Lord's side, he exclaimed, 66 My Lord and my God;" and Jesus addressing him said, "Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed: blessed are they which have not seen, and yet have believed."

The persons to whom this epistle was addressed had not seen Christ, verse 8; yet their faith is not represented as inferior. This proves that faith is not merely an intellectual principle, but a moral one also. If wholly intellectual, it is difficult to understand the words of Christ; and to prove that those who had a weaker evidence of the resurrection than Thomas were more blessed. The blessedness then would be in proportion to the quantity of evidence. But where no

evidence is sufficient, the strength of faith does not depend upon any degree of evidence more than that, but upon the docility of our minds, and the desire to know and do the will of God. Hence the centurion's faith was greater than any that was found in Israel.

Faith, therefore, is a moral principle; a work of the heart, as well as of the head; and hence also it is associated with moral dispositions. We read of making shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience. For this reason faith has so much importance in the Christian scheme. Men are not damned or saved for an opinion, as some say: faith is the root of goodness; and a heart of unbelief is an evil heart, departing from the living God.

These observations may serve as a key to the text, which speaks of the trial of faith. If faith were a set of opinions only, it could not be tried but a moral principle is the subject of trial; of being held fast or lost; of increase, diminution, destruction.

I. Explain the nature of Christian faith.

Faith is to be considered,

1. As standing opposed to reason. Not in the opposition of hostility, but of principle and operation. By reason we form opinions on such subjects only as are within the reach of human understanding. The limit of reason is human knowledge. Faith rises into a higher reason, and knows no limit but the infinite wisdom of God, and the revelations he may make.

From this it appears of how little service mere reason would be in religion; as we know so little (perhaps nothing) of God, our immortal nature, and the future existence. It is faith which enlarges the boundaries of our knowledge.

Yet to a certain degree there is an essential connection between faith and reason. The proper work of reason, prescribed by faith, is, first, to examine the evidences of a revelation; and, secondly, to search its meaning; not to judge its doctrines, but to understand them.

2. Faith is opposed to practical unbelief.

3. Faith has in it the nature of trust and recumbency. Credit and trust are distinct ideas.

4. Faith is to be considered as opposed to respect for the agency of second causes, where the promises of God are concerned. In relation to the birth of Isaac, Abraham looked not at second causes, but placed an absolute reliance upon the Divine veracity and power.

5. Faith is opposed to sense. We walk by faith and not by sight. It opens an invisible world, and makes the future present. II. Its trial.

All graces are tried; but faith has its peculiar trials.

Two classes of men

1. It is tried by the pride of human reason. are subject to this temptation; men of enlarged, and men of little minds. Vain man would be wise; he is fond of system; we are prone to bend the word of God to system, not our system to the word. If faith be conquered, the result will probably be skepticism; if it conquer, fixedness of opinion.

2. By temptations to sin. All temptations assail our faith first. So sin entered into the world by the suggestion of doubts respecting the Divine veracity.

3. Faith is tried by afflictions.

4. By the natural slothfulness of our spirits, and tendency to close our eyes upon spiritual and eternal things.

III. The honours which shall be put upon it at Christ's second coming.

1. Christ shall honour the faith of him who has believed mysteries upon his authority. The doctrine of the Godhead of Christ may be adduced as an instance. He "will show in his times who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords."

2. He will honour the faith of him who has believed in afflictions, by explaining the mysteries of Providence. The confession will then be made, "He hath done all things well."

3. He will honour faith by displaying the moral effects it has in all ages produced.

4. By proving in the eternal redemption of his people that they have not believed cunningly devised fables.

These are only hints, but they will furnish subjects for a conversation between you and our common friend, Mr. Makinson; and if you will explain faith more clearly, and send me the result of your deliberations, I shall be very thankful.

