danger threatening the place where he stood, and yet he refused to fly; or if we had told him of some secret treasure in a certain spot, which still he did not care to seek? What would be our natural conclusion with regard to such a man, but that he could not have believed our representation,or have given credence to our words? And yet,-strange and unhappy infatuation,-there are those who, in a case where the whole of eternity is concerned, would fain delude themselves with the notion that they believe the fatal doom that is pronounced on the unregenerate state of man,— that they believe the infinite blessings that are offered them by the intercession and atonement of Christ, and yet take no pains either to avoid the one, or to pursue the other! -- Again, (taking the word in the sense of fidelity" or of "confidence,") what should we say of the faithfulness of a friend, who, though he made abundant professions, yet performed no acts of friendship? Or who, though he spake of confidence and regard, yet spake of them only, and in all his actions was estranged and alienated from us, as though his heart responded not the echo of his lips? Or how, let me ask, does that kind of faith, for faith it is, which binds and keeps together all the various relations of society, -that mutual trust between man and man, -that D dependence on the integrity of others,-that belief in future probabilities,-that artificial system of credit which, by the aid of a confidence almost unreserved, can approximate and identify interests apparently the most remote,-how does that faith operate, I repeat, but by the interchange of kindly offices, by outward acts of civility and friendship, by the performance of the several duties of social life, by activity in the pursuit of our own interests where they do not clash with those of others, and by all that excitement of unwearied action, that restlessness of untiring industry, which characterize the busy scene of a crowded and populous community? And shall the credit, and the dependence, and the confidence, and the trust that we repose in God, be less animating and exciting than those which bind us to our fellow men? Shall the pursuits of temporal expediency be so enlivening a task, and shall we get credit for sincerity in the listless and reluctant homage we pay to Heaven? Or can that society of professing Christians be really impressed with the spirit of a quickening and lively faith, whose carelessness and sloth, whose slumber and indolence, whose torpor and inaction make their habitations resemble some silent city of the dead, rather than the moving scene of busy and animated life? 2. Again, as, on this ground, we may fairly appeal to what may be called the common sense of mankind in proof that "faith without works is dead," so we may also refer to the same criterion to shew that works are valueless unless they proceed from the principle of faith. That works indeed are of no merit in themselves, is a doctrine which, from the whole tenor of scripture, we must take for granted without reference to any such analogy as this. But, even under the best of circumstances, those works will be of no use, unless they proceed, with the assistance, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, from the source which God has prescribed, namely, our faith. Nor in this statement is there any thing that we can call in the least degree paradoxical. That the value of actions is to be estimated mainly by the motives from which they were done, is a maxim as true in philosophy as in religion, and we often act upon this principle in the most common affairs in life. In cases of civil crime, it is well known, the enormity of the offence is frequently calculated less by the magnitude of the act itself than by the intention of the agent. And I need hardly say how generally we make, by the same criterion, our estimate of the conduct of others towards ourselves. Why is it, for instance, that a parent takes delight in the respect and attentions of his child, save for the affection and love towards himself which speak forth in every action and every word? Would he value them thus if he found they had some mercenary or disaffected object in view, or originated from feelings at variance and uncongenial with his own? Or should we prize the ministrations of a friend, if we found they proceeded not from a faithful attachment to ourselves, but came from some selfish and interested motives, while they were only bypocritically clothed in the garb of friendship? From these therefore, or very similar maxims, recognized and approved in the common dealings of life, we may derive some illustrations which will help to shew how necessarily faith and works, to fulfil their respective offices aright in the completion of the Christian character, must exert this mutual and relative operation on each other. On the one hand, principles in the heart, soon wither away unless they are kept alive and called into play by their developement in active life. On the other, external conduct is cold and lifeless, nay actually displeasing in the sight of God, unless it proceed from a real devotion to his service; for otherwise all we do is but a course of rebellion before him who demands from us all our hearts, and all our souls, and all our strength, and who has assured us that "without faith it is impossible to please him."* It is true that man cannot save himself; but still he has not therefore any right to be idle. The husbandman does not make the corn; it is the descending rains, the fertilizing dews, the enriching soil, the changing seasons, the blessing of God, that give the increase. But still no prudent man refuses therefore to sow the seed, or cultivate the earth. It is true, again, that man's works have no merit in themselves; but still they are not therefore valueless. To the parent or the friend the services themselves may be trifling, but they have a value derived from the deep and overflowing well of benevolence and love from which they come. And so God will vouchsafe to accept our humblest services, if they proceed from that lowly dependence on the merits of Christ, that renunciation of self, that sole and entire resignation to the divine will, which his grace can awaken in our hearts, and which form some of the main elements in the constitution of Christian faith. V. This then, my brethren, is the reason why the scriptures, while they tell us that "we are not sufficient to think any thing or do any thing as of ourselves," still declare that "the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath Hebrews xi. 6. |