or deliver dodlrines to be received, whether
the doftrines be fpeculative principles, pro-
mifes or denunciations; even though they
be ever fo myfterious in their tenor and ac-
complifhment, they will be embraced with
implicit credit and the mofl afTured affent;
and this is to " " believe God," as the fame
apoftle emphatically exprefles himfelf. Such
a defcription of the virtue of faith, which
will bear to be applied to revelations of every
tenor, is alone comprehenfive of every ex-
preffion by which the difpofition of the faith-
ful may be teftified; and fuch alone will
be found fatisfaftory, when the different
fenfes in which the term is ufed by the in-
spired writers are compared with it; and
ftiil more, when compared with the various
inftances of the virtue in Abraham, and the
numerous examples befides, recorded. From
whence this conclulion follows : that faith
is not juftly defined, either by obfervance of
the word of God ; or belief of God : in
fhort, that it is not limited to either, but
includes the whole together.
Such is the quality, that denominated the
difpofition of Abraham, and all the heroes of
faith before the gofpel ; and the fame virtue
is alfo the charadteriftic of the chriflian.
P Rom. c. 4. V. 3.
In



SERMON V. 117

In contemplating the fubjedt of patriarchal
faith, it would be unpardonable to overlook
the laft adlions of Jacobs life, as they are
reprefented by the writer to the Hebrews.
