ever engraven on our hearts, and a grateful sense of it be ever legible in our lives. Thus shall we answer the end for which his mercy is imparted, and be numbered among his followers in a better world.]
Mark xi. 24. / say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
THERE is no grace more highly commended in the Scriptures, than faith : for though in some respects love may be considered as the greater, inasmuch as it more assimilates us to the Deity, and is of infinitely longer duration3; yet faith is the parent of love, and the root of every other grace. Faith, above all other graces, honours God, and benefits the soul ; for it gives to him the glory of all his infinite perfections, and brings down from him a supply of all those blessings which he has promised to bestow. Its efficacy is particularly seen in prayer: our Lord has assured us, that it shall secure to us every blessing that we ask for : " I say unto you," &c. &c.
It is our intention to shew,
I. What is that faith which we are to exercise in prayer —
[Many distinguish between that faith which worketh miracles, and that whereby we obtain salvation : but I much doubt the propriety of the distinction, as it is usually explained. It is supposed that the faith itself is different : but I apprehend that the difference exists, not in the faith, but in the objects of that faith : the faith is the same ; but its operation is different, according to the objects on which it is exercised. I would say of faith, so far as it relates to our present subject, that it is an expectation founded on a promise. To expect any thing which God has not promised, is presumption : to doubt the fulfilment of what he has promised, is unbelief: to expect the accomplish- ment of his word is faith.
But promises are of different kinds ; some are absolute and others conditional : and the office of faith is to apprehend them
a 1 Cor. xiii. 13.