Christ and the gospel. Hence originated all those extraordinary actions of zealous obedience, courageous firmness, and unwearied endurance, which the Scriptures record, and which have appeared in the character and conduct of saints and martyrs in every age of the church. And upon diligent and patient investigation it will be found, that this view of faith consolidates, as it were, and harmonizes, the whole of what the oracles of God teach us on these subjects; so that precepts, doctrines, promises, threatenings, exhortations, invitations, cautions, and delineations of character, all here meet in full agreement. Man is justly condemned for breaking the holy and good law of his Creator, and for being an enemy to him in his heart. The way of reconciliation and recovery is provided in Emmanuel's Person and redemption, to the praise of the glory of God. All who truly believe are fully pardoned and justified, and shall be eternally saved: this faith is the effect of regeneration, and results from spiritual life; it implies true repentance in its very essence; it works by love of God and man; it purifies the heart and overcomes the world; it gradually forms the character, regulates the temper and passions, influences the words and actions, and thus, through the continued agency of the Holy Spirit, renders the believer fruitful and zealous in all good Works. "In Christ Jesus nothing availeth, but faith "that worketh by love;"-" nothing availeth "but a new creature." -" Circumcision is no"thing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but "the keeping of the commandments of God." According to the view given above, these several propositions perfectly coincide. The new creature exercises faith that worketh by love; and "this is "the love of God that we keep his command"ments, and his commandments are not grievous." "He" says the divine Saviour, "that hath my "commandments and keepeth them; he it is that "loveth me." "Ye are my friends, if ye do "whatsoever I command you." "And this is my commandment, that ye love one another as "I have loved you." And St. John says, "This "commandment have we from him, that he who "loveth God love his brother also." If St. James says, "Faith without works is dead;" St. Paul plainly teaches that no faith availeth, except that which worketh by love. And when the former enquires, "Was not Abraham our father "justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his 46 son upon the altar?" he answers his own question by adding, "Seest thou how faith wrought " by his works, and by works was faith made per "fect: and the Scripture was fulfilled which "saith, Abraham believed God and it was, ac "counted to him for righteousness, and he was "called the friend of God." The question to be resolved, in the decision of *1 Cor. vii. 19. Gal. v. 6. vi, 15. James ii, 14-26. every man's doom at the day of judgment, according to numerous Scriptures, must be this, • Was he a believer in Christ or not?' - If any one profess faith in Christ, it will be enquired, 'Whe'ther his faith were living or dead?' ' Whether • or not it wrought by love of Christ, and of his brethren for Christ's sake?" As a man's actions, when the whole shall be disclosed, determine this point, so will his sentence be: while the degree of the unbeliever's guilt will fix the measure of his punishment; and the believer will be graciously recompensed in proportion to his fruitfulness. This seems to elucidate and harmonize all the representations given us of this infinitely momentous concern. The holy Judge himself hath solemnly warned his professed disciples on this all-important subject, when with unspeakable dignity he declares, "Not every one that saith "unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king"dom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. - Many will say "unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not "prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have "cast out devils? and in thy name done many " wonderful works? And then will I profess unto "you, I never knew you, Depart from me ye that "work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth * these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will "liken him unto a wise man, which built his "house upon a rock. And the rain descended, "and the floods came, and the winds blew, and "beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was "founded upon a rock. And every one that "heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which " built his house upon the sand: and the rain "descended, and the floods came, and the winds "blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." The wise man doubtless is the true christian; his faith is living and obedient; thus he builds aright on the only sure Foundation, and raises a permanent structure, which all the storms of life and death shall assail in vain. But many foolish men, professing to build on the tried Foundation, which God hath laid, are either misled by erring guides, or mistake the instructions and slight the warnings of wise master-builders: thus they deceive themselves with notions, and with a dead faith; their presumptuous confidence and disobedient profession will make way for the awful fall of their fair but baseless edifice, in the great decisive day; and unutterable astonishment, anguish, and despair will seize upon them, when the frowning Judge shall leave them speechless, while with an awful frown he will say, "I never knew you, Depart " from me, all ye workers of iniquity," Whether therefore, we consider the Author and Origin of saving faith, its invariable attendants, its essential nature, or its distinguishing effects, : we find unanswerable proof that it is a holy exef cise of the rational soul; that it has its special seat in the heart; that it receives the light of heavenly truth in holy love; and that it employs that light to invigorate and call forth into action all spiritual affections, and to render the believer "holy in all manner of conversation." But if each view of saving faith, considered separately, demonstrate its holy nature: how powerful and overbearing is the evidence, when we collect all these converging rays into one focus, and estimate the force of these several arguments united together! If this do not convince the reader; but he will yet contend that justifying faith is the mere assent of the understanding partially enlightened, and the reluctant consent of an unhumbled unholy heart, as terrified by the report of vengeance, to sue for mercy of which it feels no real need; and yet that this selfish unholy faith sanctifies the soul, and produces most excellent fruit in the life! Or that true faith is neither the one, nor the other of these, but something between that can neither be defined nor described; he must retain his opinion, and be left as inaccessible to argument. Some may indeed question, whe ther he do not verge to the honest but absurd exclamation of an ancient zealot, 'Credo quia im'possibile est:' (I believe, because it is impossible :) and, whatever favourable opinion we may form of his heart, we must again affirm that it is impossible |