his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law,......seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith." (Rom. iii. 25, 26, 28, 30.)

On the kindred blessing of adopting grace, we have similar language: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God; even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John i. 11, 12.) "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. iii. 25-28.)

And yet on this point, it (Acts xv. 9.) The nature

On the subject of the believer's sanctification, the means are more frequently adverted to than the instrument. is said, "Purifying their hearts by faith." of the purity which is thus said to be received by faith, must be sought in a comparison of texts. If this method be adopted, it will be found that the sanctification of the heart is indicated by that expression, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." (2 Cor. vii. 1.) "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 7-9.)

Thus, we find, that, in the "analogy of faith" as exhibited in the teaching of the Apostles, the belief of the truth, involving trust in the Saviour's death and merit, was the sole condition of salvation. We hear of no second principle; not even of any auxiliary or subsidiary condition. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us." (Titus iii. 5.) "For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. ii. 8, 9.) "And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more of grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Rom. xi. 6.)

This divine principle of faith would, of course, be connected with other movements of the mind; but all to issue in this one act of confidence in the Saviour's blood. When the hand is stretched out to receive a gratuity, many things are included in the act, though in the

ultimate result the hand only is engaged. All the curious mechanism of the body, and the powers of the mind, are supposed in the exercise of the simple act of receiving a charity. Mental anguish, a bleeding heart, a sense of suffering and want, the volitions of the will, and the intricate movements of the nervous and muscular systems, are all involved in the suppliant cry, and the outstretched arm; but it is the hand alone, finally, that receives the charitable relief. It is so in the case of faith. There must be a previous perception of the truth, a deep sense of sin, a penitent heart, the spirit of prayer, a turning to God from old habits of evil; but when the final closure with Christ takes place, it is faith-only faith-which lays hold of his precious merit, and justifies the soul.

4. No mental or moral exercise of the mind can possibly harmonize with the principles and provisions of the Gospel, but faith.

We instance in one doctrine,-the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead. This, instead of being speculative and unimportant, is, in fact, the first and fundamental truth of the Gospel. The whole scheme of Christianity revolves on this great fact: yet it is evident, that the knowledge of this first truth must be limited to revelation; and, as a consequence, be embraced only as an article of faith. None can comprehend God in his essence, his mode of being, the personal distinctions of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and yet it is easy to perceive, that without this doctrine the whole fabric of Christianity must fall to the ground. The mystery of the incarnation must be involved in the question of the antecedent and eternal existence of the Son of God, who is represented as the “brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person;" (Heb. i. 3;) as "God manifest in the flesh;" (1 Tim. iii. 16;) as "the Word" who " was in the beginning with God, and was God;" and 66 yet was made flesh, and dwelt among us ;" and "in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily." (John i. 1, 14; Col. ii. 9.) How could this take place, unless the Son eternally existed in the bosom of the Father? Then, again, the whole sacrificial system of Christianity, together with all its collateral provisions and blessings, must rest in this mystery of the incarnation. The redemption-price, paid for our ransom and recovery, depended, for its value, merit, and efficacy, on the Deity of the suffering Saviour. The functions of the Holy Ghost in the Christian economy, are connected with the doctrine of the Trinity. How could he inspire the Prophets and Apostles, be poured out on the day of Pentecost, enlighten the ignorant in sin, convert the heart to God, bear witness, give life and love, and dwell with believers as their constant Comforter, unless he possessed personality and intelligence? That we cannot comprehend this holy verity, is no evidence that it is not one. In this, as in many other similar cases, the revelation of the truth as a truth is complete; whilst the subject to which it refers remains a mystery still.

But although the wisest of men cannot comprehend the mystery of the Trinity, and its collateral doctrines, the incarnation of Christ, and the personality and official functions of the Holy Spirit; yet all can be inducted into the faith of these great truths; and, moreover, faith is the only principle which can possibly meet the case. Doctrines which cannot be understood, because of their abstract, ethereal, and exalted nature, can, when revealed, be believed. Neither is this faith irrational or unsustained, when the oracle itself is proved to be divine. As a fact, any of the doctrines in question can be admitted by the mind, and all the economical and moral benefit intended be attained; whilst the metaphysics of the fact are far too distant and sublime for comprehension. This must be the case respecting the entire nature of God. No one can understand the first truth of the whole series relative to the Deity,-" God is a Spirit," any more than the Divine attributes in detail. Yet he can admit and believe the doctrine itself as unquestionable.

Hence, on this principle, the most barbarous, as well as the most refined races could be initiated into the faith of the Trinity, as well as the mysteries of the incarnation and atonement. This we know to have been the case, without any reserve. These great articles of the Christian faith, in primitive times, were taught to all. The elementary preaching of the Apostles embraced them; and great was the effect which such teaching produced. Their admission, in their force and grandeur, into the mind of even the most ignorant and besotted, transformed every thing, within and without, in possession and in prospect. The Saviour's sojourn in our flesh and in our world brings the human family into perfectly new relations; and the world, it is seen, is occupied and filled with God; not merely in his spiritual being, and in his supreme government, but as one with itself, clothed in the attire of flesh and blood, in contact with all its evils, sympathizing in all its woes, taking on himself the burden of its sins, and opening a beautiful, holy, and eternal intercourse between the material and the immaterial,earth and heaven, between the apostate human race and their reconciled God and Father above. The eternal" Son of God," as such, comes down in the person of our Lord, to meet man in his own humble dwelling-place, to teach, to work miracles, to suffer and to die; and then the "Son of man," in the human nature, after the resurrection, ascended to heaven to hold high intercourse with God, and to establish an indissoluble and glorious fellowship betwixt the Deity on his throne, and man as redeemed. This doctrine, heartily received through faith, was of itself sufficient to draw men from their idolatry. Belief in the constantly-announced incarnation of "Emmanuel, God with us," broke the spell of superstition, by bringing even Pagans to "know the true God, and Jesus Christ whom he had sent; " and filled them with adoring joy at the discovery of the great love mani

