who kept not their first estate, and of men who neglected the means of mercy. All these are actually existing spiritual facts. They each have a positive reality at this moment. We could not discover them by reasoning. The existence of some we might conjecture, but of others we could know nothing. Of some, therefore, the existence, —and of all, the certainty and completeness, - are ascertained exclusively by testimony. Now faith, in relation to these, considered simply as invisible things thus substantiated, is, the impression of their reality upon the understanding, in consequence of the admission of the testimony by which it is asserted.

The second class consists of things equally unseen, but of a different nature; namely, past facts, which have taken place in connexion with the origin, or in the course of the history, of our world.

The propriety of specifying this class, will be instantly apparent, by adverting to the third and seventh verses of the present chapter. In the first of these, we are expressly referred to the creation, as a thing, which, by faith, we understand or admit. In the last, the very term employed in the definition of the principle, is used in relation to an object, not, like those of the former class, exclusively spiritual and now existing; but a physical though miraculous event, a

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possibility and certainty

thing which occurred, had a beginning and an end, in time. 'By faith Noah was warned of God of things not seen as yet." The deluge, (though the expression may refer to its being unprecedented, yet it still illustrates our present argument)-the deluge, previous to its actual occurrence, was to Noah "a thing not seen;" and to us, who did not witness its positive infliction, it is equally so. To the Patriarch and his children, though its were at first admitted purely by faith, it afterwards became an object of sense; to us it never has been, and never can be that; it is "a thing not seen," established by testimony. In this way, the whole class of facts to which we refer, are correctly contemplated. It includes those already adverted to, namely, the origin and destruction of the primitive earth. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." By faith, also, we understand that "the world which once was, being overflowed with water, perished." It includes, too, the intervening events, such as, the probation and apostasy of our first parents; its effects on the religion and the history of the species; and whatever is recorded of patriarchal transactions. Also, subsequent events,-such as, the extraordinary selection of an eminent individual, whose descendants were to be numerous and distin

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guished, and from among whom the promised Deliverer was to spring. The various circumstances connected with the character, the fortunes, and the favours conferred upon that singular people, preparatory to the coming of the Lord. All the facts involved in that stupendous event. His actual incarnation; his holy life; his numerous miracles; his sufferings and death; his resurrection; his ascension into heaven; and, in short, the whole material of the mediatorial economy. All these things had successively an existence in the history of our world, and, simply considered as facts, were known to certain portions of the species by the evidence of sense; but to us they are not thus known; they are "things not seen," and are with propriety included in the objects of faith. We believe them, not because we have "seen, heard, handled," in the primary acceptation of these terms; but because we receive the testimony which says, that "God in former times spake unto the fathers by the prophets;" that "in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son;" that "the eternal life" which was with the Father was revealed; that "this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world;"" was manifest in the flesh; justified in the Spirit; seen of angels; received up into glory."

The third class of things not seen, consists of future facts, considered simply as such; as anticipated occurrences, things that are to be, irrespective of their other relations. It includes, such as, that there is a state of consciousness to be entered upon at death; that there will be the resurrection of the dead; the ultimate judgment, and the irrevocable determination of the eternal destiny, of all moral and spiritual natures; that "the wicked will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord;" that there will be the creation, or something equivalent to the creation, of "new heavens and a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness;" into which the saved and sanctified by Jesus Christ shall be permitted to enter, and where, in his presence, and as his, they shall commence a career of boundless and beatific perfection.

These three classes of past, present, and future facts, are all comprehended in "the things not seen;" and the "perfect persuasion" that they are, were, and are to be, constitutes the first element in the complex principle denominated faith. In relation to these, it is the eye of the mind; it enables it, as it were, to realize, to perceive, to survey them; to regard spiritual and distant facts with the consciousness and conviction belonging to visible and present

subsistences. The principle is thus penetrating and powerful; and it expatiates, as you perceive, in consistency with our former remark, over a field of immense extent. Suffer me, however, to remind you, that this field, though immense, is limited; it is confined by the statements and the discoveries of the record; it embraces all that is there, but nothing else. The principle is not imagination giving substantial existence either to the probabilities or the fictions of philosophy-to the rational or the romantic speculations of intellect and genius, in their attempts to penetrate the spiritual state; to trace the moral history of the species; or, to conjecture its future consummation: but, it may be said to be imagination aiding the intellect in its simple reception of the divine testimony. Every human conceit is abandoned, but every "saying of God" is felt to contain a certainty and a fact; and faith, as the perfect persuasion of this, is, in the appropriate language of scripture, "seeing the things that are invisible."

IV.

It is next to be considered, that in his description of faith, the apostle connects with this perfect persuasion of things not seen, "the