a perfuafion, that in this way and no other they may be obtained. It is not improbable, that the expreffion alludes to the Ifraelites coming to the tabernacle of temple, where the Son of God in a typical manner manifefted his glory. See Pf. xcv. 2; c. 2. If. xxvii. 13.

In like manner drawing near to God, coming to the throne of grace, or coming to God thro' Chrift, are not defcriptions of faith, but of the believer's application to God thro' the Redeemer for every bleffing. Otherwife the exhortations to come to the throne of grace boldly, i. e. with the confidence of faith, Heb. iv. 16. and to draw near in full affurance of faith, Heb. x. 22. would be fuperfluous.

To this it has been ingeniously objected, Our Lord faid, ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. If a bare belief that he 661 was the Meffias entituled to eternal life, then "one who believes this has a title to eternal

life before he came to him, and if fo, he has "no need to come to him that he might have life. Our Saviour directed his difciples to "afk all things of the Father in his name.

He

alfo taught them every day to pray forgive us our debts. Query, How can we go to God "in the name of Chrift for the pardon of daily "tranfgreffions, if in this way pardon is not to "be obtained. If pardon is had by a bare be"lief of the bare truth, we are not in the be"lief of the truth to afk for pardon in the name "of Chrift, because we are pardoned already." (j).

(j) Bellamy's Glory of the Gospel, p. 75.

If it is indeed abfurd, to pray or use means, for that, of which we have a promife, or to which we are already entituled, the above reasoning is unanswerable. But this, the objector has too much acquaintance with the Bible to affert. God had promised to David, 2 Sam. vii. 16. that his houfe and kingdom fhould be established for ever. And yet no fooner did Nathan intimate to David that promife, than we find him praying, as ver. 25. "And now, O LORD God, the "word that thou haft fpoken concerning thy fervant, and concerning his house, establish it "for ever, and do as thou has faid."

Paul was affured by an angel of God, that there fhould be no lofs of any man's life that failed in the ship with him. Acts xxvii. 21—25. And yet when the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, Paul tells the Centurion, except these abide in the fhip, ye cannot be faved, ver. 30, 31. The application of these remarks is obvious. Ungodly finners, upon believing in Jefus, are entituled thro' his righteoufnefs, to the pardon of fin, to the influences of the fpirit, and to eternal glory; nay, the final poffeffion of these bleflings is enfured to them by the promise of God. Yet this does not hinder, their being put in actual poffeffion of them gradually, and in the ufe of the prayer of faith, and other means.

SECTION IV.

§1. BUT does the faith of God's elect differ

from that of others, only in the thing affented to?-By no means. The nature and foundation of the affent in him who has faving

faith, is fpecifically different from the nature and foundation of the affent in self-deceivers.

Self-deceivers may have orthodox fentiments of religion. They may understand all myfteries and all knowledge, and yet want charity, I Cor. xiii. 2. And what they thus understand, they may also believe, being convinced by miracles and other external evidences, that these mysteries are indeed a divine revelation. Many believed in Chrift's name, when they faw the miracles which he did, to whom Jefus would not commit himfelf, because he knew all men. John ii. 23, 24.

Shall we then say, that faving faith is not founded upon evidence, and that it affents to truth it knows not why? -That would contradict the apoftle's affertion, Heb. xi. 1. that faith is the evidence xyxos of things not feen, i. e. furnishes the mind with convincing evidence of objects invisible to the bodily eye and Chrift's promife, that the fpirit fhall convince (λ) the world of fin, of righteoufnefs, and of judg ment. John xvi. 8. The word fignifies to convince by way of demonftration, or fo to manifeft the evidence of a truth, that it fhall appear unreasonable to entertain the leaft doubt of it. Exey xos de ESTI, fays Aristotle, Rhet. ad Alex. c. 4. ὁ μεν μη δυνατος άλλως έχειν, αλλ' ότως ως ημείς λyour. The fpirit takes from the fcripture, the λεγομεν. grand evidence of faith which he had lodged there, and carries it to the hearts of the elect, and then the light and power of divine truth fo apprehends and overcomes the foul, that it can no longer refift.

