of the future glories which await the Christian in heaven. In regard to the "earnest," or part of the price which is paid in a contract, it may be remarked

1. That it is of the same nature as the full price, being regarded as a part of it. The graces of the Christian here are of the same nature as they will be in heaven. The feeling of comfort, of love, of peace, of joy which is realized by the believer here, is the foretaste of the same feeling hereafter. The heart, actuated by the Spirit, is heaven in miniature. It is the bud of that rose which shall be hereafter fully blown. Those who shall enjoy heaven above must first know something of its enjoyments below. Whilst the body is of the earth earthy, the soul is of heaven heavenly; it breathes the atmosphere of heaven; its aspirations are heavenward; its contemplations are on the things of heaven, and all its affections are drawn to heaven. The reason why we do not realize the full fruition of the pleasures which are at God's right hand, is the connexion existing between the earthy and the heavenly, and the remains of corruption existing in the heart, together with the external influences of evil that surround us in the world. We are now like a man in prison, his body confined within a narrow cell, but his mind. taking a flight to his home and to his friends, with whom he holds fellowship in spirit although absent in the body. Bad as his case may be, he enjoys some comfort and happiness in thinking of those who are dear to him, and that happiness partakes of the same nature as he hopes to enjoy when he will be actually among them. The consolations which we realize in attending the ordinances of God's sanctuary, the joy of which we partake in contemplating the love of the Saviour, the happiness which we feel in communion with kindred Christian spirits upon earth are precisely the same in nature as we shall realize in heaven. The joys of heaven differ only in degree, not in kind. On earth grace is the bud, in heaven it will be the full-blown rose. Here we sip from the stream, there we shall drink at the fountain-head; here we enjoy the rays of the sun through a medium, there

we shall wade in the ocean of Divine love; here we see through a glass darkly, there we shall see even as we are seen." It only wants the removal of the medium to expand our contracted happiness into perfect enjoyment.

2. The earnest is regarded as a pledge that the full price will be paid. Hence its value and priceless worth. There is a vast difference between a shilling, regarded only as a piece of money, and a shilling that is an earnest of a greater sum. It is a cause of joy to a person in great want to possess even a single shilling: but how greatly is his joy increased when he is assured that the shilling secures to him the possession of thousands of pounds. It is joy to find grace in our souls as grace mortifying our corruption and strengthening our weakness, but far greater is the joy to look upon that grace as an earnest of glory. The earnest may be small; you may not enjoy much comfort, much happiness here, but never mind if it be of the right sort, for, however small, it secures to you ample payment hereafter. The sheaf that was waved before the Lord was only a single sheaf, but, if accepted, it secured to the Israelites the safe harvest of the whole crop. If you enjoy only one ray of Divine light in your heart, it will lead you to the full blaze of eternal glory; if you possess but one grain of God's grace, it will secure to you an inheritance which is undefiled and that fadeth not away; if you have experienced the renewing, vivifying, strengthening, comforting influences of the Holy Ghost here, you are assured thereby that never-ending happiness awaits you hereafter.

Then, Christian, be not cast down. Thank God for your privilege; appreciate the earnest; value the foretaste; feel assured by the pledge of the future inheritance. If you are brought under the renewing influences of the Spirit here; if you are made meek, and humble, and prayerful by His agency; if you are made to partake of the joys which result from pardoned sin; if you are filled with the hope of heaven, be patient and endure, for the day of your redemption draweth nigh.

35

The Second Sunday after Trinity.

MORNING SERVICE.-Second Lesson: Mark xi.

Verse 22.-" Have faith in God."

