white stone was presented. In spiritual things this is justification, and the pledge or token thereof is the Spirit's inward witness, and the

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new name" by which the soul is admitted a child into the redeemed family. This is therefore a privilege in experience, and believers should sedulously seek its influence, and cherishing power, in their hearts, through constant actings of faith, and in the path way of holiness, wherein the Lord delights to meet and own His people.

ARTICLE XII.

Of Good Works.

Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith; insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.

THE first part of this Article has, in some measure, been included in our view of justification; where it has been shown, that even works done after the grace of regeneration have not such excellency in them, "as shall enable them to endure the severity of God's judgment." This subject will also be offered, with further light, in the following Article, upon works done before justification; so that we may, at this time, confine our enquiry to the latter part of the subject, in which we are assenting to the belief, that there are works produced by man which are acceptable and pleasing unto God, in Christ, and which will necessarily spring out of a true and lively faith.

The root, a parent grace, of these works, is

faith, rightly described here by the terms "true" and "lively," leading us to the act of discrimination as it respects faith itself: for this is not always of the description of saving faith; nor is it invariably a prolific root: in order to render it such a source of acceptable works, as is here intimated, it must have its peculiarities. Faith is a gift coming from God as the Author of all mercies the natural heart of a fallen sinner does not produce this disposition: on the contrary, we find man ever the subject of unbelief, infidelity, and practically engaged in principles, and opinions, that are wholly opposed to the glory, and dominion, of Almighty God. All knowledge of the Almighty was lost to man after the fall all desire after the knowledge of Him was equally gone: and in place of a disposition to believe and honour Him, a universal apostacy prevailed. It is one of the wonderful effects of the covenant of grace in Christ, that the earth is visited by that spirit who stems this torrent of ruin, by giving faith to man, and in various ways leading back the thoughts, and affections, of the creature to the great Creator: but, even in these instances, there are different kinds, and degrees, of faith. There is what is called historical faith : that is, a faith which admits the record of God's word, as a divinely inspired history, and which in consequence verbally confesses the truth of revelation. There is a temporary faith, that is, a faith which for a season receives the revelation

of God, with a degree of power, tasting of its real character, so as to be alarmed at the judgments denounced, or softened by the mercies proclaimed. There is a faith of miracles, either to work them, or which prepares for a benefit from them; that is, a faith which credits the power of Jehovah as present at the time of working the miracle, and as engaged to its fulfilment. All these degrees may be included in saving faith, but they are not the grace which is intended by "the faith of God's Elect." A man may believe the historical record, without any true apprehension of the subjects to which he gives assent: he may be strongly excited, by some temporary movement towards spiritual things, and yet have no root, and so not endure: he may believe that God will perform a miracle, he may work the miracle, or receive its effects, and yet be destitute of any real love, fear, or desire, after God: this is evident by the witness of the word of God. But saving faith is what this article describes true and lively.

If true, or genuine, it is such a gift as comes from the Lord's covenant design of salvation, and is intended to effect those things, which are necessary, in order to eternal life. Jesus Christ is the Author, and the Finisher, of its existence in the soul; and He renders it the "substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It is by Him constituted a uniting grace, that is, a faculty by which the soul enters into

Christ by a living union, the affections apprehending Him as the Lord, the delight, and possession of the soul. This spiritual appreciation, of the person of Jesus, is not the mere conviction of the judgment; but faith, of this description, draws out of Christ a powerful infusion of new principles, which prevail through the whole man. We may say, therefore, that as faith is the root, so Christ is the soil; and that, though the grace is instrumental to all good works, and true desires, it is from the virtue in Jesus, that it receives its own life, and its power of producing fruit. This, only, is the genuine grace, which belongs to a regenerate person. If of this quality, it will also be lively, that is, vigorous in its actings, ready, and prompt to put forth its faculty, to those ends for which it was given : and, whether it is, to suffer, to rejoice, to labor, to triumph, whatever may be the particular requirement of the day of pilgrimage, it will furnish the soul with ability to the discharge of the duty, and render it more than conqueror, through Him in whom it is rooted. So then when it is said that good works do necessarily spring out of such faith, it is not that faith is the source from whence they flow, otherwise than as it so truly enters into the fulness, and extent, of the covenant, as to derive the motive, power, and desire for obedience. Neither do good works so necessarily spring from this union, as to discharge the soul from all need or effort; for we are ever exhorted