Mr. Watson was not generally in the habit of dating his letters; and hence it is sometimes difficult to ascertain the precise periods at which they were written. The excellent sermon, of which he has here given an outline to his friends, is said to have been preached at the district meeting; and as the subject appears to have been fresh in his recollection, the probability is, that the letter was written in the spring of the year 1813, between the district meeting and the conference. The letter itself will serve to show the tone of thought which at this time pervaded his public ministrations, and the manner in which he arranged the topics of which his sermons consisted. At the same time it presents a striking display of that frankness and generosity which were among his most remarkable characteristics. He gave Mr. Nicholson the free use of his papers when they were stationed together in Liverpool; and he was equally ready to serve and oblige his other friends in the same manner, when they wished to be instructed by his intellectual labours.

THE ULICIDAL SEMI

MADISON.N.J.

CHAPTER VII.

Departure of Dr. Coke from England-Formation of a Methodist Missionary Society in Leeds-State of the Methodist Missions-Mr. Watson's Sermon on that Occasion-Writes an Address in behalf of the Methodist Missions-Speech at a Missionary Meeting at Halifax-Assists in forming a Missionary Society in Hull, and another at Sheffield-Speech on a similar Occasion in Wakefield— Letters to Messrs. Makinson and Watkin.

ON completing his first year in the Wakefield circuit, Mr. Watson attended the conference in Liverpool, which was held in July and August, 1813. This was a memorable period in the history of Methodism; and the events connected with this annual assembling of the Wesleyan ministers exerted no common influence on his future character and labours. Up to that time the Methodist missions were mostly confined to the West Indies, and the British settlements in North America; and they were carried on under the general superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Coke, by whom the requisite pecuniary supplies for their support were principally raised. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean no less than eighteen times, for objects connected with religion, that most zealous and benevolent minister of Christ meditated a voyage to the east, intending to form missions in the island of Ceylon, and in Java. Considering his advanced age, for he was then in his sixty-seventh year, the want of funds, and the need of his services in the management of the missions already established, several of his brethren attempted to dissuade him from the arduous enterprise; but his heart was set upon the work, and their reasonings and entreaties were alike unavailing. Perceiving that his arguments failed to convince them, he burst into tears; and exclaimed, "If you will not let me go, it will break my heart!" When they saw that, so deep was his conviction of duty, he could not be induced to alter his design, they repeated the sentiment which had been long before uttered on a somewhat similar occasion, "The will of the Lord be done," Acts xxi, 14.

As soon as the conference was over, Dr. Coke began to make preparation for his voyage to India; and, having taken leave of his friends in England, he embarked in December, 1813, accompanied by the Rev. Messrs. Clough, Harvard, Ault, Erskine, Squance, Lynch, and M'Kenny. In the meanwhile the friends of the Wesleyan missions perceived that a responsibility devolved upon them which they had not previously felt; and that new and extraordinary exertions were necessary to meet this additional expense, as well as to support the missions which had long been in active and useful operation. The preachers had generally made an annual collection for missionary purposes in their several circuits; and Dr. Coke had long been accustomed to visit the principal societies in England and Ireland, pleading the cause, with an ardour peculiar to himself, both from the pulpit and from door to door. By these means a sum amounting to somewhat more than six thousand pounds was yearly placed at his disposal, to be applied chiefly in negro instruction; the spiritual necessities and temporal sufferings of the slaves in the West Indies exciting in those times a deep sympathy whenever they were pressed upon the public attention.

