254 FAITH THE WAY TO SALVATION. find refreshment, since God, whocreated water, has ordained it to refreshthe thirsty ? Can weary limbs lie down on a bed, and not find ease, since a bed is made to give ease and rest to the weary? Can a fainting creature drink a divine cordial appoint. ed to give life, and yet feel no revival ? No more can a guilty, distressed, ani penitent sinner believe the truths of the gospel, and trust in Jesus the Saviour, and yetfind no relief : for this is the will and settled law of the God of heaven, that peace and holiness shall be obtained this way. 3. When faith grows upto assurance, it approaches towards complete salvation. Then the christian can say,' I know Ihave believed on the Son of Gad, I know I enjoy his favour. Then the holiness and the joy increase, for the salvation enters into the soul in fuller measures : The nearer faith arises to assurance of our own interest in the grace of Christ, the more it supports the soul, the more it comforts, the more it sanctifies, and the more evidently Both the gospel appear to be divinely powerful to save us from sin and hell. " Can I believe God has pardoned me, so vile a rebel, and forgiven me so many andaggravated offences and yet i9it possible I should not love him, and rejoice ? Can I be assured he loves me, and not makehim a return of myhighest and warmest love ? Can Ibelieve that Christ the Son of God died for me, and shall I not consecrate myself and all the powers of my nature to him, 'that I may live devoted to his service ? He his bought me with a price, a dear and valuable price, that of his own blood, and I must glorify himWith my body and with my soul, which arehis ; 1 Cor. vi. 20. Can I believe that I am 'redeemed from hell and destruction,andshall I dare to walk in the road that leads to it ? And not rather run with patience and joy the race that isset before me, till I arrive at the gates ofheaven ? Am I not assured that Jesus the beloved of God suffered death for my sins, and shall not I hate sin, which caused his suffering ? Sin, which was the occasion of his agonies, and the very stingof hissorrows ! I am crucified and dead to sin, and to this world, bymy union with a crucified Saviour, yet I live, saith the divine apostle, and the life that I now live in theflesh, I live by the faithof the Sonof 'God, who lath loved nie, andgiven himselffor me; Gal. ii. 20. 'How is it possible that I should hope to be made like Christ in glory, with a full assurance of arriving thither, and not puri, fy myself as he is pure ; 1 John iii. 2, 3. While I believe and am persuaded that the promise of the joys of heaven shall be fulfilled to me, I would awaken myself hourly to the joy- ful prospect, and be ever preparing for the possession of that blessedness." . Thus when faith arises to a sublime and eminent degree hi
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