they did rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Now we are certain that they could not rejoice merely because they were commanded to do so. A precept of this kind could not possibly enforce or elicit obedience to itself. The great use of the precept therefore is, that we may by it, as by a test, try whether our view of the Gospel is a right view, and whether our application to it is steady and constant. And this joy in the first Christians was not the result of a long process-they rejoiced as soon as they heard the Gospel, and continued rejoicing as long as they lived. Their joy, therefore, did not proceed from the observation of any moral improvement which had taken place in themselves; there was no time for that; but it proceeded from their perceiving, that the Gospel contained good news, perfectly adapted to persons in their circumstances of sin and sorrow. In short, it was an annunciation of pardon and favour from God to sinners, on account of a great work which preserved from all stain the Divine holiness, and which magnified the law and made it honourable. Whoever understands this, and believes it, must, in the nature of things, rejoice, unless the spring of the mind is clogged or deranged by the disease of the body. A condemned criminal must rejoice in a pardon, unless he thinks that death is no evil, and life no blessing. it is impossible that any one can think eternal misery no evil, or eternal happiness no blessing. And deliverance from the one, and an entrance into the other, are embraced in the announcement of the Gospel. "This is the testimony

But

that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son," 1 John. v. 11. A want of joy must then proceed from some defect in the view which we take of the Gospel, or from the unfrequency of our viewing it, and the admission of opposite impressions from other things. If we wish to see the reflection of an objeet in a mirror, the object must be present to the mirror; so if we wish to rejoice, we must have the joyful object present to our minds. An attempt to feel the joy of the Gospel when the testimony of the Gospel is not present to our minds, is like an attempt to have an object reflected in a mirror, without presenting them to each other.

We are commanded to love God with all our hearts, and to hate sin and flee from it. But it is not by the direct attempt to excite and work up in ourselves these affections, that we can ever hope, in the nature of things, to render an acceptable obedience to this precept. For who can love, by endeavouring to love; or hate, by endeavouring to hate? No: We are not left to such a thankless task. In the Gospel, a view of God is presented which allures the love of the heart, and calls forth its horror and indignation against whatever opposes His holy will. The law is written in our hearts by the belief of the Gospel. If our hearts really came in contact with the whole of the Gospel, the impression would be the whole of the law; and we may determine how much of the Gospel we are yet strangers to, by observing how much of the law is yet unwritten on our hearts. This is the true method of self-examination.

The distance which lay between the throne of the universe and the death of the cross, is the measure at once of the love of God, and of the danger and guilt of sin. If there is not an impression on our hearts of holy love to God and of abhorrence of sin, it is because we either have a wrong view of the work of Christ, or because we do not view it at all. Let then the discovery of our spiritual deficiency teach us to study the truth as it is in Jesus more attentively, and to cleave more closely to it. If we really lived in the faith of the Gospel, we would live in uninterrupted joy, and love, and obedi

ence.

Lét

We are standing on the brink of eternity; in a few days we shall be launched into it. us look over the precipice before we make the awful plunge. It is a dark and untried region. Do you see any light, or will you commit yourself to chance? Oh, in the midst of that obscurity, there shines bright Star, which, even whilst we gaze on it, sends its own blessed light into the heart, and expels thence all doubts and anxieties! The King of that country is he who died here for sinners. He loved us, and gave himself for us. And he hath gone to prepare a place for his people. If you belong to him, you are safe, and you may belong to him to-day.

-When he becomes your hope, you will have a joyful hope-a hope that maketh not ashamed. But till then, there is no hope for you. With him is the fountain of life, that is of happiness, and we deceive ourselves when we look for true happiness elsewhere. When our hearts

wander from him, they wander from life and joy. Abide in me, he says, and I will abide in you. What are all the promises which the world can make in comparison of this?

It may appear to some that I have given rather a complex view of faith. Some writers have thought that they simplified faith very much, by saying that it is a mere assent to the truth of Divine testimony. I consider it to be no more; but then is it not obvious that its simplicity or complexness depends entirely on the nature of the testimony to which the assent is given ? An assent cannot be given to any thing without receiving an impression corresponding to it in all respects; for the meaning of belief is just the impression made on the mind by the object presented to it. If the object be simple, the impression or belief will be simple; and if the object be complex the impression or belief will be complex also. Now as the Gospel addresses a variety of affections in the human mind, and manifests a variety of the Divine attributes, it cannot in one sense be called very simple; at the same time, as its meaning is level to the simplest capacity, that is to say, as the actions of which it gives the narration, do most unequivocally declare the principles from which they proceed; in this respect it may be. called simple. It may be added, that as faith is the same in itself, whatever be its object, it may therefore be called simple; though, when its object embraces a variety of subjects, it may in consequence of this, be called complex.

Sometimes the expression simple faith is used

to denote faith unaccompanied with strong feellings of hope and of joy, and such like sensations. This may respect certain parts of the truth which have the effect of producing an acknowledgment of the faithfulness and kindness of God, a conviction that his favour is the one thing needful, a renunciation of all other hopes, an expectation of deliverance, and a desire after God, while yet there is no joy, because other parts of the truth are not clearly discerned. Such a state of mind, in regard to the revelations made to David, is described in the 42d and 43d psalms. Even in such cases, however, there is a kind and degree of sensation produced in correspondence to what is really believed, so that the expression in question is scarcely correct. Faith in the Gospel will produce peace and joy in proportion to its strength, except when disease or constitutional tendencies prevent its natural operation: and when these fruits are wanting, we may consider the question as put, where is your faith? The human mind is easily shaken. Pain or weakness, sorrow or anxiety, temptation or remorse, may distract the mind, and mingle their dark impressions with the glory of the Gospel salvation. It may please God to permit a jarring nerve, or a morbid sensitiveness of frame, to mar Christian joy even to the grave. It is seldom, however, that this state of mind through the effect of natural causes, is altogether blameless. Has the Gospel remedy been steadily applied? Have self-indulgence and indolence been steadily resisted? When we apply the term simplicity to faith, we are gen