The moneys hitherto raised were scarcely sufficient to meet the expenditure; that expenditure was greatly increased by the mission to India; a debt of six thousand pounds, which had been for some time accumulating, had been only recently liquidated by a simultaneous and extraordinary effort; and the very efficient and successful exertions of Dr. Coke, in making collections and raising subscriptions, were at an end. In this new and unexpected emergency great anxiety was felt in various quarters, and several plans were proposed as likely to meet the exigency of the case. No men were more alive to the importance of the occasion than the Wesleyan ministers in the western part of Yorkshire; particularly the Rev. Messrs. Morley and Bunting, who were then stationed at Leeds. Mr. Morley recommended the formation of a society, which should employ collectors in raising weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual subscriptions in aid of the Methodist missions; and in order to the organization of such a society, the holding of a public meeting in that town. This plan had been successfully employed by some other denominations of Christians; and it was thought the more desirable in the present case, as it was known that several Methodist families in Leeds were in the habit of contributing small sums in this manner toward the support of missions belonging to another religious community, when they would more readily give the same amount in favour of their own missions, were the requisite facilities afforded. The project was mentioned to several ministers and friends in the Leeds, Wakefield, and Bramley circuits, and met with a general and hearty approval. It was finally agreed that a public meeting should be held at Leeds on the 6th of October; and Messrs. Buckley and Watson were requested to preach preparatory sermons. With this request Mr. Watson was very reluctant to comply. No man cherished a more intense interest in the cause than he; but the plan was new in Methodism; he had only been recently admitted into the connection; and he thought that perhaps some of the senior preachers, who were imperfectly acquainted with his principles and character, might accuse him of attempting to introduce injurious novelties into the body. He was willing to assist at the meeting; but he suggested that, considering the peculiarity of his case, he should take only a subordinate part in the measures which were then contemplated. This objection, however, was overruled; and he consented to take the proposed service. Mr. Buckley preached at Armley on the preceding evening; and Mr. Watson in the Albion-street chapel, Leeds, on the following morning. The public meeting was held in the afternoon; at which Thomas Thompson, Esq. M. P., presided. It was only intended in the first instance to form a society for the Leeds circuit; but at the earnest recommendation of Mr. Thompson, it was agreed to form a society for the district. All the services were numerously attended; and the interest created was deep and extensive. speeches delivered at the meeting were published in a small pamphlet by Mr. James Nichols, then resident in Leeds; four large impressions of which were extensively distributed, and excited great attention.

The

The sermon delivered by Mr. Watson on the morning of this day was admirably adapted to give a tone of hallowed seriousness to the public meeting; and the crowded assembly cordially united in requesting its publication. To this distinction it was justly entitled. It was

delivered in a very impressive manner; and few things could be conceived better adapted to promote the cause of missions than its extended circulation. The text was, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live," Ezek. xxxvii, 9.— The sermon possesses great merit as a literary composition; but its chief value consists in the just and striking view which it gives of the state of the heathen, the power of the Gospel, and the obligation which rests upon the Church to make provision for its universal publication. On the first of these subjects Mr. Watson remarks, in a strain of eloquence almost peculiar to himself, "The heathen have turned the truth of God into a lie ;' their religious opinions are absurd fables; and the principles of morality, being left without support, have been all borne down by the tide of sensual appetite and ungoverned passion. Ignorance the most profound, imaginations the most extravagant, and crimes the most daring, have ever characterized 'the world' which lies in the power of the wicked one.' But though all this be awfully true, it is not on these circumstances that we would principally fix your attention. There is another and more alarming truth to be told. The heathen world is judicially dead, under the wrath and curse of almighty God. The law which they have violated turns the edge of the sword of justice against them; the conscience which they have abused renders them miserable in their crimes; and as death expels their myriads from this state of being, they appear before the God of judgment, who hath said, 'The abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, shall have their part in the burning lake, which is the second death.'

"Were these solemn truths well fixed in our minds, they would stand in the place of a volume of argument to induce us to support missionary institutions. They would burst at once the bands of selfishness, and 'draw out our souls' to them who are perishing for lack of knowledge. The contemplation of the imminent danger of so great a portion of our fellow men would melt at once the frigidness of our natures, and cause our affections to flow forth in strong prayers, and still stronger exertions, in behalf of our brethren in distant lands, who have forgotten the God of their salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of their strength.'

"To counteract these generous feelings, and to stop the stream of pity in its very fountain, we are aware that the doctrine of the safety of the heathen has been confidently affirmed; and perhaps we also have slumbered over our duty, lulled by the drone of that doting and toothless theology which treats sin with the cruel tenderness of an Eli to his sons, and employs itself rather in drawing extravagant pictures of the mercy of God, than in supporting the just rights of his government. Resting in plausible general principles, which are never pursued to their consequences, there are many who appear to consider the Divine Being under some obligation of justice to throw open the gates of salvation to the whole world of polluted heathen; thus making vice a kind of passport to heaven, and ignorance a better security for the eternal happiness of men than the full display of the glorious doctrines and the impressive motives of our religion. The true question is among all such persons often mistaken. It is not, whether it is possible for heathens to be saved, that we grant: but that circum