(a) Faith "ts the substance of things hoped for'' (Heb. xi. 1).
that they should not forfeit the character and happiness of the just and fall under the brand and misery of the wicked (Heb. x. 39). "But we are not''; as if he had said, I hope we are not of them who draw back. I hope you and I, who have met with great trials already, and have been supported under them by the grace of God strengthening our faith, shall not be at any time left to ourselves, to draw back to perdition; but that God will still keep us by His mighty power through faith unto salvation. If we live in faith, and die in faith, our souls are safe for ever.
7. FAITH AND HOPE (a) Faith "ts the substance of things hoped for'' (Heb. xi. 1). Faith and hope go together. The same things that are the object of our hope are the object of our faith. It is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that He has promised to us in Christ. This persuasion is so strong that it gives the soul a kind of possession and present fruition of those things, gives them a subsistence in the soul by the first-fruits and foretastes of them. So that believers in the exercise of faith are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Christ dwells in the soul by faith, and the soul is filled with the fullness of God —as far as his present measure will admit, he experiences a substantial reality in the objects of faith.
(b) Faith is "the evidence of things not seen''. Faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of those things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body. Faith is the firm assent of the soul to the divine revelation, and every part of it, and sets its seal that God is true. It is full approbation of all that God has revealed as holy, just, and good, and it helps the soul to make application of all to itself, with suitable affections and endeavours. So it is designed to serve the believer instead of sight, and to be to the soul all that the senses are to his body.
That faith is but opinion or fancy that does not realise invisible things to the soul, and excite the soul to act in accordance to the nature and importance of them.
8. FarrH Gains a Goop REportT
Faith reflects an honour upon all those who have lived by it. "By it elders obtained a good report" (Heb. xi. 2). We see, then: (4) That true faith is our old grace, and has the best plea to antiquity. It is not a new invention, a modern fancy. It is a