fested to them. This faith at once transformed the besotted idolater into a devout worshipper of the one true God; drew him from an erroneous confidence in his "vain oblations," to trust in the " one Lord; " and presented to his mind an open door of access to a new, spiritual, and heavenly world.

We are speaking of the adaptation of faith only to the provisions of the Gospel. In further illustration of this point, we mention the scriptural doctrine of salvation by grace; that is, salvation as a free and undeserved gift. If any truth of the Bible can be said to be plain and clear, it is this. We are not now merely referring to the primary blessings of the Gospel, as founded in the gift and sacrifice of Christ; but on the bestowment of its privileges on individual man. We ask, On what principle is this grant conferred ? The answer is, That of grace. When the sorrowful penitent is justified, and released from his liability to suffer the just penalty due to his guilt, he is pardoned and accepted on the principle of spontaneous grace. When from this point of a first acceptance, other blessings are contemplated and sought, sanctification, and all the rights and joys of the spiritual life, the same rule is observed. Never, under any circumstances, or in any state, from the first awakening of the soul up to its highest attainable privileges in holiness, can any one claim the blessings of the Gospel on the ground of legal right. If so, then all these blessings must be of grace. Grace originated the gift of Christ; his redemption itself, to us, is infinite, unbounded, universal grace; the treatment of man on the principle and in the spirit of that redemption, (as in his calls, offer of repentance and pardon, visitations of the Holy Spirit, and long-suffering patience towards him in his sins,) is all of grace; and then, when the "day of redemption draweth nigh," and salvation is experimentally given, the movement of God towards the sinner, the act by which he is justified, and the subsequent privileges of his state, are all of grace.

It follows from this, that faith alone must be the proximate instrument of salvation. Nothing else answers to the doctrine of a gratuitous justification; and hence, whenever the twin truths of grace and faith are held at all, they are held together. Truth is always consistent with itself. Having in tender and unbounded grace provided for the free forgiveness and salvation of the human race, the consistent and harmonious condition of its reception is faith. The first-salvation by grace-was the new, the heart-cheering, the sublime and glorious, oracle set up in the primitive church. This truth, so important in itself, was not exhibited in apostolical teaching as a beautiful abstraction, a mere principle, a remote and distant settlement in the decrees of God. In this sense the most cold and legal theologians will often allow, that salvation is of grace. But, although they often accede to the general proposition, they take

care to set up

an intervening power, in the form of conditions, duties, penances, sufferings, sacraments, and ceremonies, so as effectually to neutralize the benefit. By these devices, though grace is allowed to be the primary movement in the mind of God, in the arrangements of the Gospel dispensation, yet, in the successive stages of its manifestation, from the throne above to the heart of the sinner, it becomes (in consequence of being received first through one medium and then through another, all having their separate conditions and ceremonies) no grace at all, but rather a system of legal observances. No objection is taken to the idea of this being the spring-head of the blessings of the Gospel, in the divine purpose, if the benefit may be modified by these parties themselves. Put the grace of God under ecclesiastical restraint, and then there is no objection to the doctrine. Let this blessing flow through the sacraments, and these be limited in their validity to a particular priesthood, and that priesthood stand on a selfdefined succession; then, on this ground, there can be no objection to the doctrine in question.

The series of arrangements in the theory under consideration are, first, grace in God as the origin and cause of man's salvation; then the sacraments of the church, the channels and media of this grace; then the sacerdotal order, in their line only, as the parties into whose hands these sacraments are intrusted; then the imposition of such terms on the communicants as they think proper, under the notion of "worthily receiving ;" and then on these conditions the poor sinner is permitted to receive grace. This, it is evident, is a fearful departure from the manner in which the divine mercy was exhibited in apostolic times. It was grace, not put under the surveillance of man, but freely, directly, and immediately exercised. The primitive doctrine pointed the inquiring penitent to God as the author of his salvation; not by a circuitous route of forms and works, but now, at once. "This is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. vi. 2.) The divine grace, as set forth in the sacred writings, is not merely a plan, a scheme, a counsel, or the harmonious operation of all these, to produce some merciful result for the advantage of man. In addition to this, it is described as a gift, an act, an operation, a power; and all instant and direct. "Being justified by grace." "It is God that justifieth.” By grace are ye saved through y? "It is the gift of God." (Titus iii. 7; Rom.

How?

faith." In what way

viii. 33; Eph. ii. 8.)

66

All the concurrent blessings of a state of salvation are spoken of as being of this nature. "Be ye reconciled To God." (2 Cor. v. 20.) "We have peace WITH God." (Rom. v. 1.) "The love

of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Rom. v. 5.) "The disciples were filled with joy and WITH the Holy Ghost." (Acts xiii. 52.) The kingdom of God is