bitter; O will you run the risk of being cut off in your fins ! !

Faith is a divine conviction, wrought in the mind by the spirit of God, that there is a reality in the invifible world, or a fupernatural evidence communicated to the understanding, that there is a reality in spiritual things, as faith the apoftle, fay not in thine heart, who fhall afcend into Heaven to bring Chrift from above, or who fhall defcend into the deep to bring up Christ, &c. But the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thine heart, i. e. the word of faith which we preach.--Rom. 10. 6, 7, 8. The word there fpoken of, is what in other parts of the Bible is called the word of God, which is the divinity of Jefus Chrift, fpeaking to the hearts of the fons of men, as you may observe, John 1. 1. to 4 verse, and 15. 3, 22. Some people fuppofe that faith and belief are fynonymous expreffions, with one and the fame meaning; but I think they are different, and that believing is the act of faith, the fame as feeing is the act of fight. I cannot fee without fight; God gives me fight;

but the act of feeing is mine. So believing is the act of faith, it is the act of the creature; if it were not fo, why fhould we be commanded to believe, and condemned for unbelief or not believing?

Surely, believing is the action of the creature, but he cannot believe without faith, any more than I can fee without fight---faith is the gift of God, that is, the internal power to realize fpiritual and eternal things. Well, fays one, when I attempt to pray, what shall I believe? Answer-prayer being the fincere defire of the heart, earnestly afcending to God: when you feel your need of a bleffing, raise your defires with fervency in expectation, believing that God is able to give you the things you feel you need. Believe, fecondly, that he is willing to do it, as he willeth not the death of a finner, but that all fhould come to repentance. (Ezek. 33. 11) 2 Peter, 3. 9. Believe, thirdly, that he will blefs you because he has promised it. Obferve, fome people claim the promifes when they have no right to them, for they live in the com miffion of known fin" for the ways of

fin is death," and "the foul that finneth it fhall die." But thofe who are willing to part with their fins, have a right to the promises of God, according to Prov. 28. 13. and Matt. 11. 28. for God cannot lie, fays Paul. Therefore, God is bound by the law of his nature, to perform his promifes to the fons of men, when they fulfill the condition, which is to be fenfible of their need, and become penitentially paffive in his hand; fo far refigned as to have no will of their own abftract from his, and yet active to enquire his will, willing to do it as far as it is manifefted, &c. Some people under a fenfe of their unworthinefs, think that God is fo very angry with them, that he will not receive them till they are better, and of course, that they must do fomething to pacify him, just as if his will must be turned in order to be willing to receive them. But obferve the Poet faith-

"If you tarry till you are better,

"You will never come at all." Therefore, you cannot make yourself better by tarrying from him a span, by ftriving to do fomething to recommend

I

But remember

yourfelf to his favor. that God is willing to receive you, if you are but willing to receive him at the expenfe of your fins, and submit, for him to take poffeffion and reign. within. For we read 2 Cor. 5. 18, 19 and 20 verses, that God is in Chrift reconciling the world to himself; and it is for us to be reconciled to God, as God is love, and his love, according to John 3. 16, 17, influenced him to fend his fon to make it poffible for our falvation. Therefore, he is willing to receive us, if we are willing to receive him, as now is the Lord's accepted time and day of falvation, all things are now ready, &c. Therefore, take GOD at his word now, and let thy foul's defires be enlarged in expectation of the bleffing, as the watchmen looketh out for the dawn of day, believing as Chrift died for all, he died for me. Now is the time for falvation, and I can only receive him by faith. "Lord, I give myself to thee,

"'Tis all that I can do."

The very moment you thus yield, and give up and fubmit to the grace of God by throwing down the weapons el your icbellion, relying your whole dej

pendence on the mercy of God in the merits of the Redeemer for falvation, &c, that very moment the fpirit which converts will give the teftimony of pardon, and reconciliation in the beloved; (Revel. 3. 20) and thou wilt feel a change within, whereby thou can say one thing, I know, that whereas I was blind I now fee, or the thing I once hated I now love, and the thing I once loved I now hate, i. e. the things of the world, which I once placed my heart upon, I fee how empty and vain they are, and religion, which I little efteemed, I prize to be of more value than all the world befides. Give me Chrift, or else

I die.

Only Jefus, will I know, "And Fefus crucified.

The word hope, implies a well grounded expectation of the enjoyment of fomething in future; therefore, it is more than a bare wifh, defire or prefumption, that it will be fo, without any evidence, &c.

Suppofing I was condemned to die for the horrid crime of murder, and there is no poffibility of efcape, one afks me, Lorenzo, do you expect to ef