natural as of revealed religion. It is a self evident truth that the sinner can not be saved except he repents. Without repentance God can not forgive him, and if he could and should, such forgiveness could not save him, for, in his sins, salvation is naturally impossible to him. Without just that change which has been described, and which the bible calls repentance, and which it makes a condition of pardon and salvation, it is plainly naturally and governmentally impossible for any sinner to be saved.

7. Repentance is naturally necessary to peace of mind in this life. Until the sinner repents he is at war with himself and at war with God. There is a mutiny and a struggle and a controversy going on within him. His conscience will not be satisfied. Though cast down from the throne of government and trampled under foot, it will mutter and sometimes thunder its remonstrances and rebukes; and although it has not the power to control the will, still it will assert the right to control. Thus there is war within the breast of the sinner himself, and until he repents he carries the elements of hell within him; and sooner or later they will take fire and burst upon his soul in a universal and eternal conflagration.

t

VI.

VII.

WHAT IS IMPLIED IN UBELIEF.

CONDITIONS OF BOTH FAITH AND UNBELIEF.

VIII. THE GUILT OF UNBELIEF.

IX.

NATURAL AND GOVERNMENTAL RESULTS OF EACH.

I. WHAT EVANGELICAL FAITH IS NOT.

1. The term faith, like most other words, has diverse sig nifications, and is manifestly used in the Bible sometimes to designate a state of the intelligence, in which cases it means an undoubting persuasion, a firm conviction, an unhesitating intellectual assent. This, however, is not its evangelical sense. Evangelical faith cannot be a phenomenon of the intelligence, for the plain reason that when used in an evangelical sense, it is always regarded as a virtue. But virtue can not be predicated of intellectual states, because these are involuntary or passive states of mind. Faith is a condition of salvation. It is something which we are commanded to do upon pain of eternal death. But if it be something to be done-a solemn duty, it can not be a merely passive state, a mere intellectual conviction. The Bible distinguishes between intellectual and saving faith. There is a faith of devils, and there is a faith of saints. James clearly distinguishes between them, and also between an antinomian and a saving faith. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when

he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."-James ii: 17-26. The distinction is here clearly marked, as it is elsewhere in the Bible, between intellectual and saving faith.

One produces good works or a holy life; the other is unproductive. This shows that one is a phenomenon of the intellect merely and does not of course control the conduct. The other must be a phenomenon of the will because it manifests itself in the outward life. Evangelical faith then is not a conviction, a perception of truth. It does not belong to the intelligence.

2. It is not a feeling of any kind; that is, it does not belong to and is not a phenomenon of the sensibility. The phenomena of the sensibility are passive states of mind and therefore have no moral character in themselves. Faith, regarded as a virtue, can not consist in any involuntary state of mind whatever. It is represented in the Bible as an active and most efficient state of mind. It works and "works by love." It produces "the obedience of faith." Christians are said to be sanctified by the faith that is in Christ.

Indeed the Bible in a great variety of instances and ways represents faith in God and in Christ as a cardinal form of virtue and as the mainspring of an outwardly holy life. Hence it can not consist in any involuntary state or exercise of mind whatever.

II. WHAT EVANGELICAL FAITH IS.

1. Since the Bible uniformly represents saving or evangelical faith as a virtue, we know that it must be a phenomenon of will. It must consist too in something more than a mere executive volition, as distinguished from choice or intention. It is an efficient state of mind, and therefore it must consist in the heart or will's embracing the truth. It is the will's closing in with the truths of the gospel. It is the soul's act of yielding itself up or committing itself to the

truths of the evangelical system. It is a trusting in Christ, a committing the soul and the whole being to him in his various offices and relations to men. It is a confiding in him and in what is revealed of him in his word and providence, and by his Spirit.

The same word that is so often rendered faith in the New Testament is also rendered commit; as in John ii: 24"But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men." Luke xvi: 11-"If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?" In these passages the word rendered commit is the same word as that which is rendered faith. It is a confiding in God and in Christ as revealed in the Bible and in reason. It is a receiving of the testimony of God concerning Himself and concerning all things of which he has spoken. It is a receiving of Christ for just what he is represented to be in his gospel and an unqualified surrender of the will and of the whole being to Him.

III. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN EVANGELICAL FAITH.

1. It implies an intellectual perception of the things, facts and truths believed. No one can believe that which he does not understand. It is impossible to believe that which is not so revealed to the mind that the mind understands it. It has been erroneously assumed that faith did not need light, that is, that it is not essential to faith that we understand the doctrines or facts that we are called on to believe. This is a false assumption; for how can we believe, trust, confide in what we do not understand? I must first understand what a proposition, a fact, a doctrine or a thing is, before I can say whether I believe or whether I ought to believe or not. Should you state a proposition to me in an unknown tongue and ask me if I believe it, I must reply I do not, for I do not understand the terms of the proposition. Perhaps I should believe the truth expressed and perhaps I should not, I can not tell until I understand the proposition. Any fact or doctrine not understood is like a proposition in an unknown tongue: it is impossible that the mind should receive or reject it, should believe or disbelieve it, until it is understood. We can receive or believe a truth or fact or doctrine no farther than we understand it. So far as we do understand it, so far me may believe it, although we may not understand all about it. For example: I can believe in both the proper divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ. That he is both God and

man is a fact that I can understand. Thus far I can believe. But how his divinity and humanity are united I can not understand. Therefore, I only believe the fact that they are united; the quo modo of their union I know nothing about and I believe no more than I know. So I can understand that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God. That the Father is God, that the Son is God, that the Holy Spirit is God, that these three, are Divine persons, I can understand as a fact, that each possesses all Divine perfection. I can also understand that there is no contradiction or impossibility in the declared fact that these three are one in their substratum of being; that is, that they are one in a different sense from that in which they are three; that they are three in one sense and one in another. I understand that this may be a fact and therefore I can believe it. But the quo modo of their union I neither understand nor believe. That is, I have no theory, no idea, no data on the subject, have no opinion and consequently no faith as to the manner in which they are united. That they are three, is as plainly taught upon the face of inspiration as that Peter, James and John were three. That each of the three is God is as plainly revealed as that Peter, James and John were men. These are revealed facts, and facts that any one can understand. That these three are one God, is also a revealed fact. The quo modo of this fact is not revealed, I can not understand it, and have no belief as to the manner of this union. That they are one God is a fact that reason can neither affirm nor deny. The fact can be understood although the how is unintelligible to us in our present state. It is not a contradiction because they are not revealed as being one and three in the same sense, nor in any sense that reason can pronounce to be impossible. Faith, then, in any fact or doctrine implies that the intellect has an idea or that the soul has an understanding, an opinion of that which the heart embraces or believes.

2. Evangelical faith implies the appropriation of the truths of the gospel to ourselves. It implies an acceptance of Christ as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. The soul that truly believes, believes that Christ tasted death for every man and of course for it. It apprehends Christ as the Savior of the world, as offered to all, and embraces and receives him for itself. It appropriates his atonement and his resurrection and his intercession and his promises to itself. Christ is thus presented in the gospel, not only as the Savior of the world, but also to the individual