fusing to recognize as brethren those who do not agree with them ; and sometimes they are antinomian.
At the same time, Scripture and experience teach that assur- ance is not only attainable, but a privilege and a duty. There may indeed be assurance, where there is no true faith at all ; but where there is true faith, the want of assurance is to be referred either to the weakness of faith, or to erroneous views of the plan of salvation. Many sincere believers are too introspective. They look too exclusively within, so that their hope is graduated by the degree of evidence of regeneration which they find in their own experience. This, except in rare cases, can never lead to the as- surance of hope, We may examine our hearts with all the micro- scopic care prescribed by President Edwards in his work on " The Religious Affections,'' and never be satisfied that we have elimi- nated every ground of misgiving and doubt. The grounds of assurance are not so much within, as without us. They are, ac- cording to Scripture, (1.) The universal and unconditional prom- ise of God that those who come to Him in Christ, He will in no wise cast out ; that whosoever will, may take of the water of life without money and without price. "We are bound to be assured that God is faithful and will certainly save those who believe. (2.) The infinite, immutable, and gratuitous love of God. In the first ten verses of the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and in the eighth chapter of that epistle from the thirty-first verse to the end, the Apostle dwells on these characteristics of the love of God, as affording an immovable foundation of the believer's hope. (3.) The infinite merit of the satisfaction of Christ, and the prevalence of his continued intercession. Paul, in Romans viii. 34, especially emphasizes these points. (4.) The covenant of redemption in which it is promised that all given by the Father to the Son, shall come to Him, and that none of them shall be lost. (5.) From the witness of the Spirit, Paul says, " "We .... rejoice in hope of the glory of God," because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us. That is, the Holy Ghost assures us that we are the objects of that love which he goes on to describe as infinite, immutable, and gratuitous. (Rom. v. 3-5.) And again, " The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the chil- dren of God." If, therefore, any true believer lacks the assurance of faith, the fault is in himself and not in the plan of salvation, or in the promises of God.
108 PART IH. Ch. XVI. — FAITH.
Sanctification a Fruit of Faith.
The fifth effect of faith is sanctification. " Which are sancti- fied," says our Lord "by faith that is in me." Although in this verse (Acts xxvi. 18), the words " by faith " do not qualify the preceding clause, " are sanctified," alone, but are to be referred to all the preceding particulars, — illumination, deliverance from Satan, forgiveness of sins, and the eternal inheritance, — yet the immediate antecedent is not to be omitted. We are sanctified by faith as is elsewhere clearly taught. " Faith which worketh by love and purifies the heart." (Gal. v. 6, and Acts xv. 9.)
The relation of faith to sanctification is thus set forth in the Scriptures, —
1. We are justified by faith. So long as we are under the law, we are under the curse, and bring forth fruit unto death. There is, and can be no love to God, and no holy living until we are de- livered from his wrath due to us for sin. We are freed from the law, delivered from its condemnation, by the body or death of Christ. It is by faith in Him as the end of the law for righteous- ness, that we personally are freed from condemnation and restored to the favour of God. See all this clearly taught in Romans vi., and in the first six verses of the seventh chapter. It is thus by faith we pass from judicial death to judicial life, or justification. This is the first and indispensable step of sanctification so far as it reveals itself in the consciousness of the believer.
2. It is by faith that we receive the indwelling of the Spirit. Christ (or the Spirit of Christ) dwells in our hearts by faith. Faith is the indispensable condition (so far as adults are con- cerned) of this indwelling of the Spirit. And the indwelling of the Spirit is the source of all spiritual life. Faith is indeed the fruit of the Spirit, and therefore the gift of the Spirit must pre- cede the exercise of faith. It is nevertheless true that faith is the condition of the indwelling of the Spirit, and consequently of spiritual life. Life must precede breathing, and yet breathing is the necessary condition of living.
3. Faith is not only the condition of the Spirit's dwelling in us as the source of spiritual life, but we live by faith. That is, the continuance and exercise of spiritual life involve and suppose the constant exercise of faith. We live by exercising faith in God, m his attributes, in his providence, in his promises, and in aU the truths which He has revealed. Especially is this life sustained by those exercises of faith of which Christ is the object ; his divine