SERMON VIII.

HEB. xi. 1.

NOW FAITH 18 THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE EVIdence of thINGS
NOT SEEN.

AMONG the terms of theology, which have given rise to much useless controversy, and many differences of explanation, the word Faith is not the least considerable. As, in different passages, it is used in different connexions, according to the object of the writer, and the subject of his reasoning, it is not surprising, that it should not always admit of an uniform interpretation, and that no particular definition of it should be found completely to explain its meaning in every passage in which it is used in the New Testament. The sense, however, in which it is employed in the celebrated chapter from which our text is taken, is one of the most extensive, and perhaps the most natural and intelligible of any; and this meaning of the word we propose, in the following discourses, to illustrate.

Faith, says the apostle, is the substance of things hoped for, and an evidence, or rather a conviction, of things not seen. Faith, therefore, is a principle, which naturally results from the constitution of the human mind; and the general import of the word is well understood, though it may not be well defined,

by the most ordinary understanding, because it is of necessity exercised by all. It is not opposed to reason, which is its only just foundation, nor, except in a peculiar, theological sense, to works; but, properly, philosophically, and universally, it is opposed to knowledge. This principle is precisely the same, when exercised on other truths, as on those of religion. There is no peculiar strangeness in the faith of a christian, no especial mysteriousness in the nature of religious faith in general. The same constitution of the human mind, which enables us to believe, upon sufficient testimony, that there was such a person as Alexander, will not allow us to doubt, that there was such a teacher as Jesus. It is the same principle, which leads us to believe in the conquests of the one and the miracles of the other. With respect, also, to future events, the act of faith is of a similar nature, whether the event belong to this world, or to another. The same principle, which would lead us to look confidently for an eclipse, predicted by a man of science, will not suffer us to doubt the authorized messenger of God, who declares, that the day is coming, when all they that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the son of man, and shall come forth. Religious faitb is especially employed about every thing which relates to the will, the providence, and the character of God; and the faith of a christian is distinguished from all other kinds of religious faith, only by its superior extent, purity and influence. It embraces doctrines, of which, if true, it is infinitely dangerous for us to be ignorant; and it is supported on evidence, which gives it a stability, and inspires it with an interest, which cannot properly belong to any other description of belief.

In the following discourses we propose to enumerate some of the OBJECTS, to explain the REASONABLENESS, and to urge the IMPORTANCE of faith. are the three divisions of our subject.

These

We might, with the greatest ease, and perhaps with some profit, fill this discourse with remarks upon the numerous and different instances of faith, which the apostle has collected in this chapter. You would discover, from a particular examination of each instance here recorded, that the leading idea in this much disputed word, is reliance upon the authority, or confidence in the testimony of another. You would find, that the objects, which faith embraces, are more or less numerous, according to the previous cultivation and present circumstances of the believer, and according to the plans of Providence with respect to him. The faith of Abel, or of Noah, was not less real or valuable, than is that of the greatest saint who lives under the dispensation of the gospel, though the faith of the christian embraces a much greater variety of objects, and is suited to a much more enlarged comprehension. In general, with respect to God, it embraces whatever he has been pleased to communicate of himself in the age in which the believer happens to live.

If I should attempt to enumerate to you some of the more important truths, which you now receive by the aid of this all operating principle, I should first carry your imaginations back to that memorable point of time, when God said, Let there be light, and there was light; and I would ask you, upon what do you rest the assurance you feel, that this charming scene of nature is the product of the band of God? Wert thou present, when the foundations of the earth were fastened? Wert thou in the joyous circle, when the morning stars sang together, and all the new born sons of God shouted for joy? Knowest thou this, because thou wast then born, or because the number of thy days is great? No, my friends. By faith, says the apostle, we understand, that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that the things which are seen were not made of any

thing which now appears. Though the surest deductions of reason confirm the opinion, that this universe is the product of a great and intelligent author, yet it was not reasoning which discovered this truth. It was to the Jewish nation-it is still to those, who are not able to comprebend the demonstration, by which it is sometimes supported-and, universally, I may add, to the early capacity, it must ever be an article of faith, received upon authority.

By faith we dwell upon those events, which are far beyond the reach of our sensible experience. In profane history we receive such facts with unhesitating confidence, and reason from them without suspicion. Why, then, should we not exercise the same confidence, when we contemplate events in the history of God's especial dealings, events, which have also the additional support of prophecy and miracle? By religious faith we are introduced into the counsels of omniscience, and see the hand of almighty power guiding, with unvaried wisdom, the wonderful vicissitudes of the world. Faith transports us back to that event, which, in the history of the revolutions of our globe, stands next in dignity to the wondrous work of creation. We see the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the waters bursting the bounds within which the hand of omnipotence had hitherto circumscribed them, and rising to overtake the retreating wickedness of the antediluvian age. We see the wide waste of waters successively submerging the shores, the trees, the towers, the eminences to which the affrighted inhabitant has climbed, and, at length, the original and everlasting mountains of the globe, until all the features of this ball of earth are no longer to be discerned in the one vast expanse of fluid. The world, just now so gay with vegetation, so fruitful in life, and so tumultuous with pleasure and corruption, disappears with its astonished inhabitants; and

nought is left, of all this scene of things, but God and his faithful servants. Noah and his family are alone preserved of all the intelligent creatures of his power, and they float securely over the ruins and desolation of a drowning world. Faith opens to us the door of the ark, and we enter, and look out upon the consternation which surrounds us. Men, beasts, birds, and all living beings on the earth successively disappear, while within, this man of piety serenely collects around him his beloved family, and waits, without alarm, for the accomplishment of the purposes of heaven, buoyed up by the elastic energy of his faith in the promises of

his maker.

By faith we follow the dispensations of Heaven towards the descendants of Noah. We see Abraham, that venerable father of the faithful, leaving his native land. Not knowing whither to direct his aged steps, he is led by the unseen band of his ever kind and ever faithful God. From this gray-headed and feeble patriarch, "already as good as dead," behold generations innumerable issuing forth to people the newly restored earth, and multiplying as the stars of heaven. Isaac is born, and already his father anticipates the fulfilment of the magnificent promise he had received from God; but, in the midst of his expectations, he is commanded to sacrifice this solitary descendant. He is bound to the altar, the knife is taken, and the father's hand is uplifted to slay him. God interposes, and he lives again; and with him revive generations yet to come; and future nations, starting into life, are again blessed in his seed.

By faith we follow the rapidly increasing posterity of Jacob through the interesting narrative of their family history. What occurrences, what changes in the drama of Joseph's life, all proclaiming the wisdom of heaven! What calamities, what sorrows,