This Section teaches —

1st. That saving faith rests upon the truth of the testimony of God speaking in his word.

2d. That it respects as its object all the contents of God's word, without exception.

3d. That the complex state of mind to which the epithet faith is applied in Scripture varies with the

nature of the particular passage of God's word which is its object.

4th, That the specific act of saving faith which unites us to Christ, and is the sole condition or instrument of justification, involves two essential elements : {a.) Assent to what the Scriptures reveal to us concerning the person, offices and work of Christ; and (6) trust or implicit reliance upon Christ, and upon Christ alone, for all that is involved in a complete salvation.

1st. Saving faith rests upon the truth of the testimony of God speaking in his word. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, having been given by 'inspiration, are in the strictest and most direct sense God's word to us. They are absolutely divine, both as to their infallible truth and supreme authority. Christ when on earth rested his claims to recognition as Messiah upon the testimony borne to him by the Father. John V. 31-37. " He that hath received the testimony (of Christ) hath set to his seal that God is true." John iii. 33. " He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.'' 1 John v. 10. *^ This is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son." 1 John v. 9. The gospel which Paul preached to the Corinthians he calls " the testimony of God." 1 Cor. ii. 1. God corroborated the truths of the apostle's preaching, "bearing them witness both with signs and wonders," etc. Heb. ii. 4. The Holy Ghost bears direct witness to the soul of the believer. Rom. viii. 16 ; Heb. x. 15.

2d. Saving faith receives as true all the contents of God's word, without exception. After we have settled the preliminary questions as to what books belong to the

inspired canon of Scripture, and as to what is the original text of those books, then the whole must be received as equally the word of God, and must in all its parts be accepted with equal faith. The same illumination of the understanding and renewal of the affections which lays the foundation for the soul's acting faith in any one portion of God's testimony, lays the same foundation for its acting faith in every other portion. The whole word of God, therefore, as far as known to be individual, to the exclusion of all traditions, doctrines of men or pretended private revelations, is the object of saving faith.

3d. The complex state of mind to which the epithet faith is applied in Scripture varies with the nature of every particular passage of God's word which i its object. The common quality which is the reason of the application of the same term to all these various states of mind is cordial, realizing assent to the truth presented. But the state of mind which fully realizes the truth of a threatening must, in some respects, be different from that which realizes the truth of a promise. The realization of the truth of God's glory as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ cannot be an experience in all respects the same with the believing recognition of a duty or of the truth of a fact of history.

It was debated largely between the Romanists and the Reformers whether saving faith included trust or not. The true answer is, that trust is an integral and inseparable element of every act of saving faith in which crust is appropriate to the nature of the object believed, it is plain that many of the propositions of Scripture are not the proper objects of trust. In all such cases

faith includes recognition, assent, acquiescenvje, submis* sion, as the case may be. But in all cases in which the nature of the truth believed renders the exercise of trust legitimate, and especially in that specific act of saving faith called justifying faith, which unites to Christ and is the root and organ of the whole spiritual life, trust is certainly an element of the very essence of that state of mind called in Scripture faith. This will be proved under the next head.

4th. That specific act of saving faith which unites to Christ, and is the sole condition and instrument of justification, involves two essential elements.

(1.) Assent to whatever the Scriptures reveal to us as to the person, offices and work of Christ, (a.) The Scriptures expressly say that we are justified by that faith of which Christ is the object. Rom. iii. 22, 25 ; Gal. ii. 16 ; Phil. iii. 9. (6.) Rejection of Christ in Scripture is declared to be the ground of reprobation. John iii. 18, 19 ; viii. 24. Assent includes an intellectual recognition and a cordial embrace of the object at the same time. It is an act of the whole man — intellect, affection and will — embracing the truth. This especial act of faith in Christ, which secures salvation, is constantly paraphrased by such phrases as " coming to Christ," John vi. 35 ; "looking to him,'' Isa. xlv. 22; " receiving him,'' John i. 12 ; " flving to him for refuge," Heb. vi. 18 ; all of which manifestly involve, an active assent to and cordial embrace, as well as an intellectual recognition of the truth.

(2.) The second element included in that act of faith that saves the soul is trust, or implicit reliance upon Christ, and upon Chris alone, for all that is involved

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in a complete salvation, (a.) The single condition of salvation demanded in the Scriptures is that we should "believe m" or "on" Christ Jesus. And salvation is promised absolutely and certainly if this command is obeyed. John vii. 38 ; Acts ix. 42; xvi. 31; Gal. ii. 16. To believe in or on a person implies trust as well as credence. (6.) We are constantly said to be saved "by faith in'' or ''on Christ." Acts xxvi. 18; Gal. iii. 26; 2 Tim. iii. 16 ; Heb. xi. 1. " Faith is the substance of things hoped for." Trust rests upon the foundation upon which expectation is based. Hope reaches forward to the object upon which desire and expectation meet. Hope, therefore, rests upon trust, and trust gives birth to hope, and faith must include trust in order to give reality or substance to the things hoped for. (c.) The same is proved by what are said to be the effects or fruits of faith. By faith the Christian is said to be " persuaded of the promises ;" " to obtain them ;" " to embrace them ;" " to subdue kingdoms ;" " to work righteousness ;" " to stop the mouths of lions." Heb, xi. All this plainly presupposes that faith is not a bare intellectual conviction of the truth of truths revealed in the Scriptures, but that it includes a hearty embrace of and a confident reliance upon Christ, his meritorious work and his gracious promises.

