FAITH is a persuasion in the mind of the truth of God, whether It respects his word or works. "God shall persuade Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." It is a fruit of God's Spirit.

The faith of God's elect stands in the manifestations of God's holiness, truth, and justice, attended with divine light and the power of God's anger; such an one, is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are tile secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth," 1 Cor. xiv. 24. This is the man that God debases and humbles, who is wounded, made sore, and inwardly smarts for sin, and who trembles at God's word; to such God looks, and with such will he dwell.

2. Such a soul knows and feels himself in the hand of God, and that he is at God's disposal, and at the disposal of no other; and what God intends to do with him, whether to save him or destroy him, whether to make a public example of him or shew mercy on him, he knows not; but, as there is a powerful and perpetual cry in his heart for mercy, and now and then a word of encouragement applied to him, there is a peradventure and some expectation; and the sinner is as sensible of the power that hohls him, and that bears him up, as he is of the terrible majesty that makes him tremble. His faith, from first to last, "stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God," 1 Cor. ii. 5.

3. When the Spirit of God produces hope, and energy in prayer mcreases, and many scriptures descriptive of our case are presented to view, and some short intervals of godly sorrow are felt, the darts of Satan lose their force, and the reflections of divine anger often subside, till future deliverance through Christ appears no less at times than certain. "Fear not," says God, "I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." On this powerful arm faith rests. "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" God's arm and faith in the report go together.

4. When pardon takes place, faith receives the atonement of Christ and stands in it. "By the blood of thy covenant I have rent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." And nothing is more sure than this gaol delivery: "He that believes shall receive the forgiveness of sins." God purifies the heart by faith: and such hold the mystery of faith, which faith stands in a pure conscience, 1 Tim. iii. 9.

5. Faith stands in the blessing of God: "As many as are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." And God's blessing on Mount Zion is life for ever more: and" he that believeth is passed from death unto life ;" yea," he that believeth hath ever-lasting life."

6. Faith stands in the righteousness of Christ imputed: "To us it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised Christ from the dead. "Yea, this righteousness is to all and upon all that believe: and the sinner is assured of this. "Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength," Isa. xlv. 24.

7. The faith of God's elect stands in the witness of the Holy Ghost witnessing our adoption: "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus," and "he that believeth the Son of God, hath the witness in himself," 1 John, v. 10.

8. The faith of a saint stands and triumphs in the everlasting love of God, for faith works by love; and to this agrees the beloved disciple: "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him," 1 John, iv. 16.

9. Faith stands in the joy of the Spirit of God, and in the peace that Christ made by the blood of his cross. God fills us with joy and peace in believing.

10. Faith stands in Christ Jesus revealed in, and manifested to the soul "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, ae it is that loveth me; and he that 1oveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him," John, xiv. 21. The above commandments are his word, as he explains it: "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him," John, xiv. 23. Thus faith stands in the love of God made known, and in Jesus Christ manifested to the soul. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith," Eph. iii. 17.

11. Faith stands fast in the filial fear of God: which fear is peculiar to God's children, and which hath the goodness of God for its object; and it emboldens the believer to fly to God, and to expect his protection in every time of trouble. "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge," Proverbs, xiv. 16. These are the footsteps of genuine faith, and the footsteps of the flock; for "we walk by faith and not by sight." And by the power of God is the believer kept through faith unto salvation. And these divine bases on which faith stands are more firm than the everlasting hills.

But what is that poor phantom which passes so current for faith in our days? Just nothing, and worse than nothing; for it is a powerful delusion of the devil, which a just God gives the enemies of his truth up to. "God shall send them strong delusions, that they may believe a lie and be damned," 2 Thess. ii. 11.

This faith in a lie is nothing less than rash presumption; it presumes upon God, and lays a claim upon him, without one scriptural warrant to venture on. And, in the general, the father of lies begets this faith in the minds of poor sinners, under the alarming ministry of graceless men, who are ministers of the letter, or of the bare word of God, without having either the Spirit or his grace in them. The sentence of death and of condemnation, which are in the preacher, is communicated to such a hearer. "The letter killeth."

The sinner being by nature a child of wrath, and naturally in bondage to the fear of death, and the curse of God being habitually in the tabernacle of the wicked, these are all stirred up, and natural conscience is terrified, while the devil spreads dismal glooms and horrors on the mind, with which he bewilders and distracts the poor wretch; these pass for convictions, and are just such as Ahab had when Elijah met him, and as Saul had when he fell on the ground before the devil in Samuel's mantle: for with these convictions there is no spirit of life to quicken the soul; no true light shining into the heart to discover the desperate deceitfulness of it; no spirit of supplication to set the sinner to crying day and night unto God; no hunger and thirst after righteousness, after the bread of life, or after the living God. A sinner under such convictions, may be known by the following remarks:

1. He feeds upon the vanities of this world in the midst of all his infernal terrors, and hates the light and truth under all his horrors. "They have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. They return, but not to the Most High: they are like a deceitful bow," Hosea, vii. 14, 15.

2. It may easily be seen that, as there is no spirit of supplication or crying to God, neither is there any thirst after him; they return, but not to the Most High; as Saul did; he returned, but it was to one of the witches that he had formerly expelled, not to God: and so Judas, he returned, but it was to the priests, to whom he confessed his sin; but not to God, nor yet to the master whom he had betrayed.

3. Such souls may be known by their pride; for they are never filled with that self-loathing which a soul feels that is quickened by the Spirit of God; there is the leaven of legal pride working in them under all their convictions, and they set themselves up as men of wonderful experience, though they are witbout hope, and without that experience that worketh hope. "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works?" Nay, it is never excluded by legal terrors, Rein. iii. 27.

