being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And thus he was accounted righteous before God, who before was not accounted righteous; he, at least, who had no reason to presume upon his acceptance, had now become partaker of an actual covenant, by which God had declared that whoever entered into it, is passed from death unto life.

What then was the difference between this Ethiopian, and the many Jews with whom Paul remonstrated and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken unto you: but seeing that ye put it from you, and count yourselves unworthy of eternal life, Lo, we turn unto the Gentiles ?"3 The difference was simply, that the Ethiopian believed the words spoken by the apostle, and the Jews believed them not. The Jews trusted that they were already possessed of God's favour, and refused to believe that eternal life was in Jesus Christ. The Ethiopian believed, that having in himself the sentence of death, through the atonement of Christ that sentence might be reversed. Therefore he attained to that righteousness, to

66

which Israel did not attain."4

This it is, to be

is, that they who

"justified by faith."

justified by faith." And thus it

believe are justified, whilst they

2 See John v. 24.

3 Acts xiii. 46.

4 Rom. ix. 31.

who believe not, are condemned. Our Lord sets before us as an example the case of the Israelites in the wilderness. For them there was one remedy; to look upon the brazen serpent which Moses was directed to raise." If any had refused to look up, denying that the image could convey a cure; their plague must remain upon them. So likewise for Noah, when the deluge was impending, there was one mode of preservation: "Being warned of God, he prepared an ark for the saving of his house."6 But if like the rest of his generation, he had mocked at the threatened danger, and refused to betake himself to the refuge, he too must have perished in the waters. These are examples of the way, in which, when God has revealed "one name under heaven, and no other," whereby man may be saved; they who believe in that name are justified, and they who believe not, are condemned. God has provided an ark, and they refuse to enter it. God has pointed out a rock on which they may fix their house, and be secure for eternity; but they build on another foundation, and when the waters rise, their house must be overthrown.

When, therefore, Paul says, that faith is counted to us for righteousness; or when our church says,

5 John iii. 14. Numb. xxi.

Gen. vi. Heb. xi. 7.

7 Acts iv. 12.

that we are accounted righteous before God for the merits of Jesus Christ by faith; this must not be understood as if faith were a work of obedience or an act of duty, which God accepts instead of other duties or other obedience, and that therefore the man who has faith, is justified, whilst the man who has not faith, is condemned for wanting it. The meaning is, that Christ has "redeemed from the wrath to come" "as many as receive him, and believe in his name:" but that he must be trusted by those whom he redeems that his death must be relied on, in order that it may be efficacious for salvation: faith being, as it were, the graft by which a

8 At first sight this notion may appear to be countenanced by the expression, Rom iv. 5,-" Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness:" but the context disproves such an idea. It will be seen that Paul's object is to show, not that faith is meritorious, but that eternal life is gratuitous: not of debt, but of grace. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. He staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief, and therefore he obtained the promise. So the Christian staggers not at the promise of eternal life through Christ Jesus, and becomes heir of the kingdom.

At the same time, there is no doubt that the state of mind in which faith is produced, has much that is pleasing to God: and that self-righteousness, pride, hardness of heart, are commonly at the root of unbelief: as our Lord often showed in his reproofs to the Jews.

believer is united to the "true vine," and separated from the natural corrupt stock, to the root of which the axe is laid.

The cures which our Lord performed illustrate this. We are told, for instance, of a woman who pressed through the crowd which surrounded him, till at last she came near, and touched the hem of his garment.' And immediately the plague under which she had been long labouring was removed, and she felt within herself that she was whole. He called her to him, and when he had made all the by-standers acquainted with the circumstances, "he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole go in peace."

What, then, had her faith done for her? Nothing more, than that it induced her to overcome all hindrances and discouragements, until she reached him who as she believed could restore her. It was his divine power, not her belief in that power, which really effected her cure. Her faith was the cause of her being healed, and without that faith the "virtue" of Christ would not have been exercised in her behalf: she would have remained under her malady. But it was not by her faith, that her constitution was recovered. Her "faith made her whole," by bringing her to him who had power to heal.

9 John xv. 5.

1 Luke viii. 43.

Simple and evident as this seems, many of the cavils which have been employed against the religion of the Gospel arise from overlooking it. Sometimes men speak of faith, as if it were represented as a virtue, in the same sense as honesty, or temperance, or charity, are virtues, and as if God had revealed a reward to faith, which he refuses to temperance, or charity, or honesty. Sometimes, again, the counsels of God are charged with inconsistency, because man is condemned for the want of that which he cannot command by his own will. If a fact be clearly proved, we are told that a man must Whereas we cannot believe it, unless it

believe it.

be proved to our satisfaction.

All this originates in misconception. Jesus Christ is the Saviour of them that believe, and of them only, just as a physician, who has the sole remedy for some prevailing pestilence, is the preserver of all who come to him for aid, but of no others. Confidence in the physician brings the sufferer for advice faith in Jesus Christ brings the sinner to his cross, trusting, that "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved."

But the worst and most injurious misrepresentation of this doctrine, is to say that it destroys "inherent righteousness;" that a man justified by faith is therefore exempt, or can consider himself exempt,