THIS is a command solemnly given by Christ Himself, indicating that faith is not a physical necessity, but a voluntary act of the mind; by which I mean that it is not like hunger and thirst, that compels a man to eat and drink. We would not deny that faith is the gift of God, implanted by His Spirit in the heart of man, but implanted in such a way as to encourage and not to destroy man's volition. God has never annexed the conditions of everlasting life and everlasting death to the mere result of physical causes, or He would thereby nullify the moral character of man, treating him as a brute, or a stone, or a stream, and not as an intelligent being, subject to a moral law. Faith is everywhere commended in Scripture as a moral act, when the reward of obedience and the punishment of disobedience are taken into consideration. If we believe, we are commended; if we disbelieve, we are censured. This would not be done if belief or disbelief were a physical necessity, or, in other words, if we had not the power to believe in obedience to God's command. The way of life and the way of death are placed before us, we may choose the one or the other as the inclinations of our mind lead us. God, on His part, has furnished the inducements, confirmed by the most convincing evidences; we, on our part, are to weigh the evidences as moral agents. And when we assent to the truth of the statements of God's Word, His Spirit aids us to rely upon them so as to make our belief saving faith. Faith, therefore, is the hinge on which the whole Evangelical system turns. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou

shalt be saved." "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in "He that believeth on the Son hath eversins.' your lasting life, and he that believeth not shall not see life."

Our Saviour attached so great importance to faith that He insisted upon it as the leading evidence of true discipleship, and regarded it as the great groundwork of all other Christian graces. Thus He taught His followers that if they possessed faith nothing should be too hard for them. In reply to the surprise of the disciples at the withering of the fig-tree, which He had caused, He merely said "Have faith in God." Believe in Him, and trust in His power, then all things can be accomplished. The great subject which is here. brought before us is the power of faith. We shall therefore attend-first, to the nature of faith; secondly, to the objects of faith; and thirdly, to the benefits of faith.

I. The nature of faith. What is faith? Bishop Pearson defines it as being "" an assent to that which is credible as credible." According to this definition faith acts only upon things which cannot be attested by the senses, or cannot be the result of natural causes. We do not believe in what we see, or hear, or smell, or taste, or feel; by these means things become certainties, and are not the subjects of faith. Faith is the instrument by which objects obtain existence in the mind which are not apparent to the senses of the body. "Now faith," says St. Paul, "is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." That is, it aids its possessor to feel and act towards absent and unseen objects as if they were present and visible. Such was the faith of Abel in reference to the sacrifice of Christ, such was the faith of Enoch in reference to a future state, such was the faith of Noah in reference to the deluge, such was the faith of Abraham in reference to his posterity, and such is the faith of all in reference to things unseen and future.

Hence faith is founded upon the testimony of others; and in proportion to the conviction of the mind respecting the truth of a testimony will be the strength or weakness of faith.

When the truth of a declaration forces itself upon your conviction without any possibility of mistake, you then place implicit reliance upon it, and no counter testimony can cause you to waver.

Faith is founded on two kinds of testimonies,-the testimony of man, and the testimony of God.

The

1. There is faith founded on human testimony, by which I understand the reliance which one man reposes upon the declaration of another. This is the great bond of union which unites society together; losing this the whole would be broken up into fractional parts. There would be no cohesion, nothing to cement man to man, country to country. consequence would be that commerce would be at an end, trade would stand still, the world would be to everyone a solitary wilderness, and no one would feel safe for his life. The past would be to us a blank; the present, except in our immediate locality, would be fabulous; the future would be a labyrinth of uncertainty. We believe that such men as Alexander, and Cæsar, and William the Conqueror, and Martin Luther, and other men of equal renown existed and effected remarkable things in their day because we read of them in history, and, believing that history, we derive instruction from their examples. We believe that there are such countries as India, and Australia, and Africa, and are willing to invest our capital in trading with those countries, because those whom we know to be true men have told us of their existence and resources, and the benefit to be realised by trading with them. We feel a degree of assurance respecting future results, because men of experience tell us that such effects are connected with such causes. We trust also to the promises made to us by our neighbours; hence the energy we feel, and the encouragements we receive, in passing through life. This is faith founded on human testimony, and will serve in a measure to illustrate

2. Faith founded on Divine testimony. "If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater." It is so much more to be believed as God is infallible and man at the