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THE CHURCH.

"Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."-Eph. ii. 20.

APRIL, 1855.

THE PRAYER FOR FAITH.

BY THE REV. JOHN FOSTER.

"Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."-Mark ix. 24.

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Here we see an instance of a man's trying every means of relief, going to the disciples, endeavouring to do something for himself, and at last being obliged to come to Jesus. It is affecting to see a state of mind like this, a man coming humbly to Christ, after he is convinced that other means are useless. Consider the disposition that is pre-requisite in coming to God,his willingness to have faith, his earnestness and simplicity, &c.; he was perfectly sensible that God had a right to make faith a pre-requisite,-that he had no business to come merely as an experiment, to see whether this being that all men so extolled for his miracles could really cure him. came sincerely believing, sincerely wishing to believe, he was sensible Christ had a right to expect this belief should rest on him, he knew there was sufficient power in the universe, but he was to believe that the man despised and presented before him was the possessor of this almighty power,-in short, that he was God. Observe his faith in Christ's goodness and beneficence, when at first he came to Christ asking for his cure, and when Christ mentioned this indispensable requisite, faith, he did not say, "Well, I will go away till I get this faith, till I create faith;" he was content to receive it also at Christ's hands, willing to receive all as a gift. He did not think of obtaining the benefits Christ had to impart, by any negociation of desert on his part, he came empty handed. He who thinks that he can come to Christ with his intellectual wealth, the worth of his mind, who thinks he wants only the top stone to complete his edifice of self-righteousness, will find that it is all in vain, that his building must fall. "Help thou mine unbelief." He who can say this, will receive an answer to his petition, because it implies, pre-supposes, a degree of faith already imparted. He may be sure of obtaining what he asks for, because he has received what he asked not for. The very asking implied faith, he had the principle, and it was then working in him to ask for and expect more faith.

There are many who have received the principle of faith who have need to utter the prayer, "Help thou mine unbelief," because there may be a large mixture of unbelief, great alloy in the true gold,-indeed all have more or less of this. There are endless diversities of this state of mixture; we read of some "strong in faith," some "weak in faith." Some whose faith was strong have gone through a great deal, through death *The Rev. John Foster's own Notes of a Sermen.

VOL. IX.

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itself, and death in all its most horrid forms; they would endure all poɛsi. ble evils except the wrath of God. All are not thus tried, and many must feel thankful sometimes when they hear or read of the trials some have gone through, that they are not exposed to such trials of faith. But though there is this deficiency of faith, it will cause great sorrow to a good man; he will not be satisfied, for he will consider what he loses by it. Little faith will obtain little converse with God, the author of faith, the source of happiness. It dishonours God also, as well as not honouring him; it ought to be proportioned to its object; consider the object of faith. A faith in miracles does not imply saving, genuine faith; but we cannot consider the person in the text anything but a true believer,-that earnestness and sincerity does not belong to an infidel; and Christ, who reads the heart, knew that he was a true believer in him as the Son of God. We may take the words in a wider sense, as applicable to all sincere enquirers after faith.

How often has the text been repeated as a prayer. If it could be registered how many times it has thus been used, what a volume it would fill, certainly much larger than the Bible. How many pious souls have said it in private, in trials, when they have felt the stings of the old serpent. How many blessings have been drawn down from heaven by this prayer, how much spiritual wealth, &c. How earnestly will a good man say this when he feels the desperate evil of unbelief, has a full view of its enor mity. He sometimes says, "I do believe," but what a vast economy is presented to me for my belief. Truly he may say, "Help thou mine unbelief," when he considers, first, the glory and magnificence of the things revealed to him, and then, how it is shrunk and shrivelled in his mind. What a faint exhibition of this vast assemblage! My mind ought to be a mirror to reflect all this brightness, and yet how little of all this I take in, and how bedimmed and beclouded is that which is there, through the influence of this unbelief. If all could be made to stand before me, world upon world, as it were the extending glory which no tongue could express if I could take it all in, what need should I then see for this prayer, when I could see this difference between what I am and what I should be! Deliver me from this unbelief, which makes all these glorious representations sink to the size of the mind, instead of the mind continually expanding to meet them.

He says, "It is true, I do believe all, one by one, but then they are soon gone;" and he entreats the Spirit of God to send away those clouds that intercept the great light-the bright manifestations of divine truth. The length of time that passes between these reviews constitutes a species of unbelief, during the suspension of belief; and a good man will say, "When I think of a certain truth, I am obliged to recall it to my mind, it is not always present. Oh, that it might be more constantly before me! I do believe; but there sometimes arises a doubt, a surmise,-Can these things be so? I never saw anything like them,-Can they belong to a world like this? Such, for instance, as the truths, that there is a God that fills all space,—that it was really the Son of God that came down on such an errand to this world." A man need take care how he touches a surmise of infidelity, unless with fervent prayer to God.

