3. To obtain its increase —
[Very remarkable is the answer given by the Disciples to an injunction which they had received relative to the for- giving an offending brother. When he told them, that if a brother should offend seven times in a day, and as often repeat his acknowledgments, they should renew to him their pardoning grace, they said, " Lord, increase our faith ''^." But what had falih to do with this ? One would rather suppose
t 2 Thess. iii. 2. "2 Cor. xiii. 5. ^ yer. G.
y Murk xvi. 15, IG. ^ Luke xvii. 5.
2332.]] god's estimate of his people. 441
tliat they would have said, " Lord, increase our love." But their request argued a juster view of divine truth. They did indeed stand in need of love; but it could spring from nothing but faith ; and would infallibly be produced by faith : and hence they presented the fittest petition that it was possible for them to offer. Let the same petition, then, pro- ceed continually from your lips. Unbounded are your calls for this divine principle ; and the more you excel in that, the more will you excel in every Christian grace.]
4. To have it as the one governing principle of your life —
[It is " by faith you are to walk," " by faith to stand," by faith to live continually : as the Apostle says, " The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me^" You have seen how wholly the saints of old gave themselves up to its in- fluence : do ye go and do likewise ; that, having lived by faith, and *' died in faith," you may receive " the promise which God has promised you, even eternal life^."]
a Gal. ii. 20. ^ ver. 39.