November 25

"Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" John 9:35.

THE question concerns us as well as the man who had been restored to sight. And it admits of solution. Indeed, the inquiry would be absurd if an answer were impossible. Some very mistaken notions are entertained of divine influence. One thing is undeniable. The grace of God, in renewing us, engages and employs us; so that we are not, like wood and stone under the operation of the saw and chisel, merely passive, insensible, unconscious. God does not work upon us, but in us, and in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. He is the author of repentance, by enabling us to exercise repentance. And cannot a man know whether he repents of any course or action in which he has been engaged? He is the giver of faith, as he teaches and aids us to believe. The faith, therefore, does not act in us like a charm. It is not a mysterious, unintelligible thing, of which we can give no account. We are always to be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us.

How then is an answer to be returned? Let us away with accidental occurrences and dreams and sudden impulses, and repair to the Scriptures at once, and by their decisions examine ourselves whether we be in the faith, and prove our own selves. Three evidences may be adduced of our believing on the Son of God.

First, much anxiousness and uneasiness concerning it, in distinction from the temper of those who can readily and easily take it for granted. This is not the disposition of awakened souls. They find how hard it is to abound and rejoice in hope. This results from the importance and dearness of the object. It is not true that it is easy to believe what we wish. Yea, in proportion as we love and value a thing, we become the more apprehensive, and require every kind of proof and assurance concerning its safety. And here the case is interesting beyond all comparison. It is to ascertain my claims to everlasting life. What if I should be mistaken? And my heart is deceitful above all things, as well as desperately wicked. And I learn from the word of truth that many are imposed upon to their remediless ruin. And what if I am informed, but not enlightened; convinced, but not converted; almost, but not altogether a Christian? No wonder, in such a case, solicitudes often revive, and the prayer be daily made, "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." Let me not be ashamed of my hope. These doubts and fears are a token for good, and may be compared to smoke, which indeed is not fire, but proves its existence, and is never found where it is not.

Secondly, the estimation in which we hold the Saviour. Hence says the apostle, "To you therefore that believe, he is precious." He does not say how precious; this would have been impossible. But faith makes him more precious to the soul than sight is to the eye, or melody to the ear, or food to the hungry, or health and life to the sick and the dying. Oh, says the believer, when I see him as he is revealed in the word; when I see in him all I want; when I see how he became my Saviour—that when he was rich, for my sake he was made poor, and died that I might live; when I know that he is remembering me still, now he is come into his kingdom—appearing in the presence of God for me, and making all things to work together for my good—how can I but exclaim, Thou art fairer than the children of men! His name must be as ointment poured forth; his cause must lie near my heart; I must dedicate myself to his service. I must hourly ask, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

"My God, and can a humble child, That loves thee with a flame so high, Be ever from thy face exiled, Without the pity of thine eye?

Impossible; for thine own hands Have tied my heart so fast to thee— And in thy book the promise stands— That where thou art, thy friends must be."

Thirdly, a life of obedience. Without this, an orthodox creed, the clearest knowledge, high confidence, much talking of divine things, great zeal for a party, will all in vain be called in to denominate you believers in Christ. Nothing can be more certain, than that as a man is not wise who calls himself so, while all his conduct proclaims him a fool; and as he is not a benefactor who never gives—unless, indeed, words; so he is not a believer who thinks and professes himself to be such, but he who acts and lives as such. We read of the work of faith. Where is this operation? By faith Noah built an ark. By faith Abraham left his own country and his father's house. Read the eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, and see whether faith is a mere notion, or a vital principle. "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can such faith save him?" Therefore says James, "Show me thy faith without thy works"—show me a sun that never shines, a fire that never burns, a fountain that never flows—"and I will show thee my faith by my works." I will show thee the spring in the streams, the cause in the effects, the principle in the practice. Though faith can alone justify the soul, works can alone justify faith, and prove it to be the operation of God.