Again, how little gratitude! What a revelation has God given us of his attributes, of our own state, and the means of happiness. If, now, all should be taken away, all this grand enlightening scene,-if a cloud should fall and hide from us the character of God so blessed, what a loss would be sustained! Then we should have some idea of the cause we have for thankfulness. This want of gratitude, amidst so much cause for its exercise, is certainly the result of some unbelief.

A good man will say, "I should more value the object of faith, if faith were stronger; I should never look at a truth without thinking of God." For instance, what a mercy it is that there is a revelation granted by Him concerning the future state,-that there is a light on the edge of eternity, that when a man arrives there he may boldly launch on the waters of death.

"I do believe, but I have received a great many evil prejudices and impressions. I was educated in the world with an aptitude to fall in with it. When I try to follow the right channel, to trace the same line, to turn where it turns, these old notions stand in my way. I do believe, but still they are there, and who shall get them out ?" There is still so much old writing not traced by the finger of God, which sometimes appears quite clear and legible,-like some of those temples that were once devoted to Pagan rites and Pagan worship, and which were afterwards consecrated to the worship of the true God, and where sometimes the mortar has fallen and disclosed some vestige of idolatry, some representation of Pagan deities. So it is too much the case in the heart of the believer,-there are still Pagan affections which sometimes break forth and show themselves. The Spirit superinduced right principles, but the old, inherent, depraved dispositions will sometimes appear. A man may give his judg ment for the truths of God, but his active feelings may still be embarked in the pursuit of the world.

He may say, "I do believe, I cannot help it;" but when thinking on these things, up there comes a deep antipathy, like a blasting curse, and drives off his affections. It is melancholy to think that there is no truth of God against which there is not a principle in direct opposition. It bears generally on the whole system, and also against every particular point; and it takes a long while to destroy these malignant manifestations of the old corrupt nature.

Again, this belief in the truth of Scripture does not rest with influential weight on the mind. A person may say, "I believe in God's justice -awful attribute! that He is also omniscient; that He knows all sin that I commit-awful fact! To believe that the whole world is under his cognizance and law, that the sun does not dart more rays on this globe than there are emanations of his perfection! And should not this cause me to have a right feeling against sin, to cherish a decided hatred against it, instead of cherishing it in direct opposition to the will of God, especially when it is considered that he not only abhors sin, but that, in consequence of his justice, he punishes it,-to think that God is here present in all his justice, seeing all, punishing all, that is in opposition to himself? All his concentrated attributes seem to bear against sin, and shall I cherish it? And yet, perhaps, through this species of unbelief, the judgment is coldly correct, and the feelings are unmoved. Divine mercy? yes, I believe in that; also that God will be merciful through Jesus Christ." Here, if the heart were free from unbelief, the person would say, "I will not stay a moment here, on this ground of sin, but go where the mercy of God is displayed in all its brightness, the lightning of Divine wrath is falling everywhere else but there." Unbelief, then, in this view, is the inefficiency of belief. Faith, consequently, is the efficacy of belief. The living soul must be there. It must have a proper commanding influence on the affections. Should not the emotions of the mind attend a corresponding truth? it should be taken within the soul, as it were, mingle with the current of the soul. The feelings should tell what the faith is; they should continually regulate the tone of the mind.

"I believe, but what are my actions? Christian faith is full of acting principles. When trials and temptations arise, my soul should have a

hero's spirit, should expand to a giant, instead of shrinking to a dwarf. In prosperity I could not have thought I could have acted so meanly." People are too apt to accuse God when they are tried, wonder why he should distress them, instead of submitting all things into his guidance and appointment-this is unbelief.

What a sublime state of mind should Faith, under trials and disappointments, produce: an indifference to the world, a superiority to itto its trifles and allurements,-not a romantic, absurd indifference, but holding it light comparatively: a disposition to acknowledge the hand of God in afflicting as well as gratifying dispensations, is the consequence of this state of mind. And this consists in a longing, engrossing desire and preference for God's presence, not in any misanthropy merely; so that if all other things were equal in the two states of sin and holiness, yet the favour and communion with God, which is the result, and indeed the cause, of the latter, gives it such an immense superiority, that, when the mind is fully occupied by faith, the world is entirely lost sight of. Does not the whole tendency of Christianity go that way? So that the greater the faith the more the world is overlooked. And when a man who has the principle of faith in him is convinced of this, he will say, "Alas, how far am I from this; what has unbelief done in me, seeing it prevents this; what an immense injury has it done me, in depriving me of the communion of God, making me so engrossed with the world, that I am not in a fit state to meet death. Unbelief takes hold of this world and lets go the other,-prevents my aspirations from ascending after a better state, will not let my desires go into another world, not only so, but makes me content with this."

And God will attend to the ardent aspirations and supplications against this unbelief, for he regards the first principle which is implied in the entreaties and desires against unbelief. But beware of being content with this small measure of faith. What is it worth at all but to unite me to Christ, to heaven,-in short, to give me happiness? How can you be content with a small measure of this? How can a person that has felt the blessing of faith at all, be content with a small measure of this blessing? How can they lay the blame of this deficiency on their depraved nature? And so nature is to be the scapegoat to bear off its own sins, and your subsequent want of faith! We may, indeed, complain of our natures, but not thereby to extenuate our neglect of seeking after faith. Faith is to counteract this feeling, to give an edge to the mind, to quicken its desires, and give it new life, that we may not be content with just such a quantity as shall be a sufficient passport for life,-just have sufficient for this, to keep it, as it were, in a corner of the soul,but to love it for its own sake, for the sake of Christ,-on account of its power of delivering from the bondage of sin,-to let it expand and fill the whole soul,-to desire that all should be under the influence of faith, -not desire to have as much of the world as is consistent with safety, but to wish to expel the world altogether.

Is there not cause to cry mightily, "Help thou my unbelief," when so many other things engross the passionate ardour of the soul,-things more vain and transient than the flowers of spring, or the hues of the rainbow? Think of all the desires and wishes of the heart,-how far should they go? All worldly desires should fall ere they reach the third heaven; but this prayer, though uttered in ever so small a degree of faith if it is indeed a desire of the heart, a kindling spark from the slumbering embers of right principles in the soul-can never be lost. Angels will prevent it from falling; and though the greatest operations, the most important events, are going on in heaven or earth, it will safely reach the

throne of the Almighty. Whatever else is attended to, that will be, and diffuse as much pleasure through the courts of heaven as the brightest and most powerful address from the soul of the strongest faith. A full and free communion with God,-a hatred of sin,-love, peace, and joy, this is the state of mind which faith only can produce. Think what there is within the reach of faith-heaven itself.

And when a good man feels the curse of unbelief like a weight bearing down, preventing him from rising to his own element, he will cry, "Lord, take away this unbelief, that, like an evil spirit, carries me away when I come in sight of the promises; help me by manifestation, instruction; let me see the evil of unbelief more fully." And God can do this without any apparent medium of communication, by his Spirit inexplicably sometimes, without any apparent connexion with means; and if we trust to God arbitrarily to do it as he likes, he can make the truth bright in the mind, show sin in its proper colours; and he has already imparted some faith ere the desire for more faith originated; for the soul that makes this petition, must feel some confidence amidst the despondency and backwardness he may feel in the act.

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The same scenes may be desired by different men under the influence of very different motives. The crowded city may be visited by the man of enterprise in order that he may put forth his greatest energies; it may be sought for by another man in order to alleviate the wretchedness of living without purpose and without employment. Retirement may be desired by the evil and the good; the bad man may fly to the desert in order to escape the reproachful glance of any human eye; and thither may the good man go, not as one driven from the haunts of men by a terror-stricken conscience, but as one drawn into converse with the spiritual and divine. Lord Bacon said, "Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild-beast or a god ;" and there is truth under-lying that saying; solitude may be desired by the ferocious and debased, or by the ennobled and refined.

How natural does it seem that one like our adorable Lord should have his seasons of retirement. The purity and innocence of his character cannot always be confined to the city and place of concourse. A spirit like his must sometimes leave the human, and commune with the divine. We hail him on the mount as the Great Teacher, we acknowledge him in the temple as the Divine Lord; but we are constrained to stand aside in sacred silence when we see him as the incarnate Son, holding converse with his Father amid the stillness of the desert. All nature seems then to have been hushed into silence befitting the intercourse that obtains.

Solitude exerts a powerful influence on the human mind. Occasional withdrawment from the activities and excitements of the social state is

agreeable, and even necessary, to every healthful mind. The jaded citizen often delights in the calm quiet of the country village, and is strengthened by it for the stern demands of commercial life. The hermit's cell is an absurdity; it weakens and contracts the mind; and uninterrupted excitement, whether of business or of pleasure, must also injure. He who is always alone will become restricted and narrow in his range of sympathy and knowledge; he who is never alone will become dependent, crippled, and unhappy. "A good man shall be satisfied from himself."

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