Gospel of Mark. "And Jesus answering, saith to them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Wherefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." True faith is the gift of God; and when it is given, it is just as certain that the result believed in will follow, as it is certain that God is true. So far as we have faith in God, we have a portion of the divine life, and, of course, a portion of the divine power. When the human soul is linked to God by faith, it is difficult to place a limit to its power, because it operates by moving the divine arm. All the miracles of Christ were by faith. It is not wonderful, therefore, that the Scriptures everywhere ascribe so much power to it. Faith creates worlds, raises the dead, changes the heart, makes wise above human wisdom, renovates man's physical as well as his spiritual nature, "quenches the violence of fire" by rendering hurtful things unhurtful, "stops the mouths of lions" by reconciling the antagonisms and passions of the animal world, destroys the sting and the power of death, conquers Satan, unites the soul with God, gives everlasting life. 6 PART THIRD. ON THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, AND THE UNION OF GOD AND MAN IN KNOWLEDGE. CHAPTER I. ALL KNOWLEDGE NECESSARILY IN GOD. General statements. All knowledge first existed in God alone.Proofs from the nature of knowledge.- Proofs fron the instruments of knowledge. Of the instincts of animals. - God the soul Of man's moral reor guide of reason as well as of instinct. sponsibility. - HAVING ascertained some of the more general principles which are applicable to man's restoration, and to that intimate reünion with God which cannot fail sooner or later to become, more than any other, the absorbing topic of the moral world, we proceed now to the consideration of the subject in other important particulars, — namely, union with God in knowledge, in love, in will, in providence, and in the great work of man's redemption. 2. God being the TRUTH and the ALL, all beings who are in the truth are developments from himself; -not merely being in harmony with him by agreement or convention, but flowing out from him as from their source of life, The tree that stands upright and bloom ing on the surface of the earth, derives its substance, its form, its beauty, from the earth where it grows; but not more truly than every moral being, who is in the truth. and the right, derives whatever is true and right and good in him from God, who is the only good. The tree is not the same thing with the earth;-it bears a dis- 3 tinct name and flourishes in a distinct form;-but the moment its root is separated from the great and rich bosom of its parent, it falls and withers and dies. So man is not God; if he were so, he could not have been made in the image of God; but the moment he is sundered from the Infinite Parent, by separating the golden link of faith, he too falls and dies. There is then no strength, no soundness in him. 3. In endeavoring further to show how the true and holy man exists in all things in divine union, and that he has nothing, and that, from the nature of the case, he can have nothing, except what he has from God, we proceed now to the consideration of the knowledge of God, and the union of God and man in that respect. And we begin with saying, that, in the first instance, all knowledge necessarily exists in God. It is true that knowledge can be predicated of man as well as of God; it can be predicated of angels, and, in a greater or less degree, of all percipient beings. Of all such beings it is a necessary attribute. They all, in being percipient, not only actually possess more or less of knowledge, but they have their appropriate sphere of knowledge; a field of inquiry suited to their position and faculties; often a very limited one, it is true, but always really and truly existing. This remark applies to knowledge in all its forms, instinctive, intuitive, and deductive. 4. But, in whatever degree or in whatever form it exists, it is certain that it must first have existed in God before it could have existed in the creature. The very idea of God implies that he has all knowledge; that nothing exists, and nothing can be conceived of, which is beyond the reach of his omniscience; and that he knew all that he now knows, or ever can know, in the beginning. 5. The nature of knowledge, also, indicating the divinity of its origin, shows that it must first have existed in God. There can be no knowledge without an object of knowledge, without something known, without a thing or existence to which the knowledge corresponds. But everything which properly comes under the head of creation, everything which exists, or can exist, is, and must be, from God. But if all things are from God, then the conception or idea of all things must have first been in him. All things which are created, were brought into existence in entire correspondence with the conceptions, or intellectual models, which are eternal in the Godhead. The forms of things can no more come by accident than the things themselves. Existences, in form as well as in fact, must be realizations of divine ideas. If, then, there can be no knowledge without objects of knowledge, and if all objects are formed in accordance with the knowledge of existence and form already existing in the Divine Mind, then all knowledge must have been in God in the beginning. 6. Again, all knowledge, which can now be regarded as existing in the creatures, and can be predicated of them, must first have existed in God, because he formed and sustains the instruments of their knowledge. The perceptive or cognitive powers, which they possess, are derived from him. He constituted them as the instruments of definite results; and, of course, must have known the results before he established the instrumen tality. So that he not only made them for particular ends, knowing the ends for which he made them, but prescribed, also, in reference to those ends, the mode and the degree of their action. All knowledge, therefore, is in him, because there can be no subordinate instruments of knowledge which are not from him. 7. Well is the question put in the well-known language of a popular English poet : "Who taught the nations of the field and wood Who bade the stork, Columbus-like, explore Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before?" In the comparison of reason with instinct, we would not say with this ingenious writer: "In this 't is God directs; - in that 't is man ;" but rather, in accordance with sound philosophy, as well as religion, ascribe both to God. 8. It is delightful to contemplate the instincts of animals. If there is not a Power controlling and guiding these instincts, separate from and above the animal where they reside, then the animal occupies a place in the scale of being far higher than is generally estimated. Without hesitation would we subscribe to a sentiment to be found in the writings of the judicious mental philosopher, Dr. Reid. He is speaking of the wonderful skill and mathematical accuracy of the bee, in forming the cells of a honey-comb. "Shall we ask here," he remarks, "who taught the bee the properties of solids, |