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at God's right hand for evermore. We see, likewise, the execution of that dreadful sentence, pronounced upon those on the left hand, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.' And then shall the ministers of divine vengeance plunge them into "the lake of fire burning with brimstone, where they have no rest day or night, but the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever."

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12. But beside the invisible and the eternal world, which are not seen, which are discoverable only by Faith, there is a whole system of things which are not seen, which cannot be discerned by any of our outward senses. I mean, the spiritual world, understanding thereby the kingdom of God in the soul of man. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard this; neither could it enter into the heart of man to conceive the things of" this interior kingdom, unless God revealed them by his Spirit. The Holy Spirit prepares us for his inward kingdom, by removing the veil from our heart, and enabling us to know ourselves as we are known of him; by "convincing us of sin," of our evil nature, our evil tempers, and our evil words and actions; all of which cannot but partake of the corruption of the heart from which they spring. He then convinces us of the desert of our sins, so that our mouth is stopped, and we are constrained to plead guilty before God. At the same time, we "receive the spirit of bondage unto fear;" fear of the wrath of God, fear of the punishment which we have deserved, and, above all, fear of death, lest it should consign us over to eternal death. Souls that are thus convinced, feel they are so fast in prison, that they cannot get forth. They feel themselves at once altogether sinful, altogether guilty, and altogether helpless. But all this conviction implies a species of Faith, being "an evidence of things not seen." Nor indeed possible to be seen or known, till God reveals them unto us. 13. But still let it be carefully observed, (for it is a point of no small importance,) that this Faith is only the Faith of a servant, and not the Faith of a son. Because this is a point which many do not clearly understand, I will endeaVOL. X. Сс

vour to make it a little plainer. The Faith of a servant implies a divine evidence of the invisible and the eternal world: yea, and an evidence of the spiritual world, so far as it can exist without living experience. Whoever has attained this, the Faith of a servant, "feareth God, and escheweth evil:" or, as it is expressed by St. Peter, "feareth God, and worketh righteousness." In consequence of which he is, in a degree, as the Apostle observes, "accepted with him." Elsewhere he is described in those words, "He that feareth God, and keepeth his commandments." Even one who has only gone thus far in religion, who obeys God out of fear, is not in any wise to be despised, seeing "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Nevertheless he should be exhorted, not to stop there; not to rest till he attains the adoption of sons; till he obeys him out of love, which is the privilege of all the children of God.

14. Exhort him to press on by all possible means, till he passes "from faith to faith;" from the faith of a servant to the faith of a son; from the spirit of bondage unto fear, to the spirit of childlike love: he will then have "Christ revealed in his heart," enabling him to testify, "The life that I now live in the flesh, 1 live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me:" the proper voice of a child of God. He will then be "born of God," inwardly changed by the mighty power of God, from "an earthly, sensual, devilish mind, to the mind which was in Christ Jesus." He will experience what St. Paul means, by those remarkable words to the Galatians, "Ye are the sons of God by faith; and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” "He that believeth," as a son, (as St. John observes,) "hath the witness in himself. The Spirit itself witnesses with his spirit, that he is a child of God. The love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto him."

15. But many doubts and fears may still remain, even in a child of God, while he is weak in faith, while he is in the

number of those whom St. Paul terms "babes in Christ." But when his faith is strengthened, when he receives Faith's abiding impression, realizing things to come; when he has received the abiding witness of the Spirit, doubts and fears vanish away. He then enjoys the plerophory, or "full assurance of faith," excluding all doubt and all "fear that hath torment." To those whom he styles young men, St. John says, "I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." These, the Apostle observes in the other verse, had "the word of God abiding in them." It may not improbably mean, The pardoning word, the word which spake all their sins forgiven. In consequence of which they have the consciousness of the Divine favour, without any intermission.

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16. To these more especially we may apply the exhortation of the Apostle Paul, "Leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, (namely, repentance and faith,) let us go on unto perfection.' But in what sense are we to leave those principles? Not absolutely; for we are to retain both one and the other, the knowledge of ourselves, and the knowledge of God, unto our lives end. But only comparatively; not fixing, as we did at first, our whole attention upon them, thinking and talking perpetually of nothing else, but either repentance or faith. But what is the perfection here spoken of? It is not only a deliverance from doubts and fears, but from sin, from all inward, as well as outward sin: from evil desires, and evil tempers, as well as from evil words and works. Yea, and it is not only a negative blessing, a deliverance from all evil dispositions, implied in that expression, "I will circumcise thy heart;" but a positive one likewise, even the planting all good dispositions in their place, clearly implied in that other expression, “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul."

17. These are they to whom the Apostle John gives the venerable title of Fathers, who "have known him that is from the beginning," the eternal Three-One Gon. One of

these expresses himself thus, "I bear about with me an experimental verity and a plenitude of the presence of the ever-blessed Trinity." And those who are fathers in Christ, generally, though I believe, not always, enjoy the plerophory or "full assurance of hope:" having no more doubt of reigning with him in glory, than if they already saw him coming in the clouds of heaven. But this does not prevent their continually increasing in the knowledge and love of God, while they "rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in every thing give thanks." They pray in particular, that they may never cease to watch, to deny themselves, to take up their cross daily, to fight the good fight of faith, and against the world, the devil, and their own manifold infirmities; till they are "able to comprehend with all saints, what is the length, and breadth, and height, and depth, and to know that love of Christ, which passeth knowledge;" yea, to be "filled with all the fulness of God."

YARM, June 11, 1788.

SERMON CXV.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WALKING BY SIGHT, AND WALKING BY FAITH.

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2 CORINTHIANS V. 7.

"We walk by Faith, and not by Sight."

1. HOW short is this description of real Christians! And yet how exceedingly full! It comprehends, it sums up the whole experience of those that are truly such, from the time they are born of God, till they remove into Abraham's bosom. For, who are the we that are here spoken of? All that are true Christian Believers. I say, Christian, not Jewish believers. All that are not only servants, but children of God. All that have "the Spirit of adoption, crying in their hearts, Abba, Father." All that have "the Spirit of God witnessing with their spirits, that they are the sons of God."

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2. All these, and these alone can say, "We walk by faith, and not by sight." But before we can possibly ❝ walk by faith," we must live by faith, and not by sight. And to all real Christians, our Lord saith, "Because I live, ye live also:" ye live a life which the world, whether learned or unlearned, "know not of." "You that," like the world, "were dead in trespasses and sins, hath he quickened," and made alive; given you new senses, spiritual senses: "Senses exercised to discern spiritual good and evil." 3. In order thoroughly to understand this important

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