September 21

and fear. "If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us." Faith admits of various degrees, and we see it in the views and feelings of those who applied to him in the days of his flesh. How free from hesitation was the Centurion? "Speak but the word," says he, "and my servant shall be healed." The leper seemed to question his willingness to act; he "worshipped, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." But this man seems to doubt his power. And we sometimes do the same. We are not indeed always aware of this. We presume that it is only his willingness to help that we question: but if we fully trusted in his power, how is it that our confidence sinks or wavers as ordinary means fail, or difficulties multiply? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? Are we ever straitened in him? Yet the Jews, after all the displays of his omnipotence, said, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?" And even Moses himself staggered at the promise of God through this unbelief: "The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not." Let us beware of this evil. Let us bring our faith to the apprehension of his power. Let us believe—that we may see the glory of God.

Our Lord both reproves and encourages him. The reproof was general in the expression, but it was designed to bear upon himself: "He answered him, and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me." The encouragement was conditional; but it precisely met his case. "If thy son be not recovered the blame will lie at thy own door; it will be owing to no inability in me, but a want of faith in thyself: Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." Thus he ascribes a kind of omnipotence to faith. And it is certain that faith can prevail with God. It can obtain the pardon of all sins. It can make us more than conquerors over all our enemies. It can bring us supplies for all our wants.

But let us observe the effect of our Saviour's declaration on the mind of the poor father. Loving his child, and longing for his deliverance; and knowing that every thing now depended upon his believing and feeling in himself a sad struggle between faith and unbelief, he "straightway cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."—Let this be the subject of the following exercise.

SEPTEMBER 21.—"And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."—Mark 9:24.

We have reviewed the narrative; but we may consider the words now read as the common language of religious experience. For Vol. II. 14

what Christian is there that does not "cry out, and say with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Four things are observable in the speaker.

First: he acknowledges his faith—"Lord, I believe." A man may be conscious of his own grace. Grace brings evidence along with it. It does not operate like a charm; nor are its operations to be classed with those occasional and superficial emotions which give no character to the person, or fixed bias to the disposition. It enlightens the understanding, it renews the heart, and becomes a governing principle in the life. Faith without works is dead. Living faith works by love.—Neither should we be unwilling to own what we experience; for the praise does not belong to ourselves; neither will it ever be claimed by any of the real subjects of it. Paul says, "I laboured more abundantly than all the apostles;" yet this was not the language of pride, but praise; for he adds, "Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." The fault of most is, that they deny their sin; but there are some who deny their grace. If they would do justice to their views and feelings, they must be constrained to own, that under all their complaints they have been made to differ from others, and that there is something which they have received. "If repentance consists in having the heart broken for sin, and from sin, —Lord, I repent. If love to thee is determined by a supreme desire to enjoy thee, and a fear to offend thee—Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. If faith is self-renunciation, and a reliance upon thyself only for salvation—Lord, I believe."

Secondly; he confesses the imperfection of his faith—"Help thou mine unbelief." A man may be alive and not in full health. A Christian, though renewed in the spirit of his mind, is not free from infirmities. Sin does not reign in his mortal body, but he feels a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, so that he cannot do the things that he would. We read, therefore, of "weak faith;" and our Saviour, addressing his own immediate disciples, said, "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith." Now as far as faith is wanting, unbelief prevails.

Thirdly; he speaks of his unbelief with sorrow—"He said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." It is pleasing to see sensibility in religion: and the Christian has a heart of flesh. His defects are his distresses; he groans under them, being burdened. Even his views of the love of Christ render his failures the more grievous.—He is not only affected with gross and scandalous offences visible to his fellow-creatures, but mourns over evils that are never noticed by natural men: such as dullness in duty, wanderings of thought in devotion, backslidings in heart, and the weakness and waverings of his faith and hope in God.—There is nothing he more deplores than the remains of his unbelief; to these he can no more be reconciled than a convalescent can be reconciled to the remains of an offensive and painful disorder; such a man is thankful for returning health, but he sighs to be entirely well.

Fourthly, he applies to the Saviour for succour—"He cried, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." In the same way "the Apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith."