believing that in the hand of Christ, there are gifts for the rebellious, and that one of these gifts is the Holy Spirit to strengthen his disciples, I may look to him for my sanctification, even as I look to him for my redemption; and believing that the gift is truly promised, as an answer to prayer, may mingle a habit of prayer with a habit of watchfulness and of endeavour. And thus may

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go abroad over the whole territory of divine truth, and turn to its legitimate account every separate portion of it; and be in all a trusting, and a working, and a praying, and a rejoicing, and a trembling disciple, and that, not because I have given myself up to the guidance of clashing and contradictory principles,-but because, with a Faith commensurate to the testimony of God, I give myself over, in my whole mind, and whole person, to the authority of a whole bible."

It is necessary,

3. That Faith in the truth which sanctifies be in constant and vigorous exercise.

Faith does not operate in the production of holiness, by any secret or mysterious charm, of which no rational account can be given. It operates by giving the truth of God a fixed and constant dwelling place in the mind and heart. Tell me, ye who are christians indeed, when is it that your hearts feel most powerfully the tendencies to holiness; when is it that you achieve

the most decided victories over the corrupt principles which struggle within you for the ascendancy; when is it that you most effectually overcome the world which would ensnare or domineer? Is it not when the truth of the gospel most powerfully impresses your hearts, and when "the word of Christ dwells in you richly in all wisdom and spiritual understanding," taking possession of your capacities of thought and feeling, and controlling, by its gentle but effectual influence, all the movements of the inner man? And when is it that you find the opposite tendencies acquiring temporary strength? Is it not when the cares of the world, and the occupations of the present life, engross your thoughts, and absorb your minds, and withdraw your attention from the truth which purifies the heart? Would you, then, desire that Faith should produce its full effect, and exert its moral influence over your character and course of life, be it your concern that Faith itself be maintained in habitual and vigorous exercise; and be it your earnest prayer, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith." Let your thoughts be much engaged in direct meditation on the word of the truth of the gospel. Let not the stated seasons of retired devotion, at the commencement and the close of every day, be unduly contracted; but let them be sufficiently extended, to allow the

mind calmly and vigorously to yield its susceptibilities to the influence of the truth which gives peace to the conscience and purity to the heart. If by the study of the word of God, under that unction of the Holy Spirit which guides into all truth, the mind be imbued with the wisdom which is pure, and enriched with the knowledge which is purifying, there will be the best preparation for the business of every day. In the intervals of leisure it will then be easy and delightful, to recur to the truths which have so recently occupied the mind, and predisposed it to the exercise of every holy temper and every purifying hope. Remember, then, that whatever be the power of truth, it cannot be reasonably expected to influence the mind, unless it be habitually contemplated by the mind. It must become the food of the mind, gratifying to its taste, digested by its inward processes of reflective thought, and incorporated with its very frame and structure. Then, and only then, will there be growth in grace, and the production of the fruits of holiness.

Faith exerts a purifying influence,

THIRDLY, By exciting earnestness of desire and importunity of prayer, for the sanctifying energies of the Holy Spirit.

Were a man to believe in the doctrine of the corruption of human nature by sin, without

believing in the doctrine of its renovation by the Spirit of God, he might become the prey of wretchedness. He would be alive to a sense of helpless misery, and would find himself destitute of all resources. But such, blessed be God, is not the situation of him who believes in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He rejoices in the discovery, that there is not only a divine Redeemer, but that there is also a divine Sanctifier;--that there is not only a provision for the removal of his guilt, by virtue of an adequate atonement, but that there is also a provision for the renewal of his heart, by a process of omnipotent grace.

Never let it be forgotten, that the influence of the truth of God, and the influence of the Spirit of God, are inseparably connected together. We cannot think too highly of the adaptation of divine truth to purify the heart of man; but, notwithstanding all that adaptation, the depravity of the heart would oppose a determined and an effectual resistance to its power, were it not that He to whose wisdom we trace the adaptation, Himself secures the efficiency. The truth is indeed mighty, but it is "mighty through God." The very petition of our interceding Saviour, which bears so decisive a testimony to the power of truth, bears a testimony, no less decisive, to the superadded power of God:-" Sanctify them through thy truth." It is as if he had said, "Let

thy power accompany thy truth. Open their hearts to receive the truth, and secure, by thine own influence, its entire entrance, its full effect." With the sentiment of this petition accords also the representation of the Apostle Peter, in the words of our text. He had been honoured to announce to the Gentiles "the word of the gospel;" but did this supersede the necessity of a divine influence? On the contrary, he proceeds to say-" And God, who knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." In addition, then, to the act of Peter, who addressed to them "the word of the gospel," there was the operation of God himself, producing in their hearts the principle of Faith, and rendering that principle effective in the production of holiness.

Nor is it unimportant to observe, that under the comprehensive title of "the Truth," in the scriptural use of the term, is included, as one of its component and essential parts, that truth which regards the necessity of divine influence, to give effect to the written and the preached word. The numerous and the gracious promises of the influence of the Holy Spirit, form a leading and conspicuous part of the testimony which Faith embraces; and, in proportion to the esti