burnished gold beneath the noontide sun; so shall the germ of spiritual life within us grow into warmth, and proportion, and activity, and assimilate to itself all the energies and affections of our nature, and, being nourished as with angels' food, address itself to an angel's flight, and rise, as if with a native impulse, to chant the song of a seraph before the Throne of God.

375

SERMON XXI.

THE DUTY OF RECEIVING AND HOLDING THE FAITH.

2 TIM. i. 13.-Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

We have now concluded our exposition of that formulary which the common consent of the Catholic Church, from the most remote antiquity, has sanctioned as a form of sound words, embracing the most prominent and necessary articles of the Christian faith; and which we especially, as members of that branch of the Catholic Church which exists in these kingdoms, are pledged, by our baptismal profession, to hold fast; and for which, together with our brethren in the same faith, we should earnestly contend, as for the faith which was once delivered to the saints, and which has been by them transmitted to us, in all its purity and sanctifying influence.

But we must not forget, that thus to contend for the faith, and thus to hold fast a form of sound words, is not in itself sufficient to make us Christians indeed :

nay, that we may oppose heresy with all the violence and rancour of the most furious zealot, and even perish at the stake in confirmation of our profession of a sound faith; and yet be as far as the very heathen themselves from that faith, without which it is impossible to please God; from that faith which is a bond of spiritual union with Christ and his Church; from that faith by which we are saved.

For the word Faith has, in the Sacred Scriptures, and in ordinary theological language, two very distinct meanings. It signifies, first, the temper which disposes us to a belief in the truths of revealed religion; and, secondly, the truths themselves which we ought to believe. When it is said, that without Faith it is impossible to please God, it is evidently meant, without the temper or disposition of faith; for God, as an abstract proposition (and the Apostle in that passage is delivering a general truth), regardeth the heart, or the tone of our feelings towards him, rather than the head, or the quantity of our knowledge. Again, when faith is conjoined in the same proposition with other tempers or dispositions, as being of the same class, it must be itself a temper or disposition ; as when it is said, "Now abideth these three, faith, hope, and charity." But when St Jude says, "Ye should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints," the word Faith must mean the truth, or doctrine, the Creed, as we speak, which the saints were taught in the beginning, and for which they are ever bound to contend; for a temper or disposition can

neither be transmitted from one generation to another, nor be the subject of an earnest and jealous custody. Faith is here just as plainly the object to be believed, contended for, and transmitted, as tradition is the object to be reverently guarded, in obedience to the Apostolical precept, Hold fast the tradition.

Again, in the text, the faith of Christians is mentioned in both these senses, though not by a repetition of the same word. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me, says the Apostle, that is, hold fast the faith or creed which I have taught thee; for this contend earnestly, for this be content to die but consider also the temper and disposition with which it is fitting that such a profession should be so supported; even in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus; not with hypocrisy and deceit; not in enmity and malice: but out of a pure heart with faith unfeigned, and with such love for the souls of men, as becomes one for whom Christ died.

But the objects of faith, and the temper or disposition with which we receive them, though distinguished in reasoning, are no more practically independent of one another, than other faculties and their proper objects. Were there no light, we might as well be without the faculty of vision; and were we deprived of sight, the world, so far as we are concerned, might as well present one blank of darkness and gloom, as a varied surface, robed in all the gaiety of light and colour. And so with the objects and temper of faith: with no object on which it may be exercised, the temper

must be unprofitable. We must have something to believe; the being of God for instance, before we can please God by our faith and still more truly, without the temper of faith the multitude of objects, however lofty, however splendid, which are presented to us, can neither elevate our own character, nor make us acceptable to God: the word of faith cannot profit, not being mixed with faith in our hearts.

But it is evident that the number of truths to be believed varies with circumstances; while the disposi tion to believe on sufficient evidence, and to be duly affected by belief, should always be unlimited. The one is subject to an arbitrary allotment of Providence, like the being born into a high or low station of society, which is, as respects any moral consideration, indifferent: the other is a moral qualification, and a virtue, wherever it exists; as temperance and integrity are equally virtues in the great and in the lowly. But, then, such is the relation between the temper of faith and the objects which it embraces, that, whenever the temper is perfect, the whole truth, so far as circumstances afford occasion, will be embraced; and the reception or rejection of all the objects of faith, that is, of all true doctrines, as they are presented to us, is the best indication and measure of the temper of our faith. The faith of Rahab, for instance, could embrace but few particulars, as compared with that of Paul; but in both was that heavenly temper and disposition, which led them to receive eagerly, and with a correspondent effect upon their hearts and