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Book, page 92 / 96 * * * * * WHAT IS SAVING FAITH? "What is _saving_ faith? I dare not say that it is 'believing heartily' my sins are forgiven me for Christ's sake; for, if I live in sin, that belief is a _destructive_ conceit, and not _saving_ faith. Neither dare I say, that 'saving faith is _only_ a sure trust and confidence that Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me;' for, if I did, I should almost damn all mankind for four thousand years. Such definitiohs of saving faith are, I fear, too _narrow_ to be just, and too _unguarded_ to keep out Solifidianism. To avoid such mistakes; to contradict no Scriptures; to put no black mark of _damnation_ upon any man, that in any nation fears God and works righteousness; to leave no room for Solifidianism, and to present the reader with a definition of faith adequate to _the everlasting Gospel_, I would choose to say, that justifying or saving faith is _believing_ the saving truth _with the heart unto_ internal, and (as we have opportunity) _unto_ external _righteousness_, according to our light and dispensation. To St. Paul's words (Rom. x. 10), I add the epithets _internal_ and _external_, in order to exclude, according to I John iii. 7, 8, the filthy imputation, under which fallen believers may, if we credit the Antinomians, commit internal and external adultery, mental and bodily murder, without the least reasonable fear of endangering their faith, their interest in God's favour, and their inadmissible title to a throne of glory." * * * * * THE EYE OF FAITH. "_Believing_ is the gift of _the God of Grace_, as _breathing_, _moving_, and _eating_ are the gifts of _the God of Nature_. He gives me lungs and air, that I may breathe; He gives me life and muscles, that I may move; He bestows upon me food and a mouth, that I may eat; but He neither _breathes_, _moves_, nor _eats_ for me. Nay, when I think proper, I can accelerate my breathing, motion, and eating: and, if I please, I may _fast_, _lie down_, or _hang myself_, and, by that means, put an end to my _eating_, _moving_, and _breathing_. _Faith_ is the gift of God to believers, _as sight_ is to you. The parent of
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