dispute me out of all my unbelief and doubts, for I have many in me. Though I do not, blessed be God! doubt of the eternal salvation of my soul, yet I doubt many things; therefore you must dispute me out of these, or rank me with the infidels.

"Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." Hence it appears that there are some who are weak in faith; and, if weak, faith cannot be either great or strong in them. Yet they are to be received into our affections, and into church-fellowship, as partakers of the grace of God, though weak in faith. Some stagger at the promise, and others lay hold of Christ with a trembling hand; believing in his ability, as the poor leper did, but stagger at his willingness; their hearts fail and misgive them; they are children tossed to and fro; they are children in understanding; they speak as children, think as children, and understand as children: but these are to be received, but not to doubtful disputations; not to hear vain disputes, that leave every thing doubtful, but settle nothing; nor are they to be disputed out of their faith, because they are weak; and harrassed with many doubts, such as, whether they are right or wrong; whether this is lawful, or that; whether they shall hold out, or fall short; whether their faith be genuine, or feigned; whether their sensations are of God, or whether it is not all a delusion. These things do

at times attend the weak believer, more or less; yet he is to be received, "for God hath received him," Rom. xiv. 3.

I think it may be proved, that faith and doubts have been found in a child of God at one and the same time. Peter discovered it when he walked on the sea: "And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus, But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and, beginning to sink, he cried saying, Lord, save me! And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Jesus Christ, who is a better judge of the heart than we are, allowed Peter to have faith, though at that time he was one of little faith, and did doubt. Yet we see that Little Faith can cry for help, though he cannot weather a storm; if he cannot keep himself from sinking, he will pray to him that can; and prevail too; for Jesus stretched forth his hand immediately, and caught him, as soon as the voice of Little Faith was heard.

There is as great a disproportion between great and little faith, as there is between an infant in its go-cart and a giant in armour: and, if we bend our ministry against the feeble of the household, we shall act like Amalek when he pursued the children of Israel; who, not being able to overtake the van, cut off all the rear: he smote all that were feeble, faint, and weary; and he feared not God, Deut. xxv, 18. Christ will not break the

bruised reed, nor will he allow us to bruise the heel of his mystical body without resenting it. The Lord pays peculiar attention to the little ones: "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea," Matth. xviii. 6. "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones;" for "it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."

And pray, why were these young disciples called little ones? I suppose, because they were young in grace, children in understanding, and some of them were men of little faith. Sometimes they thought they should not be either fed or clothed, unless they were burdened with cares for the morrow. To which inward workings of their mind the Saviour replies, "If God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on;""neither be ye of a doubtful mind," Luke xii. 29; Matt. vi. 25, 30.

It appears to me that there is a difference, and a proper distinction should be made between faith

and the full assurance of faith. For although full assurance and doubts do not stand together with respect to a believer's interest in Christ, yet it is clear that faith and doubts have often appeared together; as it is written, "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And, when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted." These eleven were all disciples, and they were all believers in Jesus, and they worshipped him; but some doubted.

Peter was not void of doubt about the vision that appeared to him; the voice that came to him, saying, "Arise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord." And while he doubted in himself what this vision should mean, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise, therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them." Manoah was not void of doubt, when he said unto his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." But the faith of his wife put his doubts to flight, saying, "If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands; neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these," Judges xiii. 22, 23. When the Saviour testified to the twelve that one of them should betray him, they, knowing the hypocrisy of the human heart, "looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake."

In short, if believers were clear from the sin of infidelity, we should not find so many reproofs and rebukes left upon record as we do; all which have been given to the faithful for that sin of unbelief; nor would they have been chastened for it, as many of them have been; especially Zacharias, who, upon hearing that his prayer was answered, that his wife should bear a son, and that he should be a prophet, and the Lord's forerunner, required a sign, and was struck dumb nine months for his unbelief, and doubting the truth of the angel's message, which was fulfilled in its season. If our favourite apostle had found no unbelief nor doubts among the saints in his days, he would not have cautioned them against it: "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."

Where there is unbelief, there is doubting, they always go together; and who can say, I have made my heart clean, with respect to unbelief; I am pure from the sin of doubting? And, if they are not free from unbelief, they are not free from doubts; for although they may have the fullest assurance of their eternal salvation, yet they doubt about many things. The father of the faithful was hardly free from doubts when he denied his wife in Egypt, and said, They will kill me for thy sake. "Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee," Gen. xii. 12, 13.

Though the gospel came to the Thessalonians