hereafter, and not now; or they imagined faith as an _act_ done once
for all--a coming to Christ once only for what was required, instead
of as _a state_ which receives at once pardon and acceptance through
the merits of Christ, and _abides_ in Christ for ever as the only
source of life.

We have dwelt upon this point longer than we had at first intended;
for the doubt so often expressed, of the possibility of one who is
lost finding _immediate_ peace when he finds his God--and so has
found himself--betrays great unbelief or great ignorance of God. Pride
is at its root;--a desire to find something wherewith to commend
ourselves to God--some evidence of a good character first--some work
done as a hired servant, in order to entitle us with any hope to call
God father and be at peace with Him; instead of our _beginning_ all
work by _first_ being at peace--by our being reconciled at once to God
through faith in His love to us, revealed in the atonement of Jesus
Christ. We may just add, what every true man knows, and rejoices to
know, that the hour which begins his peace with God necessarily begins
also war with all sin in his own heart. His friendship with God
implies enmity to all in himself which is opposed to God.

2. "But the whole tendency of revivals, and of this theory of sudden
conversions by means of any man's preaching, is to disparage God's
appointments of the Church and the family for accomplishing genuine
conversion."

If by this is meant that God ordinarily blesses for the saving of
souls what are termed "the means of grace," or "_the truth_ as it
is in Jesus," whether inculcated by the parent, the teacher, or the
minister, and presented to the mind, and impressed upon it patiently