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tles represent it, when they propose it as the mean or instrument of our salvation.

When St. Paul so pointedly opposes faith to works in his Epistle to the Romans, it is not from any real opposition in his mind of the works to the faith of the believer; for one is as necessary as the other to complete the character of the faithful. In the case of Abraham, Rom. iv. he does it to shew, that he could have no claim for a reward from God by any thing he could do-as indeed what reward can a mortal man claim? In the case of the Jew (Gal. iii.) he purposes to shew, that he could neither perform the law, nor had he any law by which he could claim eternal life. By application to the Christian, both Jew and Gentile, he infers that the salvation offered us by Christ, was in every part of it an act of free and undeserved grace, suspended however, as far as ourselves are concerned, upon the contingency of our receiving him for our Lord, and doing what he requires. No other prerogative of faith above conduct is implied, except that it must be the first step in the devotion of ourselves to his service. Both are equally worthless in the sight of God, unless for the value, which he hath been pleased to impress upon them, by the righteousness of Him, "who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption"."

11 1 Cor. i. 30.

Both are equally necessary for those, who desire to be saved at all".

If you consider this moral character of faith, you have an easy answer to that taunt, which is often thrown at our Saviour for requiring faith of the persons, who sought relief of him by a miracle-as if his power of doing it depended upon the credulity of the patient: which point will be considered in the next chapter.

CHAPTER II.

Faith required for the Performance of a Miracle. THERE were two very different tempers, with which the miracles of our Saviour were observed; and two as different objects resulting from them, with which in view, the performance of a miracle was often required.

The one temper was that, by which the Scribes and Pharisees, in their prejudice against Christ for the meanness of his appearance, were generally influenced-a determination, neither to be convinced by any thing he should do, nor to acknowledge, that any of the wonders, which he wrought, proceeded from the spirit of God; it was what the Apostle calls "an evil heart

12 And so our Homily saith: Second Part of Sermon of Salvation, p. 17. 1. 26-44.

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of unbelief1." If these men at any time required a sign2, it was one, which they trusted the prophet of Nazareth could not perform, or if he did, that they could pervert the interpretation of it, and make it an occasion of insulting and upbraiding him; they did it to tempt him. Now persons of this temper certainly did not deserve any favour from him, whose power they disdained to acknowledge; neither would their minds have received any real benefit from the performance of the greatest things.

The other temper consisted in a real persuasion that he came from God-in a reverence for his person and authority. Whatever favours persons of this temper requested, they asked with an earnest desire of relief, and a proper value of the blessing to be received. This temper proceeded from an humble and teachable mind, which is the proper soil in which all divine graces thrive: the persons influenced by it had a firm trust in God, they willingly submitted to receive relief in whatever way he pleased to send it, and therefore readily acknowledged him whom he had sent. They were not dazzled with the wealth of this world, nor overawed by the power

1 Heb. iii. 12.

* Enuala "signs" and duvaμeis "mighty works" are not always distinguished in our translation; the former seem invariably to have been desired by the unbelieving Jews for the purpose of exposing the pretensions of Jesus Christ. B.

of the rulers; but opened their eyes to the evidence of a divine commission, which Christ gave, and obediently hearkened to the gracious words, which proceeded out of his mouth. Such persons, if they had not always full knowledge of the whole truth, were at least not far from the kingdom of God, and were very fit objects of our Saviour's compassion, both on account of the gratitude with which they received his mercy and of the conviction to which it disposed their minds-" This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." John vi. 14.

It was not therefore without great reason, that our Saviour required faith in those who came to be healed, since it was not otherwise manifest, that they were worthy of the mercy sought, or would make a proper use of it. Nor was it less reasonable to require an open confession of their faith; because, if through fear or unworthy motives they dissembled the conviction of their hearts, it was too plain that a steady and laudable devotion of themselves to the service of their Saviour could not be expected: "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. x. 10. While they, who under any peculiar disadvantages, which might have impeded their faith or interrupted their profession of it, still persisted in their reliance upon our Saviour, were commended by him as worthy

of particular regard. The Syro-Phoenician wo man, though a heathen, drew forth his approbation in terms, which would have done honour to a true Israelite: "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt3."

The Sadducees manifested their perverse temper in their dispute with the disciples; who, while our Saviour was in the transfiguration, and the three principal apostles absent from the rest, were unable to restore the demoniac, Mark ix. 14. For it is evident that our Saviour's rebuke, "O faithless and perverse generation," &c. was addressed to the Sadducees, probably on account of their insulting the disciples; it being taken from Deut. xxxii. 20.-They seem to have triumphed in this, as if they had found a failure of effect in the pretences to a miraculous power, which the Master had assumed; but as the father, who sought the relief, came with a different disposition, the favour, which he sought, was granted, and the anticipated triumph changed for a defeat.

Farther: the answer of our Saviour to the question of the disciples, "why could not we cast him out?" explains the whole case, as it stood with respect to that faith, which was required of the persons who were to perform miracles. The disciples could not do this for their unbelief. Though they had already performed some mira

3 Matt. xv. 28.

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* Lightfoot.

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