" He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned," is the solemn announcement of the Saviour himself. The place thus assigned to faith in the matter of salvation, shows that the subject of this chapter possesses the deepest interest. If a Saviour was necessary to the recovery of lost sinners, faith in that Saviour is no less necessary to the actual enjoyment of salvation. The vast importance of having scriptural views of the nature of saving faith must, therefore, be obvious. The present section teaches us —

1. That the subjects of this faith are elect sinners. All whom God from eternity elected to everlasting life are in time brought to believe to the saving of their souls. An apostle affirms : " As many as were ordained to eternal life believed ;" and Christ himself declares : " All that the Father giveth me shall come to me." — Acts xiii. 48; John vi. 37. " The faith of God's elect " differs from every other sort of faith. Saving faith is supernatural — the act of a renewed soul — a living principle, which purifies the heart, works by love, and overcomes the M'oiid ; it must, therefore, be widely different from a natural, a dead, or a common faith. It is denominated " precious faith," " faith unfeigned," " the faith of the operation of God ;" and that faith to which the Scripture applies so many discriminating epithets must surely possess some quality peculiar to itself. Accordingly, we read in Scripture of many who believed, and yet did not possess saving faith. Simon the sorcerer believed; Agrippa believed ; the hearers compared to the stony ground believed; and many believed in the name of Jesus, when they saw the miracles which he did ; " but he did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men." It is manifest, then, that " they do not speak accurately, cautiously, or safely, who represent all sorts of faifh to be of the same specific nature ; because they may all agree in some bare simple act or persuasion of the mind. It must be a great and dangerous mistake to think that the belief of any ordinary fact upon human testimony, and every assent given by men, or even devils, to any doctrines or facts recorded in Scripture, is of the very same kind with that which is saving, although wanting so many things essential to the latter, of which so much is spoken, and which is so highly celebrated in the Book of God.*

" The late Professor Bruce's (of Whitburn) Evangelical Discourses, p, 106. There are some excellent remarks on this point in the " Miscellaneous Observations" of President Edwards. After adducing several arguments to

2. That this faith is wrought in the hearts of the elect hy th^ Holy Spirit. Some unequivocally affirm, that every man has perfect power to believe the gospel, independently of the Spirit's influences; and others, who seem to recognise the necessity of divine influence, do yet deny that any direct special influence is either needed or bestowed ; and therefore ultimately ascribe the existence of faith in one rather than another to the free-will of man. That man, in his fallen state, " has lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation," we have formerly endeavoured to establish,* and shall only now appeal to the explicit testimony of Scripture. Faith is declared to be " the gift of God " — to be of " the operation of God "—and to require the exertion of " mighty power, like that which wrought in Christ when God raised him from the dead." — Eph, i. 19, ii. 8 ; Col. ii. 12. The Holy Ghost is called " the Spirit of faith" (2 Cor. iv. 13) j and faith is mentioned among " the fruits of the Spirit" (Gal. V. 22) ; because the production of faith in the hearts of the elect peculiarly belongs to him, as the applier of the redemption purchased by Christ.

3. That faith is ordinarily wrought in the hearts of the elect by the ministry of the Word. " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." — Rom. x. 17. Some allow of no other influence in this matter but the outward means. They explain away the plain import of those passages of Scripture which ascribe the production of faith to an immediate divine influence, as if no more were intended than that God furnishes men with the truth and its evidence. According to their interpretation, that emphatic declaration of Christ, " No man can come to me except the Father di-aw him," simply means, that the Father gives them the Scriptures. This is to substitute the means in the place of the efficient agent ; and if the work is effected simply by the external means, there can be no propriety in speaking of the Holy Spirit as having anything to do in the production of faith. But our Confession clearly distinguishes between the work of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Word. There is a distinct and immediate influence of the Sjiirit on

prove " that saving faith differs from common faith in nature and essence,' he says : " Beware how you entertain any such doctrine as that there is no essential difference between common and saving faith ; and that both consist in a mere assent of the understanding to the doctrines of religion. That this doctrine is false, appears by what has been said; and if it be false, it must needs be exceedingly dangerous." A desire to simplify the notion of faith has led some late writers to represent saving faith as a simple belief of the truth— as nowise diflFerent, in respect of act, from the belief of any ordinary historical fact. Those who are disposed to adopt this view of faith, would do well to weigh the arguments of the acute Edwards. * See page 117.

1 4-8 CONFESSION OF FAITH. [^CHAP. XIV.

the heart ; but the Spirit usually works by means, and the Word read or preached is the divinely appointed means by which he usually communicates his influence. Lydia, in common with others, heard the Word preached by Paul ; but " the Lord opened her heart." The apostle clearly distinguishes between the gospel and the power which renders it successful : " Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost." — 1 Thess. i. 5.