4. Such a sinner holds fast free-will and self-righteousness under all his convictions. I once knew a preacher who often fell into these legal convictions, till he was like a wild bull in a net; but every time he came out he preached free-will, self-righteousness, and universal redemption, and was looked upon as a man wonderfully taught of God; but it was by the God of this world. I once preached for him at Sheffield in Yorkshire, and disputed with him afterwards till midnight, and began with him the next morning and continued at it till noon, and stopped his mouth, but could not strip him of his spider's web. The last time that I inquired about him I was informed that he had left off preaching for some time, and was confined and mad; which was what I had long expected. "They hold fast deceit, they refuse to return," Jer. viii. 5.

5. Nor do souls under such convictions as these cleave to the children of God, nor to ministers of the Spirit, but to them of the letter: as the prodigal son did under his legal terrors: "he joined himself to a citizen of that country;" not of the heavenly country, but of this; not to a citizen of Mount Zion, but to a citizen of "Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with all her children:" and he tried hard to fill his belly with husks, and would have done it if the Spirit of life had not entered into him; but as soon as he was quickened he felt a mighty famine, then he left his husks and cried for bread. "This my son was dead;" and while dead he cleaved to the swine. But he "is alive again:" and this life gave him his appetite, his cry, and his motion towards God; and the food that fed his soul was Christ crucified, imputed righteousness, the everlasting love of God, and pardon and peace by faith in the blood of the Lamb; all of which are meant by the fatted calf, the best robe, the ring, and the shoes; and every soul that feeds not upon these is as sure to perish as he is born. Now let us see the conversion of this modern professor.

He attends the minister of the letter under whom he got his wound; and by and by the same insensibility, presumption, false confidence, blind zeal, and deceitful hopes, which possess the preacher, are communicated and applied by the devil to this convicted sinner, and out he comes into liberty, as he calls it. This is his conviction, and this is called a seal of such a man's ministry; like priest, like people; he hears the word, and anon with joy receives it; yet hath he no root in himself.

Now he compares himself, not with the word of God, nor with the experience of the children of God, nor with the ministers of the Spirit, but with those to whom Satan sends him, those of his own caste. "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." Then they are fools, 2 Cor. x. 12.

2. He now makes his conversion known to the preacher; and others in the same delusion give their judgment of the work, and conclude it to be a real work of grace; and the poor deluded mortal believes it and is established in it; and thus his faith stands in the wisdom of man, but not in the power of God.

3. He often finds his passions moved by oratory; for he is very fond of an orator, and he drops a few tears; this is called a watering time with him, and it passes for godly sorrow. At other times his fancy is tickled, and he laughs and rejoices: this passes for the joy of the Lord; but God gives it another name. "The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment," Job, xx. 5. "As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of fools," Eccl. vii. 6.

4. He goes and tries himself and his state under other ministers of the same caste (for there are but very few others in our days), and he hears different definitions of faith, and rather excels in confidence the descriptions that are given: this wonderfully establishes him. "In the multitude of counsellors there is safety." Thus one builds up a wall, and the other daubs it with untempered mortar; and there it will stand till the storms of divine vengeance rend it, and then it will be no more, neither them that daubed it," Ezek. xiii.

5. In order to make this deception complete, the devil ceases to stir up the concupiscence of the sinners heart, and doth not roll him in uncleanness as heretofore; that he may see that there are some fruits without, as well as joys within; this feeds his pride not a little. Thus the unclean spirit goes out of the man, and the house is empty, swept and garnished.

6. Now and then poor conscience will struggle and move her pulse, as if something else was wanting, and some doubts will rise up. He makes this known to such as the devil sends him to, and they tell him it is the motions of the old man, and Satan's devices, and cry, Peace, peace; this settles him for the present, and thus he receives the witness of men, but not the witness of God, which is greater, I John, v. 9.

7. Sometimes such an hypocrite is brought by curiosity to hear a minister of the Lord; and, perceiving something new, he is wonderfully ravished with the novelty, and new joys seem to spring up: he takes some of the new cloth to patch his old garment with, but parts with nothing of the old: the more he hears the more his head is furnished, and he is ready to pluck out his own eyes to give to the preacher; but by and by he hears him describe a genuine work of grace, and conscience seconds the motion, and his heart-strings begin to give way, and then off he goes to one who cries, Peace, peace: and after this he becomes a most desperate enemy both to the preacher and his doctrine, for such cannot endure sound doctrine. The Jews rejoiced in John's light for a season, and then changed their minds, and said he has a devil.

8. This sort of professors are to be known by a multitude of words; for they are more swift to speak than they are to hear. This brings many eyes upon them, and they are looked up to as saints of no common magnitude: this leads their minds much to think and study to get something to say; and the more he talks the better figure he cuts in talking; and now he is wonderfully elated with his gifts; reproving, exhorting, and praying in com-pany, becomes his element, and this increases both his pride and his presumption. He has got the gift of prophecy, and in his own conceit understands all mysteries, and all knowledge, and a faith strong enough to remove mountains, and yet is nothing but sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2.

9. He sometimes meets with an honest soul who sees through him, and speaks to him, and who tells him his doubts of him, and shews him his state: this mortifies his pride and injures his consequence; he storms sadly at this. "A wise man feareth and departeth from evil, but the fool rageth and is confident," Prov. xiv. 16.

10. If the lip of truth hath damped his joys, he calls together a company of them of the like occupation, and asks them: one tells him he has been much edified by him, another has been reclaimed, the bowels of another have been refreshed, and another established; and thus he is compassed about with a whole cloud of witnesses, and he believes them all, and no wonder: "For the simple (or fool) believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his going," Prov. xiv. 15.