232 / 652
Ammumumi
029
FAITH
IN;
ITS
LOWEST DEGREES.
[DISC.
VII.
the ends
of
the
earth."
As
Jonah
did when in
the depths
of
the sea
;
Jonah
ii.
4.
I
am
cast out
of
thy sight, yet
I
wild look
again toward
thy
holy temple.
Now
the
temple
was
a type
of
the human
nature of
Christ,
in
which
Qod
was
pleased
to dwell
;
and
the
Jews
in
their
prayers,
even from
the ends
of
the
earth, and
in
heathen
lands;
turned
their
eyes
towards the temple
in
humble hope
of
acceptance
;
1
Kings
viii.
29,
ä5,
&c. So
may
the
poor
perishing
sinner
say,
" Though
I
am
far
from
God
and
holiness, and
all
hope
in myself,
or in any
creatures
that,
are
near
me,
yet
I am within
reach of thé
call
of Christ
;
1
hear the
voice
of
his
inviting grace
;
I
will
look to-
wards
him as
my
only
hope
;
I
will
keep
my eyes upon
him and
trust
in him
:
I
will by
him draw
near
to
God
;
and
my
soul shall live."
II.
Believing in
Christ
may
be described
in
this place
by
looking to
him
to express the
'lowest
and
the weakest
degree
of
faith, for the
encouragement of poor
con-
vinced trembling sinners. When
persons.
are awakened
to
a
lively
apprehension
of
their
guilt,
and
a
quick
sense
of their
danger,
and
see
themselves every
moment
liable
to perish
under
the
wrath
of an
offended
God, and
at
the
same time
feel
their
own
utter
inability
to save
them-
selves,
it
is
proper that
the
act of
faith whereby
we
are
saved should
be
expressed in the easiest manner, that
may
allure them toward Christ, the
only Saviour,
and
may
encourage them
to
hope.. When
they are,
as
it
were,
at
the ends
of
the
earth,
at
a wide
distance from God
and
Christ, they may
look
towards
him,
and send
a
wish
of
desire and dependance
that
way
;
like
dying drown-
ing
sailors in
a
storm
that
look
towards the shore,
to
see
if
there
be
any hope And
such
a
look
as
this
is
or-
dained
of God
to derive all salvation from
so
almighty,
and
complete a saviour
as
Jesus
Christ
is
:
For it
con-
tains
in
it
the whole
nature of
saving faith, as the
flower
and
the
fruit
are contained
in
a little green
bud, though
the several parts
and the leaves
of
them
are not
yet
un-
folded,
nor appear
to
sight.
Sùch a
look
of
a
convinced
sinner
to
Christ
implies
in
it
a distressing
sense
of
his sin
and present
danger,
a be-
lief that
there
is
help
for him in
Christ, and
an aversion
of
the
eye
from every
thing
else
;
a
renouncing
all
other
dependencies,
an
earnest
readiness and desire
to
partake
of
this
salvation, such
as
Christ
offers
it;
that
is,
to make