§ 2. That triumphant evidence, is no other than the glory and excellency of the gofpel fchemes of revelation, manifefted by the holy fpirit in fuch a manner, as produces full conviction, that

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a

a fcheme fo glorious could have none but God for its author (k). If the gofpel be hid, and

(k) That there is an excellency in the gofpel, which when perceived, produces a faving conviction of its divine original, has been largely proved by Prefident Edwards, in his valuable treatife on religious affections: tho' that great man from his fermons on juftification, feems to have placed faving faith in the choice of the will. This is not the only inftance in which writers of fuch diftinguifhed abilities in proving one thing, lay the foundation for proving another, not only foreign to their thoughts, but op+ polite to their fentiments. Profeffor Lampe of Utrecht, in his differtation on the formal act of faith, places it in the confent or acquiescence of the will in the gospel scheme of falvation. And yet in his commentary on the gospel of John, and other critical writings, has evidently fhewn, that the defcriptions of faith which are generally thought to imply choice and affection, are used to denote knowledge or affent.

There

Mr. Glafs, in his teftimony of the King of Martyrs, Edr. 1729. c. 4. Sect. 2. p. 192, 193, 197, 198, 199. has fome very judicious remarks on the foundation of the affent in faving faith. The fubftance of them is. is an extrinfic evidence for Chriftianity from miracles, &c. which may ftop the mouths of gainfayers, make men attentive to the gofpel, and render thofe inexcufable that openly reject it. This may be, and is clearly perceived by men, that are no ways influenced by the gofpel in their practice, having never difcerned the glory, or felt the power of divine truth: for many fuch have as clear wits, and as much thirst for philofophical knowledge as other men. But the faith whereby men are faved, is not begotten by, and does not ftand upon this extrinfic evidence, but on the light and evidence which shines in the divine teftimony itself, and which when beheld, in so far as it is fo, will effectually change men, and conform them to itself in heart and life. None can fay, it is impoffible that God fhould reveal his mind and will, and give abundant evidence that it is he that fpeaks in the revelation itfelf. Nor that it is impoffible, that by means of this revelation, he should form the minds of those, whom he would have to understand it, into a fuitableness to this his truth, and make them capable to difcern this evidence, in having a true understanding of the truth, which he teftifies, and which carries this evidence in itself.

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men

men perish thro' unbelief, it is hid from those, whose minds the God of this world hath blind- * ed, leaft the light of the glorious gospel of Chrift fhould fhine unto them. 2 Cor. iv. 4. Where the gospel is difcerned in its native luftre and glory, unbelief cannot remain, and fouls cannot perifh. God begins a faving change on the heart, by fhining into it, to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jefus Christ. Ib. ver. 6. It is in confequence of Chrift's manifefting the father's name, i. e. his glory, to the men given him out of the world, that they know furely he came out from the Father, and was fent by him. John xvii. 6-8. The grand facts of the gospel were recorded by Luke, that Theophilus might know the certainty of the things wherein he had been inftructed. Luke i. 4 and by John, that men might believe that Jefus is the Chrift the Son of the living God. John xx. 31. Remarkable are Solomon's words, Prov. xxii. 19-21. "That thy "truft may be in the LORD, I have made known "to thee this day, even unto thee. Have not "I written unto thee excellent things in council " and in knowledge that I might make thee "know the certainty of the words of truth, "that thou mightest answer the words of truth "to them that fend unto thee." Here it is plain-" ly afferted, that the excellency of council and of knowledge, which appears in the written word,' was ftamped upon it for this very end, that from viewing that excellency, men might know the" certainty of the words of truth, and be encouraged to truft in the LORD. And that the glory' and excellency of divine truth, fhould actually' produce this effect, we learn from Pf. cxxxviii.*