of sound knowledge, for the relief of misery and want, and for the establishment or growth of friendly intercourse between man and man. -- Nor is it strange if, in that faith which is the mainspring of godliness and virtue, we find also the secret of human happiness. Hence flow, in very truth, serenity, cheerfulness and joy to the individual believer, peace and contentment, harmony and gladness, within the confines of a happy home,wisdom in prosperity, comfort in adversity,— the true relish and enjoyment of life,—calmness and composure, hope and triumph, in the hour of death. Until that hour, indeed, faith must maintain a struggle; the sword of the Spirit must be in her hand, contending against evil,-slaying the hitherto unsubdued corruptions of the heart, and overcoming the evil power of the world; and it is, at the same time, her constant office to cover the soul as with a shield from the assaults of its malicious and watchful enemy. But, when that hour shall arrive, the conflict will have ceased for ever; the believer, made more than conqueror through Him that loved us", will receive his crown of life; and then, but not until then, will the real blessedness of faith y See Rom. viii. 37. -- be fully understood. In the mean time, let us thankfully remember that while this Christian grace, the work of the Holy Spirit, confers priceless benefits, even for the present time, upon individual souls,—while it animates the church and labours to regenerate the world, it also involves a preparation for those "new heavens" and that "new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness","-where the sons of men will no more fall away from their allegiance to the Most High, but, having found their help in Him who has redeemed them, will cleave to Him for ever as the fountain of their being and the source of their felicity, and will joyfully unite in that song of everlasting thanksgiving and praise, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and Amenz." ever. y See 2 Pet. iii. 13. * Rev. i. 5, 6. LECTURE III. INFIDELITY IN ITS VARIOUS FORMS. ISAIAH liii. 1. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? CHRISTIAN faith, in its vitality and power, includes, as we have seen, not only an intellectual belief of revealed truth, but also an act of the will whereby we heartily embrace that truth, desire the fulfilment of the promises made to us in Christ, and rely upon Him for whose sake they have been given, and by whose faithfulness and power they are to be accomplished. Without affiance in the revealed Redeemer, it is to little purpose that we assent to the word of revelation. And, accordingly, while we admit the credibility of the gospel narrative, and believe, or think that we believe, all Christian truth, there is still room for the inquiry, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God (79) ?" Where is our cordial acceptance of the Saviour as he is set before us in the gospel, if there be no hearty surrender of ourselves to Him to be saved by his merits and to be ordered by the governance of his Holy Spirit,-if self-righteousness and self-will are still dominant within us? In order, however, to that habit of trust and confidence which fills up the measure of faith in Christ, there is need, as we have already seen, of a belief of Christian truth. Even if there can be a belief of the gospel without faith in Christ, yet certain it is that there cannot be faith in Christ without a belief of the gospel. Hence the evil and danger of Infidelity, that fearful state of mind which I have undertaken to consider in the present Lecture and the one which is to follow. And here let it be once for all observed, that, when I speak of Infidelity, I do not intend to imply any thing like contempt or scorn. I shall use this word rather with deep sorrow, because it alone seems fitly to denote the subject which we have in hand; that is to say, unbelief or disbelief concerning Christian verities, not latent, or cherished only in the heart, but speculative, systematic, and avowed. As to the difference a John ix. 35. between unbelief and disbelief, it may be said that unbelief denotes properly a rejection of the proofs of Christianity, as insufficient in its favour, or a rejection of its doctrines, as not discernible or discoverable by reason; while disbelief implies an assumption that we possess evidence sufficient to counterbalance the proofs alleged, or that we perceive the doctrines to be contrary to reason. But these two states of mind, in point of fact, are closely connected with each other. Mere unbelief, or a state of pure doubt or suspense of judgment, for any length of time, is hardly possible on a subject such as this: there may indeed be a real and culpable indifference; but if there be doubt, it may be regarded for the most part as only a transition to belief or to disbelief. Disbelief, too, it should be remembered, involves, more or less certainly, an opposite belief: the mind that really disbelieves the gospel is not likely to be a mere blank with reference to the subject-matter of the gospel; but it is likely rather to believe something else, at variance with the system which it repudiates. The disbelief suggested to our first parents in Paradise was not a simple rejection of God's word,-("Ye shall not surely die,") — but it included the admission of a promise in oppo |